When teaching online piano lessons, whether via zoom, Facetime or Skype, do you sometimes find it’s hard to maintain your energy and purpose? Over the summer the thought of returning to teaching online made my heart sink. I wasn’t surprised to read that other teachers were feeling just the same way and dreading the thought […]
What do international musicians have in common with premier league footballers, Olympic athletes and top-flight tennis players? They all visualise their performance before an event either by ‘playing’ the piece in the concert hall, ‘running’ the race or ‘hitting’ the ball. But the visualisation isn’t just a mental image; it includes the sounds, the smells, […]
The nights are beginning to draw in, the conkers are getting fatter and shinier by the day and the hedgrows are full of ripening blackberries. As Autumn gradually begins to make its presence felt in the Northern Hemisphere we are equally as gently turning our thoughts towards the new term ahead. We’ve asked all the […]
Do you get super excited when discovering and buying a new piano teaching resource? I know I do. I think I am even a little geeky about the whole thing and can’t wait to use it with a pupil. Actually, make that ‘pupils’ as I often tend to go for the immersive approach throughout my […]
The Community is The Curious Piano Teachers online membership site that enables piano teachers to develop their teaching skills at home. We only open enrolment a couple of times annually so, if you’re curious to know more, now is a good time to grab a coffee and read this post which gives you an […]
It’s the very first piano lesson. The piano stand is bare – not a bit of paper is in sight. Together with my pupil we will make some music, exploring the different sounds the piano makes. We are going to ‘play’ on and with the piano. This week I have been at the Music […]
I’ve found myself falling back into old ways a bit at the start of this term. I talked too much. I explained too much. And this meant that there wasn’t enough music making in lessons. It is so easy to slip into familiar and comfortable teaching habits especially when trying to juggle all the additional […]
Last week I presented the general principles behind messy piano. This week I am going to look at a messy lesson in more depth. As one-to-one instrumental teachers we have a potentially exciting and unique opportunity to explore how pupils can learn in new and deep ways. We are free to teach exactly how we […]
Is the way you teach compound time a little fuzzy around the edges? Do you find yourself scrabbling around trying to explain the whys and the wherefores? In today’s blog you get a song, a score and teaching ideas all designed to help you. To be honest, teaching compound time was something I really struggled […]