The Vibrant Music Teaching Podcast | Proven and practical tips, strategies and ideas for music teachers

Using an iPad in your piano studio might seem like a great idea...until you get one and realise you have no idea what to do with it!

There’s one big mistake that I see teachers make with iPad use all the time. I want to help you to sidestep that mistake and head straight for iPad piano studio success!

When you first get an iPad for your studio, it’s super exciting. And then it’s mystifying.

You know you’ve seen all these cool ideas other teachers were doing with the iPad in their lessons. But now that it’s in your hands you have no idea where it’ll fit in.

Is this just one more thing to try to cram into your lesson plans?

It can be. 

Or it can be a fantastic tool to help you teach. The choice is yours.

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To teach great piano sight-reading skills, you need to make the thought

process into tangible movements and activities. These preparatory steps

are essential for any beginner or intermediate student to do before

sight-reading a new piece of music.

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Teaching by rote, when done right, is a great way to teach the piano.

You can bring rote learning into many aspects of teaching piano, and

these days, sight reading is one small part of my teaching the piano

rather than the only thing.

Students develop many important

skills learning through rote such as: recognising patterns, developing

their internal ear, and refining outstanding technique. This translates

well when they go on to sight read a piece.

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Invest in these sight-reading skills in your studio

Imagine cliff

diving blindfolded into unfamiliar waters without knowing what is

below. Are your students feeling cliff diving like fears when asked to

sight read?

Sight reading can feel scary, but adding fun to the

process and equipping students with skills by engaging them in sight

reading games can help tackle their fears of on-the-spot playing.

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Teaching sight-reading skills to piano students is not always as simple as teaching them great reading skills. 

To be a great sight-reader you need more than just note names and intervals. You need to be able to translate those to movements that make sounds...quickly.

The difference between reading and sight-reading is time. Or, rather, the lack thereof.

When we read music that we’ve never seen or heard before, in the moment, we have to move fast. We have to be quick on our fingers and make guesses when our brain doesn’t have time to figure it out.

Solid sight-reading skills are a wonderful asset to have as a collaborative musician or accompanist. They’re also super useful to have in your backpocket for any performance situation to get you out of a jam. 

But after we teach our students to read, how do we take them beyond slow deciphering of notes and towards cat-like sight-reading reflexes?

Taking apart a specific genre or traditional style of music and putting

it back together is a great way to understand it. In this episode, I'll

give you 2 examples of how to do that and then improvise with the

elements.

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Most of us teach, perform and listen to Classical music. Many of us also

teach pop songs or jazz. But do you ever break outside of these walls?

And if you want to teach different types of music, how do you find it?

That's the question we'll unpack in today's show.

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As music teachers, we all want teaching studios that are dynamic, full

of life, and bursting with creativity. We want our students to arrive

for their weekly lessons feeling motivated and excited.

Yet, if we’re honest, there are times when this simply isn’t the case.

In this episode, I'll give you some strategies to try when things feel stagnant in your music lessons.

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Teachers can find lessons everywhere if they look carefully enough. In this article, I want to share with you the lessons I learnt from my years of folk dancing that show up today in my music studio.

I was that student growing up. You know the one that you complain to other teachers about because they’re too overscheduled to practice?

Yeah, that one.

The thing was, I wasn’t actually overscheduled. My parents weren’t the driving force behind my busy timetable. It was me.

I wouldn’t quit anything.

One of the many things I wouldn’t quit was Irish dancing. (Before you ask...Yeah, sure, kinda like Riverdance.)

I could’ve been a better pianist if I focussed entirely on piano. However, I believe it’s experiences outside music that made me the teacher I am today. 

As you read through my lessons from folk dancing, I hope you’ll take some of them with you. But, more than that, I hope you’ll investigate some of your own experiences and think about how they’ve affected the teacher you’ve become.

What does your music studio brand say about you? Do you even have a brand? Of course, you do!

Has

anyone ever said to you, “I hear you’re the person to talk to about

piano lessons!” Maybe you’re filling your schedule (and even a long

waiting list!) through referrals alone.

Or maybe you’re having a hard

time getting new students and you need to advertise. What exactly are

you going to advertise? Where and to whom?

What does it mean to take music lessons with you?

Whether

you know it or not, you have a brand. The way you teach, the people you

teach, the method books you choose to use: all these and more define

you as a teacher and the type of student who is the best fit for your

studio.

Your music studio brand prioritises your strengths and is

honest about your weaknesses. It differentiates you, as a teacher, from

the other dozen piano teachers in your area.

Building your brand should be a conscious choice, but it doesn’t have to be an agonising one.

Find out more about membership at vibrantmusicteaching.com.