Teaching Tip Tuesday: Keep a Teaching Journal

I’d like to start a new feature here – Teaching Tip Tuesday! This will feature simple teaching tips and random ideas that I have gleaned over the years through my experiences with my students.
Here we go!

Teaching Tip #1: Keep a teaching journal!

One of my favorite ways lately to keep track of miscellaneous ideas and gems of teaching wisdom that pop up during lessons is to keep a teaching journal. I keep a notebook inside my piano bench, and whenever I try something that was particularly effective, or have an “aha!” moment with a student, or just have a fabulously brilliant or fun idea, I jot it down in here for future reference. I have found that without writing these things down, I tend to forget my awesome ideas.

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Pedagogy Books: The Well-Tempered Keyboard Teacher

The Well-Tempered Keyboard Teacher
The Well-Tempered Keyboard Teacher by Marienne Uszler, Stewart Gordon and Scott McBride Smith is a great book about piano pedagogy. This was one text used in my college pedagogy class. There are so many great ideas and suggestions in this book, that I really need to read it again! 🙂 

Teaching Advanced Students

One chapter that I really enjoyed is the one about Teaching Advanced Students. Teaching advanced students is really an entirely different world than teaching beginners, isn’t it? I would guess that the majority of students that many of us have are beginners or intermediate students (at least that has been my experience!). Many students drop out of lessons before reaching the advanced level. This chapter, written by Scott McBride Smith, is a great one to read if you are a teacher of advanced students.
Practicing What We Teach
Smith says, “It is not possible to teach something that you have not mastered thoroughly through your own training and investigation.”

As piano teachers, and particularly as piano teachers of advanced students learning advanced repertoire, it is imperative that we are able to play the repertoire as well. How can we teach the techniques and musical expression needed to play an advanced piece of repertoire if we have not mastered it ourselves?

This topic came up on our Facebook Page recently, and one of our readers had a great suggestion. Here is what she said:

One thing you mentioned is to ‘learn advanced music’ to be more aware of what’s needed in students’ pieces and to teach more effectively. I agree with your statement completely but take it to the maximum and usually don’t teach a piece that I haven’t pre-tested for my student first. I actually do written analysis of complex pieces and prepare written lesson plans. This was a new habit when I began 39 years ago and it has really helped me be secure in my teaching. Going the extra mile on all pieces just exercises your brain so much that you could eventually teach a new piece in your sleep just from observation…”

Skills of Advanced Piano Study

Scott McBride Smith talks about the different skills needed for intermediate study vs. advanced study. I thought this was a great list to get us thinking about what we need to teach our advanced students.

Intermediate Skills:

  • accurate note learning and rhythm
  • wide-ranging dynamics
  • good tone
  • appropriate balance between the hands and between voices
  • basic projection of form and harmony

Advanced Skills: (“…a higher level of artistry is needed for these challenging works.”)

  • phrasing
  • rubato
  • accent
  • tone color
  • pedal
  • sophisticated practice techniques (lots of slow, super-accurate repetitions, work at different tempos, practice in rhythms and shifting accents, etc.)
  • public performances

So many great books out there, so much to learn! What are some of your favorite pedagogy or music books?

Improving Your Own Sight Reading

As we are discussing sight reading this week, I have been doing some thinking about my own sight reading.
Now, I have been sight reading for many years now, and feel pretty confident in my sight reading abilities. Because of this, I haven’t been sitting down and formally sight reading regularly. Of course I play a lot and sight read things here and there, but maybe I should be doing more.
I had a great Keyboard Foundations class in college, taught by Scott Holden. Each week we had a sight reading quiz. Dr. Holden would give us a piece of music (usually pretty advanced in some way or another), and we would have to record our sight read of the piece and turn it in. It was a bit stressful because if we stopped, missed a beat or skipped a beat we would automatically fail the quiz. I loved it though, it was such a wonderful learning tool. Thinking back on it it is such a great reminder of the need to sight read regularly, to always be improving our skills and to regularly become familiar with new repertoire.

As teachers, it is so important that we are able to sight read well. I once read an article in a music journal (I will have to go in my files and find it so I can quote it exactly!) that basically said that a good pianist should have sight read through all of the major piano works of the great composers. Now that is a lot of sight reading, but just imagine how a project like that could improve your playing (and your teaching as well)!

One of my favorite assignments in my piano literature class in college was to sight read through the entire Well-Tempered Clavier (both books). Now of course this took a bit of time, but what a rewarding thing! As teachers we need to be familiar with the great literature for piano.
One of these days (probably after going through all of my belongings, packing up our entire house, finding a new place to live and driving all the way to Texas with my little family and getting settled – ya know, after I have a little more free time :)) I would love to make a goal to sight read through a new piece each day, with the end goal being to sight read through a lot of the major piano works – Bach Well-Tempered Clavier (again), Beethoven Sonatas, Mozart Sonatas, Chopin Preludes, Nocturnes, Ballades, etc.
But for now, I just wanted to share some of those thoughts. Do any of you sight read regularly? Do you have anything to share regarding this topic? Also, I just stumbled upon this neat blog, check it out!

we’re in the same boat.

Who else enjoyed this week’s poll? I surely did, because it made me feel a little better knowing I am not alone in the fact that I struggle finding the time to practice as much as I’d like. I do, however, feel inspired to do better in that department – hopefully some of you feel the same as well! Here are the poll results:

How often do you practice the piano?

Are you currently taking piano lessons?

This week we’d like to discuss Sight Reading – why is it important, how important is it really, how do you teach it, how do you motivate your students to do it….well you get the idea. 🙂 Have a great week!

oh and psst, don’t forget to take our two new polls, found on the sidebar or here and here! If you have ideas or suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover, let us know here or head on over and take our reader survey.

Performing at our recitals

I have really enjoyed Jenny’s posts this week about performing for your students and about fitting in practice time for yourself. This is something I’ve thought about a lot. It is a bit of a downer when I am reminded of how much better I was when I was doing my piano degree than I am now. Depressing! There is no way I can continue to practice 4-5 hours a day now that I am the primary caregiver for two small children, in addition to teaching and other adult responsibilities. BUT, that doesn’t mean that I have to stop practicing altogether! Without a performance to prepare for, it is easy for me to put off practicing, because there is always something else that needs to be done. That is one of the (admittedly more selfish) reasons that I perform at all of my studio recitals. An upcoming performance in front of all of my students and their parents is more than enough motivation for me to make sure that my practicing gets done. And really, anyone can practice, no matter how busy they are, if they make it a priority. (Isn’t this what we are preaching to our students?) My favorite time to practice is at night after my girls are in bed, but I try to get little snatches done during the day – often just 10 minutes at a time. I remember once I was babysitting a friend’s kids along with my own and I got 45 minutes of practicing in because the kids were having such a great time dancing and running around to the music. (It was Prokofiev’s Suggestion Diabolique, and its frantic sound and pace made those kids pretty wild!) Anyway, we musicians are pretty good at time management – a vital skill we had to acquire to fit in all the practicing we did in college – and with enough creativity and motivation, we can continue to develop our musicianship in adulthood.

As far as what to play at my studio recitals, I like to learn something new each time. There are plenty of pieces that I’ve always wanted to play, and it has been a fun challenge to choose a piece, listen to a variety of recordings, decide how I want it to sound, and teach it to myself. (I would, however, like to take piano lessons again someday.)

There are so many reasons to perform for our students! One is to expose them to a variety of classical repertoire that is fun to listen to, thereby (hopefully) generating more interest in different types of classical music. We can show them that it can be exciting to listen to and fun to perform! Another reason for performing is to give ourselves a little more authority when we tell our students what they need to do. 🙂 Students have a lot more respect for a teacher who clearly knows what they’re talking about, and what better way to demonstrate that than by showing them good piano habits in action? Performing is a good way to advertise our “product” not only to our students, but to the parents as well, who are paying us and should know what kind of a pianist their child’s teacher is.

One concern that may keep some teachers from performing at their recitals is that they will seem like they are trying to upstage their students. I have worried about this a little, but I don’t think it has to be an issue. You do not have to make yourself the focal point of the recital – make it clear that the recital is about the students. I’ve found that my students and their parents look forward to and appreciate hearing me play, which is encouraging, but I make an effort to focus on their child’s performance when talking to them after the recital. After all, that is what they really want to hear about anyway. When I was a piano student, hearing my teachers play was a real treat, and I had much more respect for the teachers who performed than for those who didn’t. My piano professor in college is a prolific performer – search for “Scott Holden, piano” on YouTube – and he encouraged us to perform at every opportunity when we became teachers. I am trying to follow his advice, and only good things have come from it.

ten ways to use your continued piano study to influence your studio

Play at your students’ recitals – not only is it a great excuse for you to perform, but it’s a wonderful way to show your students and their parents that you know what you’re doing and that you practice just like they do, and to introduce them to some great repertoire.

Perform at a group class or performance/master class – a fun, informal opportunity to play for your students, giving them an opportunity to hear you play

Give new students a recording of your playing – I like to do this at interviews; I give them a copy of my resume and a CD recording. Of course you could also just perform for them!

Perform in some local ensembles or as an accompanist – I believe that participation in ensemble/accompanying work is extremely important in becoming a good, well-rounded musician. I have found that through accompanying I have learned so much about music-making, teaching, learning, listening, and performance, and I think that has helped in my own teaching. Plus, when you are involved in performances, you can always invite your students to attend!

Accompany your students in duets, concertos, etc. – Fun fun. Another great excuse to perform! Someday I will have two pianos and cannot wait for all the fun two-piano pieces that can be played….

Sight read through (or do a more in-depth study of) intermediate/teaching repertoire – then, of course, you will be much more familiar with it, be better able to choose good repertoire for each student, and will be able to teach it more effectively!

Be involved in studio practicing competitions! – ever think of this? I have never done this but think it could be super fun! You could even do something fun like students getting a prize if they practice more than the teacher – holy motivation! If that doesn’t get you practicing, I don’t know what would. And it might just motivate your students quite a bit, as well.

Learn or re-learn more advanced repertoire being studied by your students – that way you will be able to be so much more aware of the techniques needed and the difficult passages coming up, and will be able to teach the piece so much more effectively. You will also be able to demonstrate passages and techniques much more easily 🙂

Perform a solo recital for students or prospective students – could be a great way to get new students, and something wonderful to work towards in your own practicing!

Take piano lessons again! – I would love to do this sometime. What a wonderful way to improve not only your performance skills, but your teaching skills! Each teacher I have had has taught me so many things that I have been able to incorporate into my own teaching – what a great way to get some fresh ideas and perspective.

making time for practicing

As a mommy, I find it so hard to practice at times. It really is depressing when I think about it – I used to practice at least four hours per day, and I loved it. I so miss that (not that I would trade being a mom…I’m just sayin’!). And while of course I don’t expect to be able to practice that much, it can be so doable to practice every day! I think as a mom you just need to be creative.
practicing + being with this
little man 24/7 = tricky!
Luckily my little guy adores music. It’s gotta be in his genes or something, because he just loves it. I turn on my ipod and he immediately starts dancing around (and oh man he’s got the cutest, funkiest little dance moves around). He bobs his head to the beat, he sings. He dances around the room when we play the piano (my husband is a really talented pianist…he plays the third movement of Moonlight Sonata and my little boy LOVES it). 
So recently I made a fantastic discovery…when I play the piano, my son loves to listen to the piece and then tell me what he thinks it sounds like. The other day while he ate a snack, I was able to practice a bunch of tricky sections from some old repertoire. After each little section he would tell me what it sounded like – “Mommy, that sounds like a frog!”
If my son is playing with his trains, I’ll say, “do we need some train music?” and thankfully he gets all excited and says, “Yeah!!” Awesome. I am then free to practice anything that slightly resembles the sound of a train. Car music is also a favorite. Scales are good car music. Haha. (I am gonna milk this for all it’s worth, because who knows how long it will actually work!)
In fact, he now does it all by himself. The other day he walked up to the piano, played a little ditty, then said to me, “That sounds like a lion climbing through a forest!” 
How do you find time in your busy schedules to practice? How do those with kids make it work? Even if you don’t have kids, it can be hard to be diligent and to fit it in. What are your secrets?? 🙂

the best compliment ever

One summer afternoon I finished up teaching lessons to two little boys (on a totally unrelated note, these brothers were AMAZING students. They practiced EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Without fail. They were a teacher’s dream.). Their parents were late picking them up, so we had a little time to kill. I decided to play a piece for them. I sat down and played a little bit of Liszt’s Un Sospiro (Etude in D-flat Major). I finished up and turned to look at my students, who were standing there, stunned. One of them said, in amazement, “You sound like the freakin’ radio!” This is, by far, my favorite compliment I have ever received. It just cracks me up.

Our students need to hear us play! They need to know not only that we know what we are talking about, but that we practice what we preach and practice the piano just like they do. On a side note, I am definitely not perfect and this is something I am working on; I know I have a lot of room for improvement in this category (regular practicing, that is) since becoming a mommy and having precious little time to myself (I am sure you other mommas can surely relate!).

One of the things that I admire most about my piano teacher in college is that he was always practicing. It seems like every time I’d walk past his office, if he wasn’t teaching he’d be practicing up a storm. How inspiring, to see your own teacher practicing so diligently, and to know without a doubt that they absolutely know what they are teaching, and that they are exhibiting the same hard work that they expect of you!

pretty poll results

Thanks to all who participated in this week’s poll! It seems that scales & arpeggios and Hanon exercises are pretty common for our intermediate students. I personally feel that a good mix of all of the options are ideal in teaching our students good technique.

So, I was getting tired of the same boring colors on the poll results – and realized I could easily change them! Sweet. That makes me happy. So here are the results –

How do you most often teach technique to intermediate students?

This week we will be focusing a little more on ourselves as teachers – specifically on a way to maintain our professional skills. Our topic for this week will be: Maintaining Professional Skills: Continuing Your Own Piano Study. Do you still take piano lessons? Do you practice regularly? How do you keep up your piano skills, and how does this influence your teaching? 


One of the questions in our reader survey asks how you maintain your professional skills. Out of the 34 people who have answered this question so far (head on over there and take it if you haven’t already!), 22 people said that they practice the piano regularly, 21 said that they perform for their students and others, and 8 said that they are currently taking formal piano lessons.


Have a wonderful week, and we look forward to your comments!

Maintaining Your Skills

If there ever comes a time in your family (such as when you have young children) when you are just spread too thin and must take a little break from teaching, I believe there are many ways to remain competent and to maintain your professional skills.

  • Remain active in professional associations
  • Attend conferences and workshops
  • Take piano lessons
  • Practice!
  • Visit the music store and peruse new methods
  • Teach a student or two
  • Read lots of pedagogy books!
  • Subscribe to as many music journals as possible – and read them!
  • Listen to piano literature
  • Be an adjudicator for festivals
  • Take a music class
  • Teaching swap with the children of another piano teacher – you teach their kids, they teach yours
  • Help your child with his/her practicing
  • Teach your children
  • Perform!
What other ideas do you have?
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