Music Education

A Christmas Book for Elementary to Early Intermediate Pianist

Posted by Tara Wright on

A Christmas Book for Elementary to Early Intermediate Pianist

This post is brought to you by Darren Day of Darren Day Piano. Darren is a skilled musician and teacher from Belfast.  Alongside a busy teaching career, Darren composes and performs his own music.  Drawing on Modern, Popular, Classical, and Fold influencers, he writes music to motivate and educate for all abilities.  It is a favourite time of year for me, I won’t lie about it. I love Christmas! As a musician I am usually up to my eyes, playing, singing or arranging Christmas concerts, along with the busyness of teaching but I still love seeing my students getting enthused about the opportunities...

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10 Resources for Beginning Piano Students

Posted by Tara Wright on

10 Resources for Beginning Piano Students

Beginner piano lessons are incredibly important when it comes to a student’s musical journey.  This is the time when piano teachers need to “hook” students not only by sharing their passion for piano but also by connecting with their students.  So many times, you hear adults say “I wish I would have stuck with piano” so, I’ve asked these adults why they didn’t and it typically comes back to the same few reasons:  I didn’t have fun. / I didn’t enjoy it. I had an old mean teacher.  My parents couldn’t afford it.  While we can’t change our age or...

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5 Ways To Organize Your Teaching Resources

Posted by Tara Wright on

5 Ways To Organize Your Teaching Resources

Do you struggle with organizing all of your teaching resources?  Do you have board games, activity sheets, sheet music, dice, game pieces, and so much more?!  My students frequently tell me that I have SOOO MUCH STUFF but the truth of it is, every student learns differently so I have different teaching tools for them.   Not to mention, I teach multiple instruments.  After 16 years of teaching, I’ve accumulated A LOT and I’ve had to adapt and find a system that would work for me and I have finally found one and I’m here to share that with you...

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How To Use Games And Activities In Online Lessons

Posted by Tara Wright on

How To Use Games And Activities In Online Lessons

This week's post is brought to you by Georgina Wilson of Georgina (Greenside Music). Georgina creates wonderful resources to enhance your students' musical knowledge in fun and quirky ways. It’s no secret that I absolutely love playing games in my lessons. It’s fun (for both the student and teacher) and it helps the students reinforce their musical knowledge. I’ve recently seen a few posts online from teachers saying they’re missing playing games when they have to move lessons online, and I wanted to let everyone know there’s no reason why online lessons have to be game-free!  When I made the move...

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5 Things Every Piano Teacher Should Do In The Summer

Posted by Tara Wright on

5 Things Every Piano Teacher Should Do In The Summer

Summers often go by way too quickly in my opinion.  If you are anything like me, you want to enjoy the sun, hang out with friends and family, and relax next to the pool.  If you are a parent, you usually spend time running the kids to different activities (how are kids busier in the summer?!).  Before you know it, you are scrambling to get your students scheduled for the fall semester (hello fall sports) and all of a sudden, your summer is gone. There are a few things that every piano teacher needs to do every summer (even more...

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