Tuesday Teaching Tactic #35

Tuesday Teaching Tactic #35

Let's get right into another collaborative music post today for our Tuesday Teaching Tactic! We're exploring the world of duets with scales, arpeggios, and chords. Technique seems to be the boring part of lessons/practice in my students' minds. They don't understand...

read more
Tuesday Teaching Tactic #34

Tuesday Teaching Tactic #34

Welcome back for another awesome Tuesday Teaching Tactic. We started the topic of Collaborative Music last week so we're continuing that by discussing sight reading today. How many times do your lessons get busy enough that you forget to pull out the sight reading...

read more
Making a Case for Ensemble Music

Making a Case for Ensemble Music

So this Tuesday, we're switching things up. We've shared so many Tuesday Teaching Tactics in the past few months that we wanted to mix things up. So if you remember, we presented in March at the Music Teacher's National Association Conference in Baltimore. Spring and...

read more
Teaching Arpeggios (Free Game Printable!)

Teaching Arpeggios (Free Game Printable!)

Arpeggios are one of my students' favorite technique skills. It's probably because they sound so awesome and show-off well in pieces. But it's also an easy technique concept to teach and use earlier in their learning. I usually teach these right after they learn Major...

read more
Teaching Tactic #31

Teaching Tactic #31

The weeks are flying by!  Each Tuesday (or sometimes most Tuesdays...) we bring you a quick idea that you can try in your lessons right away.  Today's Teaching Tactic is to change the lyrics of the song, or create your own if there are none.  Sometimes I'll get to a...

read more
Teaching Tactic #30

Teaching Tactic #30

Happy Tuesday!  Have you ever thought about how little choice kids have in their lives?  They're told when to get up, what to wear, where to go, what to eat...you get the point!  Kids need a lot of direction, but they also enjoy being able to make some choices of...

read more
Fall Activity Round-Up

Fall Activity Round-Up

Halloween is just around the corner, and fall is in full force (unless you live here in Texas where highs are still nearing 90...).  Over the years we've shared quite a few printable games and activities with Halloween, Fall, or Thanksgiving themes.  I thought it...

read more
Pumpkin Patch Technique Game – Free Printable

Pumpkin Patch Technique Game – Free Printable

Although it doesn't quite feel like fall yet here in Texas, Halloween and cooler weather are just around the corner.  My students aways love the Easter Technique Game Whitney shared here a few years back.  I printed it once and pull it out every year to use the week...

read more
Animal Improv

Animal Improv

Today we're sharing something we've never done before - our first resource in our new shop! Over the past few years, we've shared many free resources and we'll continue to share these because we love it. But we also keep having BIG ideas. Ideas that take a few months...

read more
Tuesday Teaching Tactic #22

Tuesday Teaching Tactic #22

Playing games with your teacher is okay, but playing games with another kid is way better!  But what can we do when it's a private lesson?  Our Tuesday Teaching Tactic this week is to have back-to-back students to play games together.  Our students often arrive a few...

read more
Happiness in Teaching

Happiness in Teaching

Just a quick post today about a quote that has caught my attention recently. A quote about happiness as I am preparing for the new school year. When we look back at our assessments for the year, we look at progress - how well they played their scales & arpeggios,...

read more
Creativity for Piano Teachers

Creativity for Piano Teachers

So today is a bit different than our usual topics - I want to ask each of you what you do to keep your creativity alive?!  Life gets so busy and if you're like me, teaching keeps my life pretty hectic. From planning new repertoire to preparing new games to correspond...

read more