Here’s how I use a Pop-It fidget toy for a quickfire review of piano pentascales. If you’re not sure what a pentascale is, then read on for a quick explanation below the video. If you’re not sure what a Pop-it is then speak to an 8 year old! When my pupils are learning how to […]
Beginner pianists can sometimes find it tricky to correlate that one step to the right on the keyboard = moving up to the next line or space on the stave…. it’s a fairly abstract concept. Here’s a stave with light horizontal lines spaced the same distance as a standard key width (22mm). It can help […]
Here in Manchester, Chinese New Year is a big celebration, with a big, colourful Dragon Parade through town and lots of noise! Perfect for inspiring a splash of colour and imagination into our piano lessons during the misty, grey month of January. So here are some ways we explored Chinese sounds in our piano lessons […]
In the UK, Cauliflowers Fluffy is a really popular primary school song for harvest time. It brings back a lot of memories for me! Children love being able to play the songs they sing at school, and so I’ve written a simple pre-reading bass part for beginners to play. I’m happy to share it with […]
Here is a fun tool I made that strengthens all the fingers to help stop collapsing knuckles. It’s easy to make your own. Collapsing knuckle joints like the one pictured above are a common sight when people start to learn the piano, because they haven’t yet built up the strength in their finger joints. […]
The summer holidays are nearly here! For pupils that have piano lessons in school, that can mean a very long time before they have their next piano lesson in September. Here is a practice challenge I made for my beginners that reviews their learning in a fun and creative way. It reminds them of some […]
Here is a bright and simple way I help beginner musicians embed pulse and beat in their first year of learning. My piano pupils do lots of aural activities during lessons. They learn through a ‘sound before symbol’ approach. One way my pupils internalise beat and pulse is with a quick challenge where we swap […]
This is a hugely versatile game that children especially love in piano lessons, but I use it with students of all ages! 10 of my beginners at Didsbury Piano have started learning crotchet, quaver, minim and semibreve rhythms and I like to give them plenty of reinforcement in a fresh and fun way. Today we […]