Here’s a nice tactile way to remind your child or pupil to practice those tricky spots! I’ll often get my pupils to play a tricky spot 3 or 5 times. Use these practice beads to help them keep track! They simply slide one bead from the top end to the bottom end (or vice versa) […]
Having a great sense of pulse is a crucial part of being a musician. We do lots of activities in our lessons to build a strong internal sense of pulse. Tempo is the speed of the pulse. In terms of tempo, this is what I expect from all my pupils, right from beginners: to be […]
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’s how I use a fun game with a beginner teaching piece that really reaps its rewards through repetition. The piece: Zebra on a Playground This is a beginner improv/technique piece from Piano Safari repertoire book level 1. The goal: strengthen the nail joint on every finger and cement keyboard geography. How: Play the piece […]
I am a big fan of using lots of fun props and manipulatives in lessons, and over the last few years I have ended up with boxes full of them. I just can’t resist their lure! So I extra-love it when I can put them to work double-duty and find multi-tasking uses for these little […]