Newsflash… learning “piano lingo” is boring. And teaching piano lingo is even worse! So this year, we’ve decided to jazz up an otherwise “fork-in-the-eye” process…
The Super Secret Piano Password
When students enter my studio for the first time in 2013, they’re going to unlock a safe and pull out the Piano Password. The password could be any useful musical term: adagio, crescendo, grandioso, legato…
After a quick teaching moment surrounding the term, the students will have to commit the password to memory because entering my piano studio the following week is entirely dependent on them telling me the Super-Secret Piano Password and its meaning 🙂
Give it a try… its sure to be a fun way to teach some not-so-fun material. And, if they forget the password you may have a little free time on your hands (entirely joking of course!)
Ooops! I Took Your Advice Literally
If you happen to take our advice literally, and ACTUALLY lock your students out, then you’re definitely going to need our teacher’s guide, Piano Hands Shouldn’t Flip Burgers, to fill what I am guessing will soon be a pretty empty studio ;).
Laura B. says
Great idea, Andrea and Trevor! Another fun way that I teach terminology is by getting students hyped up about learning not just piano, but Italian, too! When I give an “Italian lesson”, I speak the word using its meaning (such as “sta — cca — to”). Kids love doing the same, especially with dynamics like crescendo and fortissimo and tempo terms like accelerando.
Susan Paradis has a really fun game called Silly Sentences that is great for teaching terminology. One other idea: at the beginning of my last student recital, I asked the audience to listen for all the musical details and expression in the performances and had some students name and define some Italian terms to describe those details.
Beth says
What a great idea! I’ll definitely post a password for the first week back
Natalie says
I’ve posted new rhythms on the door — students love having to knock the correct pattern before I open it. Parents are usually highly amused too!
Andrea says
GREAT idea Natalie! I love it… and I’m stealing it for next week at my studio 🙂