Today we are excited to announce the launch of our new piano teaching resource, Happy Birthday Bach! And the timing is perfect because Bach’s birthday is just around the corner (March 21).
Happy Birthday Bach is the first book in our new series, Piano Party Packs by Teach Piano Today. Our brand new 25-page resource will guide you step-by-step as you throw a wildly fun master class birthday bash for Bach and your piano students.
Your kids will gain valuable performing practice in a setting jam-packed with Bach-inspired crafts, music games, and much, much more!
Benefit from the increased revenue of group piano classes while throwing a party where your students can have a blast enhancing their musical education surrounded by their piano playing peers!
When you purchase Happy Birthday Bach, you will receive:
1. Step-by-step teacher instructions for throwing the master class birthday bash
2. A hilarious Bach-inspired craft that will have your students “looking the part”
3. A tasty treat recipe from back in the days of Bach
4. 1.5 hours of fantastically fun, action-based music games
5. Birthday Party Invitations you can print and customize
6. A Bach Fact Sheet for your students to study up on before the big day
7. A Goodie Bag item list for ideas to send home as a party favor
8. Supplemental resources to support the action-based music games
Check Out Our Sample Pages
Birthday Invitations Snapshot
Craft Sample Snapshot
Activity Sample Snapshot
Resource Sample Snapshot
Start Your Party Planning Today
If you are excited to throw the most unique and exciting group piano session your students have ever attended, click below to purchase and instantly download the ebook, Happy Birthday Bach for $11.99.
Rebecca Brown says
What age group and/or performance level is this geared to?
Andrea says
Hi Rebecca,
The group class would work for ages 6 to 12 and is designed to work for a multi-age and multi-level grouping. Any other questions feel free to ask 🙂
Heather says
Would you use this in addition to the weekly private lesson or does it replace all the students lessons for that week and everyone comes to the party instead?
Trevor says
Hi Heather,
This would be done in addition to their regular lessons (you may choose to do this on a weekend etc.) It would be offered as an extra “special” even at your studio as an add-on to the students’ regular program. Most teachers choose to charge between $15-$20 for the extra group lesson as it last approximately 1.5-2 hours (depending on the number of students who attend)…extra income potential! 🙂
Happy Teaching!
Adrianne Chapman-Gorey says
This sounds fun! I’ve always had an interest in teaching group piano lessons, but didn’t know how to go about doing so in an effective way. Does this program require several pianos/keyboards, or just a single piano? Will this work well with having young beginners and older (10-12 yr.) intermediates combined at the same time? I’m concerned that the younger ones will find it too difficult, and the older ones might be bored, and/or that it would be difficult to keep everyone entertained. Thanks! 🙂
Trevor says
Hi Adrianne,
This is a really easy way to add group piano lessons to your program. No, it just requires one piano as the master class portion is done in a peer-sharing format (one student performs at a time) and the rest of the activities are away from the piano doing other musical activities. While it is definitely designed to accommodate multi-ages and multi-levels, I would be inclined to group your students into age groups that were within 2-3 years of each other (i.e. 6-8 year old and then 9-12 year olds) as they’ll have more fun interacting with children their own age. Everything is completely outlined in the guide – we really made it a priority to make this easy for the teacher to quickly add to their studio programming without any special equipment, arrangements etc.
joanne andrews says
What is the fewest number of participants needed for this Birthday Bash to be fun and effective?
Trevor says
Hi Joanne
We suggest a minimum of 6 students to get the most out of the activities.
Joanne says
I presented the idea to my 7 – 9 year old students and they all jumped at the opportunity, so…..Bach Be-lated Birthday Master Class is this Saturday with 9 students! Wish me luck!
Andrea says
Hi Joanne
Fantastic! I’m sure you’ll have a blast 🙂 We’d love to hear how it goes.
Joanne says
My students and I can’t wait to do another Master Class. This was an exciting and modern way for the kids (and myself) to get in tune with a Master Composer from over 300 years ago. My students were really excited about learning and performing their Bach classical music. They loved getting together. Amazingly once I started working on this Bach seemed to everywhere. From a friend sending me a video of him playing Toccata & Fugue on a pipe organ in Liverpool Cathredral in England to walking in (unplanned) on a performance of The Brandenburg Concerto at Trintiy Church in New York City. Also found a cool kids tape (yes I’m that old) and a book in my basement on Bach that I hadn’t used for years. The Bach Master Class was definitely a huge success! I allowed 15 minutes for each activity and 1/2 an hour for the Master Class portion. There was a good flow. The whole event was just over 2 hours. I had 9 participants ages 7 – 9. I was extrememly organized beforehand. I used paper for the craft. It was much easier to use than the toilet paper rolls, though I collected 54 of the darned things. They went to a worthy cause, as one of my students likes to make crafts out of them. lol The kids loved the games and the snack was a good adventure for them to try some new food. I used the ideas in the book for the goodie bags and bought a neat pin that had a picture of Bach on it wearing shades. It read BACH, the original jam band. Ha, Ha, love it! Love that site with all the buttons for sale. I kept one for myself. The opportunity to perform was what the kids enjoyed most. They made some mistakes but kept right on playing like little troopers! For about a month Bach truly was a part of our lives. Leading up to the Master Class the kids learnt about Bach and watched performances on Youtube. For the 10 of us it was as if Bach was alive and well and living practically next door. Our enthusiasm spread to those around us. The parent’s were excited and surprised to see their kids so into the Baroque period. This was an excellent book. Please let me know when you come up with another one.
Chad says
Yes Andrea, another composer from the Classical period, one or more from the Romantic period, etc. would be nice! And if their birthdays are in the Fall school semester that would allow our studios to continue these master classes year-round. Several composer’s who have Summer birthdays would allow us to offer several master classes when school is out and our studio size is lean. I know this would help me and my teaching friends out. Suggestions. Thanks!
Andrea says
Hi Chad – glad you are a fan of the resource! We appreciate your suggestions very much. We’ve got some other projects that we’re working away on, but will definitely be revisiting more Piano Party Packs in the future.
Joanne says
Since my Bach Master class, I have made up my own Master class parties on Beethoven and soon Mozart! I would have gladly paid for having the work already done for me, but thanks for the initial idea.
Heather says
Hi! I am looking for a group lesson idea for August 13th. Do you think 12 days is enough time to prepare for this program?
Thank you!!
Andrea says
Hi Heather – absolutely. 12 days is more than enough time. We were very conscious of making this something that would be easy for piano teachers to implement in their studios. We’ve done all of the hard work for you! 🙂
Jennifer Faulkner says
I bought 5 keyboards, stands, and benches several years ago and they are all back in the closet! The one group-keyboard curriculum I found didn’t go over so well – it was developed in the 80’s and does not offer relevant music for today’s students. I can’t seem to find a great weekly-curriculum and don’t have the time to develop the whole thing myself. Do you offer any year-long curriculum? What do other teachers use? I love the birthday bash idea and will look into that. At least I would get some use out of those Yamaha’s!!!! Any and all suggestions are welcomed!!!! Thank you!
Jamila says
Awesome idea! Are you planning more of this resource for more composers? That would be incredible as I have a ”Mostly Mozart” coming up in a few weeks. I was trying to do it close to Mozart’s birthday but some students took too long to learn the music. Most of my students are learning something by Bach so I will definitely give this a try, looks like a lot of fun and educational for the students.
Denitsa Mineva says
This sounds interesting. I’d like to give it a try but first need to know : would the participating students be expected to be able to play Bach pieces beforehand in order to join the party?
Andrea says
Hi Denitsa,
There is a masterclass portion to this Piano Party – but it is just one of MANY activities the kids complete. We, of course, suggest the piece they play is by Bach, but it could certainly be a simplified version like the ones found here http://makingmusicfun.net/htm/printit_piano_sheet_music_index.htm
– the idea is to 1) Have them become familiar with Bach’s repertoire but also to 2) Learn how to provide constructive criticism and compliments on their peers’ performances. Hope that helps 🙂
Andrea says
Hi Denitsa,
There is a masterclass portion to this Piano Party – but it is just one of MANY activities the kids complete. We, of course, suggest the piece they play is by Bach, but it could certainly be a simplified version like the ones found here http://makingmusicfun.net/htm/printit_piano_sheet_music_index.htm
– the idea is to 1) Have them become familiar with Bach’s repertoire but also to 2) Learn how to provide constructive criticism and compliments on their peers’ performances. Hope that helps 🙂
Fiona Mendes says
Hi Andrea:
I am very interested in this resource and was wondering if you had a flyer advertising a piano party in general?
Fiona
Andrea says
Hi Fiona,
The Happy Birthday Bach pack comes with little invitations you can hand out to advertise your party 🙂 They’re super cute.
Kat Parsons says
I love this! My students aren’t yet reading music- they are all just a month or so into lessons. Is it too soon for this, do you think? Thank you!
Andrea says
Hi Kat – no, not at all! You’d just have to modify the performance for your peer part of the class and have them play a piece they know already. The rest would still work really well!
Amy Reiff says
Hello, Andrea and Trevor. Are there plans to produce more Piano Party Packs? Thanks.
Andrea says
Hi Amy – not at the moment. Our focus right now is the WunderKeys method books and PianoBookClub and PianoGameClub – which are keeping us super busy! Perhaps in the future as I know teachers appreciate the “Ready-made” group lesson plans!