“What’s beside your piano?” The answer to this question is probably as telling as the question of “What’s inside your purse?” The items you keep beside your piano tell a lot about you as a piano teacher. But whether you have a bag full of tricks or simply an old wind-up metronome… try adding these 4 new items to your piano teaching studio this week…
1. A Studio Mascot
A piano studio mascot is a stuffed toy that becomes a practice buddy. Our studio has “Treblesome Tiger”. You can choose a mascot who reflects your studio, your area of the world, or just your own personal taste. Grab a stuffy and give it a name 🙂 Your studio mascot goes home with a different student each week. This mascot becomes their piano practice buddy as he “lives” on their piano during the 7 days until his return. The mascot comes with a practice log where your student records their piano practice minutes for the week, their favorite piece title from that week, and two things their mascot reminded them to do while practicing. This gets your students thinking critically about their practice time at home and injects a bit of creativity into their time away from you. Students love reading back through the log at what their peers wrote (and comparing minutes practiced!) Read more about this idea here.
2. Your Smart Phone or Tablet
If you want to connect with your piano students you need to integrate some technology into their piano lessons. Kids of all ages are used to technology being an almost constant part of their daily life. This technology is usually in the form of a phone it seems – so if you have a smartphone use it! Your phone has some pretty cool tools that are either meant for piano instruction or are easily adaptable to be useful. So, turn off your ringer, but put your phone beside you for easy access to youtube, Instagram, Garageband, a video camera, note-naming games, Twitter, and more!
3. Highlighters and Mini Post-it Notes
I’m a big proponent of writing directly on a student’s sheet music. Having some bright and cheerful highlighters make finding patterns, sequences, intervals, accidentals, etc. much more enjoyable for your visually-motivated piano students. Mini post-it notes prevent the “Oh, I forgot about that piece…” syndrome if you use them to mark the pages your student should look at each time they practice. For piano students who habitually don’t read their assignment books, these post-its keep them on track… and I often write my assignment for the week on a larger post-it that I stick directly to the top of the page. It’s a constant reminder each time they open their piano books. For super useful printable tools that stick to your students’ music, try our helpful label templates here.
4. Congrats Cards
Congrats cards are mini certificates pre-printed on postcard-sized card stock. Every other week I write the students’ names and something they did particularly well during their piano lesson. They take it home with them and it becomes refrigerator bragging rights. This is a great visual representation of the importance of positive teaching. Your compliments and “congrats” mean so much to your students who are desperate to please. Rather than sending them out the door with a generic “Good job!” you instead are forcing yourself to give them positive feedback on something specific. Kids respond best to genuine praise and will rise to the occasion.
These 4 items are easy to add to your piano teaching studio and will provide a welcome change for both you and your student! Happy Teaching 🙂
Chrissa Brown says
What great ideas! Especially love the mascot one – I know the kids would love that! And a little certificate is no doubt more rewarding then a sticker too. Thanks 🙂
Jenny Boster says
What great ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Catherine says
might have to steal all these ideas! I was thinking about a mascot for the autumn (academic year starts Sept in UK) as I now have quite a lot of very young students! Already use mini postits- but will use more now! Am going to do some congrat cards right now!
many thanks!
Janet Bryant says
I really like the post-its/highlighter idea and the “congrats” cards idea!
leslie says
Great ideas…I would also add a metronome and stickers. I also have little printable mini practice charts I tape to the bottom of their assignment page each week. I give them mini stickers each week to put on their charts.
Andrea says
I love that idea Leslie – I’m always looking for ways to entice my students to actually open their practice binders…having it directly on the page is genius. Thank you!
Ryan Record says
I recently started incorporating iPad apps into my lessons. It works really well. It really helps my kids respond to music in a new way.
Hope Noar says
Great ideas! I may just use them when I start up lessons again. Can you recommend some good iPad apps to use at the lessons? Thanks.
Carol says
Thanks! I love the mascot idea, I’m sure my younger students will love it. Do middle and high school students also get a week with the mascot?
Andrea says
Hi Carol,
I usually only do this with my “under 10’s”… however, there are always those teens who love to explore their childish side! One of my girls even sewed him a custom t-shirt! I just use my discretion as to who to send the mascot home with. Have fun! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Lavinia Livingston says
Terrific ideas. Could you post a sample of the practice log that includes space for student comments, etc? Does each student have a sheet that they fill out? in a binder that is passed around by the week? This seems like a very exciting idea. Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Lavinia
Marnie says
I like these ideas as well. I’m so thankful to have found this website and blog. I got a stuffed animal to use as a mascot, Bravo Bobcat (I’m in Arizona) that is really cute, authentic-looking, and soft, that I know will be a hit with younger students, but I’m also wondering about older students, particularly boys. Is there a better idea for them or should I try the mascot with all of them?
Trevor says
Hi Marnie – I love your idea of Bravo Bobcat – such a great name! I tend to leave the older students out of this activity. It’s mainly for the little ones. Have fun!
Catherine says
I like the mascot idea, too! I already have stuffed animals at the piano, and the majority of my students love them! It would be easy to add another for specific mascot use. Do you make any part of the practice log or student comments public? If so, how?
Carole says
I have had a mascot for many years-a small stuffed dog called Blue. He even has a necktie! All my young students adore him. They also go home with a little stuffed dog on their first lesson called their practice pal. I get these little dogs at Oriental Trading Company, the Dollar Store and recently, Walgreens for $.75 a dog! In addition, I have a “live” mascot called Gizmo, my little Chihuahua that greets all students at the door, and peacefully sleeps by the piano during lessons.
Another idea is to have little stuffed animals for each holiday during the year (they sit on the piano too). For Halloween, I have a bouncing spider that makes a noise when you bounce him on the ground (he goes with us to our Halloween performance at assisted living). Of course, I have a turkey, a reindeer, valentine frog and bee, St Patrick’s clover and Easter bunny.