At the start of every piano lesson I carefully observe my piano students as they begin their warm-ups. I feel much like Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees; engaging with her subjects all the while making copious mental notes about their behavior, emotions and attitudes.
(Just to be clear, I am not comparing my students to chimpanzees but rather my observation style to that of Jane Goodall… although… there are certain days when some kids act like a bunch of monkeys!)
Warm-ups, of course, are an incredible tool for building finger strength and muscle coordination, note-reading skills and sight reading abilities. But they are also a window into your students’ minds… and because the warm-ups are performed at the beginning of a piano lesson, they can also be predictive of how the lesson will unfold.
5 things I Look for During Piano Lesson Warm-Ups:
1. Their general attitude
Kids deal with a lot during their busy lives, so it’s no surprise that your student can seem like a completely different person from week-to-week. During these first 5 minutes of a piano lesson, I’m looking to see if my student is more easily frustrated than usual, or more easily distracted than usual. I’m also looking to see if he seems sad or bothered.
2. Their energy level
In a perfect world, piano lessons would take place after breakfast and before lunch… not following a long day of school. Unfortunately, it is what it is, so during the first 5 minutes of a lesson, I’m always observing my piano student’s energy level. If she seems sloth-like then I know it’s time to call on some off-the-bench activities.
3. Their posture
Sometimes I am guilty of not paying enough attention to the posture of my students. By adding this to my start-of-lesson checklist, my students are now always perfectly positioned to play the piano.
4. Their anxiety
I’m pretty friendly and easy-going, but I still occasionally have a particularly sensitive student who still gets anxious during a piano lesson. By observing the technical warm-ups I can tell if a piano student is anxious, allowing me to tend to that during the lesson.
5. Their dedication to practice
And finally… by observing the first five minutes of a piano lesson it becomes very apparent if a student has even touched the piano during the last week and if it is worth wasting precious lesson minutes listening to any “run-throughs” of an unpracticed piece.
While it’s easy to keep these five things in the back of your mind as you observe technical warm-ups at the start of each and every lesson, I find it particularly useful to create a quick spreadsheet in my binder for these 5 characteristics and give a rating between 1 and 5 for each student every week. This allows me to see long-term trends that may emerge in my piano students’ overall disposition.
The Perfect Tool For Technical Warm-ups
If you want an easy-to-implement resource that reinforces technical skills during the first 5 minutes of each lesson, and also allows you to be able to sit back and take the time to observe the 5 characteristics listed above, then you’ll definitely want to check out TEDDtales.
We promise… you’ve never seen a technical exercise resource like TEDDtales! Our interactive, story-based approach will have your piano students begging (that’s right, we said it!) to do their technical exercises.
Also, I wanted to thank everyone who shared their piano teaching quests last week. While we loved them all, we had to narrow it down to two… so, Kerri (who created a quest based on MineCraft!) and Linda (whose inspired quest will teach students to “do some good”) will be getting their own copy of TEDDtales!
Amy Boze says
I would love to hear more about what’s in your binder.
Andrea says
Hmmmm… a future blog post? I’m on it! 🙂 In short… I separate my binder using tabs – one tabbed ection for each student (and actually one binder per day so I just have to pull out my “Wednesday Binder” before I teach. Inside each student’s tab is my yearly plan for that student (blogged about that here) and the materials I need for the next month that correspond with that yearly plan (blogged about that here). As I collect extra supplementary resources or music I print it off for the students that I think would benefit and tuck a copy behind their tab. That way I always have materials ready for each student when needed. I have a tracking sheet that lists when I have last talked to/emailed their parent, when they last received an award or “pick-me-up” by mail, any general notes about what they’ve told me they’d like to play etc and our goals for performances, video recordings, auto recordings etc. I’ll work on a post with pictures to explain better 🙂
Kathy G says
Kewl! Thanks! I’m on the same ‘page’ but I am going to add a couple of these other ideas.
Renee says
oh my goodness. a tab for every student. DUH!!!! I can’t believe i never thought of this. that is brilliant. and life changing. haha.
Christie says
Me too!
Andrea says
Hi Christie – just answered the binder question in Amy’s comment above if you want to check back and read it 🙂
Kathy G says
Very intriguing idea, to keep a record of these 5 things in the students’ notes. I too, am always into industrial espionage, i.e. I would love to hear more about what’s in your binder. I have a teacher friend who is always referring to her Little Black Notebook, where she keeps all her student records, notes, and …. I don’t know what else, because SHE WON’T SHOW IT TO ME! She loves to mention it, because she knows it drives me crazy. I tell her someday when I am at her house and she is busy in the kitchen, I’m going to sneak into her office and look at her LBN! But in all seriousness, I love looking at other teachers’ record keeping and planning systems. I get good ideas and learn new things.
Andrea says
Ha ha… sounds like my husband’s Grandmother’s “dinner roll recipe”… it went with her to the grave (just out principal I think!) I just answered some of the binder question in Amy’s comment above if you want to check back and read it, but I will blog about this for sure if people are interested.
Kathy G says
Andrea, I managed to procure the closely-guarded secret recipe for my Aunt Annabell’s Dinner Rolls — heh heh. Let me know if you still need one and I will send it to you. When my mom was still alive and cooking, she was legend for always, always, always burning the rolls. But I have figured out where she went wrong and they never fail for me. 😉
Andrea says
Hi Kathy – ohhhhh… If I only ate bread I’d be all over that recipe LOL 🙂 Alas… me and gluten don’t see eye to eye. My father in law figures that her dinner rolls were actually purchased at the grocery store, wrapped in a tea towel and heated up in the oven to fool us all. And he’s probably right! 🙂
SonicPiano says
All excellent points. I engage my students in some casual conversation about their personal lives (how’s the new baby brother, how did their big soccer game go, do they like their teacher this year, etc.) and how their week went before we launch into warm ups. Their responses and demeanor tell me much about how they’re feeling that day and I adjust the lesson accordingly. For your stressed and/or anxious students, try some quick yoga poses coupled with breathing. I’m a huge yoga fan and discovered it helps calm a stressed child (and me if I’m also feeling particularly stressed).
Renee says
Question. you mentioned – you can tell if it’s not even worth a run-thru of last week’s songs if they didn’t practiced.
if you can tell this is the case, what do you do? say something, not say something? do a one or two week on the spot practice incentive? run thru the unpracticed songs again or not?