One of the best ways to grow your studio is to invite parents to sit in on their children’s piano lessons and witness your wonderful teaching… at least once a month.
However, inviting parents to sit in on piano lessons is not always easy. For one thing… it can be terrifying, especially for new teachers… it certainly used to be terrifying for me (not these days, these days my door is wide open!)
And for “seasoned teachers” who may not find it uncomfortable, having parents sit in on piano lessons generally means more prep than usual… you know… just to make things “perfect”!
So today I thought I would share a simple yet very effective way to facilitate occasional, but regular parental involvement in lesson time.
The No-Stress Strategy To An Open Studio Door
When you invite piano parents to sit in on piano lessons you want them to see their children learning and having fun. You also want them to engage directly with their children so that they have a shared musical experience to talk about when the lesson has ended and they head home.
And the best (and easiest) way to accomplish these goals is to use piano games. When it comes to showcasing learning for parents, piano games do several things very, very well:
- Parents find them wonderfully unexpected. Many have tarnished images of the way piano lessons “used to be” and to see their children engaged with music AND having a blast definitely gets their attention in a good way.
- Piano games are easy to use. It is difficult for a piano parent to participate in many lesson activities, but roll out a piano game, explain a few directions, and they’ll be all in!
- Kids take ownership over piano games and are happy to explain how they work to their parents. This showcase of knowledge allows parents to clearly see that their children are learning a lot about music.
- Piano games are portable and this means that once parents have had a chance to play a piano game under your supervision, they’ll happily take that game home and play it with their children all week long. And when this happens… music wins! 🙂
If I had taken this approach to parent involvement years ago, my life and stress levels would have been so much easier. Rather than worrying about eyes staring me down from a chair across the room, I would have instead been having a great deal of fun and cementing wonderful relationships with my piano parents.
And Now For The “Wow Factor” Piano Games
If you want to inspire your students with new and exciting piano games every month, hop on over to PianoGameClub and become a member today.
Wendy says
Printed these games out yesterday and used Circosaurus with a student who started lessons this past September. She is not an aural learner and it was very enlightening for me (and her mom)! I have been using games in my teaching for ten years now and the kids love it!!! Nice to not have to think up all my own ideas anymore. Thanks so much 🙂
Andrea says
Lovely to hear Wendy! 🙂 I love how games can provide a real insight for teachers into what is truly understood and what needs work (without making the student feel inadequate). Thanks for sharing!
Kristen says
I’ve read many of your posts like this that you incorporate games and off-the-bench activities. So, my question is, what does a typical lesson look like for you? I find with most of my students that I easily fill the lesson just with the songs, scales, etc. How do you fit in time to do the extra activities? Thanks. 🙂
Maureen says
I actually have the same question. I love the off the bench activities that you have, but I too find that the lesson time goes by very quickly – any suggestions as to how to fit these in would be helpful!
Andrea says
Hi Kristen and Maureen! This is a really good question and one that I myself struggled with. However, once I realized that the time pressure I was feeling was actually self-imposed… I found so much more freedom in how I teach. My overall goal is to have the child leave their lesson having learned something that will directly contribute to his or her progress. I’ve learned that this doesn’t aways come from the traditional lesson format of working through a book, learning new pieces, reviewing old ones etc. Sometimes concepts are best learned away from the piano – and game-based play is a powerful learning tool in this regard. Changing your lesson format sometimes, and being willing to be flexible with your teaching is one way that you can actually *save* time in lessons; if your student truly understands a concept (at times having learned it off-bench) then he will progress through the pieces that require this knowledge faster. This means less time spent learning pieces, less time spent fixing errors, and less time reviewing and re-explaining.
If I have a student who is really engaged in learning something of a “teachable moment” appears where heading off-bench to play a game or use hands-on teaching methods to reinforce a concept… and if it means that we then miss out on starting a new piece that week… I have learned to say to myself “this is okay” as I know that learning has still happened (I believe that learning isn’t always measured by ticking off pieces in a book).
It did take some getting used to – and I made sure to explain to parents that just because we didn’t send home the same amount of homework each week, it didn’t meant their child had nothing to play (I assign review work, memorization work, score study etc. in the weeks that we don’t start a new piece).
I think you might find this approach refreshing and maybe even liberating!
We blogged about this in more depth: https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2013/09/26/who-made-the-piano-method-book-rule/ AND https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2014/08/27/30-minutes-of-shock-and-awe-the-piano-teacher-trap-youll-want-to-avoid/
Maureen says
Thanks for your feedback — I’m looking forward to trying these off-the-bench activities!
Kristen says
Yes, thank you! 🙂
Johanna says
I used Circosauraus with a couple of young beginners. They really loved it! A great ear training game! The last lesson of every month I do game day with all my students, so next week I’m gearing up to play some games! I’m looking forward to doing the other games as well. Thanks for all you guys do!
Andrea says
Hi Johanna – so glad to hear they enjoyed Circosaurus! That artist is one of our favorites to work with – kids just love her style. Thanks for sharing!
Beth says
I teach group and parents are expected to come to every lesson with their child. They help point to notes so kids don’t get lost, watch fingering, and learn along with their children so they know how to help them practice at home. It has made a world of difference! I say, don’t be afraid of parental participation, just be prepared! They are your best ally.
Andrea says
Great advice Beth! Their involvement in lessons makes it clear that their involvement in home practice is also needed. Plus… if you know your parents well (which comes from time spent) then you’ll greatly diminish those “piano teacher headaches” we all dread dealing with! Thanks for commenting!
Paula says
These are great! I have about half of the piano parents sitting in every week because they travel a distance and prefer to sit in the studio than in their car. I need to make more time in my lessons for games!
Lacey says
Thank you for this great idea! Just curious – how to do package your games to send home with students? Plastic baggies? Gift boxes? Binders? Do you provide all of the pieces (like dice or dry erase markers) or do you expect the parents to have those at home? I love all the games but have had trouble finding a way to send games home and have them actually get used.
Andrea says
Hi Lacey – great question! I have my games in a 2 pocket folder. The title page is pasted to the front, the “How to play” page goes in the left hand side pocket and the game board goes in the right hand side pocket. All game cards, dice, game markers, pens etc. are in a ziploc back that gets tucked into a pocket too. The entire folder then goes into an extra large freezer-size ziploc baggie to keep it contained. I keep track of who has borrowed what (a new game doesn’t go home until the previous one returns) and I send home the game each week that we have just played so the instructions are fresh in their minds. Does this help? I provide all of the pieces as I like to take away any barriers to them being used (me and the dollar store dice section are great friends!)
Drema says
Hmm….I haven’t thought much about lending games to piano student/parents but had wanted to. Does that mean you have several copies of the games in case two students both need the same game?
By the way, Andrea, I used Circosaurus with my youngest and even older group classes this past Saturday and it was a HIT!! I changed it a little bit to make it interactive so 3-4 people are all playing. For the older ones, I made it harder for them by giving them music notes to look at and read. I think the thrill was seeing who gets to grab each higher/lower/same card and who gets to put their piece on the item FIRST…in which they each get points!!
Andrea says
Hi Drema – yes, I have about 2-3 copies of each game. I have so many (LOL) that it’s rare that I am not able to loan out a game that directly reinforces a concept that we learned in the lesson. The cost of building the game library was covered by my registration fees I charge at the start of the year (and parents know it contributed to a game lending library).
So happy to hear Circosaurus is a fast favorite 🙂 It has that “Where’s Waldo” appeal with a musical twist!
Joslyn says
I’m really interested in becoming a piano game club member! I have tried using some of your free games (Sly Fox, Rollin’ Rhythms) and found that it is a great use of teaching time! I was wondering … do the new games come out the first of the month? (I know that the day I subscribe will be the day I always get them).
Anyways, thanks for all the great resources and advice you provide! My studio has changed so much for the better since I started implementing your ideas!!!
Andrea says
Hi Joslyn! Happy to hear you have found success with games! Yes, the new game set is released on the 1st of every month. No matter what day you sign up I can change it for you if you would prefer an early delivery date these games previewed in this post are available until January 26 (memberships from the 27-31 are delivered on the 1st and will he February’s games). Thanks so much for your very kind words!
Ellen says
I’m back!! I used to have a membership, and unsubscribed a while ago – but every one of these four games looks so great that I couldn’t resist joining again!
Leslie says
Hi Andrea I have the new games and have printed them and have them ready for next week. They are so great and I know my students will love them. Thank you so much Thanks also for the info about putting them in a folder. I was wondering about how you file the folders or an easy way to keep track of your he games that are put in a folder and zip loc bag. Do you file the folders ? Thank you
Andrea says
Hi Leslie! Wonderful 🙂 You can read all about how I organize my games in this post: https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2014/10/14/kick-flick-i-know-youll-make-time-for-this-soccer-themed-piano-game/
Mary Keelan says
Andrea, I started Piano Gane Club this past month & as I look at this, I did not receive Ewe in Trouble for some reason.
Will you please send? Thank you!
Heather says
The games from Piano Game Club are awesome! I love using them to teach basics. My students love puddle jumper. We use it to teach musical math across the instruments. My studio is not just a piano studio. I teach woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion, and piano! Thank you for such awesome ways to enhance my curriculum!
Ann Burgess says
I am tempted to join but I am worried I will have to spend hours internationalising the nomenclature on your games. I work at an international school in Britain and need to use both versions at every lesson. I need to be able to refer to crotchets as well as quarter notes, pauses as well as fermatas and I only use the term ‘bars’ instead of ‘measures’ because I understand both are understood in America. Are your files editable or available in both international flavours? If it’s just a case of opening the files in Apple Pages or even Adobe Acrobat and changing a few words I will join. If it’s a case of opening in Photoshop and searching for matching fonts or starting from scratch and redesigning the whole page I am not so keen!
Maureen says
I just used “Ewe in Trouble” for the first time today with one of my students — he loved it!!!! We were playing when his Mom came to pick him up — she was very impressed! He was very excited to bring it home for the week. Great reinforcement of key signatures. It really is worthwhile to have some “off the bench” activities ready — aside from reinforcing concepts, it makes learning and playing piano fun, which is the whole idea!!
Andrea says
Hi Maureen – this is lovely to hear! We work really hard to make the PianoGameClub games look professional as we believe this directly reflects on your teaching studio. Happy to hear you’re loaning them to take home as well – great extra learning time at home during the week 🙂
Gail says
My studio policy includes mention that I ask the parents to pay me, not the child. This monthly trip INTO the studio works doubles as a time for parents to sit in a lesson, or at least part of one, every month.