Connecting piano students to their music is a powerful tool for encouraging regular practice. But getting kids to care about music written long before they were born requires effort. They will not always have an instant connection to the classics.
Fortunately, exploring the “back story” behind famous pieces and their composers can help encourage connections to music.
My piano students and I build the musical “back story” of a piece by gathering bits of interesting information about the life of the composer, the genre of music to which the piece belongs and the historical events that were happening in the world when the piece was composed. It’s like providing a “movie trailer”; setting the scene and establishing the characters.
So how do you gather effective Back Stories and encourage your piano students to explore the history behind their pieces? Check out our ideas below which also includes a brand new Composer Trading Card Set!
How To Explore the Stories Behind The Pieces
1. Choose a “piece of the week” that you feel is important for your piano students to recognize. Post it to your Facebook wall (a link to a YouTube video etc.) and your studio wall, send it home on assignment sheets, and play it as your students enters their lessons. At the end of each month, play “Name That Tune” in lesson time with all 4 pieces you explored during the past month.
2. Encourage live music outings by organizing field trips to attend the local symphony or other performances (often group rates make a big difference in admission fees). Nothing can replace the experience of live music.
3. Create a monthly group piano class that explores the music of a designated composer; play themed games, listen to the composer’s music, and put on piano performances.
4. Have your students write a “Did you know?” fact at the top of their page of music so they feel a connection with the composers or the history behind the music. Brush up on your own “composer knowledge” to be able to share interesting stories with your students when the opportunity arises.
5. Find engaging picture books about composers and leave them in your studio waiting area to encourage exploration (check out Amazon).
6. Host a studio-wide “Crafty Composer Contest” to see who can create the most unique composer portrait using craft supplies. Display them in your studio or at your recital and have parents vote to choose a winner.
7. Use today’s Composer Trading Cards which you can add to your ever-growing collection (see below for more cards).
More Composer Trading Cards!
Our Composer Trading Cards are an easy way to quickly add music history to your regular lessons. Grab some trading card page protectors, print out our cards double-sided on card stock, and have your students fill in the information on the back of each!
We’ve previously released composer trading cards for J.S. Bach, Beethoven, and our female composer card set (Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Amy Beach).
You can find today’s set and all of the other previously-released sets in the Growing With WunderKeys Toolkit.
Judy Harms says
Still amazed at all the wonderful “teaching tools” you give us! I would appreciate trading cards with three contemporary composers, including John Williams! Thank you!
Andrea says
A contemporary set is a great idea Judy – thanks!
Angela O'Neill says
And Ludovico Einaudi please? As his pieces are my favourite to play to students for patterning etc
Johanna says
I love these. I am going to use these in the month of November- it’s music history month. I will hand out a trading card each week gor student to do some research on and do some listening activities of their music.
I would love to see a Chopin card
Andrea says
Hi Johanna – so happy you can use them 🙂
May Laing says
I used the first five composers in my summer piano school, one each day. Delighted that we have more to add, will add one a month during term. Handel, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky would all be good 🙂
I would recommend the book “My First Classical Music Book” by Genevieve Helsby and Jason Chapman, published by Naxos books, as a great resource. One of the composers in that book is the “odd one out” – why? He’s still alive! (John Adams)
Sheila says
That book is also an app!
Andrea says
I’ll have to check that out Sheila – thank you!
Mindy says
Thanks for sharing the composer cards! I love them and plan on using them, one a month, this year with my students. I would like to see a set with Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann.
Andrea says
Great suggestions – and we already have the artwork for two of them 🙂
September Salazar says
I love the piece of the week idea! What a great and simple way to teach the great musical works!
Andrea says
Hi September – it’s a lot of fun. I actually started doing this at Christmas time when I realized my students barely knew any tunes beyond Frosty and Jingle Bells. They had a lot of fun with it and so I’ve just continued on with the piano pieces that I think everyone should recognize 🙂
Lisa says
Thanks for these great ideas! I’m using these cards in my studio for the first time this year. I’m going to hand them out whenever a student reaches a practice goal (either learning 10 pieces for the older students or filling up their practice chart for the younger ones).
I would love to see Handel and Haydn, although I’m thrilled with any!
Andrea says
Hi Lisa – great idea to use them as a practice reward! Thanks for the suggestions 🙂
Colleen Branson says
What kind of paper stock do you all print these on?
And THANK YOU very much for sharing these as you do them.
Andrea says
I Colleen – I print them at Staples and select Glossy two-sided cardstock 80lb. They even cut them out for me so they look like “real” trading cards as they’re stiff, shiny and perfect! 🙂
Sheryl Dubois says
Thanks so much. I can’t wait to start using them all. I am hoping students will be as excited as I am to collect them all.
Andrea says
We hope so too Sheryl!
Betsy says
We’ll be doing one a month in my studio this school year! Thank you for the resource. Would love to see John Williams, Joplin and Chopin (2 student faves and my all-time favorite). Beyond thrilled with all the female composers!!
Andrea says
Great suggestions Betsy! Thank you 🙂
Candice says
I am LOVING all of your creative ideas for piano teaching! I use your Composer Cards to go along with each Piano Explorer Magazine I pass out each month. Would love to see Mussorgsky, Handel, Schumann, Clementi, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, and Gershwin for the upcoming year! These are the composers that are being featured each month this year in the Piano Explorer Magazine!
Jan says
I love your composer trading cards and everything else you send to help us be better teachers! I was wondering about the cards……….do you follow the Piano Explorer publication that come monthly? I try to concentrate on those composers at my group lessons and was thinking how wonderful it would be if you could present those particular cards for our students to collect! Any chance? Thanks for your consideration!
Jan says
So sorry! I didn’t read Candice’s post! Right on………….!
Caitlin says
Hi! I am just discovering your playing cards and am so excited to use them! I would love to see Haydn, Vivaldi, and Brahms!
Sarah Bastian says
Is there any way to get these cards bigger, say one composer on a full page? I’d love to print them to have above each of my 6 keyboards in my studio, so each student can learn about the composer that is above their piano!
Andrea says
Hi Sarah – sorry! We have our artist draw them to a certain size for cards that doesn’t really expand to a full page.