Setting goals before the start of a new teaching year is always a great idea. Studio goals can propel you forward with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and purpose. They can also build excitement and anticipation within your studio community.
When brainstorming new teaching goals, consider asking yourself the following questions: “What can I add to my lessons that will set me apart from other teachers?” and “What can I offer my students that is different, valuable, and viewed by parents as beneficial?”
If you’re stuck for ideas, consider making weekly music history your 2017 target. Why? Because we are sharing a resource today that makes it “oh so easy”!
In past blog posts we have already shared 14 composer cards that feature J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, Liszt, Chopin, Chaminade, Amy Beach, Lily Boulanger, Scott Joplin, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Clara Shumann, and Fanny Mendelssohn. And today we’re adding Felix Mendelssohn and Béla Bartók to the collection!
Wondering what Composer Trading cards are, how to use them, or where to find them? Read on!
Easily Adding Music History To Busy Piano Lessons
If you’ve felt pinched for time in the past and have had to sacrifice music history, you’ll be thrilled to find out that this year could be the year that music history makes its mark without stealing time away from other lesson activities.
Our Composer cards are trading-style cards with an image of a composer on the front and research and discussion questions on the back (print them double-sided before cutting them out). Cards are handed out to students with instructions to fill out the research questions on the back by performing some parent-supervised online searching. The cards are then returned to lessons the following week. Students can keep their cards in a trading card page protector (find them here on Amazon), clipped into their piano binder.
Students find these resources exciting and motivating as they add new cards to their growing collection each week! They are an easy way to get students interested about composers that they will encounter during their piano studies. Teachers using these cards have been pleasantly surprised at how motivated their students have been to seek out interesting tidbits on their chosen composers!
Today’s Composer Trading Card Set
Today’s set includes Composer Trading Cards for Béla Bartók and Felix Mendelssohn. If you’re excited about adding music history to your piano lessons this term, you can add our newest resource to your collection by clicking the image above or following the link below.
Additional sets of Composer Trading Cards can also be found on WunderKeys.com by scrolling down to the “Level 1” section and clicking on the images. And while you’re there, check out our WunderKeys Preschool Piano method books… we’re also hard at work on the WunderKeys Primer Level with more details coming soon!
Kelly Koch says
Doing THIS!! We are having a 6-week practice contest and this will be 1 way our students get points. Already have the card holders and cards are printed and ready to go. THANK YOU for this amazing resource!!
Andrea says
Hi Kelly – great way to use them! We’ve put the full set of 16 cards on WunderKeys.com in the free resource section so they’re easy to find 🙂 More to come!
Linda Kirkconnell says
I’ve been using these for a few months. My students (from Wunderkeys age through high school age) love them! And they’ve learned so much. I’m happy to receive new composer cards today.
Just ordered the card protector sheets you suggested from Amazon so each child will have one.
Thank you for all your fabulous ideas.
Andrea says
Lovely! Thrilled to hear they’re getting good use from a wide-range of your students, Linda! They’ll be thrilled with the page protectors – my students have really enjoyed “filling them up” 🙂 It makes it feel like a real collection!
Rebecca says
I’m excited to bring Composer Cards to my students this fall! They love collecting things. 🙂
I was happy to see Joplin in the line-up. Just curious – do you have plans to add other “non-traditional” composers or singer-songwriters in the future (Gershwin, Billy Joel, etc)?
Andrea says
Hi Rebecca – our plan is really “limitless”! Open to suggestions always!
Emily says
My students are interested in modern composers, such as Philip Glass, John Luther Adams, John Newman, Piotr Szewczyk, etc.
Lou Ann Lasher says
Paul Winter, George Winston, Jelly Roll Morton,
Nina Simone
Kimberly says
Thank you sooooo much! I love your products! And you are so kind and generous to share! Wish I had the skills to make these things!
Andrea says
You’re very welcome, Kimberly! We’re thrilled that they’ll get great use in your studio 🙂
Emily says
My students love these! My young girl students are thrilled to see female composers as well. Myself being a serious composer, I have been delighted to watch my students grow in interest and respect for composers old and new, plus have a few young, contemporary composers emerge within my studio!
Andrea says
Happy to hear it, Emily! 🙂