A Composer Research Project For Teen Piano Students

Given the choice, piano teachers would rather not instruct their teen students through a screen. But, we do what we have to do, and we make the best of a difficult situation.

This means looking for opportunities in our current, unique teaching environment.

Right now, your teen piano students have a lot of time on their hands. Even if they are readily engaged in Zoom schooling, the disappearance of extracurricular activities and the inability to see friends mean that they are very willing to fill idle time in front of a computer or phone with music research projects.

And today, we have one such project!

Below we are sharing Composer Research Cards that turn the exploration of famous pieces by famous composers into an engaging game. And, since most of the research takes place on Youtube, inspiring your kids to take part won’t be difficult!

Composer Research Cards For Teen Piano Players

As your teens work their way through method books and perform popular tunes composed by people long since gone, do they even pay attention to the names? Do they take the time to learn a little about the person who made their piano piece?

Well, today’s project is all about making sure they learn about the minds behind their music.

Our Composer Research Cards are kind of like baseball cards. Each card front is adorned with an image of a famous composer as they might appear if they lived in the world of today’s teenagers. Each card front also contains the name of a famous piano piece composed by the identified composer.

The card back is where the action happens. Each card back has three simple sections that correspond to the name of the piece on the front of the card. The first section asks the student to record the date that the piece was composed. The second section asks the student to find a Youtube video of a person/group performing the composition and then record that performer’s name. The final section asks the student to record an interesting fact about the piece or the composer.

Our Composer Research Cards are useful because they are simple. They can be completed in manageable chunks that can be spread over a long period of time for continued learning.

Use These Books With Our Composer Research Cards

While our Composer Research Cards can be used as standalone resources they work wonders when paired with the music from our classical pop piano books. Commonly referred to as our Sessions Books, the series includes:

1. The Beethoven Sessions (available here on Amazon)
2. The Chopin Sessions (available here on Amazon) 
3. The Sebastian Sessions (available here on Amazon)
4. The Victress Sessions (available here on Amazon)
5. The Amadeus Anthems (available here on Amazon)

Download Our Composer Research Cards Below

Click on the image below to download our four sets of Composer Research Cards. Each set contains 9 cards dedicated to a single composer and his compositions. The first two sets are brand new and the final two sets have been shared in previous posts.