A Bounce Back Checklist For “Already Tired” Piano Teachers

If you’re like most piano teachers in the world… you’re probably feeling burned out. This spring saw you scrambling to change your entire business: how you teach, how you advertise, how you use your materials, and how you interact with studio families.

It all shifted in a big way.

And while many of you are now ready to get back to lessons, you’re probably already tired and you haven’t even taught your first student. Summer didn’t really provide the relaxation on which we so heavily rely.

But, the calendar continues to inch toward September, so we have no choice but to get started. This year (more than any other year) is a time when your piano students will need you to be there as a consistent, positive, and inspiring person in their weekly routines.

So, how do you brush off those tired feelings?

We’re here to help with 7 Ways To Get Excited About Another Year Of Teaching.

7 Ways Tired Teachers Can Get Ready For A New Term

1. Write down 7 positive things from the past 5 months. This spring was tough; maybe you lost some students, maybe you’re not a huge fan of online teaching. But, I’m betting there were some moments where you stopped and thought, “Wow!”. Write these moments down – no matter how small. Being purposeful about gratitude can really shift your mindset and has been shown to increase happiness and creativity. Keep your list in a place where you can see it often (and even add to it!).
2. Plan one exciting event for your studio to take place within the next 6 weeks. Planning and looking forward to something gets your creative juices flowing. Even if you’re still teaching online, you can host an online party, game night, recital, or trivia contest. If you are not interested in online meet-ups, you can still engage your students in collaborative projects (a composing yearbook, an at-home play-a-thon for a local charity, a studio poster contest, etc).
3. Eliminate your planning hours this year with a method book that does it for you. If you are desperate for extra time to relax during your weekends, WunderKeys Method Books can help you steal back some serious planning time by giving you everything you need for multi-faceted lessons that will excite your students. Get started with our WunderKeys transfer guide here.
4. Make your social media page pretty! It can feel great to start fresh for the fall term, and an easy way to do this is to give your Facebook page a facelift. Change up your cover photo, add a new profile picture, and create a pinned welcome message at the top of your page to match. In just a few minutes you can freshen up your page, create a better impression on prospective students, and even motivate yourself to post more often.  If you’re not a design guru, check out Canva for some help.
5. Theme your first month of lessons. It’s always fun to pick a theme and run with it. Choose something quirky like “Cookie Month” or something more general like “fall” and then select your games, repertoire, practice incentives, and studio decor to match. Doing this will leave you and your students feeling inspired! With a membership to PianoGameClub, you can have fun piano games for almost every theme under the sun.
6. Be a part of the WunderKeys World Tour! We’re wrapping up our summer tour after visiting almost 30 different studios around the world and we’ll be booking fall dates soon! If you’d like your studio to be a part of a Zoom recital hosted by us, hop over to our Facebook community so you’ll be the first to know when fall dates open up. Having an event to practice for and prep for (with none of the work involved on your part!) Is a great way to re-energize.
7. Take some time for yourself at the piano at least 3 times in the next week. Sometimes we just need a teensy reminder of why we do what we do. And while that often comes from the grinning faces of our students, it also comes from the music itself. It’s not often we get the chance to simply play for pleasure, but if you schedule it into your week you’ll be more likely to make some music. And, if you need the motivation to practice, share your videos of WunderKeys repertoire performances on our Facebook page! We always love to see teachers playing our music.

Find All Of Our Free Resources

As always, we’ll be here to provide you with creative and effective piano teaching resources and materials as we head into the fall term! Make sure you’ve subscribed/joined the following resources to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Teach Piano Today Newsletter: Free resources and info on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus free access to our library of piano homework sheets.

Growing With WunderKeys Newsletter: Free resources on Saturdays, plus free access to our library of piano resources.

The WunderKeys Facebook community: 7200 friendly, collaborative teachers who share info. Free resources shared with “members only” frequently.

The WunderKeys Teen Piano Music community: close to 4000 teachers who collaborate about teaching tweens, teens, and adults. Access our group files for free sheet music and more!