Making piano lessons fun and engaging!

This is an activity I use with my younger students to help reinforce finger numbers.  I purchased a few finger puppets at a local teacher store.  For the activity I'll have them place a puppet on each finger one at a time as I call out the finger I want them to place the puppet on.  First, I specify which hand I'd like the child to hold up.  Then I specify the finger number I'd like a certain puppet to go on. When all the puppets are on all five fingers I tell the child to take each puppet off their fingers one at a time based on what finger number I call out OR I ask the child to tell me what finger number a certain puppet is on before removing it.  Example: Please remove the frog?  What finger number was the frog on?  My younger kiddos LOVE this activity!  Until next time, piano blogger signing off.......

“ I don't want to practice”, “I'm bored”, “Why do I have to practice?”, It's not that important”, “It's not like homework”, “How is this going to help me with anything?”, “I don't want to play this instrument anymore” If you haven't already heard these comments and questions from your child, you may soon hear a few of them. In a world of instant gratification, where we are always finding faster ways of getting results, it's very difficult for our children to even fathom the thought of slowing down to really learn an instrument. One of the best gifts you could give your child is the gift of music. Studies have shown that learning an instrument increases concentration and attention span. It also strengthens fine motor skills, higher level thinking skills, and memory. To be perfectly honest, a huge percentage of children don't like to practice and rebel against it. So what's the point of having them stick with it if it's going to ...

Picture #1 Picture #2 I am finishing up my series on how to read and locate staff notes on the piano.  Part I was written on 6/9/13, Part II 6/12/13, and Part III on 1/4/14.  This last part will tie everything together.  I normally take most of a 30 minute lesson to complete all six of these activities and then for the last few minutes of the lesson I introduce a new song for my student to practice at home.  In my opinion, being able to read, understand, and locate staff notes on the piano is the most important concept for a piano student to grasp.  Without understanding how the staff works in relation to the musical alphabet and note location the student can't move forward so taking most of a 30 minute lesson is totally worth it to me! Activity 1 Picture #3 I have my students hold up their hands with palms facing outward as I sit or stand next to them not in front of them.  Then I make a a single semi-circle wave to the left with my left...

My students LOVE to tell their friends that they went bowling during their piano lesson!  I did splurge a little bit on this item.  It's just one of those things that I saw and had to add to my collection of fun piano activities.  I tell you what, I am so glad I bought it!  All of my students from Pre-K through Middle school really enjoy this game and the quality of the product is exceptional!  Sometimes when we buy children's toys they fall apart after a week's worth of use but not this.  I've had this bowling kit for over 6 years and it is still in excellent condition.  I purchased it from "Us Toys" ® back where I used to live.  Their website address is www.constructiveplaythings.com if you're interested in buying this for your students. The only thing I added to the bowling pins were velcro dots; one half of the set onto the pins and the other half on whatever letter or staff cards I was using for the game (Picture 1).  I placed the ma...

I thought I'd share with you what game my students will be playing next week to celebrate Valentine's Day.  I really enjoy creating games that incorporate the seasons, holidays, and honestly  any celebration I have an excuse to make a game for.  I've found that my students are WAY more engaged in the material when they have activities and games to participate in.  They are learning new information and retaining what they've already learned all the while they're having fun.  I've had parents say to me that their kids are having so much fun during their lessons that they don't even realize they're learning. I went out and bought a Valentine's Day container made of tin.  You could purchase one made of cardboard but I specifically chose tin so that it would last.  I've had my container for 6 years now.  I gave the contents of it (sour candy) to my son who LOVES anything tart.  If it were filled with chocolate then I'd...

Happy Tuesday!  I am looking out from my window at the clearest blue sky and beautiful oak tree branches swaying in the wind....simple pleasures!  Have you ever had students ask why there was a line going through middle C?  I have.  I could simply say that that's the way it is and be done with it but there's no fun in that so I make it into a mystery that the students need to solve.  The best way to explain this is in dialogue form with a few pictures thrown in the mix.  There's obviously a lot more dialogue happening between myself and the student but I simplified as much as possible here.  From beginning to end this mini lesson only takes 5 minutes! The Mystery Behind Middle C Student: Why does middle C have a line through it? Me: Ah! I am so glad you asked that.  There is actually a very good and logical reason for it.  In order to understand why Middle C has a line through it let's back track a little bit by revisiting the staff. ...

Happy New Year!  It has been quite a while since I've blogged!  Moving is not one of my favorite things to do but we're all settled into our new home and I've slowly begun to build up my student base here.  It was very difficult saying goodbye to all of my wonderful students back in Frisco but keeping in touch with them has made it a bit easier.  I'm looking forward to teaching piano to a whole new group of kiddos!  Oh! I finally have a website up and running thanks to my amazing husband!  Check it out at www.msdaphnepiano.com .  Thank goodness I have a technologically savvy spouse or I'd still be in the dark ages.  It's still a wonder to me how I was able to create this blog all on my own. Blogs are so interesting to me because we can have a particular audience in mind that we think we are blogging to but never know for sure who's actually reading it.  I imagine my audience to be college students majoring in piano pedagogy o...