About The Method

I had an interesting lesson today – something new! I teach my Wednesday lessons at a local little church – several lessons back to back, so there’s no time for any late starts. It’s a nice facility and works really well for my lessons. I…

• Last updated 12 years ago
• Dreams Come True, Jackson Blues, Night Storm, practice pads

“Another thing I remember Jy saying was that if they don’t do it in your studio, they won’t do it at home. So I incorporated greater use of the keypad before going to the piano with both private and group lesson students. I gently but…

• Last updated 12 years ago
• claiming territory, external speaker, group lessons, home use of practice pads, practice pads, private lessons

I’d like to get practice pads mounted on foam or wood. How have some of you gone about this? Does foam or wood work better? Also…I have used foam board before, and it is subject to cracking. Has this been a problem? I cut up…

• Last updated 12 years ago
• Laurie Richards, mounting, practice pad

I have been teaching for over 4 years now, and it had never occurred to me to use the practice pads in the Private Lessons.  After the presentation Samali gave at our conference here in Western Australia on the use of these, it absolutely brought…

• Last updated 12 years ago
• Cerebral Palsy, Dreams Come True, five steps of sound, generative learning, private lessons, using practice pads

I am wondering about how other teachers find getting adults to tick the playlist. Especially men look at me with that “Not going to happen, lady” look in their eye. I am finding that retired women seem happy enough to do it, and some personality…

• Last updated 12 years ago
• adults, claiming territory, Laurie Richards, Play it Forward, Playlist, playlist management, Robin Keehn

I have a questions about writing notes for Variations/Arrangements. I understand clearly from all my training materials that there are no support materials for this, and I am not to let them write down notes or clues for how the songs went. So, I am…

• Last updated 8 years ago
• arrangements, Laurie Richards, notes, playlist management, variations

Having been fairly clear about the need to have students and parents refrain from writing extra notes for themselves or their children, and still seeing some of them doing it, I decided to include a reinforcement in my monthly newsletter. The text follows: ” I’ve…

• Last updated 12 years ago
• notes, notes books, parents, Playlist

I would like to add to what Neil has said about “Writing Notes” and “Managing Projects” by sharing my experiences of these issues in the hope of helping new teachers. WRITING NOTES I was a “traditional” piano teacher before becoming a Simply Music teacher. When…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• learning a way of learning, managing projects, memory muscle, Neil Moore, writing notes

Somewhere in the training or archives, someone mentioned using the analogy of a three legged stool to illustrate the roles we each have (teacher, parent and student) and the importance of each one doing their part. I find this to be very helpful and use…

• Last updated 12 years ago
• coach, roles, student, teacher, three legged stool

I have a 12 year old girl in level 2 that has really been struggling with rhythms. When I brought up a metronome as an idea to help her get a feel, she said it was a disaster when she tried it with her traditional…

• Last updated 12 years ago
• challenges, clapping, games, hythm, isolating rhythm, Playlist, reading rhythm, tapping