Studio Management

I’ve been teaching Simply Music since last fall and had my very first Student Concert this past weekend. If I were to describe it in a few words I would say that it was an “emotional boost.” Everything ran smoothly, students and parents were encouraged,…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• concerts, handling mistakes, ideas for recitals, keep going through mistakes, mistakes, open stage, perfection, performance, performance ideas, performing, performing in front of others, playing through mistakes, public performances, recital, recital format, recital ideas, recital program, recital programs, recital size, recitals, spring

Any advice on how to talk to kids who don’t want to play at a recital? I have a 7 year old who plays very well. As soon as he heard the word recital he went into a tizzy. It took 10 minutes to refocus…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• afraid, anxiety, casual performance, casual recital, concerts, duets with students, fear, ideas for recitals, informal performance, informal recital, nerves, nervous, nervousness, open mic, performance, performance anxiety, performance ideas, performing, performing in front of others, piano party, playing duet at recital, public performances, recital, recital format, recital ideas, recital program, recital programs, recitals, stage fright, student anxiety

Last year, I had only switched to teaching Simply Music about two months before my annual recital. Yesterday, I had my first recital with students playing who had been learning SM for the entire year. I compared what they played last year to this year…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• annual concert, annual recital, concerts, ideas for recitals, performance, performance ideas, performing, performing in front of others, playing duet at recital, public performances, recital, recital format, recital ideas, recital preparation, recital program, recital programs, recital size, recitals

I have always dreaded organizing Concerts ever since I started traditional teaching 24 years ago. Becoming a Simply Music teacher made the songs fantastic, but did not take away the struggles of organizing the annual Concerts. This year, my husband suggested putting it back into…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• annual concert, annual recital, anxiety, concerts, ideas for recitals, performance, performance anxiety, performance ideas, performing, performing in front of others, Piano Club, piano party, public performances, recital, recital acknowledgments, recital format, recital ideas, recital introductions, recital preparation, recital program, recital programs, recital size, recitals, stage fright, student anxiety, teacher performance

My 7-year-old student and her Dad showed up today with these lyrics they wrote for Night Storm with plenty of copies for all, so all day my groups sang it. A little late for Halloween week but if you have students tomorrow have some fun…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• changing lyrics, creating lyrics, Halloween, lyrics, making lyrics, making up lyrics, Night Storm

I personally have experienced the power of a casual question, like “Did you write any music this week?” Last week one of my students casually asked me, “Are we going to have any songs for Halloween?” When I started looking for songs, I didn’t come…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• changing lyrics, Chester, chester chills out, creating lyrics, Dog, Dreams in Dm, dreams on d, Dreams variation on d, Halloween, lyrics, making lyrics, making up lyrics, Night Storm, She'll Be Comin, writing lyrics

I just wanted to share how much fun my students are having with the classic “In the Hall of the Mountain King” song. I had forgotten how much repetition it involves until I found it in my Halloween music folder and could instantly see the…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• Chester, chester chills out, fun, fun in lessons, Halloween, In the Hall of the Mountain King, rhythm

I thought I’d share the effectiveness of a game that someone mentioned on here awhile ago. I think I adapted it a bit, but not sure about the original post or what the suggestion was.  I play tic-tac- toe with my students to do review.…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• games, musical games, playlist games, tic-tac-toe

I enjoy reading the ECL mails, but don’t chime in very often. I thought I’d share one of my games: I get “Crazy 8” card games to work on intervals. The students have tokens at each end of the keyboard. When they draw a card…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• 12 Bar blues, games, intervals, musical games, playlist games

Pick 1, 2 or 3 cards — create a melody with these notes Pick a card: For non readers: teacher can point to the key and student can name a song that has this note in it Pick a Card, name a song that has…

• Last updated 5 years ago
• 3-note improv, arpeggios, buggzart cards, C&I, chord games, chord progressions, chord voicings, chords, comp & improv, comp and improv, composition, composition projects, finding I IV V in all keys, games, I-IV-V, I-IV-V chords, identifying notes on keyboard, identifying notes on piano, identifying notes on staff, identifying written notes, inversions, musical games, naming keys, naming notes, note naming, playlist games, scales, sharps and flats, teaching scale, transposing, triads, writing notes