Studio Management

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 3 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 3 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

A LOT has been said about this topic both in the SM teacher body and the greater global teacher community. I’d be interested in a more pointed discussion about possible alternatives to how teachers current converse about practice expectations. While Simply Music has gone to…

• Last updated 3 years ago
• at home practice, confidence as a student, discipline, encouraging practice, expectation, expectations, improving retention, lack of practice, lesson requirements, Long Term Relationship, long term relationships, long-term, long-term relationship conversation, LTR, managing practice, managing practice time, motivating teens, motivation, Music and the Art of Long-term Relationships, music as a lifelong companion, not practicing, play vs practice, play vs work, playing, positive feedback, practice, practice guidelines, practice habits, practice routine, practice time, practice vs play, practicing, practicing guidelines, request vs requirement, requirement, requirement based studio, requirement versus request, requirement-based, requirements, requirements in lessons, retention, sticking with piano long term, student not practicing, student retention, student success, success, talking about expectations, unmotivated, unmotivated students, work vs play

I meant to mention this when I first wrote last week about the advantages of shared lessons, in case anyone was wondering: there were a few items from that video brainstorming session that I purposely left out. Here’s why: Wider possibility of teaching venues More…

• Last updated 3 years ago
• benefits of group lessons, benefits of shared lessons, ensemble, ensemble playing, group, groups, Laurie Richards, shared lesson, shared lessons, teaching groups, value of groups

This is such a simple question, I’m actually embarrassed that it’s not occurred to me until now. There are three fields at the bottom of the Playlist pages: – Date – Lesson No. – No. of Songs. Since there is already a “Month” and “Year”…

• Last updated 2 years ago
• evaluating playlist, importance of playlist, keeping playlist alive, keeping playlists, keeping the playlist alive, Neil Moore, Neil's Responses (YouTube Videos), number of songs on playlist, Playlist, playlist check, playlist review, playlist size, size of playlist

Due to Covid restrictions I’m sad that this year I won’t get to do my usual Christmas Carol sing along at a rest home. My study’s would learn to accompany carols and we would perform/play and sing along with the residents. I can’t even do…

• Last updated 3 years ago
• accompaniment games, accompaniment workshop, benefits of online lessons, Christmas, Christmas accompaniment, Christmas Carols, Christmas songs, covering recital cost, distance lessons, games, holiday, holiday songs, holidays, ideas for recitals, jam sessions, jamming, Laurie Richards, learning online, learning via webcam, musical games, online, online learning, online lessons, online recital, piano party, playlist games, private recital, public recital, public recitals, recital, recital cost, recital format, recital ideas, recital program, recital programs, recital size, recital space, recital venues, recitals, singalongs, singing along, teaching online, ukulele, using a webcam to teach, videoconference software, Workshops, Zoom

Well, not only are the new Playlist and Notes books very useful, but Jy and Sheri’s TTM is fantastic. I love your wisdom and playfulness in presenting the material and we teachers get much more out of the tutorial than just learning how to use…

• Last updated 4 years ago
• enhanced playlist, evaluating playlist, keeping playlist alive, keeping playlists, keeping the playlist alive, managing playlist, managing the playlist, Playlist, playlist and notes book, playlist check, playlist management, Playlist management program, playlist review, using playlist