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5 Steps to Avoiding a Piano Teaching Rut

by Amanda Smith

Have you ever lost your passion for teaching? Has there been a time in your career when you felt “burnt out”, like you were just going through the motions every day? Chances are, if you’ve never felt this way before, you will sometime. When that happens, you need to know what to do to turn ... 5 Steps to Avoiding a Piano Teaching Rut

09/23/2015 Read more

Creating a Buzz with Piano Film Music

by Tim Topham

Hands up if you’ve ever taught the James Bond Theme, Star Wars or the Pink Panther? My guess is that at least 99% of you just raised your hand, and with good reason. ‘Classic’ film tunes like these are fun to play and teach, have timeless appeal and are loved by students of all ages. ... Creating a Buzz with Piano Film Music

06/04/2015 Read more

Why I’m presenting at the NCKP 2015

by Tim Topham

As most of you know, I’m really excited to have been offered a presenting gig at this year’s National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, to be held in Chicago from July 21 to August 1. The line-up of presenters and workshops is awesome! I’ve been told the pre-conference sessions on the Wednesday before the conference are some of the best ... Why I’m presenting at the NCKP 2015

05/15/2015 Read more

TTTV000: Introducing Tim Topham TV – Piano Teaching Podcast

by Tim Topham

A New Piano Teaching Podcast A few weeks ago, I interviewed John Bloomfield for a promotion regarding the Taubman workshops in Brisbane (by the way, you can still watch the recordings of these episodes for another month or so). Despite the quality of the recording and sound being pretty average, I had a lot of positive ... TTTV000: Introducing Tim Topham TV – Piano Teaching Podcast

02/26/2015 Read more

How to WAKE UP a sleepy piano student!

by Nicola Cantan

I’m super excited to share this guest post with you by Nicola Cantan. Nicola runs a thriving piano studio in Dublin, Ireland and blogs at Colourful Keys. Nicola’s blog is all about effective practice, teaching ideas and motivating students and it’s great that she’s taken the time to write this article about firing-up those sleepy, over-scheduled piano ... How to WAKE UP a sleepy piano student!

03/04/2015 Read more

How to Find New Piano Students | Part 1: The Marketing Plan

by Doug Hanvey

Are you a new teacher looking to build your piano studio? Or have you recently lost a few students who’ve graduated or moved on? Perhaps you’d like to expand your already-thriving studio and hire other teachers to help. Whatever your situation, if you’re on the lookout for new students to build your business, then this series ... How to Find New Piano Students | Part 1: The Marketing Plan

03/17/2015 Read more
 

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Get Unlimited Piano Sheet Music Copies with Studio Licences

by Tim Topham

Studio Licensing: legal music copying I’ve written before about my frustration with the restrictive and outdated copyright laws generally favoured by the big music publishers (see Finally! Digital piano sheet music copyright is starting to make sense), so I was excited to read my friend and colleague, Australian teacher, presenter and composer Daniel McFarlane of ... Get Unlimited Piano Sheet Music Copies with Studio Licences

02/23/2015 Read more

Write for us

by Tim Topham

The main purpose of topmusic.co is to inspire and motivate piano teachers around the world with fresh ideas, relevant content, featured articles, online training, reviews and links.    While I love sharing my ideas with you, I get just as much love out of reading and learning from other teachers. I therefore feel that it's important that ... Write for us

02/01/2015 Read more

Teaching Boys Piano

by Tim Topham

Quick Navigation IntroductionAre boys really different? Motivating MalesTeaching Tips4 Fun Resources for Teaching BoysMusic recommendations for boysWhat do you think? Introduction There seems to be a general consensus among piano teachers that, in the last five or so years, the number of boys in piano studios seems to have increased. Some teachers are telling me that ... Teaching Boys Piano

02/11/2015 Read more

Piano Repertoire for Students | Live Videochat with Joy Morin

by Tim Topham

Choosing Repertoire for Students I've just found out that Joy Morin from Color in my Piano Blog has started recording some regular Google Hangouts (online group chats) with other piano teachers on a number of really interesting topics including choosing repertoire, piano technique and business sense.  I've just finished watching her latest video about choosing ... Piano Repertoire for Students | Live Videochat with Joy Morin

08/14/2014 Read more

How Do I Find Out What Pop Music to Teach?

by Tim Topham

If you're teaching in a 21st Century piano studio (and I hope you are!), you're hopefully open to teaching pop music. Perhaps this is a new area of teaching for you, or perhaps you've always taught pop music and reading from lead sheets.    Whatever your situation, I'm really glad that you've decided to take ... How Do I Find Out What Pop Music to Teach?

04/24/2015 Read more

Motivating teenage piano students | Teen Teaching Toolkit

by Tim Topham

I’ve recently had lots of people ask me about where they can get their copy of my new eBook: The Teen Teaching Toolkit. It’s a totally free resource devoted to helping you engage and motivate your teenage piano students more effectively. Here is what a couple of teachers have recently said about the Teen Teaching ... Motivating teenage piano students | Teen Teaching Toolkit

02/28/2014 Read more

Teen Teaching Toolkit

by Tim Topham

Here is what a couple of teachers have recently said about the Teen Teaching Toolkit: In order to receive your FREE copy by email, just leave your details below.

02/27/2014 Read more

10 of the Best Piano Pieces for Boys by… Geri Rea

by Tim Topham

This is the first in a new series of articles I’ll be writing featuring my favourite piano pieces for boys by a variety of Australian and International composers. I had the fortune to meet Geri Rea at a piano teachers’ PD day at the Convention Centre in Melbourne 2010. Geri is a talented teacher and ... 10 of the Best Piano Pieces for Boys by… Geri Rea

07/28/2013 Read more

Best iPad apps for piano teachers

by Tim Topham

Last updated: 5/4/19 Why you need iPad apps for piano teaching I’ve had an iPad now for a number of years and, like most iPad converts, I can’t think how I’d ever teach without it! It has literally revolutionised the way I do most things: store files and music,  research, read papers and magazines, watch ... Best iPad apps for piano teachers

04/27/2012 Read more

Nikolai Kapustin – the crossover jazz music keeps coming!

by Tim Topham

Since being introduced to the music of Friedrich Gulda at the APPC conference in July by Jovanni de Pedro, I stumbled upon another fantastic and, it seems, undervalued crossover jazz/classical composer: Nikolai Kapustin. Kapustin has been active as a composer since the late 1950s though he has only become known in the West during the ... Nikolai Kapustin – the crossover jazz music keeps coming!

07/27/2011 Read more

Teaching Boys Piano – Repertoire Ideas

by Tim Topham

Most of my career has focussed on all-boys education. I believe there are many merits to single-sex schooling, especially when it comes to the arts. However, this is not a post about co-ed versus single sex schooling, rather it’s about repertoire that I have found resonates really well when teaching boys. In my experience, boys ... Teaching Boys Piano – Repertoire Ideas

06/07/2011 Read more

Piano Video Game Music

by Tim Topham

If you teach boys in particular, you have no doubt had students requesting to play pieces they’ve heard from computer games – Super Mario, World of Warcraft, Zelda, Mass Effect – are just a few that come to mind from my experience. Video game music is pretty popular with my teens. Computer game music is ... Piano Video Game Music

05/24/2011 Read more

Online Sheet Music Resources

by Tim Topham

I often get asked where I go online for music. There seems to be so much free music on the web, it’s hard to know where to start looking (and it’s often hard to tell which sites are legal!). Here are the places that I go for sheet music online: Classical/Out of Copyright/Famous Tunes: IMSLP Library ... Online Sheet Music Resources

05/16/2011 Read more