Recent
blog posts

Teach music confidently without the stress

Recent Guitar Pedagogy Creativity Repertoire Beginners Studio Business

RENT Backing Tracks

by Tim Topham

If you or your production team are involved in the musical RENT, you will no doubt be looking for backing tracks for two of the more unusual numbers in the show: Contact Today 4U Both are dance-style tracks that aren’t really possible to perform live with the given orchestration. When I was involved in this ... RENT Backing Tracks

07/21/2013 Read more

Thoughts on the 11th APPC – Toowoomba

by Tim Topham

As I return from a much-needed week of holiday sun in Asia, I thought I’d put together my thoughts on the recent Australia Piano Pedagogy conference. Firstly, huge congratulations to Katy Pingell and the organising committee for what must have been months and months of hard slog to get everything so well organised. The conference ... Thoughts on the 11th APPC – Toowoomba

07/13/2013 Read more

Top 3 best note-learning apps for piano students

by Tim Topham

When students begin studying the piano, one of the things they need to learn quickly is what each note looks like and where it is placed in relation to the black keys. This stops them having to always count up from C. There are many ways of remembering the note locations and I use different ... Top 3 best note-learning apps for piano students

06/28/2013 Read more

Chopin Scherzo 3 in C# minor Op 39: 20 practice tips for 2nd theme

by Tim Topham

Chopin Scherzo 3 Tutorial I recently uploaded a YouTube giving 20 practice tips for the tricky rapid descending broken chord patterns in the second theme of Chopin’s 3rd Scherzo (about bar 155). Feel free to share with any students who might be interested!

06/20/2013 Read more

What’s rotation in piano technique?

by Tim Topham

I recently came across a useful video describing arm rotation in piano technique. For those of you who may be unsure what this term means, it’s the movement your arm makes when you turn your hand from palm down to palm up in front of your body. We’re actually quite lucky that our forearms contain ... What’s rotation in piano technique?

06/10/2013 Read more

Piano Music for Right Hand

by Tim Topham

One of my students broke his LH thumb the other week (footy accident!), so I began researching good music for Right Hand alone. As I was doing this, I thought a few links might be useful for other teachers or students who might come to this page via a google search for the same. I ... Piano Music for Right Hand

06/01/2013 Read more
 

Join the the preeminent professional development, learning and networking community for instrumental music teachers.

 
topmusic topmusic
 

Can Tetris help your sight-reading?

by Tim Topham

We all know that the more that students sight-read, the better they will be able to read music. However, with so many sight-reading books on the market, it’s hard to know which is the best for your studio. I’ve recently decided that for a sight-reading book to be useful, it must be: Designed to practice ... Can Tetris help your sight-reading?

05/30/2013 Read more

Notation apps for iPad just got easier with Notion

by Tim Topham

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been testing out Notion for iPad.  Notation apps for iPad are getting pretty impressive these days but it can be hard to find the right one to suit your working style. Notion is a good cross-over for people who are used to software-based applications on their Mac or PC and want ... Notation apps for iPad just got easier with Notion

05/19/2013 Read more

Tim Topham Improvising

by Tim Topham

Given my posts about teaching improvising, a number of people have asked to see me in action! At my last recital, I opened the second half with a short 3-minute (non-jazz) improvisation. I had not planned any aspect of this prior to stepping on stage. It was completely off-the-cuff, but based on my understanding of ... Tim Topham Improvising

05/16/2013 Read more

“Take on Tchaikovsky” – Camberwell Grammar performance Tim Topham & Ben Bishop

by Tim Topham

Here’s a copy of my performance from last weekend’s “Steinway Concert” at Camberwell Grammar School with Ben Bishop. It’s an original comic duet we wrote for the event. Looking forward to your comments on YouTube 🙂  

03/24/2013 Read more

40 pieces “Coffee Card” and where to find more repertoire

by Tim Topham

As you already know, I’m a huge advocate for having my students learn as many pieces as possible each year, with a studio benchmark of 40 pieces for all students. In fact, I have no hesitation in saying that playing LOTS of repertoire is probably the most crucial element in a music student’s development and I’m ... 40 pieces “Coffee Card” and where to find more repertoire

03/22/2013 Read more

The Dynamic Studio – brilliant new book from Philip Johnston

by Tim Topham

“Given the extraordinary changes music teaching finds itself surrounded by, if you had the opportunity to hit “reset” on how your studio currently operates and build it again from scratch, what might your new job look like?” So asks Australian author and music teacher Philip Johnston in his new book “The Dynamic Studio“. Let’s face it, ... The Dynamic Studio – brilliant new book from Philip Johnston

02/28/2013 Read more