Grade 1 Toolkit

A massive thank you to Curious Piano Teachers for sharing their Grade 1 Toolkit course with us! This course is perfect for teachers with pupils looking to start working towards Grade 1. They will be guided through each step of the way, from assessing if a student is ready for Grade 1, to ways of teaching the pieces and technical work, and even tips on how to make the exam day the most positive experience possible. Even though this course is designed for teachers of Grade 1 pupils, there are plenty of tips and ideas for teachers who are not following an exam syllabus. Sally and Sharon share numerous brilliant ways of helping pupils improve their technical skills, and show us how encouraging curiosity can help create engaging performances.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Sharon Mark-Teggart

Sharon Mark-Teggart is the Co-Founder and Director of The Curious Piano Teachers, an organisation that provides a global community of piano teachers with resources that enable them to learn as much as they teach. Sharon has over 20 years experience as a reflective practitioner in music education. She is well-known worldwide as a highly experienced piano pedagogue, contributing extensively to literature and resources. A visionary entrepreneur in the world of music education, Sharon founded evoco in 2012 (Northern Ireland’s Music Education Organisation, specialising in piano teacher training) before pioneering the concept of professional development for piano teachers via an online membership site with her Co-Founding partner at The Curious Piano Teachers, Dr Sally Cathcart. Sharon also specialises in creating and delivering courses for piano teachers with hundreds of piano teachers successfully gaining accredited piano teaching diplomas since 2012 through her bespoke coaching programmes. Sharon lives close to the beautiful Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland, with her husband Philip, their 6 year-old son Reuel and baby girl Damaris who was born in December 2022.

Sally Cathcart

Sally Cathcart, Ph.D. and Churchill Fellow, has many years of teaching experience both as a piano teacher and as a classroom music teacher. She runs a small teaching studio and teaching the piano continues to be her greatest joy. She is co-founder and Director of The Curious Piano Teachers. After her worldwide travels as a Winston Churchill Fellow, Sally founded the Oxford Piano Group as a place for pianists and teachers to collaborate and share experiences. She was awarded a Ph.D. from the Institute of Education, UCL, London in 2013. Her topic was the first comprehensive study of UK piano teachers, exploring common practices, expertise, values, attitudes and motivation to teaching. Sally is a trained Kodály practitioner and was Director of Musicianship for The Voices Foundation from 2013-2022. She is a Principal Tutor on the Piano Teachers’ Course (UK) and is a piano syllabus consultant for the UK examining board ABRSM. She has written a series of musicianship books for young pianists, ‘ready to play’, which have recently been published by Alfred UK. In collaboration with Dr Christopher Fisher Sally is currently working as co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Piano Pedagogy. Grade 1 Toolkit (Table of Contents)

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How to begin

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