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When piano class is a battle of wills with that teenage boy!

by Anita E Kohli

Today I’d like to introduce you to Anita Kohli who teaches in Mumbai, India and writes for us about a topic that readers will appreciate is very close to my own heart: teaching boys. Teenagers of either gender can be a challenge to motivate at times and Anita gives some great tips for dealing with difficult students. ... When piano class is a battle of wills with that teenage boy!

12/04/2015 Read more

5 Piano Lesson Ideas for when Students Forget Their Books

by Tim Topham

Piano lesson ideas for ‘no-book’ lessons Have you ever had a lesson where your student rocks up but has forgotten to bring his/her books? No music, no assignment book/music diary, no notes from last week. Nothing. As I predominantly teach teenagers, this seems to happen a fair bit and it is particularly an issue if you’re teaching at a ... 5 Piano Lesson Ideas for when Students Forget Their Books

11/20/2015 Read more

5 Secret Ingredients to Successful Group Piano Teaching

by Paul Myatt

I’m often asked about tips for group piano teaching, so I decided to enlist the help of my good friend and group piano expert, Paul Myatt, to share his wisdom of years of highly-successful group teaching. Just wait till you read what Paul has to say about the financial benefits of group piano teaching! Paul is ... 5 Secret Ingredients to Successful Group Piano Teaching

11/05/2015 Read more

Host a Piano Teaching Workshop Day

by Tim Topham

Interested in having Tim Topham present in your area? One of the best ways to get Tim Topham to speak in your area is to host a Piano PD day for teachers. It can be very expensive paying for speakers to visit your local association, school or group to engage and motivate teachers, so Tim is offering a ... Host a Piano Teaching Workshop Day

09/21/2015 Read more

How Pinterest for piano will motivate and inspire your teaching

by Tim Topham

If you’re a piano teacher and you haven’t yet had the chance to explore the MASSIVE amount of information available on Pinterest, then you should set aside an hour or two this weekend to see what all the fuss is about. The $5B+ company is the fourth-largest online social media enterprise (after Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) ... How Pinterest for piano will motivate and inspire your teaching

07/20/2015 Read more

What I’ve learnt from asking more questions in music lessons

by Tim Topham

Since the start of this year, I made a commitment to ask more questions in my teaching. And not just questions for the sake of them, but effective questions that challenge students to think. Questions that are suited to each student and give them more ownership of the lesson and their playing. As a great side benefit, ... What I’ve learnt from asking more questions in music lessons

09/05/2022 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

Piano music for teens: Groovy Beats by Daniel McFarlane

by Tim Topham

Never content to sit back and relax, Daniel McFarlane, a prolific Australian-based composer of contemporary piano music for students, has recently released a collection of new books called Groovy Beats.   As you know, I’ve been a fan of Daniel’s music for some time now and featured his music in a number of previous posts, ... Piano music for teens: Groovy Beats by Daniel McFarlane

02/18/2015 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

Motivating teens with PianoMaestro

by Tim Topham

How do you motivate teen beginners? We all know that video games are pretty popular with teens, particularly boys. So trying to convince them to do their piano practice when there are far more fun things to be doing online can be a real challenge. Enter PianoMaestro – a really handy app that basically turns learning ... Motivating teens with PianoMaestro

08/03/2014 Read more

Making the most of the AMEB Manual List | The Piano Teacher Magazine

by Tim Topham

How should I use the Manual List? While the Australian Music Examinations Board  (AMEB) releases music books for each grade level whenever they update their exam syllabuses, there is a wealth of other great pieces listed permanently in the syllabus under the “Manual List”. Remember that the exam books for each grade only feature around three ... Making the most of the AMEB Manual List | The Piano Teacher Magazine

08/26/2014 Read more

Top 5 most influential piano teachers online

by Tim Topham

Online Piano Teachers and Bloggers  Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the amount of great information you could spend your life reading online about piano teaching?    While narrowing down a list of the most influential teachers to only five was always going to be difficult, it has also been a really interesting exercise.   ... Top 5 most influential piano teachers online

07/20/2014 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

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

Impressions Suite – Jennifer Eklund | Sheet Music for Teens

by Tim Topham

Looking for great piano music at a low price with no copy restrictions? Jennifer Eklund of PianoPronto.com is a busy composer, teacher, presenter and author, well known in America for her Piano Pronto method books. Towards the end of last year, she released a number of new books of solo piano music suited to adults ... Impressions Suite – Jennifer Eklund | Sheet Music for Teens

02/20/2014 Read more

Teaching Video: Students improvising backing tracks for scales

by Tim Topham

Most students find scale practice pretty dull. So do I. in fact, I find teaching scales pretty dull too! What’s more, starting lessons with the same old, “Well, let’s hear how your scales have gone this week”, is not likely to inspire students if it’s the same greeting every single lesson. With this in mind, ... Teaching Video: Students improvising backing tracks for scales

09/03/2013 Read more

Teaching video: LH improv patterns for student compositions

by Tim Topham

I’ve had a lot of people ask me about teaching basic improvising, especially for their teenage and adult beginner students, so I thought I’d show you an excerpt from a lesson where I introduce left hand patterns that can form the basis for exciting student compositions. There’s a great blog called Pianofeeling that has a ... Teaching video: LH improv patterns for student compositions

09/08/2013 Read more

New repertoire: David Nevue, Craig Armstrong, Kyle Landry and more

by Tim Topham

This post is simply about exposing other teachers to music that I’ve recently found online. The post is designed to be easy to scroll through, listen to YouTube clips, and if you like a piece, click any of the links to find the sheet music. Click on the name of the composer to go straight ... New repertoire: David Nevue, Craig Armstrong, Kyle Landry and more

01/12/2013 Read more

“Connections” by Christopher Norton

by Tim Topham

I’ve posted regularly in the past about good music to keep boys inspired to learn piano and the latest instalment from Christopher Norton, his Connections Series, is definitely up to the task! Most importantly, Connections could well be a lifeline for students who may be considering giving up piano lessons – girls and boys. I ... “Connections” by Christopher Norton

05/25/2012 Read more

Repertoire Ideas

by Tim Topham

I recently purchased some new music you might be interested in exploring with your students this year. Firstly, have a look at The Virtuosic Performer. Just about all the pieces in Book 2 were fantastic and around Grade 2-3 level. Many of them sound and look amazing, but are actually quite easy to learn and ... Repertoire Ideas

01/27/2012 Read more

How to find cool new repertoire for your students

by Tim Topham

As my regular readers will know, I’m a huge fan of finding new repertoire for my students. In fact, I believe it’s a job necessity! I predominantly teach beginners to around Grade 2 level, many of whom start learning in Year 7 (ie. 12-13 years old) and often without any prior musical training. I also ... How to find cool new repertoire for your students

12/19/2011 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

Best of the AMEB manual list – level 1

by Tim Topham

It’s sad that so many teachers stick only to the AMEB grade books when there is so much great music out there, and quite a few gems are already listed in the syllabus under the “Manual List” for each grade. The only problem is, unless you learned those pieces when you were a kid, it’s ... Best of the AMEB manual list – level 1

05/23/2011 Read more