Because of TopMusicPro, I feel a lot more enthused about my teaching and writing. My biggest win has been using three or four chords to help students improvise and realise they can play songs they recognise from those chords.

Darren’s Results

• More enthusiasm for teaching
• Great tips and resources for keeping students of all levels engaged
• Engagement with other teachers from around the world
• The ability to sell resources on the TopMusicPro Marketplace

How TopMusicPro helped Darren to improve engagement among his students

• Ready to use resources for students
• Courses to develop your teaching practice
• A marketplace for new and innovative resources
• A community of like-minded educators

What was your life like before TopMusicPro?

My name is Darren Day, and I come from Belfast in Northern Ireland. I am a pianist and piano teacher, and I have been teaching piano for almost 30 years.

My teaching is a mix of teaching in a few schools and also in music centres. I also have some private pupils, so it is quite a wide mix.

Students of different levels and different ages have so many different expectations and they all have their own personalities. You have things that you want them to find and aspire to, but you also want them to find their lessons engaging and creative.

Sometimes it is about trying to find quick wins. Those little sheets that tell you something really cool to play on the piano, and it gets their attention or motivates them to do a little bit more practice next week.

Developing an interest like this also keeps them with the educational goals that they are aiming for, or their parents are wanting them to achieve. It has been really helpful having something like TopMusicPro.

What changed for you after working with TopMusicPro?

With TopMusicPro, you feel like you’re part of something bigger than yourself. You are part of a global community.

Instead of my quick scribbles in a notebook, I have something to offer them, and then they have a cool resource that they can keep in their folder.

There have been so many resources that I am using. I have encouraged other teachers to check them out as well. Then TopMusicPro Marketplace opened, I became a seller on that. It has been rewarding financially.

Also, it is so cool to wake up in the morning and find an email that someone from the other side of the world has bought one of your pieces and is using it with their students. That is really fantastic, and I love being part of it.

What are your favourite resources from TopMusicPro?

The resource I have used the most from TopMusicPro is the chord booklet. I have lots of those printed for my students. What I love about it is the simplicity and that it is all at one level.

It is literally just chord charts. However, you can have someone who is very advanced who can learn how to improvise with it. They can learn how to play lots more on the piano just using those chords.

With someone in their first or second lesson, you can show them how to play one or two chords. You can show them the quick hacks to learn major and minor chords. In terms of a resource, I find it ideal for all levels.

Is TopMusicPro worth the investment?

TopMusicPro is definitely worth the investment. It is a really good place to spend a few pounds or a few bucks a month. What you get from it far outweighs what you have to pay.

Would you recommend TopMusicPro?

I think TopMusicPro is brilliant for people who want to be more creative and perhaps need that little boost in confidence.

Some teachers might not feel confident in their own ability to teach chords or teach how to improvise. You can find all this and more with the resources and community of like-minded people in TopMusicPro.