piano practice Archives

by Tim Topham

If you haven’t yet introduced the duets of Anton Diabelli to your teaching studio, you are missing out on some of the best student duets for beginner and intermediate students. In fact, as long as students can read a 5-finger position in C Major, they can at least play the first couple of these pieces. ... Best Student Duets with Just 5-fingers from Diabelli

by Tim Topham

Have you ever been frustrated about makeup lessons? There are a variety of ways teachers handle makeup lessons from not offering them at all to having to take extra hours planning them. Laura and Dave have solved make-up lessons once and for all! Today, my guests Dave and Laura of LessonMate will give you strategies ... TC237: Solving Makeup Lessons Once and for All with Laura and Dave from LessonMate

by Tim Topham

Will Baily turns the pedagogy of music on its head by pivoting to recreational music-making philosophies and student-led learning, from a very classical approach to teaching and it has made an incredible impact on him and his students. Our guest today, Will Baily, is a piano teacher and composer. His publications include the “Way Cool” ... TC234: Turning the pedagogy of music on its head with Will Baily

by Tim Topham

How do you help yourself or your students deal with performance anxiety? It’s one of the things many teachers and students go through whether it be just in front of 1 person or a whole stadium. It can really be nerve-racking! Today’s episode is all about the challenges of performance. Further, we can help our ... CPTP179: Finding Flow and Conquering Performance Anxiety with Siskind and Chiu

by Nicola Cantan

For most piano teachers, September brings a whole slew of new piano students through the doors. This is both an exciting and a super busy time in a piano teacher’s calendar. It’s also an opportunity to start fresh – to make practice happen from the get-go. In my experience, students that practise regularly in the ... Amplify and Elevate New Student Practice Routines in Your Piano Studio

by Tim Topham

Aaron Garner used to be like many teachers, frustrated by sitting in lessons correcting note errors in his students’ pieces all day. That is, until he found a way to help students practice better. Aaron brought together the magic of backing tracks and technology to create a comprehensive practice solution for students: Piano Marvel. This ... CPTP133: How to motivate and help students practice with Aaron Garner

Plans & Pricing

by Chris Owenby

Just because it's summer doesn't mean your students need to stop playing the piano.

by Sean Wales

This month has been all about Exploring Exams and Recitals and one phrase has popped up a few times: exam express. I’m Sean and you may have seen a few articles written by me recently featured on Tim’s blog. I learnt piano with Tim at high school for four years and during this time, Tim transformed ... How I Got off the Piano Exam Express

by Roberta Wolff

Have you ever wondered how a student’s practice diary or assignment book can best support their development as a musician or if there’s even any point in writing things down each week? Have you ever wondered if there are better ways that you can guide your students to practise effectively during the week? Many of us ... Piano Practice Guides for Motivating Students [Free Resources]

by Tim Topham

Teaching our students how to practice is one of the most important things we can teach them. After all, students only spend 30 – 6o minutes a week with us, that’s only about 1% of their week! So we’re really leaving most of our student’s progress up to them. But how do we know what’s ... TTTV010: Graham Fitch on Teaching Practising

by Tim Topham

Intrinsic v Extrinsic Motivation in Music Students Building on the ideas of one of my previous articles: Why extrinsic rewards are so bad for motivation, you might have missed this great article from string teaching magazine, The Strad. In it, a parent delves into some research about bribes, motivation and practice to come up with ... Bribery should not be used as motivation to practise – The Strad

by Tim Topham

If you want to be really, really good at something, you have to be addicted to it. You need to be in a state where you are thinking about it all the time, even when you’re not doing it. You talk about it, you have friends that do it, you dream about it. Imagine having ... How to get addicted to practising piano