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Here, Have a Chainsaw! Metronome Practice | Piano Pedagogy Page

by Tim Topham

All about metronome practice with students… Great article. It occurs to me that I’m occasionally guilty of telling students they need to use a metronome without having taught them how to use one.  It’s the musical equivalent of handing someone a chainsaw and expecting them to cut down a tree. Pretend for a moment that you’ve ... Here, Have a Chainsaw! Metronome Practice | Piano Pedagogy Page

06/21/2011 Read more

“Google Earth” Practice

by Tim Topham

I’ve recently begun using the analogy of Google Earth when helping my students plan their practice. For those of you who haven’t used Google Earth before, it’s a free satellite imaging program that allows a user to zoom in on any area of the Earth, starting with a view of the Earth as if you were in ... “Google Earth” Practice

06/13/2011 Read more

Teaching Boys Piano – Repertoire Ideas

by Tim Topham

Most of my career has focussed on all-boys education. I believe there are many merits to single-sex schooling, especially when it comes to the arts. However, this is not a post about co-ed versus single sex schooling, rather it’s about repertoire that I have found resonates really well when teaching boys. In my experience, boys ... Teaching Boys Piano – Repertoire Ideas

06/07/2011 Read more

Piano Practice Challenges

by Tim Topham

Here are a few ideas I use with my students for how to practice effectively. I constantly have to remind them that just repeating sections over and over is about the least effective way of learning new material. The main goal of these techniques is to avoid the often pointless “start at the beginning and ... Piano Practice Challenges

05/26/2011 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
 

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Teaching piano practice: Just 0.3% of a student’s week? You’re kidding right?!

by Tim Topham

How to teach piano practice Have you ever calculated just how little time you get to spend with your students out of their total working week? It’s a fascinating and insightful exercise and its result should dictate much of what we do with students during lessons. Last year, I read a fantastic book called “The Practice Revolution” ... Teaching piano practice: Just 0.3% of a student’s week? You’re kidding right?!

05/16/2011 Read more