pop piano teaching
blog posts

Teach music confidently without the stress

Take a Look Inside my Pop Piano Teaching Course

by Tim Topham

Dive in and teach pop music to your students.

07/30/2019 Read more

CPTP144: [Case Study] Pop Piano Teaching in Action with Anna Fagan

by Tim Topham

Pop piano teaching doesn’t have to be something you do just for fun, or just because your student begs you. It can actually have real value for your students in so many ways. The approach I advocate for teaching pop music might feel a bit foreign: focusing on chords, simplifying music and teaching rhythm by ... CPTP144: [Case Study] Pop Piano Teaching in Action with Anna Fagan

10/26/2018 Read more

CPTP141: Playing by Ear with Ruth Power

by Tim Topham

Playing by ear is an area of piano that can intimidate some teachers. If you’ve never done it yourself, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to teaching students these skills. On the other hand, teaching songs to students by ear is often the quickest route to getting them sounding ... CPTP141: Playing by Ear with Ruth Power

10/05/2018 Read more

CPTP099: How Pamela Wedgwood Inspires her Piano Students

by Tim Topham

Pamela Wedgwood first started composing because her students wanted to learn pop…and yet they weren’t always ready to play the full pop music they wanted to. So she started experimenting to create music that would inspire them to practice. She now has all sorts of publications including the popular Jazzin’ About and Upgrade! series which ... CPTP099: How Pamela Wedgwood Inspires her Piano Students

08/04/2017 Read more

What’s the Difference Between a Chord Chart and a Lead Sheet?

by Tim Topham

Lead Sheets have a notated melody line with chord symbols written above and may include words if it’s a song. Chord Charts simply show chord symbols with no notation. If the chord chart is referencing a pop song, it will generally include lyrics as well. In both cases, it’s up to the pianist to provide the left ... What’s the Difference Between a Chord Chart and a Lead Sheet?

02/20/2017 Read more

How to WAKE UP a sleepy piano student!

by Nicola Cantan

I’m super excited to share this guest post with you by Nicola Cantan. Nicola runs a thriving piano studio in Dublin, Ireland and blogs at Colourful Keys. Nicola’s blog is all about effective practice, teaching ideas and motivating students and it’s great that she’s taken the time to write this article about firing-up those sleepy, over-scheduled piano ... How to WAKE UP a sleepy piano student!

03/04/2015 Read more