The best forums, websites and blogs for piano teachers

by Tim Topham in Technology on July 10, 2012. 10 Comments

Hopefully many of you are familiar the wealth of great resources for piano teachers on the web, but you’ve probably also realised that there is a lot of rubbish out there! Here is a list of my top picks on the web.

Firstly if you’re teaching in Victoria, Australia, make sure you are signed up to receive AMUSE emails by entering your email address on AMUSE. This will keep you in the loop with all the best PD, conferences, jobs, etc., much of which doesn’t get advertised any other way.

FORUMS FOR TEACHERS:

The Inner Circle, my own members-only community for piano teachers, featuring one of the most vibrant forums on the net. Forget the distractions and cat videos, just get the answers, support and content you need in one place.
PianoWorldForums – Great forum for piano teachers to post or respond to questions. Includes forums about pianos, digital pianos, etc. and those for adult learners, performers, etc. – great for advanced and adult students.
ABRSM Exam Forums – Even if you don’t teach the ABRSM syllabus, this is a forum worth checking every couple of weeks.
PianoStreet – Lots of different topics and another great resource for sheet music.

BLOGS:

http://elissamilne.wordpress.com/ – Elissa Milne is a NSW-based composer and teacher well-known for her enthusiastic presentations and witty blog entries. Well worth subscribing to.
http://practisingthepiano.com/ – fantastic blog by UK teacher Graham Fitch.
http://crosseyedpianist.wordpress.com/– blog from another great UK piano teacher, Fran Wilson.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/author/stephenhough/ – Stephen Hough writes a witty blog for The Telegraph and is an accomplished concert pianist.
http://colorinmypiano.com/– well worth subscribing. Jo shares HEAPS of great resources and ideas.

FACEBOOK:

Australian Piano Teachers’ Music Hub – Great resource from Hal Leonard for Australian Teachers
Classical Music Humour – funny stuff
Music Bumblebees – good general interest, especially for teachers of young children

SHEET MUSIC – FREE CLASSICAL:

IMSLP – just about every piece of classical music ready to download. Best resource for out-of-copyright music.

SHEET MUSIC/BOOKS – PRINTED:

Book Depository – free worldwide delivery. Fast too. Highly recommended as it’s cheaper and much faster than Amazon. Best online bookstore by far.
Amazon – The everything store. Says it all, right?! Heaps of sheet music, digital instruments and accessories.
Sheetmusicplus.com – great resource for sheet music. They have some music available for download, the rest you can have delivered. Delivery has taken up to 2 months to get to me in the past, so be aware it’s not quick, but they do have books that no-one else has at competitive prices.

PIANO TEACHING:

http://www.rosshamilton.com.au/index.cfm – for all your general knowledge/viva voce needs
http://www.opusmusicworksheets.com/ – online music teaching worksheets galore
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/07/the-40-best-sources-free-music-education-online/ – summary of all the best free music resources online
http://insidemusicteaching.com/testing-certificates/ – great for certificates for students + heaps more

I’m sure there are other great sites out there – please leave a comment if you know of any other goodies!

by Tim Topham

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Today we welcome an extremely informative guest post from Rosemarie Penner. She has transformed her piano teaching business through technology and travel. By using iPads and other technology, Rosemarie has created a successful travelling music lab. Not sure what a travelling music lab is? I’ll let Rosemarie explain all that and more! Be sure to ... How to Build and Run a Successful Travelling Music Lab

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If you haven’t yet been convinced to buy the amazing iPad app called “Home Concert Xtreme” (HCX), I think this might change your mind! Yes, the app costs about $40, but it’s worth every cent…It’s great for piano teachers and students and is really easy to use. If you’re unfamiliar with HCX, have a look ... Downloading Christopher Norton MIDI to Home Concert Xtreme

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About the author

Tim Topham

Tim Topham is the founder and director of TopMusic. Tim hosts the popular Integrated Music Teaching Podcast, blogs regularly at topmusic.co and speaks at local and international conferences on topics such as integrated teaching, creativity, business, marketing and entrepreneurship. Tim has been featured in American Music Teacher, The Piano Teacher Magazine, California Music Teacher and EPTA Piano Professional. Tim holds an MBA in Educational Leadership, BMus, DipEd and AMusA.

10 Comments

San Antonio says:

02/09/2018 at 7:12 am

Informative post! its very helpful for those who want to learn piano or music education easily. thanks for sharing!

Reply
ronny24 says:

10/31/2017 at 12:44 pm

You can share music playlist with the tool of MusConv.com

Reply
Singapore Piano Teachers says:

08/01/2016 at 10:14 pm

Hey Tim, thanks for the guide! It’s really interesting to read about the resources in Australia since we are piano teachers too but from a different country – Singapore! Just saying hi! 🙂

Reply
- Tim Topham says:
  
  08/02/2016 at 12:39 am
  
  Thanks! Lovely to hear from people in Singapore. Hope you enjoy the content 🙂
  
  Reply
Amy Chaplin says:

07/01/2015 at 10:27 am

Hi Tim, just FYI, the link to your Sheet Music Bookmarks doesn’t seem to be working…at least for me. It says it has a redirect loop with too many redirects…

Reply
- Tim Topham says:
  
  07/03/2015 at 4:58 am
  
  Hi Amy. Thanks for letting me know. I’m afraid that bookmark list is no longer available as it was too hard to keep up to date!
  
  Reply
  - Amy Chaplin says:
    
    07/03/2015 at 5:02 am
    
    Understood! Thanks for the reply!
    
    Reply
Wallace says:

11/27/2014 at 2:39 am

Hey guys, you should add http://www.flowkey.com to the list of piano learning tools. It’s pretty nice!

Reply
Carly says:

07/12/2012 at 11:17 am

This is a very timely reminder to have a look at a few of my memos from last week! 🙂

Reply
Cross-Eyed Pianist says:

07/11/2012 at 2:10 am

Hi Tim – many thanks for the shout-out for my blog. And all the other useful links! 🙂

Reply