Are Extrinsic Rewards Motivating?
The subject of motivation always interests me. Here’s a great post by Tim Topham summarizing the book on motivation called Drive. He mentions a few of the studies conducted on motivation including one on preschoolers and one on adults. The “if-then” approach to motivation (i.e. “if you do this, then I’ll give you this…”) is certainly problematic and Tim’s summary helps us see where those problems lie and how we teachers can tweak our own reward systems to be less problematic. You can also get...
read moreHL Winter Catalogue – 40% off
Now through March 31st, you can get 40% off books on technique from Hal Leonard. See all of the books included in this special offer here. Here are a few books in which I am especially interested: Piano Teacher’s Guide to Creative Composition by Carol Klose Piano Aerobics Piano Teachers Resource Kit by Karen Harrington (see her interview on the book...
read moreSmash Hit Games with the Eggspert
About a month ago, I purchased the Eggspert Quizzing System and began using it in my studio. Since then, I have not stopped raving about how my students and I love it! Many of you have also purchased the inexpensive system and wanted more details on how I use it in my studio, so I thought I’d post about it. First, a bit about how the quizzing system works. There are 2 settings: one where 1 of 2-6 players can press their “egg” which lights up the corresponding egg color on the master quizzing set. This is the setting I...
read moreWhat is a Musician?
As promised, I wanted to link to Stephen Hough’s own answer to his question, “Can you be a musician and not write music?” He clearly thinks you can indeed be a musician and not write music, but I love that he continues the questioning by adding, “Do you have to play or sing in order to call yourself a musician?” and “What is a musician? Is it only those that can play or read?” His questions are definitely ones that need to be processed especially in our culture with all the people who don’t...
read moreStudent Critiques
Over the years, I’ve had my students critique each other a number of times. Mostly its been for their performances of pieces in our group Performance Classes. We’ve used a variety of materials to do this from the Performance Class Worksheet (there are 4 of them on this page) to a simple piece of paper on which students write 1 thing they liked and 1 thing they think could be improved. I think I am like most teachers when I say that sometimes this process makes me a little nervous. Perhaps this nervousness is why I’ve been...
read moreA Better Image Can Translate to Better Money
Our “Dollars and Sense” feature is back! Kristin Yost will be sharing some fantastic articles containing useful business advice for piano teachers. She and I will also be sharing answers to your questions on business matters. Simply email me (Wendy) with your questions and we will try to answer you in a future post. Here is this week’s business advice for the piano teacher: A Better Image Can Translate to Better Money by Kristin Yost (PianoTeacherSchool.com and CentreforMusicalMinds.org) You know as well as I do that the...
read moreChristmas Piano Games and Activities
I’m gearing up for my Christmas party and have received numerous requests for a post on Christmas activities, so I wanted to give you a list. Newsletter subscribers will receive a few more ideas than what’s here, so be sure to subscribe to email updates if you haven’t already. Name that Tune – This is always a fun activity around Christmas time. Divide your students into 2 teams and play a small bit of a Christmas tune. Place a call bell between the 2 teams and the first person to ring the call bell and guess...
read moreWhat’s on your Christmas Wishlist?
Well, we are nearing Christmas and also the end of the year when we try to take advantage of tax deductions for teaching supplies. I recently started a “teacher wish list” or “studio wish list and thought it would be fun to tell you what’s on it as well as see what’s on yours. I confess that I went ahead and ordered several of these things just a few days ago and am still debating about some. But, here’s what I’d love to add to my studio and teaching supplies for the new year: Education Insights...
read moreJudge these Lyrics Please?
Okay, my fellow teachers, musicians, and friends, we need your help! Would you be willing to judge my student’s lyrics for our lyric writing contest this year? Here are the details: Our Christmas recital theme is “My Favorite Things” and each student was asked to write new lyrics to that tune that is in every elementary Christmas book, but which no student ever knows. You know the one…Good King Wenceslas, or better known as “Good King W” in my studio. The original lyrics tell a great story, but again...
read moreThe End-of-Project Sharing Element
Do you ever wonder why there isn’t more excitement about what you think are fun projects in your studio? Shouldn’t art projects, composing their own music, sight-reading challenges, etc. be thrilling for students? I’m reading a book called Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity and the author Scott Watson talks about 8 principles for unlocking music creativity. I think his principles are fantastic and every teacher should read the book to improve their teaching. Just now I was struck by principle #8 just now...
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