Tips on How to Begin Arranging Music: Notes from Jason Lyle Black Workshop

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. - Edward de Bono

Inspiring my students with some Jason Lyle Black videos is just one of the many tools I have used to encourage my students to break away from the written page from time to time and try something different.

Teaching Piano with Chord Colors

I've been associating chords with colors since my childhood, but now chord colors are taking on some new off the page creative roles after inspiration from the Creative Keys Conference.

Ways to Play with Staff Fish Cards

I love finding music games that are adaptable for multiple levels!  These Fish Music Flashcards from Susan Paradis have long been in my stash of Piano Games to use at lessons to increase note reading fluency,

Ear Training Group Lesson Piano Games

Do you include ear training exercises in every lesson?  This definitely wasn't a huge part of the traditional lessons I had as a child.  Fortunately ear training has evolved quite a bit from the "Now Hear This" cassette tapes and workbook that my teacher sent me home with years ago. Group lessons are the kick-off event for my monthly themes in our studio, and we kicked off November with some Ear Training Games. There is definitely a lot more excitement and motivation that comes with ear training in a group setting!

Free "Count Your Blessings" Piano Teaching Resource

With Thanksgiving around the corner I like to include a few seasonal songs in my student's piano assignments.
This year I'm using this free version of  Count Your Blessings (p. 64) and adapting it for multiple levels in my studio.  Following are instructions on how I introduce this piece to varying levels of students.

Intervals in Motion Ear Training Group Game

Identifying intervals by ear can be a tricky skill for some students to master, but this group piano lesson game gets students in action as they sharpen their interval ear training skills as a group!

8 Great Ways to Teach Rhythm with Let's Play Music Bug Rhythm Flashcards

Using rhythm bugs is by far my favorite approach for teaching rhythm. The connection to natural language patterns makes difficult rhythm patterns accessible for even young children and the matching visual images on the bugs that correspond with the standard rhythm notation make a memorable association for visual learners.

Creative Keys Workshop with Leila Viss: On and Off the Bench

This session focussed on using technology during off bench time in your teaching studio and started with a rousing game of Kahoot!  Kahoot.com  is a free educational game platform where teams race to answer questions correctly using a pc, ipad or mobile device.  This would make a great activity for a group lesson or buddy lesson.  You can choose from a wide selection of games created by other teachers or create your own customized set.  By searching "leilaviss" in the Kahoot search bar I discovered the fun Kahoot games created by Leila about intervals, chord spelling, music styles and composers, etc.  A few other possible search topics include piano keys, key signatures, chord qualities, notes on the staff, rhythm.

Creative Keys Workshop with Leila Viss: Creativity

FINDING TIME TO BE CREATIVE

“Creativity is recombining elements that already exist in a new way.” – Wendy Stevens
Piano lessons for me as a child followed the traditional format of playing from the printed page, receiving feedback, and practicing it again until I got it right.