My favorite first lesson, and a sweet flannel board staff tutorial

January 24, 2012 Jennifer Boster

My four-year-old son has recently been very interested in my piano lessons. He will quietly wander into the room while I am teaching and say that he just wants to watch. He has actually had quite a bit of music instruction over the past year and a half, as he has attended all of my preschool piano classes and has been sort of my “guinea pig” while coming up with fun music games. But my husband and I have never pushed him to learn, we want him to want to on his own!

In the past when I have mentioned to him that if he wants to learn I can teach him, he has said, “but I already know how to play the piano!”

So last week I mentioned to him that whenever he wants to learn to play the piano I would be happy to teach him, and to just let me know when he wants to have lessons. He thought for a second, and then said, “how about tomorrow?”

Music to my ears!

We had his first lesson last week and it was a success. We are keeping it very low-key and not requiring a lot, as far as practicing goes – at his age I do not want to force him to practice. I want this to be a fun, positive experience to give him a great introduction to music – and we’ll see where it leads!

We traced his hands and wrote in the finger numbers (which he already knew from our piano class) and played some finger number games. We used drips and rainbows to make a song with short and long notes (thanks to Anne Crosby Gaudet and her excellent blog post and Music Discoveries workbook) and then clapped the rhythm and played it on the piano. We then learned a short song in his Celebrate Piano!book and then he got a turn playing the MiDisaurusgame on my studio computer.

Here is my buddy boy at his first lesson!

Now I’d like to share with you my FAVORITE teaching aid from the past few months – my flannel board staff! I had the idea for this baby after getting a new sewing machine. Ok, so that’s not entirely true – I was wanting to make some kind of music staff for teaching, and had a few ideas, but then my HUSBAND actually had the idea to sew the lines on! What a guy.

This has proven to be such a helpful teaching aid. I have used it in many preschool piano classes, as well as in numerous private lessons. It’s been a wonderful way to get students off the bench and thinking about music theory in a fun and hands-on way.

So you want to make one? Simple.

Take a big piece of cardboard. I cut mine from a big cardboard box. Mine is about 24″ by 32″.

Get a piece of white flannel large enough to cover the cardboard and wrap around to the back (so you’ll want it a bit bigger than your cardboard).

Measure off and mark where you want your lines to be. Mine are 1 1/2 inches apart, with about 4 1/2 inches between the two staves. I used a washable marker to mark a few dots where the lines should be, and then was able to wash it out after sewing the lines.

Load some black thread onto your sewing machine and then sew a wide and short zigzag stitch (hope that makes sense…I’m not up on my sewing terminology!) for each staff line.

Once all of the lines are done, carefully line the fabric up with the cardboard so the lines are straight. Fold it over the cardboard (sort of like wrapping a present) and slap some duct tape on the back to hold it in place.

Voila! You’ve got yourself a flannel board staff.

You can then use felt or flannel to make all sorts of notes and clefs and things to put on your staff to use in teaching. Maybe sometime I’ll share more of the ways I have used mine.

Have fun!

First Lesson Poll Results & our new topic

April 7, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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Another week come and gone – I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend, and I hope that some of you are enjoying nice, warm spring weather (because here in Utah it is spring one minute, and a crazy winter blizzard the next!!)

Thanks to all who participated in our poll this week – I think it’s safe to say that nobody feels completely confident when they teach their very first lesson (and about a third of us felt completely clueless!), so you beginning teachers out there, take comfort! And if you are just starting out, be sure to check out this week’s posts on Teaching a First Lesson for some inspiration and ideas. Now to the poll results:

When I taught my VERY first lesson, I was:

Our topic for this next week will be:

Method Books & Repertoire for Beginning Students

Holy cow, what a huge topic! But what an important topic. We are going to need a lot of comments and input on this one. We would LOVE to compile some sort of chart or list of different method books for beginners/elementary students, and the pros and cons of each – it would be an awesome resource for all of us. It will probably be an ongoing project. So, in light of that, here is what we’d like to hear from you:

What piano methods do you use for your students, or what methods do you like?
Tell us some pros & cons of that method. Some ideas of things to mention:

reading approach (middle C vs. multi-key vs. intervallic)
theory that is included
skills included (such as ear training, transposition, harmonization, form, composition, improvisation, etc.)
quality of repertoire
included technology (such as listening CD’s)
overall look & quality of series

What type of student would you assign it to? For example, I would give this method to a student who is 6-8 years old, who has a pretty good attention span and is a great practicer, but plays too much by ear.

Also, don’t forget to take our weekly poll! Can’t wait to hear from you!

What to teach at a first lesson?

April 6, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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I absolutely loved Bonnie’s post on teaching a first lesson. There are so many wonderful things she said; I particularly love how she emphasized making it fun and exciting, and about nurturing the wonder of music in the student’s mind.

Yes, this is a huge and varied topic, depending completely on the personality, age, skill level, experience level and attention span of each student. Here are a few of my thoughts, to add to Bonnie’s, on the topic of teaching a first lesson:

Be friendly, be excited. Make it fun. I really cannot add anything to what has already been said on this topic.

Get to know the student. Find out what they want to get out of piano lessons. Do they want to study music in college? Do they want to be able to play the piano at church? Do they want to just be able to sit down at the piano and sight read? Sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised by the goals of your students; when your teaching is aligned with their goals it makes for a much more successful and positive experience.

Get on the same page. Each student is unique; no two students will be at the exact same starting point. If they are a transfer student, it may take a little while to assess exactly which level the student is at in their technique, theory, etc. Even some beginners will already know concepts that other beginners don’t. You may have to review some concepts with them or backtrack to make sure they have learned things correctly. This is actually a great thing to try and figure out before the first lesson, at a new student interview/audition, because it can take awhile.

Now let’s pretend your new student is a six- or seven-year-old beginner who has not had previous piano lessons. Here is a sample list of concepts to go over in the first lesson, and a few ideas on how to teach them. I like to make sure we cover technique, theory and repertoire in each lesson. Keep in mind that every student is different. Sometimes you will not have enough time to go over everything on this list; sometimes you will get through it in ten minutes! So be prepared but be flexible. And obviously you want to get through this information, but do it in a fun and interesting way! Put your own personality into it.

Technique

How to Sit at the Piano
Correct Hand Position

Stress from the very beginning that fingers should be nice and curved. Tell them to pretend their hand is a bird’s nest, then turn it upside down. I find this analogy works better than the holding a ball analogy (you don’t want the fingers too curved in!). Their fingers should be curved but relaxed – so as not to crack the eggs in the little nest!
Put little dot stickers on the tips of the student’s fingers where they should be touching the keys, and also on the keyboard in a sort of half-circle shape (where their fingers should be touching), and have them match up the stickers! I used this method with a five-year-old boy once, and he loved it! I think it sometimes helps them to visualize it better.
Playing a five-note scale on C is great to start out with

Theory

Basic Layout of Keyboard (White/Black Notes, Black Note Patterns, High/Low Notes, etc.)

Make some sort of game out of it – it could be as simple as, “can you play all of the sets of 2 black keys?” or “can you play a set of 3 low black keys?”

Names of the White Keys

Make it fun – tell them a story! Here’s one I heard in a pedagogy class: the 3 black keys are Grandma’s house. Who lives in Grandma’s house? Grandma (G), of course! And what does she bake? An apple (A) pie! Grandma’s house has a front (F) door and a back (B) door. Outside there is a dog house (the 2 black keys), where Doggie D lives. Outside the doghouse there is also a cat (C) and an elephant (E). Don’t ask my why there is an elephant in Grandma’s yard – but if you have a better idea that starts with an E, I’d love to hear it! 🙂 Hey, at least an elephant is memorable, right?
Make it a game – play a white key and have them name the note as fast as they can. Name a note and have them play that note as fast as they can.

Basic Rhythm – quarter & half notes

I would love to know how you readers teach rhythm. There are so many methods of counting for beginners: “1-2-3-4,” “1-2, 1, 1” (counting out the number of beats for each individual note), “long, short short,” “half-note, quarter quarter” (I never really understood this method, because it takes twice as long to say “quarter” as it does to say “half” or “note”).

Repertoire

It is nice for the student to be able to play something after their first lesson – whether it is a simple piece learned by rote, or the first piece in their method book

So there you have it, some ideas to get you started! Now tell me – what do YOU do at a first lesson? What concepts do you feel are important to go over? What things do you do to make it fun and exciting?

The First Lesson

April 6, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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There is never enough time in the first lesson. Think about all the things you would like to say and do. You could go on for hours! How do you get enough information into that little head to get them excited about music, motivated to work hard, and able to have a successful first practice week?

It’s kind of a huge subject to tackle, because no two students are exactly alike in personality, learning style, background, or previously-acquired knowledge and skills. Maybe you have a 5-year old who has never had a music class, an 8-year old who has played the violin for 4 years, a teenager who has had years of piano lessons but stumbles through reading simple pieces (oh, that one hurts my heart), or an adult who nervously admits to always having wanted to play, but fearing it is too late to learn.

So, rather than specifically outlining exactly what you “should” say or teach in the first lesson, I’d like to give some broad guidelines. Whatever you do, remember that you don’t have to do it all in the first lesson. Keep it simple, keep it fun, and be yourself.

Make the student comfortable.
- Get to know them a little before diving into the subject matter. Even though there is a lot to cover, remember that this is the beginning of a (hopefully) long and important relationship. They need to know you are interested in them as a person, as well as a musician.
- Make sure they know they can ask questions at any time.
- If you’re anything like me, you (the teacher!) might be a little shy when getting to know a new student. Let them know that it will take a little while for the two of you to get to know each other. And don’t be afraid to let your personality show.
- Tell the student a little about yourself, including things unrelated to music. Give them something they can identify with.
Give the student some structure.
- Explain how your lessons will flow.
- Explain how their assignment book is structured.
- Explain what they are expected to do at home each day.
- Talk about the shared responsibilities of the student, parent, and teacher.
Get the student excited.
- Do something fun! Young children especially have eagerly looked forward to this day, filled with the wonder of music that is so evident to their little minds. Be careful to nurture that wonder, rather than squashing it with lengthy explanations and assignments.
- Get off the bench. Move to the music. Do not for a moment let this newly opened mind begin to believe that music is boring and unmoving.
Give the student confidence.
- Teach them something right in the lesson that they can master and take home with them. For a younger student, it might be as simple as naming 3 notes on the keyboard. An older student might be able to learn a simple piece by ear.
- Explain very clearly what you want them to practice at home, and how to practice it. Give them enough to do that they will make some progress, but not so much that they will be overwhelmed.

I haven’t talked about what technique, theory, or literature to cover in the first lesson. Those things differ so completely based on the student’s age and experience that I hardly know where to begin. But you will know what to do, and if you don’t, you’ll make it up until you do. We all do that as teachers; the key is to do it with confidence!

teaching how to teach

April 1, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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Some of you will remember my post about one of my dear piano teachers, in which I mentioned that she emphatically stated at our first meeting, “I teach teachers.” I love that.

It is because of her dedication and love for teaching that I became a teacher. And it was also because of her help and constant encouragement. She actually found my very first student for me (her next-door neighbor). She encouraged me and gave me advice. But one of the most helpful things that she did was this: one week, instead of my regular lesson, she taught me a lesson on how to teach a first lesson.

Looking back on this, I think this was one of the best things she could have done for me. Teaching a first lesson can be nerve-wracking, especially if and when you don’t have a clue what you are doing. It was so helpful to have her sit down with me and go over exactly what you should do on a first lesson.

I have had the privilege of teaching one of my own students a lesson on how to teach a first lesson. By this time I had quite a bit of experience to draw from, including pedagogy classes in college, but I still used quite a bit of the same material that my teacher taught me that day. It was actually a really cool feeling to encourage one of my own students to teach, just as my teacher had encouraged me. I would highly recommend encouraging some of your students to teach by teaching them how to teach a first lesson – after all, sometimes we just need a little push in the right direction!

What or who encouraged you to begin teaching? Did you have any help in learning what to do at the first lesson?

Don’t forget to take this week’s poll – and you can actually vote for more than one answer this week!

some poll results & a fun new topic

March 31, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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Well another week has gone by, and here are our poll results for this week’s poll about your studio!

What kind of studio space do you have?

Thanks for participating in our poll! It’s always interesting to see the results we get. We have also loved all the wonderful comments we’ve gotten this week. The comments are what really makes the blog great, because it turns into a discussion and we all help teach each other. Love it!

Now onto our new topic:

Teaching a FIRST Lesson.

Because let’s be honest: we have all experienced that brief moment of panic when we are teaching our very. first. student. ever. and we realize we don’t know what the heck we are doing. We thought this would be a useful topic 🙂 Plus we have tried to go in a somewhat chronological order with our topics of the week, and once you get your studio set up, decide on a few policies, advertise and get a few students – that’s when the teaching/fun begins!

So let’s hear it: leave us a comment and tell us about your first lesson you’ve ever taught (this could be fun…). Or, tell us how you go about teaching a very first lesson to a beginning student. How about transfer students – how do you handle their first lesson with you? Any tips for teachers who are just starting out? Leave a comment – ready, go!

Also, don’t forget to take our new poll as well as our reader survey! Become a follower or a Facebook fan to get updates when we have new posts…and to let you know about our giveaway that is coming up later this week!