20 creative ways to start

a lesson

FUN IDEAS TO BRING CREATIVITY INTO YOUR PIANO STUDIO

IDEAS & ACTION PLAN

© topmusic.co 2020 topmusic.co

creative lesson ideas

20 creative ways to start a lessonHere are 20 ideas to get your creative juices flowing! Open this on your ipad/phone/laptop if you’d like to be able to click the links and explore some of the resources and read more about how I teach.

1. Find a written piece the student is learning and get them to create an intro or coda in the style of the piece.

2. Download the Musiclock app and use it as a backing track for scales.

3. Get off the bench and play some games. Here’s a great selection of free games from one of my members who blogs at Colourful Keys.

4. Explore Bucket Drumming or Rhythm Cups (both are total winners and will have you and your student laughing in no time).

5. Instead of just playing a scale over Musiclock (or another backing track), get the student to improvise something using the notes of the scale.

6. Play from lead sheets. Google for “piano lead sheets” to find heaps of options - hymns, folk tunes, jazz, etc. 101 Classical Themes for Buskers is an awesome resource for this.

7. Explore the 12 bar blues. You can find free lesson plans are at topmusic.co/blues.

8. Play a musical game on the iPad. Check my list of the Best iPad apps for Piano Teachers here.

9. Teach the 4-Chord Song (ie. chords I, V, vi, IV in any key) and get them grooving along to a pop song that uses it (there are hundreds).

10. Ask a student what they’d like to learn, find the music and help them with it. Be prepared to help with anything and be prepared to simplify creatively!

11. Ask the student if they’ve recently tried learning something from a YouTube tutorial and get them to show you what they’ve learnt.

12. Use the DecideNow! App so students can choose their scale and/or way of playing it.

13. For your next reading piece, pull apart the patterns in the music and explore these ingredients before you start learning the notes. Find out more about this approach.

14. Teach the student a pop song riff by rote. You can find them in my Top 10 Pop Songs blog.

15. Young students: Ask them to make up a piece that tells a story about animals (great for beginners - eg. The Ant v the Elephant, The Bees attack! Or Mice Marching). More about this to come in my next course about teaching beginners.

16. Try musical echoes/chants: you play something on the piano and the student copies you keeping a steady beat (and not missing a beat). The student can watch what you do. Keep it at the right level de-pending on your student.

17. Like No 12 except they can’t see what you play - they have to listen and copy back in time by using just their ears. Kids love the challenge! Then get them to play something and you have to echo is back. Get creative!

18. Work out a tune together by ear with no music. This could be classical, pop, anything. Something they choose and know is best. Get them to sing things before they try and play (unlikely to be very successful otherwise!).

19. Teach them the chord progression for Heart and Soul (I, vi, IV, V chords) and improvise over it using a C major scale.

20. Go to Hooktheory>Trends>Progression Builder where students can click the chords in a progression and hear all the songs that use that progression. Get them to play the progression they choose on the piano while the song plays.

© topmusic.co 2020 topmusic.co

creative lesson ideas

ACTION PLANNow that you’ve got some ideas, it’s time to set some goals.

Choose 5 of the above creative ideas and 5 students with whom you’re going to try them out in the next 1-2 weeks. After the lesson, write down how it went. What can you change? What worked? What didn’t? I’ve left extra space for more reflection below. Have fun!

If you’re looking for more resources and training like this, make sure you check out my TopMusicPro Profes-sional Development Community for teachers just like you. As an TopMusicPro Member, you can:

Access hundreds of resources, training courses, videos and downloads, lesson plans and PDFs to give you confidence to be a more creative teacher.

Be a ‘fly on the wall’ in the studio’s of expert teachers: watch how I and others teach and get creative with students so that you can feel confident about trying out the same things.

Ask any question and get the answers and support you need for your teaching and business from both other community members and my team of Expert Teachers.

Avoid the distractions of Facebook Groups, find the information you need quickly and get involved in rich dis-cussions with other dedicated teachers without any of the complaining and time wasting you find on Facebook!

Go to topmusic.co/community to find out more.

student activity to try reflection

student activity to try reflection

student activity to try reflection

student activity to try reflection

student activity to try reflection

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