Many times
a new, prospective parent calling me about piano lessons for their
child will make the statement "I just want the lessons to be fun."
I have an immediate reaction. "Oh, no, here we go again. Do they
have ANY idea what this is all about? Do they know what DEDICATION
and STAMINA this takes?! This isn't FUN! This is honest to goodness
HARD WORK!" All kidding aside (am I kidding?) piano lessons can
be fun but it takes some creative thinking on the part of the teacher
to keep it happening.
Eighteen years
ago when I first switched my studio from "traditional" to "Suzuki"
I was immediately impressed by the free exchange of information
offered by veteran Suzuki instructors. I was actually invited
and welcomed to come and watch teachers teach at no charge. I
found this amazing and refreshing. I had finally found a musical
community helping each other toward the common goal of instructing
children in the art of playing the piano. I have assimilated many
ideas both from other teachers and myself to share in this article.
I enjoy reading inspirational, philosophical articles about teaching
but I want those balanced with down to earth, practical ideas
to use in my studio. The following are some events and ideas I
use in my teaching to keep it FUN.
Piano Lessons can be scary!
If you ask my
students, they may say the number one fun thing we do is the Halloween
Recital. Every year, we dress up (teacher, too) in scary or funny
costumes and play Halloween music. The selections range from original
compositions to "serious" classical pieces (for example: Chopin
Prelude #20). The high school students enjoy it as much as the
younger students. The parents have the option of dressing up,
too, and many do. Some of my costumes have included a witch, a
cheerleader, a football player, a skater dude, and a disco queen.
Piano Lessons can be festive!
I encourage parents
to play duets with their children on our holiday recital in December.
Often, I will pair a young student with a teen if neither of the
parents plays piano. It's a great opportunity to create a nice
relationship with older and younger children. I also encourage
other instrumentalists and vocalists to perform on this recital.
Last year one of my high school students accompanied a choir friend
singing Joni Mitchell's Blue. It was a very nostalgic moment for
some of us baby boomers. I have had parents of graduated seniors
tell me this is the recital they miss the most.
Piano lessons can be summerific!
In the summer,
we have the Summer Sight Reading Challenge. Each student has a
specific number of pages they must complete by September in order
to pick a prize from a basket I have in the studio. Students are
encouraged to surpass their goal. I have a lot of fun shopping
for the prizes. They can include everything from nail polish to
Hot Wheels. I believe the most pages completed in a summer were
1,089! This summer, I also started a Summer Scale Challenge. Being
a competitive runner myself, always striving for a personal best,
I decided it would be a great idea for the students to keep track
of their personal bests in scales on a weekly basis, measured
by the metronome. Just like the Olympics, students would always
retain their personal best even if they could not duplicate or
better it during the following lesson. It was inspiring and exciting
to see the progress week to week.
Piano lessons can be informative!
This year, I started
a monthly newsletter in the studio to recognize my students' involvement
in musical activities outside of piano lessons. It has been particularly
informative for parents of young students. They are now finding
out about summer music camps and Suzuki Institutes, middle school
musicals, high school opportunities for band and orchestra, choral
productions, jazz bands, which students play a second or third
instrument, and ways that my high school students are earning
money playing and/or coaching professionally. It is a great "networking"
tool. I provide a legal pad each month where students can record
their activities. I have also included information about what
I am doing musically outside of teaching.
Piano lessons can generate hand me downs!
When my son was
in elementary and middle school, it seemed he only got to wear
his recital clothes one or two times before I had to buy the next
bigger size. I decided to start a recital clothes recycling idea.
Everything is free for the taking. In the three years I have been
doing it, there have been many white shirts, black pants, black
shoes and beautiful recital dresses passing through!
Piano lessons can be improvisational!
Probably my students
would say the second most fun thing we do is the monthly Theory/Improvisation
class. My students love to be with their group and they like the
relief of no private lesson during this week. We do traditional
theory exercises as well as games and jazz/rock/blues improvisation.
I routinely set up several keyboards in my basement so we can
play together. This month we were jamming on the Blues Brother's
version of Booker T and the M G's Green Onions. I have sometimes
set up a keyboard down the street at a neighbor's house to jam
with a drummer. I will take a whole class (4-9) of students down
to play. I have new college students living next door who constantly
practice with their band. I plan to take my classes there, as
well. This time we will also have a bass player! Sometimes, if
the theory class is scheduled around dinnertime or I am running
a late ensemble rehearsal I will surprise the participants with
a pizza. You can get lots more accomplished if your musicians
are not starving.
Piano lessons can inspire interest in other music!
I have had three
recitals where students performed music by only one composer.
Each student shared a fact about the composer before performing
his or her chosen piece. We have done Schubert, Chopin, and Bach.
A parent recorded the Bach recital and we all got CD's of the
performance. At each recital, I presented students with a small
bust of the composer.
I really believe in ensemble playing for piano students. Practicing
piano is a lonely endeavor. If you have other students to play
with, it becomes more of a social event. All of my students can
participate in duet playing. We also perform piano trios, duos,
quartets, and participate in a monster concert involving 12 grand
pianos.
Often, parents wanting to start a listening library will ask me
if I could provide them with a list of recordings to buy. This
task has always seemed daunting to me. Instead of spending hours
compiling the list, I decided to offer an album of the week coupled
with a musical quote of the week. I post the information on my
bulletin board on brightly colored paper. The musical selections
include classical, jazz, blues, and rock. I have had so much fun
reflecting on albums special to me. In some cases, I have had
them for so long, I have to make sure they are now available on
CD. I have enough favorites to keep this going for years! If you
type in "Musical Quotes" on the Google search engine, you will
find many, many websites with legally reproducible quotes. My
quote for this week is "Country music is 3 chords and the truth"…Harlan
Howard. They range from the reflective, "Music is what feelings
sound like"…unknown, to the silly, "All the good music has
already been written by people with wigs and stuff"…Frank
Zappa. Great Fun!
Piano lessons can be documented for fun!
Each of my students
presents a Suzuki Book Recital at their home when they have completed
a book. It's a fun party complete with refreshments. Early on
in my Suzuki career, I decided to save every book recital program
from my studio. I purchased a small portfolio with clear sleeves
to display them. I recently purchased the fourth volume to make
room for the 149th entry! My seniors can flip through and see
their Book One program that they may have handwritten and illustrated.
I also have five or six photo albums filled with student pictures
from recitals, competitions, festivals, theory classes, etc. While
waiting for their lesson, students love to look in these albums.
When my seniors graduate, I enlarge several pictures from this
collection and display them at the last recital.
So, can piano lessons be fun???
I think they can
be if we break up the routine of the day-to-day practice sessions
with interesting and amusing things to do. Challenge yourself
to come up with one new idea a year. Keep it fresh, keep it changing,
keep it creative, and keep growing, as a teacher and musician,
and it will be FUN!
(I would love to hear what makes it FUN in your studio. Please
email me at Rebnotz@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you!)
Rebecca Martin maintains a very active Suzuki Piano Studio in
Boulder, Co. In addition to the Suzuki repertoire, she enjoys
teaching jazz, rock, and blues. She currently performs with Lois
LaFond and the Rockadiles and Pandaemonium and is recording her
first CD of original piano music. She is an instructor at several
summer institutes. You may reach her at Rebecca@rebnotz.com.
Rebecca Martin, Member
International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE)