Piano Pedagogy Archives

It’s only Tuesday and it’s been a real challenge this week. Even some of my best students seem to be in Lala land. Forgetting notes and rhythms, losing music, playing scales with the wrong fingering. It’s enough to make even ‘the happiest piano teacher in town’ well…not so happy.

I’ve talked to some other teachers and I know I am not alone. Times are anything but usual right now and I believe our students need us more than ever. More than they need us, they need music. So how can we take the pressure off and make piano lessons a bit more fun while at the same time making sure that our students are actually learning something?

We have all been thrown into online lessons whether we wanted to be teaching online or not. I have been teaching online since 2016 when I moved from South Florida to Cleveland Ohio. I have several students who wanted to continue their lessons with me, so I started teaching using FaceTime and now Zoom.

I have learned quite a bit over the last few months so I am sharing some new things here. Happy Online teaching!

For Yourself

1 – Get comfortable. Get a comfortable chair, set things up so you can stand if you need to. Being physically comfortable is step one in making online lessons easier.

2 – Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink. Treat yourself, you deserve it!

3 – Change your schedule. Online teaching is more demanding for us. However, just about everyone has some flexibility right now. I set my schedule up so that I don’t have more than seven or eight students in a row.

4 – Keep a pen and paper handy to take notes.

5 – Invest in a webcam for over the keys. I use this tool at every lesson to demonstrate how things are to be played. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

When Working With Your Students