Beginners
blog posts

Teach music confidently without the stress

Recent Guitar Pedagogy Creativity Repertoire Beginners Studio Business

by Tim Topham

Have you ever thought about bringing rock bands into your teaching studio? Many teachers would be interested in this kind of ensemble playing experience, and the positive introduction it provides to music. But few would think of bringing this to preschool students. Getting preschoolers into rock bands might sound like something that would need a ... CPTP117: Creating Preschool Music Programs that Rock with Dave Simon

by Carol Koczo

Welcome to another product review on dev.topmusic.co. If you’re interested in learning more about some of the products our community is using, why not check out these links? The Piano Mastery Course Collabra Music – Finally a Way to Track Students’ Practice The Musicolor Method Most piano teachers use piano method books as a source ... Product Review: The Musicolor Method

by Megan Desmarais

When you first start teaching music, one of the hardest things is deciding what your piano teaching method is going to be. What kind of teacher will you be? How will you inspire your students? These are all questions to consider before your first student walks into your sparkly new piano studio. To give us ... How to Find Your Perfect Piano Teaching Method

by Nicola Cantan

Forget about cadences, inversions and singing “here comes the bride” to remind about intervals. Today we’re talking about aural piano activities you can do right from the word go. These aural piano activities are not only great for your new students’ ears. They also serve as wonderful brain breaks or off-the-bench time. These ideas all ... The Best Aural Piano Activities for Absolute Beginner Piano Students

by Tim Topham

Carol Matz is well known in the piano teaching community for her Famous and Fun series, and more recently for her Interactive Piano Method. She’s also an experienced piano teacher herself and she knows what works when it comes to great pedagogical arrangements. But Carol is also on the podcast to talk about the other ... CPTP089 – Carol Matz on Piano Teaching and Arranging

by Tim Topham

Connect on Facebook Share Powered by the Simple Social Press Good morning everyone, or good evening if you’re over in the states or Europe. Tim Topham here again for my fortnightly Repertoire Rap-Up. So, what I do in these sessions if you haven’t seen one of these before is, just go through a whole lot ... Cool Late Beginner Music Part 2 [RR#5]

Plans & Pricing

by Tim Topham

Do you ever wonder exactly how to teach piano pieces? Once students have left their beginner method books, some teachers tend to get a bit lost wondering, “What do I do now? How do I prepare my students for their new pieces without that structure?” The best thing about the creative and flexible approach to ... CPTP081: 3 Steps to the Effective Teaching of any Piano Piece [Worksheet Download]

by Tim Topham

So, have you started using my No Book Beginners (NBB) Framework to help your beginner students at the piano? If not, make sure you check it out because in today’s article, I’m going to be talking about how you can continue this creative approach as you start exploring a piano method book. While there are lots of books on ... How to Teach Creatively Using a Piano Method Book

by Tim Topham

Connect on Facebook Share Powered by the Simple Social Press Fun Late Beginner Piano Music [RR#4] Tim Topham: It’s Tim Topham here and I’m really excited today to show you some of my recent finds and the things that I’ve been using over the last few years for late beginner students. These are the kids ... Fun Late Beginner Piano Music [RR#4]

by Tim Topham

What is the best way to teach beginner piano students and to inspire, engage and motivate them in their first lesson? Is it through opening a method book and teaching students how to read middle C? Or, is it through: Exploring the piano Creating musical stories Playing games Playing by ear Transposing Harmonising, and Improvising? If ... How to Teach Beginner Piano Students [No Book Beginners]

by Tim Topham

Playing games is one of the best ways to get young kids engaged. Whether they’re learning about music or maths, gamified learning is effective and fun. Planning piano teaching games into your lessons will mean your students learn theory concepts more quickly. Games based learning is what children are set up for! They’ll also be even more ... CPTP080: Beginner Piano Teaching Games with Nicola Cantan

by Tim Topham

Teaching young beginners effectively is one of the most important jobs in music education. But how often do we assess our own strategies for teaching beginner piano versus continuing to teach the way we’ve always taught (or, worse still, the way we ourselves were taught)? In this article, I’m going to explain why you should ditch the method ... Why I Teach Beginner Piano Students Without a Method Book