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Best Student Duets with Just 5-fingers from Diabelli

by Tim Topham

If you haven’t yet introduced the duets of Anton Diabelli to your teaching studio, you are missing out on some of the best student duets for beginner and intermediate students. In fact, as long as students can read a 5-finger position in C Major, they can at least play the first couple of these pieces. Diabelli ... Best Student Duets with Just 5-fingers from Diabelli

08/29/2022 Read more

Teaching Classical Piano by Teaching Pop Piano

by Rebecca Langley

I’m really happy to have Rebecca Langley write for the blog this week. Rebecca’s article about making connections in music goes right to the core of what effective piano pedagogy is all about and the timing couldn’t be better: my podcast with Paul Harris (Mr. Making Connections in Music Himself!) goes live this Sunday and picks-up exactly the ... Teaching Classical Piano by Teaching Pop Piano

07/23/2015 Read more

Chord playing for beginners

by Tim Topham

I normally introduce chord playing for beginners in root position within the first two lessons for a new beginner. Why? Simply because playing triads with the RH and octaves or single bass notes in the LH is instantly fun and sounds really musical. It’s also great practice for learning about harmony and common chord progressions. I ... Chord playing for beginners

06/13/2011 Read more

Teaching Boys Piano – Repertoire Ideas

by Tim Topham

Most of my career has focussed on all-boys education. I believe there are many merits to single-sex schooling, especially when it comes to the arts. However, this is not a post about co-ed versus single sex schooling, rather it’s about repertoire that I have found resonates really well when teaching boys. In my experience, boys ... Teaching Boys Piano – Repertoire Ideas

06/07/2011 Read more

Best of AMEB Manual List – Level 2

by Tim Topham

Continuing my previous post… here are my suggestions of the best pieces on the AMEB’s manual list from Grade 5 – 7 (and one from Grade 8 which I haven’t had as much experience with yet). There are heaps more that are probably fantastic which I haven’t yet found, so please educate me with suggestions ... Best of AMEB Manual List – Level 2

05/26/2011 Read more

Piano Video Game Music

by Tim Topham

If you teach boys in particular, you have no doubt had students requesting to play pieces they’ve heard from computer games – Super Mario, World of Warcraft, Zelda, Mass Effect – are just a few that come to mind from my experience. Video game music is pretty popular with my teens. Computer game music is ... Piano Video Game Music

05/24/2011 Read more
 

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Best of the AMEB manual list – level 1

by Tim Topham

It’s sad that so many teachers stick only to the AMEB grade books when there is so much great music out there, and quite a few gems are already listed in the syllabus under the “Manual List” for each grade. The only problem is, unless you learned those pieces when you were a kid, it’s ... Best of the AMEB manual list – level 1

05/23/2011 Read more