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April 21, 2011

Easter Activities

As a Christian, as Easter approaches, my focus should be on Christ and what He has done for me on Calvary. My focus is not on chocolate, bunnies, eggs, and the other things that the world traditionally hold to at this time. This time of year is such a spiritually refreshing time for me as I reflect on what Christ has done for me and look forward to living with Him someday.

That being said, do bunnies, chocolate and eggs have any place in our piano studios? This is the thought I have been contemplating this Easter season. I would like to share with you the conclusion I have reached, and invite you to share with me your feelings on this subject.

I feel that my purpose as a piano teacher is primarily to teach piano. Profound statement, ey? :) I also feel that as a Christian piano teacher, I have the responsibility to bring honor and glory to God in everything that I do. So I do not believe that bunnies and eggs should be the focus of this time of year. However, I do not think that using anything with bunnies on it is wrong, either. At Christmastime, I used things with Christmas trees on them, didn't I? So I feel that occasionally using something with bunnies on it or giving out chocolate is not wrong. I mean for real, I'm not going to argue with chocolate. :)

If I was teaching Sunday School, I would not have bunnies in my classroom. The purpose of Sunday School is to point us to Christ, and I believe that is what the focus should be. But as I already said, my purpose in piano lessons is to teach piano, and so I don't think that I need to treat it as if it was a Sunday School class. I'm not picking on Sunday School, mind you, I'm just using that as an example.

So with all that said, I did use one worksheet this week with some of my students that had bunnies and eggs on it. You can find it here on Susan Paradis' site. It was fun and, oh look, it drills notes on the staff, which is exactly what we are working on right now. For my younger students that don't know the notes, I had them write "L" for line or "S" for space. Here is one of my students working on it.


So I would like to know, what is your opinion? I would encourage you all to leave a comment expressing your views on the subject. Let's all just remember to keep our comments sweet and for the purpose of benefiting others, not dragging them down.

4 comments:

  1. I wish Christian holidays were less commercialized... but I do enjoy family traditions of egg hunting the day before Easter and have fun incorporating "Easter" themed activities with my piano students as well. On Easter Sunday we try to keep to keep the focus of the day on the true meaning - Christ.

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  2. I enjoy bringing in seasonal items into my studio, but I'm with you in that I feel that the primary focus of the lesson should be on learning music! That being said, I know that on Saturday all my students will be thinking about their own Easter celebrations, and so I want to tap into their enthusiasm for bunnies and chocolate and extend that into their music. We'll be doing a special egg hunt where the eggs hold the names of pieces for them to play, notes for them to name, and rhythms for them to clap. I think we'll all have a lot of (educational) fun!

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  3. @Heidi
    I agree...Christian holidays are too commercialized! But that doesn't mean we can't have fun traditions, either. Great thoughts!

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  4. @Tanya
    I don't have any students on Friday or Saturday, but I'm sure the holiday would make them kinda distracted! I think its a great idea to incorporate the Easter theme to help keep them focused on piano. Great ideas!

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