The Best Of: New Games and other stuff Edition

Welcome to The Best Of: where I round up some great links for you from around the www. that I have enjoyed this week!


Piano Finger Twister from Joy (looks like so much fun!)

Smash Hit Games with the Eggspert (again, why can't I be the student?)

Jennifer uses the Eggspert Quizzing System to play Accidental Adventure

Want to listen to some phenomenal pianists? Listen to music from Carnegie Hall!

Here are the goodies: Hal Leonard is offering 40% off select teacher resources until the end of March!

Slightly humorous, but so very important are the truths in this post about the person hiding in your church's back closet!!!!

Any other great links that you have read this week that you would like to share with us? Please do!

Guest Post: Enjoyable Piano Lessons???

♬ Guest Post ♬

Enjoyable Piano Lessons???

Discovering a Relative and Fun Method to Piano Teaching

By Emily Matthew

I believe a tragedy has occurred in both piano studios and student’s homes across the country. Piano students dread going to lessons because their teacher is “boring” or “strict”; teachers are unoriginal and rigid in their teaching styles; and parents are tired of the constant battle to practice. The result? More students discontinue piano lessons. This is a problem that I believe could be corrected by parents and piano teachers, both of which who will in turn influence the students.

This article is not intended for parents; however, I will quickly say this: I believe it is the parents’ responsibility to give their child the opportunity of music lessons. I believe that learning to play an instrument is a necessary discipline in the life of a child, both musically and otherwise. Learning an instrument instills in a child invaluable qualities that will benefit him throughout all his life. I believe it is the parents’ job to support piano lessons just as they do math, history, and science classes in school. If your child did not enjoy math homework, would you allow him to drop out of math class? Of course not! I’ve had parents tell me that they wish their child had a desire to take music lessons, but since their child isn’t interested in music or committed to practicing, they will not be required to take lessons. I really believe that is sad! While a career in music isn’t for everyone, I do believe that several years of musical discipline are necessary for a child’s education. However...that is another subject for another time!

Now for the teachers: I believe it is your responsibility to foster in your students a love for music. Let’s face it: many a student will end up in our studios who really doesn’t want to be there. He, in fact, is determined to hate the piano. Bravo to the parents who make him come! It is now the teacher’s job to convince him that music can be rewarding and even fun. James Bastien said, “The teacher, not a set of books, is the determining factor in quality results.” The teacher should demonstrate to him the great fulfillment and enjoyment that can be had from music lessons.

Private piano teachers today are competing with a multitude of other activities that are vying for their students’ attention. Sports, movies, video games, and other modern entertainment are FUN! Why would your student want to sit 1/2 hour with someone who is twice his age explaining to him how to interpret little black dots on a page full of lines? If you were in his place would that be fun to you? I believe it is time for teachers to step back and re-evaluate their teaching methods. I am NOT advocating reducing a high quality of a musical education. I am definitely not suggesting that you throw out theory, scales, and classical study or that you lessen your high standards for performance. My students spend plenty of time investing in these areas, and they also know that doing less than their best is simply not an option. What I am suggesting is that you adapt your presentation of these musical areas to make them appealing. Ignite your student’s curiosity about theory. Make him want to master the last scale in his book before anyone else has ever done. Fascinate him with the classical masterpieces and the men who wrote them. Make music come alive!!!

I believe piano lessons can come alive by the teacher being real, relevant, and enthusiastic about what he is teaching to his student. Get to know your students. Discover their learning style and use that knowledge as a stepping stone to bring them to the realization that music can be enjoyable. Do crazy things during your lessons to make your students laugh and relax. My students and I have come up with the strangest and craziest stories that express the mood of a song they are learning; but you know what? After coming up with those “silly” stories, they play the song better and they enjoy doing so! It’s amazing! Hold studio competitions for titles in the “Piano Hall of Fame.” Use colored pencils and highlighters in the child’s favorite color. Play musical games, with the challenge that you’re pretty hard to beat. I appreciate what a Chinese Proverb states, “Tell me and I will forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I will understand.” Make each minute of lesson time count by actively involving students and doing your best to make lessons enjoyable. Be relative to your students, and please don’t lose another student simply because he was bored with you.

In my piano studio, I strive to give my students a quality musical education. We do all the “boring” stuff such as theory books, scales, arpeggios, Hanon, classical music, but *read* it is not boring to the majority of my students. Why? Because I have strived to make it enjoyable for them. I hold studio competitions year round (with fun names, of course). Last June and July, I hosted “Sizzlin’ Summer Studies”, where students could become “Piano Superstars” by completing some tricky assignments. During the majority of the year, I hold a much more in- depth competition. Last year, we embarked on “Treasures from the Past: the Lives of Great Composers.” We spent the year with an emphasis on classical music. My students had the options of listening to classical music, completing extra credit worksheets, playing additional songs at the foremost level of excellence, working extra hard on their given assignments, practicing extra time, etc. all for the purpose of earning “Treasure Chest Coins” which could be traded in for some awesome prizes. I hardly heard any complaints about practice time or scales. Two of my students were so competitive about the contest that they called each other during the week to see how many “Treasure Chest Coins” they were going to earn that week to see if they in turn needed to practice more or do some extra work. Those two students tied as winners of the contest. They surpassed my musical expectations for them! They learned so much more than I required of them and enjoyed doing so! Why? I suggest that it was at least partially because piano learning was made fun.

I believe another huge motivator is simply your praise. I can’t remember where I once heard this suggestion, but it has been a huge help to me! “Never let a lesson go by without praising your student about something they did well.” Now, I will admit, this can be very difficult at times! Maybe your student didn’t practice at all, missed most of the notes in his song, and completely ruined the rhythm...well, use your imagination to find something good that he did do! :) Time for some out-of-the-box thinking! What about his dynamics (on those few notes that were correct that is)...praise him for it. Try this, “Billy, you have some incredible dynamics while you’re playing! I especially like that forte at the very end! It sounded just like a lion roaring!” Of course we need to address the problems too, so then try this: “You know Billy, we really need to get these notes and rhythm right. I can’t wait to hear it next week! I know once you get those things right, it will sound amazing with those incredible dynamics I already heard today!” What do you think? I think that it helps your student see that you’re not “against” him. Find something he did right and tell him how much you like it!

You may be reading this and thinking, “This is all great, but I don’t think it will solve all my ‘bored student’ problems.” You’re right. It won’t. But, you’ve done your part; now, just keep trying! Keep getting to know your students as individuals, and find one thing that they enjoy doing that motivates them. Once you’ve found it, use your imagination and work with that knowledge! On my beginning student/parent questionnaires, I ask the parents their child’s learning style, temperament, and motivators. I have found those answers to be so helpful to me as I teach! If you have a majority of “bored students” in your studio, why not try a few new and innovative ideas? Those bored students just might change their minds!

Are your students having fun during their lessons, or do they dread them? I suggest that you re-evaluate your approach to teaching. Become a relevant teacher and motivator rather than a strict and strenuous instructor. It is our responsibility as music teachers to do our best to instill in our students a love and a passion for the instrument we teach.

Emily Matthews and her husband Jared currently live in Minnesota, where Emily enjoys being a homemaker and piano teacher. You can visit her piano studio website to see what she's all about. Emily is also an avid couponer and blogs about her homemaking and couponing adventures on their blog, Day by Day.

Why I Have Been Eating Skittles All Week

As a fun activity this week, my students and I played Susan Paradis Skittles game at the end of their lessons. It is a good thing that I don't have many students, or I would be fat! As it was, by the end of the week I felt "skittled out." :) But it is such a fun game that I don't mind.

All my students eyes light up when they see the skittles, and most say, "Are we going to eat those??" No, we're just going to look at them...

I was a little unsure about what I was going to do with my youngest student, who doesn't yet know the notes on the staff. I thought I would make cards for him that said "line note" and "space note" but that seemed a little boring and not too much of a review. Then, I read the great idea Sarah had about using a tabletop keyboard instead. Perfect! It worked like a charm. We just disregarded the "Treble" and "Bass" directions and went by the letter names. Here are some pictures:

You can get these tabletop keyboards here.

This is just one example of those fun games I talk about from time to time. It reviews and reinforces the notes in such a fun (and yummy!) way. I find it to be "the game that never ends," so we usually just have a set time to play it or play through the deck of cards a certain number of times. It is a great learning incentive!

Anyone else been playing any learning games lately?

Star Players

When I was in college, I picked up these flashcards for my piano pedagogy file I had to build:

They are a lot of fun, because they are in the shape of stars. I have never used them as traditional flashcards, though, but always as special games or something different.

The trouble was, they were a little too see-through. They are yellow on the printed side, but the backs were just white. {boring} I did not want my students to be able to see through them! So I glued orange and pink cardstock on the back of them.

Because I'm weird like this, here is a picture of my work space:

I worked on these the same night that I worked on doing some more organizing, hence all the different things that are out. And when you are just gluing and cutting, a movie makes things go way quicker. :)

The first few I tried, I just used good 'ol Elmers to glue them on the cardstock. (As seen in the picture above.) I found that this made the stars curl and bubble. Not good. So I dug out a glue stick that I already had (and had forgotten about) that is made for scrapbooking, and guaranteed not to bubble. Bingo! Worked like a charm. I think that rubber cement would also work.

Here are the stars glued onto construction paper:
And then I just simply cut them out.

This week, I came up with a game to play with these stars. Since they have different symbols and music signs on them, I figured it would be a good way to review.

I laid a few out on the floor like this:
I pick new ones for every student so that they are mostly ones that student has already learned. Then the student and I take turns throwing a small beany ball and trying to hit a star. When we hit a star, we go turn it over and talk about what is on the other side. If we miss, the ball goes to the other person. Simple, but fun!

Don't you just love how the camera made them "shine" in this picture??

Since the stars have the answers right on them (grrr) I have the student say what that sign does or means or how many beats it gets, depending on what it is. It makes for a good review!

Its been a fun game so far, and all my students have loved being able to throw things. :) You could easily make this game using just cardstock, or foam shapes, and printing your own signs and symbols on them. I love activities and teaching aids like this where the possibilities are endless!

Organizing Some Teaching Materials

At the beginning of the year I shared a little bit about how I keep some of my teaching files organized. Keeping things organized in a way that works best for us is a never-ending process. As the weeks go by, things change. We get more students. We print off about a thousand more worksheets and games. What we tried before isn't working as well as we want it to. So its time to try something else. That is the key to organizing...finding what works best, even if it takes a bagillion tries. (Think Thomas Edison thoughts)

So I decided to get some of my games and teaching aids a little more organized. I already had this expanding file, and I was already keeping all of these same things in it. But sometimes it was hard to find what I needed, and I was often forgetting about some of the great resources I had. I wanted to be able to see at a glance what all I had available.

So, I added some file folders to the expanding file. I labeled them with bright colors (because I {heart} bright colors) and presto! It made a world of difference!

Now I have it mostly organized with one pocket for teaching aids, one pocket for games, etc. The front two pockets hold some miscellaneous things that wouldn't fit as well in a folder. I can easily see them, anyway. I found that adding the folders made everything fit into the file better, and it became less bulky.

Now all I have to do is glance through the file, take out the game that I am looking for, and pop it into my students folder to take with me to the lesson that week. Phew, isn't lesson planning hard??? :)
So rather than, "Umm, just a minute.....I have this great game I want to play....it was right here last week.....it really is a great game, you'll love it.....ah, here it is! Wait, wheres that other part....." You get the picture. This has made planning out my lessons much easier!

I have two other expanding files with teaching things in it, only they are the half-sized ones. I don't think they make half-sized file folders! Anyone have any other ideas??

Have you been doing any organizing? I would love to see how you keep your teaching aids and games organized and easily accessible!

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.

The Practicing Game

Recently I read a great list of 10 Best Ways and 10 Worst Ways to Practice, found on Marcia Vahl's blog. Sarah, from Discoveries Piano Studio, also read this list, and made this handout available for all of us. Thank you Sarah!

I wanted so badly to get this into my students hands, but how to do it in a way they would remember and that we could talk about it, without just giving them the handout they would probably not read thoroughly? Well, Sarah came to my rescue again with her ideas, but I adapted them a little to meet my own studio needs.

I printed both lists out on bright cardstock, and cut them so there was one practicing tip on each piece. I then put both headings on the wall with sticky-tack, and throughout the week, each student got to pick one tip and put it under the appropriate heading. Here are some pictures of how that worked. (Since my explanation just didn't make a lick of sense!)

See? Each student reads through the list (or I would summarize it for them if they were too young to read) and picks one to add to the appropriate heading.

By the end of the week, we had this:

So this week, as each student comes back, they are excited to see the completed list! Then I give them Sarah's handout and we talk about each one. It seems like it is making sense!

Click here, and you can download these lists for your wall, as I have done above. There are 6 sheets to this printable, and I rearranged the lists so that you can use multiple colors and mix them up a little bit. You will notice that I left out a few from the original lists - things like "Repeat Step 1" didn't seem like it would make sense until they saw the handout.

I hope these are a help to you!

Musical Alphagems

I was finally able to make the Musical Alphagems that Joy shared several months ago. I had a little bit of a hard time finding the clear glass gems. The ones I finally found aren’t that great. I had to discard half of them because of imperfections in the glass, but I was able to do a few.

Joys tutorial was very easy to follow, and my gems came out just like I wanted them to! I am so thankful for the printable that Joy made to aid in cutting these little babies out. It makes for tiny pieces of paper!

I have already used them with a couple of students. I took two of each letter and shook them up and then had my beginning students see how fast they could put them on the piano. These gems are great because they fit easily on the keys. So far my students have seemed to enjoy them and did well with this little challenge.

If you have the resources to make these gems, I encourage you to do so! They are a great addition to any studio.

Ways to Use Resources

In my last post, I talked about how to keep all the very helpful information we get of the internet straight, and how to decide what is best for your own students and studio.

Today I am sharing an example of how to make all of the games, activities, worksheets, etc. work for you in accomplishing your goals. This is just a suggestion, this may not work for you, but it may get some wheels rolling in your mind to help you along your way. At least, I hope it helps you along your way!

Note names and recognition is probably one of the most important things a student learns in their first months of lessons. So because most of my students fall into that category, I decided to take this semester of lessons as "Note Recognition Emphasis Semester." Ok, so I don't really call it that, blech, but we do have this as our emphasis.

My goal is to get all my students in the "One Minute Club", an idea and resource from Susan Paradis. This encourages them to be able to play and say all the notes on the staff in a minute or less. They already were using flashcards, so this just gives them an extra motivation to learn them! All of them have accepted the challenge and are making rapid progress.

So with this as our goal, I plan many note-related games, activities and worksheets to help drill those notes. Let me just tell you, the possibilities are ENDLESS!!! I have had so much fun brainstorming ideas and coming up with activities, or adapting activities to fit what I need. Here are a few resources I have used:

I used this sheet and the Shamrock cards in a variety of ways! Students can draw a card, and then put a small gem on the appropriate note until they fill in all the spots. I also used the cards to have a race against the student down the keyboard. (I believe I read about that activity somewhere, but I don't remember where! If you know, please remind me!) Susan has some suggestions of her own at the bottom of the post, some of those may work for you as well.

I have a large treble staff and a large bass staff that I made when I was in college. I use them again and again! For one activity, I gave the student the bass staff and I took the treble staff. We then rolled one of these dice from Joy that has the music alphabet, and we each tried to fill in our staff first. Bass clef always seems to be harder for the students to learn, so by giving them the bass staff they were able to concentrate on those notes.

Susan Paradis also has these cards with the musical alphabet on them, and these can be used in a variety of ways, as well as the way shown on this post. I have a large grand staff that I drew on a poster board, and these cards work great on that. Here they are again, only bigger!

I also use some timed drills every so often to give the students a bit of a challenge. Here are the drills I use most frequently, (scroll down to "Ready Set Go!" Speed Tests) but I also use these. Some students really like the challenge of getting them all right, and then trying to beat their time on the next line.

Oh, and in case you were wondering what flashcards I use....these ones can not be beat! They are my all time favorite and include many things for the student to drill, not just notes.

Well, there are oodles of possibilities out there! Did you get that picture yet?? :) And this is just in one area of piano! Hopefully this gives you an idea, though, of how to put everything together and make it fit your needs.

What other ways do you incorporate these things into your teaching??

Keeping It All Straight

Have you noticed that there are many great resources out there for piano teachers?? No kidding, Nicole, thats what this blog is all about! When I first began teaching my siblings, I felt overwhelmed with all that was available. You have to understand, when it comes to creative juices, mine don’t flow...I don’t even think I have any to flow! :) So I depend largely on those that do have creative juices. I do sometimes come up with my own things, but I don’t have nearly as easy of a time with it as some of you. How did you get all the creativity??

So I search. I search high and low for what would be most suitable for me. When I first began with my siblings, I loved everything I found, and wanted to print everything off and try it! Some of it worked, and some of it didn’t. At first I felt discouraged that my siblings didn’t absolutely heart everything that I did. Then I realized that I just needed to find what worked best for them and for me as I taught.

This resulted in more research and more overwhelming material! Fun, fun! Before you think that I’m complaining about it, let me assure you that I absolutely love reading piano blogs and websites and looking at all the great stuff out there! But it can be hard to figure out what I need for my studio. Here are a few basic points to keep in mind while doing that unending research and forming lesson plans.

Less is usually best. If you print off every great thing you see, not only will you use a ton of printer ink, but you will also have waaaay more material than you can use! Your lessons are only so long, and your students can only process and retain so much information. Use what will fit into the lesson, both time-wise and practically.

Consider the needs of your students. You may find a great game that reinforces finger numbers, but it is a waste of time and ink if this student knows her fingers like the back of her hand. No pun intended. :) Keep in mind the individual needs of your students. What concepts are they struggling with? What sorts of things do they enjoy doing? Your students were not all cut from the same cloth, and each activity is not going to fit them.

Example: I had a wicked fun game to use with each of my students. It was a quick race down the keyboard between the student and myself. It had worked well with several students so far! Then as I went to explain it to a beginner student, I decided not to play it as a fast-paced race at the last second. She was a beginning student, and since she was racing against me, I would have had to obviously “let” her win. I personally don’t think there is any satisfaction is being made to win. So instead, we played it at a slower pace, still between the two of us. And she won! Fairly and honestly. It was a much better way to play this particular game with her.

Keep your goals in mind. What goals are you pushing towards with each of your students? What goals do you have for your studio in general? If you have a theme for your year, find things that go along with that theme, or reinforce your main concept. This helps things to flow together in your students minds, not just, “here’s a random game.” Not like you would actually say that, but that message will be conveyed unless there is a purpose behind what you do.

Use variety. I think someone should write a book entitled, “101 Ways to Play Bingo-Type Games in Piano Lessons.” :) I’m not against bingo-type games. I have used a few of the great ones out there, and my students do seem to enjoy them. But I have also passed over a few I’ve found that may have been what I was looking for, but we had already played some of these type recently. I’m not picking on the bingo ones, I’m just saying that variety is best. There are many, many ways to reinforce a concept if you use your imagination! (An extra bonus is if you have some of those creative juices I talked about!)

Those are some of the ways I funnel and process all the great things I find on the web. I’d love to hear from you! Do you often use things you find from other teachers? How do you make it all come together in your studio? Most of all, do you have creative juices? If you do, are you willing to share them?? :)

Valentines Resources

It seems like we just finished with a holiday, but here is another one looming in the near future! Before it sneaks up on us too much, I wanted to share with you some links for Valentines activities for your students.

Susan Paradis (you knew I was going to say that, didn't you??) made my job easier and put links to all her Valentines material in one easy post. Keep checking her site, however, because she may come out with some new things between now and February 14th. You just never can tell. And have I ever mentioned how much I love using things from her site??

Sheryl at Notable Music Studio posted about this fun "Musical Hearts" activity she is using with her students. I had seen some of these foam hearts at the dollar store, so I decided to give it a try!!! Here are some pictures of the ones I made:

I was just a little nervous about having to draw on these, because I am about as artistic as a...well, there are no words to describe it. Lets just say, its bad. But actually, I found that it wasn't too hard to draw on the foam. The sharpie kind of sunk in and helped me draw straight.

I used many of the same ideas as Sheryl did, except for I didn't make mine quite so specific, so that I could use them with any age group. For instance, in the picture above, you see one with a keyboard and a star on Middle C. For beginning students, I can have them tell me if that is a group of two or a group of three black notes. If they know the notes on the piano, they can tell me which note it is. For my intermediate students, I can ask them to play that scale. I think this way will leave me with a lot of flexibility for each student to participate. I plan to use these next week in lessons, so I'll let you know how it goes!

Christmas Lessons in Review

Just thought I'd give you a quick update on how some of the Christmas activities worked with my students in the last couple of weeks. I certainly enjoy this time of year, and I think that they did too!

For games, I played Ornament Bingo with my beginner students and Musical Christmas Lights with some beginners and all my intermediate students. Both of these games can be found at Susan Paradis site. My students always seem to like bingo-type games. Sometimes I play with them and sometimes I let them play alone with me calling out letters or whatever. There are lots of possibilities with these games for variety.

From Jen's Piano Studio Blog we played Christmas Carol Rhythm Matchups (does anyone else really have to think when they spell the word "rhythm"???? :) We also played a similar, but slightly more advanced game from Layton Music called Christmas Rhythms. (Theres that word again!) These games (yes, they still are games) helped them to really think while being able to enjoy some well-known Christmas Carols. Sometimes I would just leave them to figure it out on their own, sometimes I would sing and clap the song, then have them put it together and then clap it back to me.

All of my beginners played some of these simple Christmas Songs from Susan Paradis: Good King Wenceslas and The Twelve Days of Christmas. Some of my students went online and found some other Christmas carols to play. Go them! They all loved playing these. My 7-year-old sister Carrie loved The TWelve Days of Christmas....I mean loved it. She even added the little "bump-bump bum bum" like Miss Piggy after "5 golden rings." And if I hear one more verse of that song, I think I'll scream. :)

And now, I have one more lesson tomorrow, and then we are done with lessons until after the New Year. My students are glad for the break...I did not assign them anything over Christmas. And their teacher is glad for a little break too. :) How about you?

Last Minute Christmas

Before we take a break from lessons for the Christmas holidays, I just wanted to let you know about two more resources to take advantage of this season:

A GIVEAWAY!! (Jumping for joy...)

Leah is hosting a Christmas CD giveaway on her blog, Drops From My Cup. Leah is a piano teacher in New Brunswick. I listened to the clips from this cd and LOVE IT!! (With a capital heart) There are even ways to enter more than once. So head on over to her blog and find out how to enter this fantastic giveaway!! Even if you don't win the cd, you will enjoy the clips you hear and you will purchase your own. Yeah, its just that good.

Secondly, A RESOURCE:

Over at Layton Music they have a great rhythm game using Christmas carols. The rhythm of a carol is written out on little cards that the student has to put in order. How neat is that? I am planning on using these this week in my lessons. One of the great things I like about it is that it will be thought provoking even for my most advanced student. And games for him are hard to find. I did notice as I was cutting them out that the song "O Christmas Tree" has one too many beats in the top right-hand box. Minor detail, I just used a little white-out on mine. But it sure did have me stumped for a bit!!

I hope you enjoy these last few lessons with your students and that you are able to use some of these great resources.

What all have you been doing in your lessons lately? How long of a break are you taking off this Christmas?

Christmas Games

In my first post, I talked briefly about playing games at lessons. How many of you never knew you could play games in your piano lessons? (Raise hands)

Well, to make things so much easier on us piano teachers, there are some great people out there who make up these worksheets games for us to use. Bless them.

Susan Paradis just posted all her holiday games and worksheets (but we'll call them games) in one convenient post for us to pick what we want to use from them. Love it. And I also love how she has snow falling all over this post. (How did she do that??)

Jennifer Fink over at Jen's Piano Studio Blog also is beginning to post some Christmas activities (maybe thats a better word). Here is one she just posted about. I believe I failed to mention this resource in my last post about christmas music, but Jen also has some great Christmas stuff for us to use. You can browse her blog and website to find other creative things she's posted in the past.

Stay tuned for some more updates on Christmas music and activities to use in your lessons!