tutti:

Something I really enjoy doing in trial lessons is leaving the student with something easy to play that they can take home and work on. There's a few reasons for this: 1. It helps the student feel they got something out of the lesson 2. It gives the student something they can already play (without having to worry about theory, technique, pulse, etc.) 3. It's an incentive for the student to continue lessons with you! Last year, I wrote up a graphic notation version of Jingle Bells for one of my trial students, and it turned out to be quite successful, so I decided to design a proper, colour-printable document that can act as a quick grab-and-go whenever I have a young beginner trial student. As seen in the screenshot above, no notes are involved. The student just needs to have learnt finger numberings for both hands! Their first step would be to find what hand/s is needed and where their fingers go on the keyboard. Next, they can look at the relationship between the numbers and the lyrics below them. This is why it's important to use a song the student is familiar with, so they can feel the rhythm and pulse based on how they remember the song goes. * Please don't redistribute or commercialise these files as they contain unlicensed fonts and also goes against the forum rules! Only use them for teaching purposes, thank you.

After about 8 years of teaching, I've found that there's still much for me to learn on how to quickly build rapport with a new student. Also not having a particularly bright or bubbly personality makes it a little more challenging for the younger kids to start opening up in class! Below are some simple tips I've found to be helpful with the students I've had in the past. TIP #1: ENTHUSIASM! If you are able to show the student that what you're doing/talking about is fun, exciting, and important, the students (and observing parents) will generally buy into it. Don't just show you're knowledgeable or skillful in the instrument; show you're passionate to teach the student. TIP #2: GET TO KNOW YOUR STUDENT Hold off on talking about the instrument or yourself. Get them to talk! Find out what they're interested in, why they are learning the instrument, etc. TIP #3: INSPIRE THEM TO BE MUSICAL Although some teachers disagree with me, I feel that performing a little something at the end of a trial lesson can really help the student see what the instrument is capable of, or witness the art of performance. But, inspiration can come in different forms. If the student likes facts, talk a bit about the developmental and neurological benefits of playing a musical instrument. If the student is a planner, map out what the musical journey is like, and what long-term goals they can set. If the student has a low interest in music, try and weave in the relevance of music in whatever the student is interested in. Here's a more comprehensive list:

Having an extrinsic source of motivation for your music students may just be the kind of push they need to develop good practice habits at home, but developing a good one and consistently sticking to one is the key to long-term results. This year I've begun developing my own system, after being inspired by other systems I've seen or heard about. My system is based on the Practice Tracker: a cheap take-home diary that students colour in as they practice during the week. The Practice Tracker consists of different types of musical activities to do. This helps to ensure that their practice sessions are not a mere sit-down, play through a song, and leave. The Tracker may also appear overwhelming, especially the Level 3 version. Be sure to clarify that students don't have to colour in every single type of practice for every single day (unless you want them to!). It's there so that all possibilities are covered. At the next lesson, students bring in their Trackers for the teacher to check. This earns them a stamp on their coupon (Rewards Card). You can keep their Rewards Card. Also, determine what amount of practice is satisfactory, e.g. if they practiced at least 3 days in the week. There are 20 stamps to collect per card. Sound too long for some of your students? Use the "game" or "challenge" stamp spaces as an opportunity for students to earn a bonus stamp in the same week! For the "game" stamp, take a break from piano-playing and make up a simple musical game, or do something completely unrelated, like tic tac toe or I-spy. I find this to be particularly good with very young children, or students with special learning needs. For the "challenge" stamp, find something related to what the student is working on and set a challenge (try making it something that requires previous knowledge applied in a newly explored manner). You can set the challenge to be completed in the current lesson, e.g. "play the right hand of Jingle Bells with your eyes closed" if they have been learning Jingle Bells on the piano. Or, you can set the challenge to be completed by next week, at which time they can earn 2 stamps, e.g. "make up and record a short song using LH F and C, and RH F 5-finger scale" if they are a more advanced student who enjoys tinkering around on the piano. Just like a coupon that you would get at a cafe or bubble tea store, students earn a prize once they complete all the stamps on their card. This is where the rewards box comes in. Depending on your students, this doesn't have to bore a hole into your bank account, especially if you have young children! Fill up the box with little trinkets, stationery, badges, or stickers from $2 shops or even around the house (provided they are still in good condition). Below are all the steps and materials I used to create this system: I bought all these supplies from my local Officeworks store. I grabbed the box and stickers from around the house, but I'm sure you can find them in $2 shops or other cheap supply stores. You'll also need to print out the 2 PDFs but only cut up the Rewards Card print-outs! Lastly, here are the other equipment you will need: STEP 1: Take a sheet of A4 card paper and stack some Practice Tracker sheets on top. Hole-punch through this stack and insert into a flat file. This is your student's practice diary! Whatever kind of practice they did on the day, they can colour in the corresponding picture. STEP 2: Measure out the half-way point on some A4 card paper and slice them into A5 size. STEP 3: Again, measure the halfway-point but this time DON'T SLICE! (The mark is to align the middle of the hole-puncher later on) STEP 4: Glue the Rewards Card cut-outs onto the A5 card paper. You might want to leave some room to write the student's name on the front of their card. For my student cards, I'll be gluing 3 Rewards Cards per student: 1 on the front side under their name, and 2 on the back side. STEP 5: Refer to the halfway mark from earlier to align your hole-puncher. Punch in the holes, and insert the cards into the mini binder. BOOM! Done. You may also like to stick the index tabs on the sides so you can find your students easily, e.g. make a "Monday" tab for all your Monday students.