Sports and music can sometimes fight each other for our students' attention. But I've found 3 ways to combine the two...

I opened up Spotify yesterday morning and paused. What was I in the mood for listening to? I noticed a new feature: daylist. " Mystical bard Wednesday morning. Here are some bard, mystical, fantastical, folkish - inspired by what you listen to on Wednesdays in the morning." I clicked shuffle and was met by a familiar rousing Celtic tune. Turns out I DO like listening to this kind of music while I do my midweek admin work! Late that day, I revisited my 'daylist'. It was now "

Steal this idea (it's free AND fun!) Lego Mismatch gets a thumbs-up from this student! I've always had a reputation for having a massive collection of Lego minifigures. They've been used in various games and activities, but this is a favourite! I would keep this back until the last week of term before the summer holidays. I'd set out: 🌸A3 board with 8 flowers. There was a different musical letter in 7 flowers and a smiley face in the 8th. 🌸 On each of the lettered flowers,

I don't rant very often. Publicly. I do all the time to my family. Sorry, mum! But this rant needs to be aired. "I don't play board games in my lessons. I give proper lessons." I see so many comments like that online. And reading comments like the one above makes me pull a face and think, "Hang on. I play games. What are you trying to imply?" We all teach differently. Some teachers are traditional, taking a more “serious” approach. Others are more playful, filli

Music Master is one of my favourite things I've ever done with my students. Not only does it stop clock-watches' eyes drifting to check the time every few minutes, it also sparks a practice revolution. What is Music Master? It's a studio-wide competition that rewards - Creativity - Effort - Hard work You don't have to be the best musician in order to win. In fact, the student I thought would do well because they're my highest-level student placed near the bottom. Whereas a be

Every time a student quits, it feels like you're going through a break-up.

Piano lessons can mean more than you think.

A message from a piano student made me feel like I was standing on a train platform. Okay, let me explain.

I have a friend who's the most supportive ever. I can tell her I have a new colour nail varnish and she'll be so excited for me. She'll check in a couple days later to ask if I'm loving wearing the new colour. If she ever sees it, she'll tell me how much she loves it. Everyone needs a friend like her. What's this to do with teaching? I've realised I've started being more like her in my lessons. For example: A student asked to learn a piece because he dad likes it. Rather than

"It's too hot. My fingers are too sweaty. My brain is sweating. It's actually melted."

Back in 2016, I created my first-ever Music Olympics! I've managed to find a few photos of it, too! Side note: this was also the first music resource I sold online - some of you reading this might have even bought it back then! Since then, it's undergone several changes - the latest are "Music Owlympics" and "Oly. M. Pic's Music Games" (because I've also learned since then that the name 'Olympics' is copyrighted, so I can't use it 🤫) I thought I'd take a moment to share with

Social media is great at showing people the happy times. The "look at me, I'm thriving" times. Recently, there's been a trend in opening up about the not-so-good times. I thought I'd take this opportunity to be real and talk about the bad times you may face as a piano teacher. But also suggest how you can pick yourself up ('cause who wants to just dwell on the bad?) (I asked for an AI-created image of a motivational cat. I was today years old when I learned that motivational

Do you ever feel like you have to justify how much you work? How hard you work? Does your constant need to prove you’re working hard lead y

What for? Well, let me answer that with a little story. Yesterday, my student Millie had a realization. “If someone hadn’t taught music to Taylor Swift, I wouldn’t be learning her song right now. If someone hadn’t taught you music, I wouldn’t be learning anything right now. What would I be doing? Can you even imagine a world without Taylor Swift?” Even if you don’t like Taylor Swift yourself, you get the sentiment. Your students are inspired by you. They’re also i

Have you ever used music games to help provide a structure to your lessons? It's a benefit of music games that isn't discussed very often, but it might provide you with useful ideas. Are you a planner or a 'whatever happens, happens' kinda person? Some people take each day as it comes. They're happy to go with the flow and enjoy whatever happens. They may even whisper the phrase YOLO (You Only Live Once) as they eat their dessert before their main course. Other people prefer

"Brain breaks" is a term used commonly by piano teachers. They're scheduled in to ensure students don't drift off.

Do you ever use music games to motivate your piano students? Sometimes it can make all the difference and turn a grouchy kid into a raring

When December rolls around, piano students fluctuate between two moods: 1. Excited about playing Jingle Bells over and over and over. 2. Tired. To try and wake them up and distract them away from Jingle Bells, I like giving my students Christmas-themed music theory puzzles. take a trip to the festive lands Detective Purrlock is back! If you haven't met him before, check out The Land Of Yum He has a new case for your students: reveal the members of "The Present Nabbers" The P

Have you ever finished a music game with a student only for them to ask, "Can we play it again?" You check the clock. There isn't really enough time to start anything new, and it would be great to get them practicing note-reading again... "Okay, but we're going to mix things up a bit and play it differently." This game, We All Scream For Ice Cream, is great for this! I've outlined a few different ways of playing it below, but I reckon you can come up with even more ways

Note reading can be HARD. Especially when you're first starting and all the notes look like little tadpoles swimming all over the page. Some beginners get it like that *clicks fingers* but others take a little longer to see the differences between middle C, D, and E. And that's okay! Slow And Steady Wins The Race Method books can jump ahead quickly, leaving slower students behind and getting frustrated that all of a sudden they've got so many notes to contend with, and they w