The 1/2 Hour Lesson (for younger students)

This shorter lesson will be light and fun. For younger students, we'll be focusing on basic music theory and learning short pieces. Also, we will focus on good piano habits and good practice habits. The key here is to get in a habit of consistent practice, but enjoy practicing music as well.

1) Greeting and review of the past week.

2) Dancing, singing, acting, or stretching.

3) Working on scales and music theory.

4) Working on 1-2 short pieces.

5) End lesson with assignments for the week and light yoga. 

The 1 Hour Lesson

For an hour lesson, I break it into 5-10 minute increments to keep it FUN! Sometimes, we'll spend more time focusing on a problem area for the student. Othertimes, we'll be sight reading or learning something new. Roughly, here's what's involved when I give a lesson:

1) Greeting, rapport, review of what was accomplished during the week.  

2) Physical Warmup: Physical stretching, dancing, singing, acting out a part of the piece. Music is all about feelings, personality, and expression. Plus, playing the piano is such a physical activity, we will be doing basic stretching.  

3) Piano Warmup: This includes focus on scales and finger exercises to build the muscles.

4) Working on a classical piece. Classical music teaches excellent fundamentals and stretches the mind. We will practice mental visualizations, breaking down the rough spots, and use other techniques to conquer the piece. I will be teaching how to practice and how to think while playing. I advocate quality, but quantity practice through repetition is significant for results, as well.

5) Optional choice of studying music theory or sight reading. Always throw the mind with a fun curveball!

6) THE HALFWAY POINT Break! Woohoo! Shake it out, dance, chat.

7) The Fun Piece! We'll work on a piece the student likes. It can be pop, classical, rock, jazz, boogie, rag. I believe in rewards. And working on something a student likes is a great reward after getting through the tough classical piece.

8) Assignments for homework. Evaluation, goal setting. Notes of top 3 things to work on for the week.

9) We end with a round of light yoga. A great cool down to a 1 hr. lesson.