Idea Share #21: What is the Best Piano Teaching Idea You've Used?

What is the best piano teaching idea you've used in the last few years? | ComposeCreate.com

At our kick-off webinar “Ignite the Spark,” we asked this question for our Idea Share #21:

What is the best piano teaching idea you’ve used in the last few years?

We gave teachers extra time to think about this one and were especially excited by all of the suggestions offered at both the noon and evening webinar. As usual, teachers were so generous with their ideas and the live webinar gave everyone an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about each idea.

So if you’ve never been to a live ComposeCreate webinar, please consider attending the next one! (Sign up for the newsletter to know when they are.)

At the Ignite the Spark webinar, we released these new pieces and resources:

The August 2026 music bundle which included 12 pieces! These include some of the following:
Color Rote and Reading® music
Chinese Adventure Rote and Reading® music,
3 Little Fuzzies pieces
2 Beautiful Wonders pieces
“Power-Ups” by Jason Sifford, the second in the Side Quests™ series with a collection of 5 video-game inspired short pieces to help with wrist technique
New Music Achievement Cards for Beautiful Wonders, Side Quests, and Chinese Adventure (plus we updated all the other series)
New Notebook Covers to help you be organized and use the studio-licensed music you already have!

The August 2026 bundle contains elementary through intermediate piano music including: Chinese Adventure, Red Panda Pranks, Panda Paradise, Leopard at Large, Asian Elephant, Velvet Green, Jet Black, Purely Pink, The Ancient Pine, The Whispering Relic, Scuba Divin' Lite, Roller Coaster Rocket, and Laundry Mishap. All of these are composed by Wendy Stevens and available at ComposeCreate.com

Power-Ups! by Jason Sifford - Late elementary piano video game music ComposeCreate.com

Beautiful Places Notebook Cover and Spine Inserts from ComposeCreate.com

As mentioned, we asked this question for our Idea Share #21:

What is the best teaching idea you’ve used in the last few years?

We told teachers that their idea could be from any category: organization, motivation, technique, teaching method, etc.

And our teachers delivered!

Featured Tips for “Best Piano Teaching Ideas:”

This was really a stand-out Idea Share because every one of the ideas was amazing! Here’s just a taste of the ideas from our ComposeCreate® community:

Jason: To make sure that I always have fresh music, I have two music closets/spaces. The first closet houses all of my music, so that’s quite big. But the second is a smaller space, where I put hand-selected music from the big closet to use during the year. I rotate this music every year to make sure it’s always fresh for me and the students!
Kelli Stegman: [I used] quote post-its for older students to write motivational notes for younger students. I put them on the wall.
Mindy Scherr: I had a graduating student a couple of years ago who was kind of overwhelmed at the approach of spring recital. I borrowed the idea from this site to have her play one new piece, one favorite piece, and HER VERY FIRST RECITAL PIECE. It really took the pressure off her during a stressful time, and showed her peers how much progress can be made in 10 years of study!
Melissa: I’ve turned 3 times in a row “spot practice” into Little Fuzzies practice. I set the fancy knit little fuzzy Practice Pals on one side of the piano and each time a student plays a spot correctly, they “feed” the little fuzzies with donut, ice cream or fruit erasers. Practice becomes so fun for my elementary students!
Sherri: I switched to a year tuition, split into 12 months, even though I gave lessons for 10 months. It allowed all my moms to pay the same amount each month, sending their Venmo payment on the first day of the month, so I no longer had to deal with money during lessons. Bonus! I got paid every month even though I taught for 10 months.
Krause: I do review games just before winter and summer break. For winter I use a karaoke spinner to choose the activity and for summer, a Plinko board. I have been doing this for years but didn’t do it last year and I felt bad that I didn’t but I didn’t have the energy or brain space to do it. So I am going to kick off this school year with it to see where we’re at

Everyone’s tips for “Best Piano Teaching Ideas:”

There were so many great ideas, and we know you are going to want to print out the ideas so that you can highlight your favorites and try them through the year. So you can download Idea Share #21 below and then print and keep it handy to review frequently.

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THANK YOU to our community for coming to the webinar and sharing your best tips for teaching your students how to practice at home!

During each webinar, we pose a question designed to spark ideas and support piano teachers everywhere. After both webinars, we gather all the responses and share them as a curated list or, in earlier Idea Shares, a free downloadable PDF. That way, you can tap into the collective creativity of the ComposeCreate® teaching community any time!

Check out all the Idea Shares here:

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