Student Gifts and Less Stressful Holidays- Piano Teaching Idea Share #7

The Piano Teaching Idea Share #7 is here, and full of fabulous ideas and tips for making your life as a piano teacher easier! We love doing these idea shares during our webinars, and are always amazed by the creativity, resourcefulness, and intentionality of ComposeCreate ®teachers from all around the world.

But don’t forget to read about the gifts Amanda has given over the years! Great ideas here too.

What’s a Piano Teaching Idea Share?

If this is your first time hearing about our Idea Share, here’s a quick rundown of how it works:

At each webinar, we ask teachers to share answers to questions from which every piano teacher could benefit. After we’ve received answers from both webinar sessions, we put them all into a free downloadable PDF so that you have access to the wisdom and insights of the entire ComposeCreate® piano teaching community!

Our other six Idea Shares can be found here – all with great ideas:

• Piano Teaching Idea Share #1- Encouraging books, creative ideas, injecting energy, online games
• Piano Teaching Idea Share #2 – How teachers are lightening their load
• Rhythm Idea Share #3 – Teaching rhythm
• Piano Teaching Idea Share #4 – Gadgets and gizmos, lifesaving ideas, marketing ideas
• Piano Teaching Idea Share #5 – Taking care of yourself and Energizing Ideas
• Piano Teaching Idea Share #6 – What are you excited about and Best Marketing Tips

Here were the questions and some of my favorite responses:

1. What is your best holiday gift suggestion for students?

• Brenda: I bake large gingerbread cookies and at their final lesson before Christmas break, my students decorate them. I snap a picture of each one before they eat them and put all the pics on a bulletin board. They vote on who’s they like the best and that person wins a prize!
• Robin: Gift suggestion: An acrylic ornament–I type the students’ recital piece titles with date and name (also name of recital). I put several of these strips inside the ornament along with some glitter or something shiny, plus a ribbon. [We mentioned at the webinar how this was a great use of studio licensed music! You could even put the student’s piece or one that they played in strips inside the bulb! Suggestion: print the music on both sides of the paper.]
• Kelli: I do an annual collaborative composing project, and the book of the pieces is a gift to students.

2. What do you do in your studio to make the holidays less stressful?

• Andrew: I ask for help with the studio events: sound, power point, programs and more. Having their help is the best option to relieve my stress.
• Jennifer: Last year I had a studio wide piano party early in December. It was students only and they performed for each other. Then we played games and did rhythm cups and treats. The kids loved hearing each other and it was less stress than a fancy recital.
• Karen: I actually don’t do a holiday recital…..I keep busy going to my students’ school programs. And yes, parents actually thank me for not having a recital between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• Shelley: I do not do a Christmas recital (but the past few years I have done the Musical Advent Calendar online).

Thank you so much to the ComposeCreate® teachers who attended the webinar and submitted their answers! The Idea Shares are downloaded by hundreds of teachers, and we appreciate your creativity and expertise being shared so that we can all benefit and do better together! If you have any other ideas to add, please let us know in the comments!

Want to be notified when we have new idea shares and webinars?

If you are a piano teacher and want to know when articles like these get published, please join our email newsletter! We send out weekly newsletters with articles, new music notifications, free webinar opportunities and free teaching resources! We’d love to have you a part of the ComposeCreate® community.