Tag: English speaking piano teacher

beginner tutorial, learning environment, Music Lessons, piano lessons, piano performance, piano practice, piano teacher, singing lessons, Singing teacher, Uncategorized

3 Simple Tips to Encourage Piano Practice for Children and Adults

lizteachespiano

Learning the piano is fun and interesting—but staying motivated can be tricky for both children and adults. Here are 3 Simple Tips to Encourage Piano Practice for Children and Adults.

Children sometimes see practice as a chore, and adults, even though they’ve chosen to learn, often struggle to find time. (Even teachers like me have days when we’d rather not practice!)

The good news? With a few simple strategies, practice can become something enjoyable and rewarding.

1. Create a Predictable Piano Practice Routine

Children (and adults!) thrive when practice becomes part of their daily rhythm—not a surprise or a battle. Short, regular sessions are often more effective than long, occasional ones.

How to do it:

  • Pick a consistent time (after school, before dinner, early morning, etc.)
  • Keep sessions short—10–15 minutes is perfect for beginners
  • Use a visual timer.

Why it works:
Routines reduce resistance. Practice becomes a habit rather than a negotiation.

2. Use Positive Reinforcement and Reward Systems

Rewards can help keep motivation high, especially for younger learners—but adults appreciate them too! Rewards don’t need to be big; they just need to be meaningful.

Ideas for rewards:

  • Sticker charts or progress trackers
  • A favourite meal or coffee at a café
  • A special activity after consistent effort

Tip: Reward effort, not perfection. Consistency is more important than flawless playing.

3. Let Students Choose Some of Their Music

When students enjoy what they play, motivation increases dramatically. Even one favourite piece can make a big difference.

How to apply it:

  • Let students pick a pop song, movie theme, or seasonal piece
  • Ask, “Which piece do you want to start with today?”
  • Balance teacher-chosen music with student-chosen favourites

Why it works: Choice gives students ownership, confidence, and excitement about piano practice.

Final Thoughts

Motivation grows when practice feels predictable, rewarding, and personally meaningful. With a consistent routine, small rewards, and music students enjoy, daily practice can shift from a struggle to a source of pride and accomplishment.

🎹If you are in the Stockholm area and interested in enjoying practice more, or interested in starting to practice, feel free to send me a message!

Please note: picture has been made with AI to aid creativity and add fun!

beginner tutorial, Entrepreneur, learning environment, Music Composition, music production, Review, synthesizer, Uncategorized

Teenage Engineering PO-14 Sub Review

lizteachespiano

In a world of synths, Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators are quite unique—minimalist, affordable, and surprisingly powerful. The PO-14 Sub, focused on bass synthesis, is the one I chose from the PO family. (I will probably get another!) So here is my Teenage Engineering PO-14 Sub Review!

Here is a link to all the Pocket Operators

Designed for portability and simplicity, the Sub delivers gritty, analogue-style bass sounds with a digital twist. It offers 15 bass synth engines, a 16-step sequencer, built-in effects, and drum sounds—all controlled through a barebones but intuitive interface. It looks like a calculator, and is super fun!

Its raw, punchy tone makes it a great tool for sketching beats, layering textures, or just getting inspired when you’re away from your main setup.

The fact that it fits in your pocket and runs on AAA batteries makes it even more appealing for producers on the move. The sound is surprisingly good for its tiny size (it was even smaller than I thought!).

Thanks for reading my Teenage Engineering PO-14 Sub Review. The PO-14 Sub is a reminder that you don’t need a wall of gear to make interesting music. If you’re into lo-fi aesthetics, heavy bass, or just want a fresh way to explore ideas, the Teenage Engineering’s PO-14 Sub is a great little synth to have!

Business, Entrepreneur, learning environment, Music Lessons, piano lessons, piano teacher, Review, singing lessons, Uncategorized

Inspiring Lessons Through Smart Planning-and a free resource!

lizteachespiano

 Whether you teach piano, violin, or voice — a clear curriculum and planning turns lessons into lasting progress.

Teaching music privately gives flexibility — but without a structured approach, that freedom can become overwhelming. I like organisation and planning. A well-crafted curriculum and plan doesn’t restrict creativity, it supports it. With the right planning and curriculum in place, you can stay consistent, adapt to individual students, and track progress with clarity and confidence.

Here are a few practical tips to help you shape your music lessons:


1. Start with a “Why?”

Ask yourself:

  • What is the goal of your teaching? (Exam prep? Creative expression? Life-long musicality?) These goals may be different for depending on your student.
  • What do you value in a musician? What do you think is important for a student to know?

This helps shape your curriculum— and makes sure every lesson builds toward something meaningful.

Be sure to ask your students “Why?” also. At every trial, I ask my students why they want to learn to play piano or sing. 

2. Design Flexible Learning Plans

You don’t need a rigid syllabus. Instead, create learning levels (e.g. Beginner, Early Intermediate, etc.) and have an idea of what students need to know at each level:

  • Core skills (technique, reading, listening)
  • Repertoire (always get your students input in repertoire also)
  • Creative work (improv, composition, etc.)

A note here: You will be teaching all these things to all your students, but you may have students with particular interests/goals. It is very important that you incorporate their goals into your lessons to give them a personal 1 on 1 experience (after all, that is often what students are having private tuition for) . So if you have a student who wants to get better at sight reading, make sure you plan this into their lesson in a way that works for them. The way one student learns to sight read will be different to another.

3. Plan Lessons in “Mini-Arcs”

Think in 3–5 lesson arcs, rather than one-off lessons. Each arc could have a little focus on:

  • A piece or project
  • A specific technique (e.g. legato playing, bow control)
  • A musical concept (e.g. phrasing, dynamics, rhythm)
  • What do I want the student to know or do by the end of this arc? (Ask the student for their input as well.)
  • How will I break that down across lessons?
    You will still need to be covering everything they need to know in the lesson, but there wil be a time in the lesson you can focus on this particular area. 

4. Keep your Lessons and Curriculum Balanced

A well-balanced music lesson usually includes:

  • Warm-up or review (5–10 min)
  • Technique focus (10–15 min)
  • Repertoire (15–20 min)
  • Creative or listening activity (5–10 min)

Mixing modes — playing, listening, creating — keeps energy up and supports different learning styles.

5. Reflect and Adjust Often

After each lesson, jot down:

  • What worked?
  • Challenges?
  • Next step?

Even a 1-minute note helps you spot patterns and adapt. Over time, this turns into a useful resource for planning and curriculum insight.

It is a lot of work being a private music teacher! Planning and preparation of every students lessons does take time. However, if you do stay consistent with goals and planning- not only is beneficial for the student- but beneficial for you as a teacher- you go into each lesson calm and prepared. 

You don’t need a one-size-fits-all curriculum- you need a framework that guides each student’s journey. If you’re a little stuck on how to begin, use this lesson plan document to jot ideas down. I would recommend in time you begin to make more personal plans and layout, but to make a start I hope this will be useful!

With structure and planning, your lessons become more purposeful, and your students feel the difference. 

learning environment, Music Lessons, music performance, piano lessons, piano performance, piano practice, piano teacher, singing lessons, Singing teacher, Uncategorized

From Practice to Performance

lizteachespiano

Over the past few weeks, one of my students (as well as learning scales, arpeggios and two other more traditional pieces) went from practice to performance, giving a gorgeous rendition of “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star on piano.

It started with the basics—practice getting comfortable with the chords , smoothing out transitions, and keeping a steady rhythm. Slowly but surely, the song performance began to take shape.

This post is about how that hard work paid off!

To help the student experience the feel of moving from practice to performance, I picked up a guitar and began to accompany them—singing the melody while playing a bit of an accompaniment .As the familiar chords rang out from the piano, supported by gentle strumming and vocals, everything clicked.

My student wasn’t just practicing anymore—they were playing music. 

From practice to performance

Hearing their part in context brought a new level of understanding and confidence. It was a real collaboration, and a reminder that even simple chords can create something powerful when shared.

Moments like this are what music lessons are all about: connection, creativity, and the joy of turning practice into performance.

Never underestimate a good teacher, an amazing student and a song.

beginner tutorial, Music Composition, Music Lessons, music performance, piano lessons, piano performance, piano practice, piano teacher, Uncategorized

Mnemonic Magic: Master Piano Notes the easy Way

lizteachespiano

Plus a free resource!

Hello! I know it has been a little while since my last blog, I’ve been teaching final summer lessons for some students (so they have to be extra special!) , planning summer lessons for students still taking lessons, rehearsing for performances and working in my allotment. Along with many other things. Today I writing a blog on something lots of students struggle with, but is truly fundamental when it comes to learning piano (particularly if you want to be independent and free to play whatever you want at some point!) That is reading music. A good way to begin to read piano music is with mnemonics. With a little Mnemonic Magic, you will be well on your way to reading piano notes!

 Mnemonics are memory aids that help you remember information—in this case, the names of the notes on the lines and spaces of the musical stave (staff) for piano.

Firstly, lets get to grip with a piano staff:

🎼 Understanding the Staff:

  • The staff consists of five lines and four spaces.
  • Piano music uses two staves:
    • The treble clef (usually middle C and above, and for beginners, usually for the right hand)
    • The bass clef (usually middle C and below, and for beginners, usually for the left hand)

Tip: You can access blank sheet music at https://pianocoda.com/blank-sheet-music/

🎹 Treble Clef Mnemonics 

Lines (from bottom to top):

E – G – B – D – F
 💡 Mnemonic Magic: Every Green Bus Drives Fast
(this works well in my town as the busses are green!)

Spaces (from bottom to top):

F – A – C – E
 💡 Mnemonic Magic: Just remember: it spells “FACE”!

🎹 Bass Clef Mnemonics (Left Hand)

Lines (from bottom to top):

G – B – D – F – A
 💡 Mnemonic Magic: Good Burgers Deserve Fries Always

Spaces (from bottom to top):

A – C – E – G
 💡 Mnemonic Magic: All Cows Eat Grass

Mnemonic Magic

This is available to download as a free pdf on my resources page.

How to use the mnemonic magic:

When reading sheet music:

  • You identify whether a note is on a line or space.
  • You determine which clef is used.
  • You then apply the mnemonic to quickly figure out the note name.
  • This will become more automatic with practice and eventually gets replaced by immediate recognition.

What about B, middle C and D?

Middle C is below the lines in treble clef and above the lines in bass clef. Think of music like a diagonal line going up, not just two straight lines. You can also use the resource I’ve provided to actually picture middle C on the page.

💡Mnemonic Magic Tip:

Always try to recognise where middle C is on the music. Try to note where maybe D below middle C is (3rd line up in bass clef) and an octave higher than middle C (3rd space up in treble clef). These are good ANCHOR points. As time progresses start to remember more anchor points, and use the same idea for notes above and below the main stave (but those notes are for another blog!)

Thanks for reading 🙂