Looking for a creative way to start your piano lesson? How about 20!

Starting your lessons the same way every week is a great way to tire students out.

If you find yourself following a script for your lesson – something like…

“Hello! Let’s start with scales then move onto your piece!”

…your students end up working on auto.

But if you start your lesson with something fresh, creative, and a little bit different, you help your students

• Focus
• Switch on their ears
• Get the most out of their lesson

But what sort of activity should you start with?

Check out this list of 20 ways to start a piano lesson.

You can also download a handout of this list – keep it by your piano to refer to it when you need to.

How to use this list

Some of these lesson starters are creative.

They can be done quickly, but many of them could easily fill out most of a lesson (if you have the time and your student is interested)

I suggest avoiding cutting off creative activities if the student is clearly engaged and motivated – unless you have other work that must be done.

Quite often, it’s the creative part of a lesson that’ll have the most meaning and impact for students in the long run.

Other activities are just designed to be different.

These are great for breaking out of a rut and always doing things the same way.

Don’t feel you always have to come up with new ideas in lessons – sometimes just doing things differently can be creative!

The creative activities you choose will depend on the level of your piano student.

There’s a mix for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students (and suggestions for modifying them to suit different abilities).

Most of these activities can be done without any equipment, but some use apps that are fun to explore.

A different way to start lessons

There are two great questions you can ask students at the beginning of a lesson:

1. “What would you most like my help with today?” (older students) / “What would you like to show me today?” (younger students)
2. “What would you like to do first today?”

It’s always interesting to see what students choose.

Some go for scales and technical work to “get them out of the way”.

Others choose to play their composition or play the blues. 

10 Creative Lesson Starters

1. Play them something on the piano (or another instrument/sound on your digital).
   They have to work out how to play it by ear.
   Play it a number of times and allow them to ‘doodle’ on the keys while they work it out between plays.
   Maybe you ask them to sing it back as they work it out.
   The level of difficulty will need to suit the child, and it may take a couple of lessons doing this for you to work out how much/little your student can manage.
   Build on this each week for just 3-5 minutes of a piano lesson.
   
   It’s a practical and creative way to incorporate fun aural training into your lessons.
   
2. Spell out a word on the piano by playing notes (eg. DAD) for your students while they watch.
   Your student has to tell you what the word is.
   Swap roles. 
   This is great for beginners learning their notes, but for an extra challenge, have them shut their eyes and listen as you play the notes, so they have to play them on the piano by ear and tell you the world.
   It will be fun when they get to do that back to you!
   
3. The student creates a rhythm in MyRhythm App, and the teacher has to tap it out.
   Make sure you choose a good groove/style.
   Then swap roles.
   
4. Over the course of a few weeks, teach them how to accompany Happy Birthday (everyone should know this!) using chords.
   
5. Play a version of chopsticks with them.
   If they don’t know it, teach it to them by rote.
   Use it as a basis for exploring chords or improvisation.
   
6. Create a quick 4-chord progression in TinPanRhythm and then use a pentatonic scale to improvise on the piano while it plays.
   
7. Use DecideNow app to choose how you start the lesson or what key to improvise in, etc.
   You could put all 20 of these ideas (well, 19 – don’t include this one!) into DecideNow and spin the wheel to start!
   
8. Ask the student to make up and play a chord progression in the key of “x”.
   Depending on their ability, you could also suggest a time signature and/or style with a LH pattern.
   
9. Teach them a simple song or folk tune while keeping a beat on their knees.
   Once they’ve learnt it, can they tap the rhythm or tap the rhythm with one hand while keeping the beat with the other?
   
10. Use Musiclock as the basis for improvising on scales.
    You can also work out the underlying chord progression.
    Students love this app and I have training videos demonstrating how I use this inside TopMusicPro.
    

10 More Creative Lesson Starters

Want to get a full-colour download of these 10 ideas plus another 10 MORE BONUS ideas? Download the PDF of 20 Creative Ways to Start a Piano Lesson!