Pedagogy
blog posts

Teach music confidently without the stress

Fearless Performing

by Georgina Wilson

Performing as a musician is exciting. An opportunity to sharePer your talent and showcase your hard work. But it can be terrifying. Sweaty palms, racing heart, panicking about the audience judging you if you slip up. How can you help your students become fearless performers?

03/03/2025 Read more

3 Improvisation Activities Your Students Will Love

by Georgina Wilson

Improvisation comes naturally to some students. They’ll happily noodle away on the keys for hours. But it can lack a structure. (And by ‘structure,’ I don’t mean form. I mean, they randomly bash the keys with no thought behind what they’re doing.

02/10/2025 Read more

How I Started My Multi-Teacher Studio

by Tim Topham

Do you ever look at a multi-teacher studio with envy? You dream of walking down a corridor decorated with student artwork and recital photos. You smile as you hear enthusiastic students making music and memories in each room you pass.

01/27/2025 Read more

How to Scale Your Studio Without Losing Your Sanity (or Your Standards)

by Tara Wright

Picture this:Your studio is buzzing with energy. Teachers are leading lessons in every room, your schedule is full (but not overwhelming), and the whole operation runs like a well-oiled machine—even when you’re not there. Sounds like a dream, right? Spoiler alert: it’s not.

01/13/2025 Read more

Should I Be Teaching Piano to Preschoolers?

by Georgina Wilson

Teaching preschoolers seems terrifying to me. I love teaching the piano to kids. But the youngest student I’ve ever taught was 6. Teaching preschoolers seems like a completely different (and, if I’m honest, intimidating!) world.

12/02/2024 Read more

4 Things To Consider Before Teaching Preschoolers

by Tracy Selle

Teaching preschoolers is a lot of fun and comes with a tonne of benefits (for everyone involved). But it also comes with some challenges. I’m sharing four things I’ve learned along the way, so you can learn from my mistakes! Table of Contents: My Favourite Preschool Story I was walking Katie into her makeup lesson.

11/25/2024 Read more
 

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When Music Lessons Don’t Go To Plan…Get Creative!

by Tim Topham

“Time to get creative!” You probably have a plan for each lesson. You know the piece your student is working on, their next page in the method book, and the steps to take to help them progress. But what do you do when something doesn’t go to plan? Panic. Get creative!

11/11/2024 Read more

What Music Teachers Can Learn From Chiropractors

by Tim Topham

Creative marketing has many benefits for music teachers. Rather than advertising and onboarding the same way everyone else does, think outside the box. It’ll make you stand out against your competition and act as a glimpse into how you run your studio.

11/04/2024 Read more

Cohort-Based Learning for Music Teachers

by Tim Topham

Cohort-based learning is one of our latest additions to TopMusicPro. The huge success of the pilot of the cohort-based TopMusicCertification in 2023 led to this small but significant change. Self-paced learning is great. It gives you the flexibility to dip in and out when you want. But several challenges come with it.

10/28/2024 Read more

Why Your Teenage Piano Students Aren’t Excited For Their Lessons

by Tim Topham

A huge thank you to Andrea Dow from TeachPianoToday for the original article. Have you ever taught teenage piano students or transfer students who can either These kinds of piano students take a lot of energy to teach.

10/07/2024 Read more

Teaching Teens: 5 Questions You Must Answer

by Tim Topham

Teaching teens can feel overwhelming. It can make you feel like you’re back in high school, trying desperately to impress the popular kids (unless you were one – kudos!) But piano lessons with teenage students don’t have to be like that. Choose one of your teenage students and ask yourself these five questions.

Teaching Teens

by Tim Topham

The thought of teaching teens can be enough to make a piano teacher break out into a cold sweat. Their unpredictable levels of motivation, ever-changing interests, and judgemental looks they give you when you suggest something they don’t like. But when you get past the challenges, teaching teenagers is fun and rewarding.

09/23/2024 Read more