Sharing Summer Ideas
Summer is the season to “shake things up” a bit at the piano lesson. Summer music camps, group lessons, recitals at the park, rewards and unusual recitals are a few ideas we do to change things during the summer. Reinventing our usual routine during these months can help keep students coming and interested. So… what do all of you do?
Here’s my invitation for everyone to share their summer ideas around. Pictures of studios, posters, etc. are welcome as well as your great ideas. Send them to ann@pianomorning.com, or answer directly to this blog.
All piano teachers are welcome to respond. We want to hear about all the great summer ideas that are happening out there!
I have an attendance contest. Every time the student comes to a lesson they get to color in a square on the chart. I take 10 students who come to the most lessons to a pizza party at the beginning of September.
The last few years I have used a “Piano Summer Olympics Competition” theme for my summer incentive program. Students compete in the following events throughout the summer- Practice Marathon, Note Name Dash, Rhythm Hurdles, Triad Triathalon, Chord Progression Competition, Scales ( 5 finger Scale Pentathalon, Tetrachord Tumbling or Octathalon), Expert Ears Laps, Snailpace Sightreading, Freestyle Flashcards, Transposition Challenge, Interval Scale Toss, and The Great Theory Challenge. I chart their progress at each lesson and present awards to the gold medalists in each category at our recital or group lesson at the end of the summer. It has been fun to see some of the students “asking for” more scales, chord progressions, arpeggios to work on so they can advance in the events.
I shorten our Summer to a 4 week \\"Piano Camp\\" where students come twice a week. We don\\\’t focus as much on one on one piano time, but we do a series of group games, group piano (ensembles) and packets. I advertise it as a camp, with a detailed description of what we will be doing each lesson, and all the different topics the student will learn about.
Summer is a great time for me to offer a few free lessons. Many parents aren’t sure of how their kids will react to music and haven’t realized the great worth that it is. So I have each of my students give a “free lesson” token to their friend, neighbor or sibling to “try-out” my studio. It’s fun seeing fresh faces each summer and many of these trial students stay on through the fall. Another up-side? My students usually attend their summer lessons better because they have a friend with them.
Great ideas! On my blog (http://theteachingstudio.blogspot.com/) we are also talking about summer ideas this week as well!