The Vibrant Music Teaching Podcast | Proven and practical tips, strategies and ideas for music teachers

I think of music student motivation as 5 masts which keep a structure standing tall. Nurture all 5 for highly motivated and engaged students.

If your goal is to foster a growth mindset in your piano students, then extrinsic motivation could be the best route to get there.

Incentives, awards and rewards are common practice in many piano studios. If you use them, you’re a raving fan. If you don’t, you’re  staunchly opposed .  Whichever side of this debate you fall on, let’s stop and think about each type of external motivator.

I think it’s fair to say that we all learnt a lot in 2020. Some of the biggest lessons for me last year were about listening…and Zoom was my teacher.  🙃

Every student can improve their aural memory over time. But some students come to us with a particularly weak aural memory which can present a real challenge to us as teachers. The aural memory music games in this article are simple, but they might be just the solution you need right now.

Have you ever thought about creating a piano mashup with your students? It’s easier than you think and there are so many learning opportunities.

If you're on the hunt for a new ear training exercise for your piano students, this step-by-step activity is perfect for you.

In this article, we’ll get down to the brass tacks of why and how and music teachers of all stripes should use Curwen hand signs.

When teaching piano technique to adults, make it relevant to them and avoid sounding like a schoolteacher telling them off. Here's how.

Adult beginner piano students are often held back by mental and emotional baggage. Here's how to help them banish these limiting beliefs.

Adult piano students need repertoire which sounds sophisticated but is easy enough for them to play. These are the top choices in my studio.

If you love teaching adult piano students, you should be proactively working to attract them, not leaving it up to fate. Here's how.

Despite being so small, these 3 heroic habits for music teachers can make a big difference in the balance between your work and life.

We signed up to be music teachers, not to be office-drones. But it can feel like we spend more time doing music teaching studio admin tasks than actually teaching. If you’re on the administrative burnout bandwagon, I’m here to help.  

Do you dream of getting more stuff done in less time? I'm going to let you in on my secret for doing “all the things” in your piano studio...

You read about the latest piano teacher productivity idea, but does it work? is it magic? The only way to know is to experiment. Here's how.

Want to know what the average music studio teacher makes? Or what exactly they're teaching? Find out in the Vibrant Music Teaching Industry Report.

Reflecting on the past year is an important part of getting ready for a new one. Tune in to find out my top 5 questions that I believe all teachers should be asking themselves right now.

This conversation is an excerpt from one of my member Strategy Sessions. In this call, a member and I worked to uncover the issue behind her students’ reading fluency. I hope you’ll enjoy listening and that it will help you problem-solve for your own students.

Lead sheets are a vital tool for teaching other concepts and skills. But where do you find them? And once you do, how should you use them? 

What approaches really work when it comes to teaching pop music to piano students? And where do we find great pop music arrangements, anyhow? We’ll dive into all that and more in this episode.

Do you teach pop music to your piano students? Why or why not?  In this episode, I’ll explore the reasons I believe we should be teaching pop music in our studios so you can see if it’s right for you.

Are you collecting and analysing data in your studio? If not, you might be missing out on the important information that numbers can give you. In this episode, we’ll talk about the data you should collect in your studio and how to put it to work for you.

Have you been struggling with the idea of teaching the beginner stages of music reading online? I’m here to help! I found the idea of introducing the staff to my students through online lessons pretty overwhelming in the beginning but I’ve found what works and I’m happy to be sharing it with you on the show today.

Teaching rote or pattern pieces to piano students online has its own unique challenges. How do we make sure students remember these pieces? How do we demonstrate clearly and check their position on the piano through video calls? I’ll cover all this and more in this episode.