Music Teachers Hub

When first starting to improvise or compose, the silence surrounding the instrument or the piece of blank manuscript paper in front of students can be rather daunting. Therefore I always begin creative activities within a genre that is familiar to music students. Sometimes, the best piano teaching resources come from our own experience, and I would like to share some of my observations here.

Outside your music studio, what engagement do your students have with music? Do they practice what you have just taught? Do they apply what they have learned and understood from their music lessons? These are some of the questions that music teachers may to ask new students. And that includes me.

Being a music teacher for several years, I observed that majority of my students hear pop music on the radio, ‘muzak’ in shopping centres, soundtracks in movies, ring tones and advertising jingles from different media while only a small minority of them are interested in hearing live music regularly, and a much smaller minority are exposed to new classical repertoire outside of their lessons.

With this in mind, the first improvisational or compositional activities in a music studio usually stem from a response to a visual stimulus and more often than not, they are a response to a short film. This has many advantages. Firstly, students are already familiar with the genre and do not need to spend much time studying the style. Secondly, students are creating works that are appropriate to their everyday environment. And lastly, a film gives the students a starting point in terms of mood and structure.

I find that one of the greatest struggles for young composers is structure. How long should this section be? How do I link all my ideas into one coherent piece? When should the piece end? Where should the climax be? How long is the build up to the climax? Is it too early or late to change mood? When composing or improvising a short film, the structure is largely determined for the student and the film also provides answers to other variables that can often be a stumbling block for starting the piece (for example, mood).

I am always fascinated by the different approaches my music students take to creative tasks. Some students study the film intently, watching it three or four times before starting to tinker around on the piano for ideas. Other students jump straight in and improvise in real time as the picture changes on the screen, always a second or two behind the action. And then there are the students who watch, furiously scribble notes and leave the lesson, turning up the following week with a completely notated, fully scored composition.

My younger students use film as an improvisatory starting point. I use it to encourage them to explore the piano – the range as well as both the timbral and textural possibilities. I also use these piano teaching resources to introduce the concepts of mood, expression and the communicative nature of music. For my older or more advanced students, writing a film score is a way for them to consolidate their theoretical knowledge and to express themselves creatively. Some questions that I ask my older students to consider are:

1. What is the mood of each scene? When does this change?

2. Should this scene be scored with silence or music?

3. Are you driving the action or commentating? (For example, is the composer creating suspense that might not yet be present on the screen, or are they scoring the moment as it happens, or even after it happens?)

4. Is there a climax?

5. Which character’s mood/opinion are you scoring?

6. Is the genre of the music being composed relevant to the people, the time and the place where the film is set?

I would love to hear how other music and piano teachers like you begin to teach improvisation and composition, how you use innovative piano teaching resources, and how you incorporate other arts disciplines into your studio. If you do not currently include improvisation or composition in your lessons or if it is a skill that is unfamiliar to you as a piano teacher, I strongly encourage you to head to YouTube, find a short film and begin creating! Good luck!


Visit these piano teaching resources and learn how you can benefit from this piano teacher software. – Earl Marsden

Articles for Music Teachers

The dramatic revolution of piano as a musical instrument has paved way to the development of piano playing and teaching. Not only has it become a leisure activity, but moreover as a professional discipline or career. Many education experts and academicians have focused on teaching piano and even built own music studios or private tutorial centers. Of course, the impressive development necessitates the continuous search of new and advanced knowledge or discoveries in this field. The use of piano teaching resources has also been a stronghold of various information, knowledge and data about piano playing, learning and teaching.

Such resources in piano teaching offer introduction to the world of piano and even provide mounts of useful strategies on how to improve skills in piano teaching. The resources house reference encyclopedia, feature articles, equipment device and other useful links related to piano. Never doubt that a navigable, efficient and easy-to-use resource has piles of facts and tidings about piano. You cannot compromise the quality, the convenience and the satisfaction these references can give you, your fellows and even your students.

Maybe not all music or at least piano teachers may have been so aware that there are lots of distinct features and contents that will surely help most of them to achieve a more effective teaching strategy and mechanism. Useful tips for a more dynamic piano teaching with your students as well as all those other piano teaching resources, which are made readily available for everyone, may be adopted and executed through lots of learning approaches, activities, exercises and methodologies that you could use during class discussions.

Most of the piano pursuits who take face-to-face tutorials are those who belong in the younger age groups. Thus, the piano resources are very ideal for a teacher like you because of its creative pedagogical methodologies. You also do not need to undergo the tedious process of library haunting just to search for books and encyclopedias on piano lessons. The resources include customized modules, lesson plans and short courses that you could adopt for your students. All the modules were made based on an intensive and in-depth research in accordance with the learning needs and gaps of most piano students nowadays. Thereby, you are assured of a very plausible piano teaching and learning for you and your students.

Such piano teaching resources are especially constructed, designed and programmed for most the piano educators and music practitioners like you. Thus, you shall always have to bear in mind that such resources in piano teaching must be evaluated, assessed and developed at all times – from time to time. This effort on evaluation and on modification is aimed towards the betterment of the kind of quality education you render and cater to your learners.

It is so true that today’s modern technologies have generally made music education as well as piano teaching more and more dynamic, versatile and a lot interesting. With such belief, music and piano teachers must update themselves with the latest teaching strategies and innovations that they can use in the classroom and piano studios. Through this, it is guaranteed that there will never be any room for boredom and monotony because everybody gets so motivated and inspired to teach and learn the piano. Enjoy the latest piano teaching resources today! Good luck!


Join this music teachers discussion and learn more reliable and informative piano teaching resources. – Earl Marsden

Articles for Music Teachers