My Top 5 Tricks for Online Lessons
Teaching piano online brings unique challenges, doesn’t it?
Over time, I’ve discovered a number of tools and tricks that have made online lessons SO much better.
In the previous post, I shared my five favorite tools for online lessons.
In this post, I’m sharing my five favorite tricks for online lessons.
Because my lists are a bit unusual, you’ll likely discover some new ideas here.
Let’s dive in!
Trick #1: Playing with My Students
This is one of my favorite discoveries. Just last year I learned how effective it can be to have a student play along with me in the lesson.
To make this work, the student mutes themselves. I watch to be sure their hands are in position and, when they’re ready, I count us off and start playing.
I can’t hear the student, so I don’t stop for them if they make mistakes - and they quickly learn to just keep playing.
I use this trick in several ways:
Sight-reading
When introducing a new piece, the student will start by analyzing the music. They’ll mark starting notes, identify tricky rhythms, notice the form, and more.
Then they will sight-read the first section, playing along with me.
I haven’t played the piece for them prior to this; I’m simply providing structure and the motivation to keep playing regardless of mistakes.
Once we’ve played through it, we’ll stop and I’ll ask them how it went. They’ll tell me where they struggled and we will work through it. Then we’ll sight-read the section together, again, and work through the entire piece that way.
Polishing a piece
There are a variety of ways to help a student identify problem areas and improve a piece that’s still being learned.
One of the ways I like to do this is to have us play the piece together. This allows the student to identify the discrepancies and then figure out what needs changing (with a little nudge from me, occasionally).
It’s also a fantastic way to help students slow down a speedy tempo so they can achieve accuracy.
Duets
Once a student is feeling fairly confident with a piece, we’ll put the student and teacher parts together.
The important thing is that I circle back to them each time and ask how things went. My students are quick to tell me if something felt hard or didn’t fit correctly.
Having a parent in the room (more on this later) helps confirm that we’re all on the same page - particularly with younger students. 😊
In general, I’ve seen a remarkable difference in my students’ progress and confidence now that we play together regularly. It’s a VERY powerful tool, and one I wish I’d used more throughout my years of teaching.
Trick #2: Parent Support
Do you, like me, experience moments of helplessness during online lessons?
You’re trying to help a student work through a tricky concept, or keep their attention engaged so you can move forward, and their thoughts are far away - no matter what you do. Answering a simple question takes a long time, and there’s a general sense of disengagement.
This happens more frequently now that we’re online; it’s where the distance in online lessons is really felt.
Enter, piano parent. 💥
My studio parents’ presence in online lessons has become essential to our success - particularly for younger students.
First, the parent is able to take notes so the student and I can focus solely on the music.
Second, a parent can help the student quickly locate a book we need, a colored pencil, or a metronome.
But perhaps most helpfully, the parent is able to be a guiding presence next to a younger student. They can help guide the student’s attention back to the lesson when they’re distracted - or remove the distraction.
A piano parent is like a secret weapon! They allow the student and me to make the most of our lesson time.
Trick #3: Online Community
Before moving lessons online, I had a large group studio full of families who had become friends (outside AND inside my studio). The sense of community that grew around our music was lovely and supportive.
It’s probably what I missed most after moving across the country and taking our lessons online (and back to one-on-one).
So I quickly started working community elements into our online studio:
1. Partner lessons
I paired my students up and one would go to the other’s house once a month (prior to Covid-19). We would hold their online lesson together, at the same piano. It was a great way to keep my students playing with another musician.
2. Game-centered online classes
For these online group lessons, we all meet together online for theory games, ear training, etc.
This was when I would bring out a digital escape room, or split students into teams in breakout rooms for team competitions.
3. Playing-centered online classes
The second kind of group lesson is where we actually play the piano together.
I use Dorla Aparicio’s approach to this (I’m one of the lucky teachers in that video who got to observe her class!).
My students would learn different levels of the same piece ahead of time (Dorla has a number of great arrangements that make this easy) according to their comfort level.
During our group class, each student would take a turn leading. Everyone else would mute themselves and the leader would pause, watch for everyone to be ready, count us in, and then play.
At first, as you can imagine, this was nerve-wracking for students. But it quickly got easier and it was exciting to see their confidence grow in leading. It also provides a powerful motivation for practice leading up to the group class.
Student-led playing has been so effective that I recently had my high school student lead our entire group class. He was responsible to not only be the lead player, but to check in with each student throughout the class to see what went well for them and what was challenging.
The younger students felt seen and cared for by an older student, and my high school student was able to strengthen his leadership skills as a musician.
Trick #4: Parent Duets
Have you noticed a common thread throughout my favorite online lesson tricks?
It’s the active, engaged presence of other people in a student’s musical experience.
One of my biggest challenges with online lessons is how they can leave a student feeling isolated, playing music by themselves. Anytime I can expand a student’s musical experience beyond themselves, I consider that a big win.
This year, more than ever before, I have drawn families into our musical experience - despite the fact that most of my studio parents don’t already play the piano.
An easy way to start is to have the student teach their parent a pattern. Then they both play the pattern together.
It’s also effective to have students teach parents a simple pattern, then the student plays a slightly more complex pattern along with them.
This took center stage with a studio challenge last fall (while I was traveling abroad and running things from my virtual studio):
It was a family-centered Chopsticks Challenge, where students earned points for submitting videos of themselves playing variations on the Chopsticks theme (thanks to Philip Johnston for his fantastic book, Chopsticks Infinity).
Students only earned a few points for a solo variation; the big points were earned by playing with family members. Playing a variation while your parent played the theme was worth a nice amount of points, but the points grew exponentially with every family member added into the equation.
Chopsticks: bigger and better with family
The highlight of my entire teaching year might be watching those videos of a student, parent, and sibling on a single piano - giggles and mistakes included.
I also encourage parent/child collaboration in smaller ways, whenever it’s possible:
→ A duet that’s appropriate for a parent’s level of comfort at the piano
→ A parent grabbing a tambourine or even a kitchen pot to play a rhythm line along with a student
→ A student who’s struggling with getting something right (technique, rhythm, etc.) will be assigned to teach the piece to their parent.
→ 12-bar blues: the student plays the bass pattern while their parent improvises on a few notes of the blues scale.
There is no experience quite like playing music with other people. This tends to be a more rare experience for pianists, and even more so during a pandemic. Seeing my students play music with their families has been one of the most rewarding parts of teaching over the past few years.
Yes, this parent does play the piano already! She and her high-school-aged son frequently learn duets to play together. 😍
Trick #5: Missed Lesson Solutions
I have two solutions for missed lessons to share with you: the one I currently use and the one I may switch in the future.
Solution 1: Video or email lesson
If a student or I have to cancel their lesson, I record a brief video lesson for them where I introduce their new lesson material (they are asked to send me recordings of their current assignments, as well). I may play through a new piece slowly as part of the video, so they can play along with me.
I also use this if a student is more than 10 minutes late to their lesson. I leave the Zoom room and spend the next few minutes of the lesson time recording a video lesson for them. I upload the video to either Vimeo or Google Drive and share it with the student right away.
If it’s an adult student, and they prefer written notes for quick reference, I’ll simply email new lesson notes over to them.
Solution 2: The Virtual Studio
I talked about a virtual studio in the first blog post of this set, and if you haven’t read it, you should. A virtual studio has huge potential to free up your time and expand the resources you can easily share with your students.
Our Thanksgiving week virtual studio
Next year, I may use my virtual studio to replace make-up lessons. I will load it with a week or two of lesson material (for multiple levels) at the start of each term. If a student needs to cancel their lesson or doesn’t show up, I’ll simply give them the virtual studio password and let them enjoy their week of “outside the box” practice.
Your turn!
Which online lesson trick has sparked an idea for you?
Have you used any of these in online lessons?
I’d love to hear your questions and comments.
Thanks for reading, friends, and I hope these online lesson tools and tricks help to make your teaching life better this year.
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Janna Carlson is a piano teacher and web designer who spends her days making it easy for other teachers to attract new students online.
She has helped music teachers fill their studios quickly, max out their waitlists, and create new income streams by selling their resources online.
Janna firmly believes in great communication and the power of treating people well. She loves helping teachers feel confident about their online presence and successful in their studio goals.
Janna co-owns Studio Rocket Web Design with her husband, Jeremy. As a classically-trained pianist and a rock & roll guitarist, they have fun finding common musical ground and jamming together in their free time.