Looking for fresh ways to prepare students for an upcoming theory test? Need a new method to reinforce and build student confidence in any music-related topic? Consider using Heads Up or Kahoot. Heads up  Ellen DeGeneres introduced Heads Up for her show years ago, as it makes a terrific family game for holiday fun. The app comes with a va...

Do you panic when prompted to enter a password? It's virtually an impossible task to remember every password you create as most websites now require you to make an account and follow a specific set of rules for the username and a "strong" password.A high-tech guru who sensed my frustration with passwords advised me to keep things simple and wr...

Why integrate popular or "non-classical" music into piano lessons?Retain studentsIntegrating pop music into your curriculum can meet students "where they are." Encouraging them to learn what's on their Spotify or iTunes playlist may draw them to practicing more, which results in progress. Progress motivates, and will keep them on the bench.Develop ...

Much to my pleasure (and astonishment!), a number of my students signed up to take theory tests at the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) local festival. None of these students owns a theory book.The NFMC Bulletin provides an outline of concepts covered in each test level, as well as practice tests from prior years. From the online bull...

Developing technical skills builds strong players. Working through technical challenges can be more beneficial when combined with theory concepts and exponentially more engaging when locked into a groove.Fellow Clavier Companion contributor and improvisation specialist Bradley Sowash recommends developing scale playing with backing tracks that...

Quizlet is an app that generates flash cards. These are not the traditional, last-century, paper flash cards. Once you set up an account, you can create customized sets of virtual flashcards with engaging study modes, and access them on laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Most students are familiar with Quizlet because the app is frequently used in ...

Paper leaves a trail, and usually the trail leads to the trash can. For that reason, I prefer to avoid paper and ink and offer virtual lesson assignment sheets. All my notes for student lessons are written in Pages, a word processor app similar to Word and available for all iOS devices. The notes are emailed as a PDF (portable document file) after ...

​What's next for our profession?Clavier Companion asked twelve pedagogues from around the country to contribute their thoughts on the future of piano teaching. In the following article, each author provides a short musing on this broad question. This series will continue in future issues, where longer articles by the same authors will provide an in...