Do your students seem a little distracted? Especially as they see or hear all the late Spring or Summer fun going on outside the window? It can be a challenge keeping piano students engaged, but with a few fun summer activities you can turn this around!
“Squirrel!”
This time of year always reminds me of “Dog” from “Up”. It amazes me how quickly a student’s head can whip around when they hear a lawn mower, skateboard on the sidewalk, or people talking.
Perhaps you can relate to the worry that this is happening right around re-registration! Will parents still sign up their kids when they see how easily distracted they are during lesson time?
Rather than continually fighting a losing battle, I created a toolbox of activities to use without any prep beforehand. Because you know what? I tend to want to take it easy those last weeks before the holidays as well.
1. Student-Led Conferences
These do require some prep work, but only during lesson time! Think of it as combining reviewing concepts from the year with your student and sharing progress with parents all in one. No more writing or typing reports that don’t get opened or, if you’re lucky, scanned before being deleted.
We just had these in my studio and it always amazes me to see the connection between parents and students as they play music together! It’s a fantastic before summer activity for our studio. Especially because we use these student-led conference planners to quickly and easily plan these during lesson time.
These work well for all students whose parents are still involved in their education. Adult students and certain senior high students won’t be doing these. But, that still can leave a huge segment of your studio population! These are especially fantastic for communicating progress to non-musical parents and building student confidence.
To find out how I do student-led conferences with early advanced students and neurodivergent students watch the video below or click here. Parents will love the bragging rights of what their children have accomplished during lessons with you!
And, to save time, click here to get the planner I use in my studio.
2. Review Pieces In A New Way
Reviewing pieces is a great idea all year round. But, this can be especially true as a summer activity when students have probably forgotten just how far they’ve come. But, why have them just play the piece? Boring!
Use something like “5 Ways Practice Strategies” as a quick activity during lesson time to change up the music.
Or, improvise using the music by pulling basic elements to create something new. Or, creating a backing track to play with a favourite review song!
To find out how to make these into a studio challenge or adapt for students that overwhelmed with exams or end of term projects, watch the video above or click here. All of which require zero prep from you!
3. Digital Escape Rooms
Digital escape rooms are one of my favourite activities to have on hand all year round! They are no-prep and can be pulled up in seconds. Or, if a student will be missing a lesson these are perfect for providing tuition value without needing to do makeup lessons. As a summer activity these rock!
These can be used as:
- Self-study for motivated students
- Chill active listening piano lesson for students overwhelmed with exams and end of term projects
I use the same digital escape rooms with all my levels of students. Outside of one, all the digital escape rooms have sophisticated enough music that age or level doesn’t play a factor. To find out how I adapt these for advanced or neurodivergent students, watch the video above or click here.
To see the digital escape rooms that are student-favourites in my studio, click here or the image below.
4. Group Lessons For Private Piano Students
My one-on-one students love having a group lesson before major holidays! Not only is it a great break from their regular lesson schedule, but it gives them a chance to connect with other students in the studio.
And, as a teacher, it frees up your schedule as well to get your last admin tasks done before the holidays. Rather than working through the break.
You could do any of the previous three activities in a group lesson. And, they all work equally well for both in-person and online group lessons.
To get the most buy-in to group lessons, make sure the summer activities are more collaborative so you build your studio community. And, be sure to include movement often … especially if you have younger students as part of the group.
4 Summer Activities For Your Piano Studio
This time of year is a wonderful opportunity to switch things up in your piano studio with some summer activities! Plus, to find out a couple of honourable mentions for summer activities, watch the video here.
4 Summer activities for your piano students are:
- Student-Led conferences
- Review pieces with “5 Ways Practice Strategies“
- Use digital escape rooms for active listening or teamwork
- Group lessons for private students
