Having specific summer piano lesson resources has 3 benefits for a piano teacher.

1. Summer piano lesson resources can be picked based on the skills you wish you had more time to dedicate to during the school year.
2. Using specific summer piano lesson resources that can be used studio-wide, for every single piano student, makes planning so much easier.
3. Having specific summer piano lesson resources in mind helps when communicating to parents about the benefit of summer lessons. You can talk up the special summer piano lesson resources that you’ll be using to keep the lessons fresh, fun, AND beneficial. Not just the same stuff over and over.

Today I will be introducing 4 highly beneficial resources that can be used specifically in your summer piano lessons.

These versatile resources can be used whether you are teaching private piano lessons, group piano classes, or running summer music camps through your studio.

Perfect Summer Piano Lesson Resources #1: Ledger Lines Note Reading Games for Piano Lessons – Music Spelling Bee

When you were a piano student, do you remember ever playing games that helped with ledger line note reading? No? Same here.

Thankfully piano teachers and piano students of today have access to a treasure trove of learning resources that didn’t exist even 10 years ago, including the Ledger Lines Note Reading Games for Piano Lessons.

Why Ledger Line Note Reading? How does it benefit students?

1. This game can be used with all your piano students – even beginners – since all piano students need to learn how to use guide notes and then count their way up and down the staff.
2. Students will find note reading within the staff that much easier once they have mastered the ledger line note reading game.
3. Students get a head start. By practicing ledger line notes well before they encounter them, your students will be able to enter the world of intermediate piano repertoire with more confidence.
4. The process for figuring out ledger line notes is the same as figuring out other notes, so it gives them extra practice – even if they haven’t mastered their note reading within the staff.

Ideas on How to Use the Ledger Line Note Reading Games

Summer Piano Lesson Resources for Private Lessons

• To prepare young beginners for this ledger line note reading game, start off with a cloth staff activity where the student practices going up and down the music alphabet from specific landmark notes.
• The goal isn’t for young students to have the ledger line notes mastered by the end of summer, but rather to master the process of “how to find a note I’m not familiar with.”
• Students LOVE using the game board and incorporating the Bee Cards into the game.
• I like to keep each category separate (e.g. Ledger lines above the staff) and use that one set of cards for the duration of one game. If the student wants to play another round, then you might switch to a different set of cards.

Summer Piano Lesson Resources for Group Classes & Music Camps

• If it’s not possible to display the PDF, you can copy the notes from a card onto a white board. If the classroom doesn’t have a whiteboard, I recommend a portable whiteboard like this.

Step 1: Help students identify the nearest landmark note.

• All students within the group audibly count up/down the music alphabet from the nearest landmark note to identify each note on the card.
• One student can be the recorder, responsible for spelling out the word.

Step 2: After identifying the nearest landmark note, students count up/down silently while the teacher points to each line and space note in between, until they get to the note.

Step 3: To ensure students are adept at counting up/down lines/spaces, have each student take a turn telling you either one note within a card (or all the notes within one card).

• This can be flexible depending on how it’s going. You might assist the student counting up/down one time, if needed.
• If you have a printed copy of all the cards, give each student a card to solve on their own.
• Create a cheat sheet beforehand with all the notes from the lowest ledger line to the highest ledger line all written out. You could also write these notes out on a whiteboard that students can refer to.

Bonus Activity for the Ledger Lines Note Reading Cards

You can also use the ledger lines music spelling bee cards to teach your piano students how to improvise!

This activity is perfect for group piano lessons, private lessons, and music camp, and is a fun change of pace for summer piano lessons.

Why Is This One of My Favorite Summer Piano Lesson Resources?

Ledger line note reading skills can easily get put on the back burner during the school year when students have other immediate learning needs.

Elementary level students can prepare to read intermediate level repertoire scores within the more relaxed environment of summer lessons.

After years of reading huge font found in lesson books, it can be a jarring transition to find not only more notes in intermediate repertoire, but that the font is smaller in regular-sized scores.

This is also when students typically start encountering ledger line notes in the treble and bass clef.

I’ve seen this transition become very overwhelming for students who had a mismatch of technical skills vs. reading skills.

Suddenly progress slows down as students need more help with reading before they can get onto the daunting technical work.

Working on these skills over the summer will help prepare all your beginners, but especially those students who will be entering the intermediate level shortly.

Even if students are not taking lessons the whole summer, students will benefit from any time spent on this ledger lines activity.

Perfect Summer Piano Lesson Resources #2: Summer Vibes Piano Practice Challenge Charts

Interested in holding a summer studio challenge? This flexible variety of summer-themed piano practice charts is a wonderful summer piano lesson resource that allow students to track one to four weeks of practice per sheet.

For more ideas for a practice challenge, check out our blog post, How To Host A Piano Practice Challenge.

However, it doesn’t just have to be used for practice. One fun idea is to run a listening challenge for your students over the summer.

Give students a listening list such as this Great Classical Music list created by Wendy Stevens.

To help develop listening skills, students should fill out this matching listening form to the best of their ability. This sheet gives students great ideas for venturing off points to study characteristics of music.

Students can study about the characteristics of Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and 20th century music – or anything else listed on the sheet they’re not familiar with.

Students can fill a blank journal with what they have learned through their music research over the summer for a reward.

Perfect Summer Piano Lesson Resources #3: 8 Camping Color by Note Pages for Piano Lessons and Elementary Music

I like creating a Summer Piano Lesson Resources Packet that I give to students who have registered for fall lessons.

If they register before the last lesson of the school year, then I can give them printed copies. If they register mid-summer, then the packet can be e-mailed to parents.

In this packet, you can include these Camping Color By Note Pages as well as a few other favorite resources that you think students will reach for over the summer.

Parents will appreciate having these educational music coloring sheets that can keep their child busy during an upcoming road trip or plane ride–and your students will have so much fun they might not even realize they’re reviewing notes!

Perfect Summer Piano Lesson Resources #4: Summer Swingset: 10 easy piano sheet music with helper notes

We never want young students to dread playing the piano because they’re afraid they’ll have to read the notes.

Even though it’s necessary to practice note reading, another way to look at it is that in our leisure time, we like to reach for the things that feel easy. And we want students to reach for their piano during their leisure time.

This fun set of 10 pattern-based songs have helper notes written in so that young students can focus on music making without the pressure of having to slog through reading note to note if they are struggling with it that much.

This summer piano lesson resource would also be great for those students who struggle with keyboard geography as well as note reading.

Ideas for Using Pieces from Summer Swingset as Summer Piano Lesson Resources in Private Lessons for Intermediate Students

• Students in the intermediate level can be challenged to improvise a melody in the same time signature of the song, based on the melody or a motif within one of the pieces.
• Intermediate students can be challenged to create an arrangement of these pieces – by shifting the melody all to the RH and composing a separate LH accompaniment.
• This is a great opportunity to teach advancing students about the rules for harmonic progression.
• You can check out a video of the composer Amanda Tero introducing them:

Why Your Students Need These 4 Favorite Summer Piano Lesson Resources

These summer piano lesson resources are sure to keep your piano students engaged with music throughout their summer break – even if they take some time off from actual practicing.

Grab the Ledger Line Note Reading Games for Piano Lessons to try out during your summer lessons – so students won’t be afraid of ledger line notes by the time these notes actually show up in their repertoire.

Encourage your students to play their pianos throughout the summer with a fun piano practice challenge or listening challenge with this variety of summer-themed piano practice challenge charts.

If you’re interested in putting together a Summer Piano Lesson Resources Packet as an incentive for families registering for fall piano lessons, here are two favorites to think about.

Consider including the 8 Camping Color by Note Pages and the Summer Swingset bundle of piano pieces, perfect for elementary piano students.

What summer piano lesson resources do you use?

What are your go-to summer piano lesson resources? What do your students love?

Or have you tried something that didn’t work well for you and you’d like to try something new? We’d love to hear your experience! Join the conversation with a comment!

More blog posts to help you with summer piano lessons…

• Getting Started with Boom Cards™ in Piano Lessons
• 10 Ways to Use Sight-Reading Games in Piano Lessons
• Save Time With Over 200 Print-and-Go Music Theory Worksheets!