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Piano teacher and student at the recital

How to Create Professional Recital Programs – The Easy Way!

These beautiful editable recital kits are the perfect way to save yourself time & energy as you prepare for your studio recital, & give your event a polished, professional, and cohesive look! These recital kits are created to be used in Google Slides™. Each kit is editable in Google Slides™ and is so easy to use! The kits include invitations, programs, & certificates in multiple colors and designs. Perfect for piano recitals, & any musical performance or concert!
Child playing the piano

Develop Strong Sight-Readers with “The Great Sight-Reading Challenge”

Sight-reading is an incredibly valuable skill for musicians. While some piano students naturally gravitate towards exploring new music and sight-reading fearlessly, others are more hesitant to begin developing this important skill. I created “The Great Sight-Reading Challenge” to give all of my students some sight-reading motivation and to challenge them to sight-read three pieces or sight-reading flash cards/exercises each day at the piano and to help them become strong sight-readers.
Little boy at his first piano lesson

9 Essentials to Include in a First Piano Lesson

Whether you’re teaching a first piano lesson, a trial piano lesson with a prospective student, or a meet & greet, you’ll need a solid plan to teach the student and interview the student and parents effectively and efficiently. Here’s my own lesson plan for a first piano lesson with a brand new student who comes into my studio for the first time for what I call a meet & greet mini lesson (definitely a low pressure and friendly name for our first meeting!).
Phone and coffee on desk

How to Use the AnyTune Pro App in Piano Lessons

AnyTune Pro is an app that allows you to change the tempo and key of a piece or song, and even set practice loops to drill a specific section! My students and I are loving this app, and I wanted to share with you how we use it in piano lessons. Perfect for practicing, performing, playing in a band, learning lead sheets and chord charts, and even for using with piano method books! Click here to learn more and grab a free download to help you get started!
Piano teacher Melody Payne teaching an online piano lesson

Teaching Tips: How to Teach Online Piano Lessons

Thanks to videoconferencing tools such as Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, and others, teaching online piano lessons is becoming more and more popular among teachers all over the world. Learn about finding the right clients, introducing concepts in online lessons, visual aids, having online students perform in your studio recitals, what to do when your screen freezes, and more.

Welcome!

Favorite piano teaching resources at MelodyPayne.com

Hi! I’m Melody Payne, a pianist and piano teacher, educational resource author, a fun-loving wife to the most wonderful and talented hubby I could ask for, and a lifelong learner who loves to share. I want to make your life as a music teacher easier by writing and sharing helpful and relevant music teaching articles, and by creating educational resources with your very own students in mind. If you are a parent who wants to enroll your child in piano lessons, I’d love for us to get started building those skills that can give your child a lifetime of musical enjoyment!

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