Clear Baggies of Binders Clear Baggies of Binders Cilp Art

January is about new beginnings; new plans, new resolutions… the promise of spring.  And there's null worse than a student who drags in a tattered and torn piano binder to their beginning lesson in the new twelvemonth; papers, not-so-sticky stickers and ziploc baggies falling from the depths of their music bag.  Shudder.  It's the worst.

If you also get the heebie jeebies when you retrieve of those newspaper-engorged binders and so follow along and get ready for a fresh starting time.

i.  Piano Binders

I've tried duotangs, roll-spring notebooks and fifty-fifty hard-cover journals.  The only thing that actually seems to practise the trick is a three-ring binder.  But… I brand sure that my piano parents know that the binder must exist one that lays flat (ugh.. nothing is worse than a binder that doesn't stay open up) and should be good quality to avoid the inevitable spine splitting/cover peeling that occurs.  Why does a binder work?  In my studio I send home a lot of material that comes from digital resources and there'southward merely no better manner to tame the paper monster than with a binder.

two.  Dividers

The simply problem with binders is that it'south hard to find what you need when you need it, unless y'all employ dividers.  Each of my piano kids comes to their first lesson with dividers which we then characterization:

Lesson Notes: I have pre-created uncomplicated sheets with space to write what nosotros did in the lesson, what they need to exercise and notes for dwelling.  It's nothing fancy and then it works for anybody.  Usually, I accompany a lesson notation sheet with an activity from our exercise volume and some of my students are getting creative with lesson notes past turning them into art (read more virtually that hither).

Special Projects: This is the area where I put practice incentive hand-outs, special composing assignments, piano pal materials, new years resolutions etc.

Supplementary Repertoire: PianoBookClub music goes here!… as well as music they take purchased from musicnotes.com, music I have composed for them to play, music their peers take composed that they similar to play etc.

Composing: Our Muttzart and Ratmaninoff lessons and work sheets go hither so they're all in once place as well as any other composing activities, improv starters, chord progressions etc. that they may be working with.

Theory Activities: (Not the tedious kind 🙂 )  I regularly send home sheets from our Pssst… Your Piano Instructor Thinks This is Theory (freebies at that link!) as many of them are really fun for students to complete with their family as an actress home activeness.

Lead Sheets:Our studio completes a "atomic number 82 sail of the month" every month to teach chording skills.

iii.  Know When to Purge

The way you add fabric to these dividers also makes a departure (most contempo should go on top). It's also of import to regularly accept out what is no longer needed (theory activities that are complete and are of concepts they've completely mastered, lead sheets they have memorized, composition work sheets that are now published etc.)  Nothing in my educatee binders stays in there for more than 3-iv months and so binders are never stuffed, pages don't get torn out and the folder stays reasonably light.

4.  Stickers…

My young piano kids collect stickers afterward every lesson and used to put them on the front of their folder.  I spent years watching those stickers then un-stick from binders and re-stick to the lesser of shoes, my studio carpet, my piano demote, my driveway… information technology just wasn't working.  Using a piece of card stock inside a page protector at the front of their folder then keeps the stickers where they ought to be (and information technology likewise makes them seem that much more than special).  It's a existent "moment" for my piano kids when they get to get-go on folio protector #2 🙂

5.  Back and Along

The one section I didn't mention in the divider notes to a higher place is the "back and forth".  I don't include this in a divider, but instead I tape a slice of newspaper to the inside of the front end cover of their binder.  This is where I write notes to parents whom I don't always see after every lesson but that aren't a big plenty deal for an email (notes like "Recital appointment has been set, check your email!" or "Didn't have piano books today… please bring them next calendar week" etc.) Anything that is of import or my studio newsletter ends up hither here as it'due south super easy to discover.  My students' parents know to check this folio after every lesson.

It's a Bigger Deal Than Y'all May Call back!

Organizing your piano student binders may seem trivial… only information technology actually does make a big difference.  If your lesson materials are organized… they're more likely to actually be done. If the time you lot spend carefully choosing supplementary materials and activities doesn't finish upwards crumpled at the bottom of a mini-van…  yous're using your own personal time more wisely.  If your binders clearly show progression, use of innovative materials and care and planning… your clients will more clearly meet just how fabled you lot are!  Give it a endeavour… start the new year with a piano folder overhaul and fresh get-go.

juryectiseethe.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2014/01/01/starting-off-fresh-begins-with-the-piano-binder/

Share this post