Although I have chosen to not give sibling discounts in my studio, I have discovered a way to add value by providing music activities for siblings who are waiting during their sibling’s lesson. For the most part families drop students off and run errands because my studio is convenient to a multitude of shops. Traditionally students have used this time to practice on the digital piano or complete their theory assignments.
This year I am trying my best to be proactive and provide these students with more productive ways to spend their time. With families being busier than ever, students are often not making as much progress as they should. I am crossing my fingers that these ideas might help.
This is an example of some activities that a couple of beginner students completed while they waited.
These activities included a cloth staff and notes for stem direction practice, a drawing activity placed in a dry erase pocket that reinforced note names and values which you can download free here, a sorting mat for practicing steps and skips which is available for purchase here, and review of treble clef C position notes using the Fly Flashcards from Susan Paradis’s Store linked here.
These activities are just placed around a table for the student to access. To keep the student motivated, it is helpful to provide a reward. Around here, they all request Rhythm Swing or Ningenius, but any IPAD game really works wonders.
For older students or just to provide a different experience, I sometimes will have a tab group set up on my laptop with appropriate flashcards from musictheory.net. These fully customizable flashcards provide a review that is just right for most students.
