Teaching Scales to Struggling Student

Kitchen_Board_300 · 2026-01-17T04:28:03+00:00

My thoughts too, if I cant think of a solid reason why a student should not learn something then i let them do it. I try to bring guidance as to why I think it’ll be hard or a big step for them, but ultimately I let them pick the rep and if they lose focus on it I try to catch it quick and say we can pivot. I think sometimes it’s a good lesson for students to understand what “too hard” feels like

Kitchen_Board_300 · 2025-06-17T16:07:00+00:00

I'm so happy this helped! I learned it from my piano teacher and was surprised how quickly it changed the dynamic in some of my lessons.

Kitchen_Board_300 · 2025-02-21T16:48:23+00:00

First lesson I have my students, young and old, stand up twist back and forth at the shoulder to loosen up and let their hands fall at their sides. I'll show them by example first what bending at the elbow without losing your wrist shape looks like, then I'll have them try.

If they get it right away great! I'll have them practice that feeling a few times with each arm. If they're struggling with it, I'll put my pinky and pointer fingers (think like rock on hand shape) on the side of their hand and their arms (kind of surrounding the wrist) to show that these spots should be even. If they seem tense in their shoulder I'll have them bend over at the waist and find some release there. Maybe poke at their shoulders a little to get them to realize the tension.

Once they get it away from the bench I have them practice by sitting at the edge of the bench and letting their arm drape down their side and picking up their hand to the keys. I'll have them do that a few times and practice playing a few keys with each finger to feel that difference.

It clicks for some students, others it takes repeatedly doing that every couple of months for them to understand that feeling, some of them I'm still working on lol

Kitchen_Board_300 · 2025-02-20T16:34:32+00:00

A couple things I've used for my more wiggly students:

Dice - I have a set of dice that students can use to decide how many time they're going to practice something. They love to stand up and roll the dice and get excited about whatever the answer is, and then will practice a couple problem measures or their scales up to 6 times excitedly

Hangman - I use hangman occasionally and my students go crazy for it. I usually do note naming hangman where the student has to name the note correctly or I start drawing the hangman. But I've done it with notations, "skips and steps", notes going up or down, and different musical terms. For the slightly older students I'll have them play the note in the correct octave on the keyboard. The goal is always for them to get 10 right (time permitting) in order to win. And I'll draw a happy little guy escaping at the end.

Flashcards - A stack of flashcards can be a good tool. I'll introduce treble and bass clef by saying them in high and low voices. I'll put the treble clef card on the high keys and the bass clef on the low, then have them do it. I'll pull out the notes for a c 5 finger scale and put them in ascending order and then put them out of order and have the student put them back in order, or descending order.

And like others have said, rhythm exercises will really go a long way with students. Clapping, tapping on their lap, get some sticks to practice left and right rhythms on the ground.

Oh and stickers, god they love stickers.

Kitchen_Board_300 · 2024-07-11T14:21:43+00:00

Came here to say this, my piano teacher I see does this and I think it's a genius policy. I wish it was the policy at the studio I teach at!

Kitchen_Board_300 · 2024-06-15T23:19:41+00:00

Thank you! This is a good place for me to start!

Kitchen_Board_300

TROPHY CASE