The Holiday Season

By Julia Kossuth

As October wraps up and we further approach the holiday season, I want to incorporate celebration and festivity into my lessons, studio atmosphere, and music that my kids learn, of course. This will not only be enjoyable for me as I teach, but also keep piano lessons relevant to everything else going on in the students’ lives.

Here are a few of those ideas:

1. Perhaps this goes without saying, but we will start working on Christmas and Thanksgiving themed music. Some of my students have learned Halloween themed songs already. Depending on the student and their level of dedication, I plan to give them: a song or songs from the same level as their method book, a piece at a more challenging level as a project piece for the next six weeks, or a combination of both.

2. At our studio, we have a candy jar for the kids to choose from as they leave their lesson. We offered candy corn for Halloween, and will have Thanksgiving and Christmas candies as well. Also, at our Christmas recital I plan to give each of my students a treat of some kind: I might make cookies, have candy canes, or some other festive treat.

3. For my younger students, primarily my group classes of very young kids, I’ll incorporate holiday worksheets in with their usual music worksheets.

4. Lastly, I want to highlight various histories and facts for Christmas music. I’ll give each of my students a small card with the fact that they can keep in their folder.

It is my hope that these things will be a breath of fresh air to my students, after they’ve put in two months of solid work in their method books and other pieces. How do you like to incorporate the holidays into your lessons? Does you studio celebrate the holidays in any special way?