I have an i-pad and an android notebook for music games, but seldom use either. I also have two laptops, one for my business, and the other for online theory games (this is the one that I tend to use the most for students, especially siblings who have back to back lessons).

I think that the most important thing is to communicate to the student and the parent in whatever way works best for the teacher.

Now, I know what you’re going to say…. you can buy a keyboard for an iPad….and I did that. However, the total cost of an iPad, a case, and a keyboard was over $1000, and I discovered that I had just turned it into a “laptop”.

So back it went to the store, where I bought a much faster, more proficient Apple product, an Airbook. It is easier to type on, and $250 cheaper.

Another reason for returning the iPad was because security was unacceptable. Certain applications like GMail couldn’t be closed on an iPad, and it was unacceptable to have my email box open while in students’ hands. Worst possible scenario would be that in only 10 seconds or so, a student could send out an email from my account which compromises me in some way. A teacher’s reputation is ‘everything’! It can and does happen, and a teacher in my own city lost a job because of a situation like this. Again, on a full laptop, you can log off your email; but on an iPad, you can’t.

Also, your iPad in the hands of students opens the door to charges on your credit card that you might not expect. I am still trying to figure out how 5 new songs appeared in iTunes that I didn’t download, and I’m unimpressed that iTunes billed me automatically for them. All you have to do is to take your eyes off a student for 20 or 30 seconds, and things like this can happen.

Now, to answer your question….

We all get a lot of emails, and I was disappointed to find that my students’ parents are so deluged that they don’t open my studio newsletters. It always amazes me when parents are unaware of music exam deadlines, student recitals, and so on, because they haven’t had the time to read and digest what was sent. Newsletters are only sent every month or two, so they aren’t being inundated by me, and I assumed that they knew that there were important things enclosed; however, that is not the case. I bought anybody would open weekly emails, or print anything that’s written in them. Some students don’t have their own email addresses, or even have a computer anywhere near their instrument. Therefore, my piano students are required to purchase full-size coil-bound notebooks, that I write in, and these notebooks sit right in front of them on their pianos. This is the Information Age, and they have the information they’re needing “front and centre”, up close and personal, right there in their face, and its gets the job done beautifully.