New Tool for Teaching

By Julia Kossuth

I am SO excited to try out a new (at least new for us) tool for students this upcoming year! I’ve recently discovered www.JoyTunes.com, a free resource to piano teachers with their registration. The creators have offered two fantastic iPad applications that I think will greatly enhance my students’ musicality, sight reading, and enjoyment of piano lessons both at the studio and at home.

The first app is “Piano Maestro”–a game which allows a student to work to pass certain songs and “unlock” new ones upon correct completion. There are home challenges and ways to involve parents in their child’s lesson as well.

The second app is “Piano Dust Busters”–this game is geared towards learning to play by ear, but also will help with a student’s rhythm and coordination.

This year, I plan to introduce Piano Maestro to my students for a warm up to their lesson. My hope is that it will also serve as motivation for an end of lesson session for those students who might not be giving their best effort that day.

I will also assign home challenges for my students to work on. Parents will easily be able to see progress, as there are objective goals they will either meet or not meet.

What are some external teaching tools you like to use? Have you had success with Piano Maestro before?