022: Whole Body Activities to Keep Students Engaged Through the Summer

Hello, my piano teacher friends! Today’s episode is all about keeping your students engaged through the summer with whole body activities. This month’s theme at TopMusic focuses on full-body learning, and I’m excited to share some creative, easy-to-implement ideas that require no extra training or planning. These activities, inspired by my experiences and wonderful suggestions from Instagram followers, will not only keep your wiggly students focused but also make learning musical concepts memorable and fun. Let’s dive into these practical strategies and keep our lessons lively all summer long!

• Rachel shares creative, no-extra-training-needed ideas for incorporating full-body learning into piano lessons.
• Understanding full-body learning, which is beneficial for students with short attention spans and reinforcing musical concepts.
• Steady beat examples by having students walk or tap the beat without distractions that improve rhythm understanding.
• Rachel provides rhythm activities, including using rhythm sticks and egg shakers.
• Ideas from other teachers, such as interpretive dance, hopping to learn stem directions, dynamic movements, and animal dances.
• Some activities involving moving like animals and improvising music based on those movements.
• Simon Says Game - A simple game for teaching right and left hand finger numbers is explained.
• Red Light Green Light Game - A rhythm game where students follow a metronome beat and freeze when the "cop" turns around.
• Rachel introduces her new sound effects story "If Dinosaurs Came to Your Piano Lesson," designed to include whole-body activities.

Podcast Exclusive Freebie:

• “A Whale of an Excuse” Sound Effect Story

Register for Rachel’s Live Webinar

• How to Earn Extra Income by Playing the Piano Webinar (Monday, June 24th, 7:00 AM PST)

Links Mentioned

• TopCast 370: How to Add Piano Accompanying to Your Income Portfolio with Dr Rachel Ehring
• Download the latest TopMusic Magazine here.
• Rachels' Etsy Store for new sound effect story - If Dinosaurs Came to Your Piano Lesson

Resources Mentioned

• Musikgarten Rhythm Sticks
• Max Found Two Sticks (Reading Rainbow Book)
• Jess Homewood (Not Your Mother's Studio)

About Rachel Ehring

Dr. Rachel Ehring is a pianist, teacher, music administrator, and lover of piano teaching gadgets. She holds a DMA in Collaborative Piano from the University of Colorado Boulder and a MM in Accompanying from the University of Kansas. She currently serves as Director at St. John’s Conservatory of the Arts in Orange County, CA. Previously, she held positions at Concordia University Irvine and Henderson State University. Rachel is passionate about empowering music teachers to create engaging and exciting lessons for students of all ages. When she isn’t playing the piano, you might find Rachel reading books with her son or walking her beagle Frieda.

• Visit her website at https://rachelehring.com/
• Visit her Etsy shop at Dream Lavender Music

Thank you for tuning in!

Consider implementing the ideas from this podcast by writing several actionable steps for your teaching practice if it’s inspired you.

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