What Does a Small Group Class Look Like
Small group piano lessons beat private lessons
My small group piano lessons are classes with 3-4 students at one time. We begin class with rewarding everyone who has practiced the benchmark minutes during the week, then students take turns playing their assignments for the whole class. At the beginner stage, this takes less than 5 minutes.
Learning while listening to others
While I hope each student truly benefits from feedback they get while in front of the class, I think they learn even more when I give feedback to their peers. It’s because they hear strengths and weaknesses better as an objective listener, they can learn about things without having had to practice them first.
Have you ever played for others before? We all become more subjective when evaluating our playing with others listening. Now we’re learning subjectively as well as objectively.
Master class benefits
For more advanced students, I had always used master classes to enhance piano instruction. Students would prepare their pieces to perform for a group of their peers. From the very first mention of the class, students typically begin practicing their piece more intensely. (Everyone makes a better effort to practice for performance quality.) It’s why many teachers have ongoing recitals, it’s always motivating when you’re playing for others. I wanted the benefits of master class and recitals to last much longer than a day. I wanted them each and every week.
Small group lessons allow for individual learning
My children’s elementary school taught PE to kids from 1st to 3rd grade at the same time. Those kids learned about phalanges and metatarsals faster than any lecture could teach them because they were excited learning together and being able to say the funny new words. But the 3rd graders were given diagrams and asked to match the proper names and body parts. 1st graders were given a hand to color in the phalanges. This same principle works in piano lessons. You can learn about staccato by hearing a student play it, you can see what it looks like and then search your own music to find it. Then you play it.
I often have a student learning staccato for the first time another student is learning legato. The contrasts are taught to the group, but the learning is individualized and applied to each student’s need.
Want to learn more?
Check out my page all about my in-studio, small group lessons or learn how to teach them yourself through my How to Teach Piano online course.
