You do NOT want this to happen to ANY of your students.
A girl I know decided that she loved music so much that she would major in music. When she opened her application packet from the university, her jaw dropped to the floor. Inside that packet was an ear training exam that she had to pass in order to get into the program. She was an excellent musician who had won numerous competitions and awards, but her teachers had never done any specific ear training with her.
You can imagine how upset she was as she saw her dream of studying music in college slipping away.
Can neglecting to teach ear training in your studio hurt your students? Yes.
Now you might be saying to yourself that you don’t think any of your students would major in music. And that may be true, but if you don’t teach ear training to these students, you are depriving them of an ability that will bring them a lifetime of enjoyment at the piano.
Just imagine if, 20 years from now, even your students who do not become music professionals are still playing the piano regularly. They remember the techniques that you taught them and use those techniques to play the songs they love. And each time they hear a new song they like from a movie or the radio, they retreat to their piano and use their ear to quickly reproduce the melody and then add in the harmonies. Within a short time, a phenomenal new arrangement has been created. These students will remember you and thank you for enriching their lives with a well-trained ear.
You now understand how critically important it is to incorporate ear training into your studio, but you’re probably wondering how on earth you’ll do it.
The answer is to start simple and gradually work up to more advanced exercises. You want to begin with an activity that is unbelievably easy. Why? Because kids need to have quick successes when starting something new. This boosts their confidence and shows them that they can do this.
To help you get started, I’ve bundled two incredibly fun resources: Zuper Ears and Impresto Piano Basics. This digital bundle gives you resources for ear training with young children. You’ll also get a three part video course on how to teach kids to create their own music at the piano. You’ll be amazed by what your students create and by how the process of creating turns them into better musicians.
Let me finish the story of the girl I know. Her compassionate teacher administered the ear training test and gave her more listens with each example than was technically allowed in the rules. The girl guessed on every single example during that tremendously stressful exam. She barely passed and made it into her program. What a relief!
Except that, as part of her coursework, she was required to take ear training classes. These classes assumed that the students already had a foundation in ear training. Every day in class was misery because she was so far behind the other students. And she pretty much guessed her way through every test, relying mostly on her knowledge of music theory because her ear had not been taught how to recognize the patterns and relationships.
All of this pain and stress could have been avoided if her teacher had taught ear training. Ear training is easy for kids when you start simple and incrementally work your way up. A quality music education develops the whole musician. You want your studio to be known as a quality studio, so utilize the Start Kit and begin including ear training in your music program today.
Remember that when you provide ear training, you establish yourself as a high quality teacher who is known for developing the whole musician. You stand out from the other music studios in your area, and your potential for word of mouth advertising and referrals increases dramatically. Best of all, your students are more likely to continue playing the piano throughout their lives, and they’ll be forever grateful that they learned this skill that brings them so much enjoyment from you, their piano teacher.
Click here to purchase Zuper Ears and Impresto Piano Basics and begin developing the whole musician.