If you as a teacher own a Grand Staff Magnetic Board, then how essential is it for every student to have a Grand Staff Magnetic Board?
A few months ago, we gave you over 24 ways to use the Grand Staff Magnetic Board in piano lessons (read Part 1 here and read Part 2 here). But the Grand Staff Magnetic Board is also an invaluable tool for your students to own themselves.
Here’s why we think every student should have a Grand Staff Magnetic Board–plus some ideas to help you motivate your student to use their Grand Staff Magnetic Board in regular piano practice.
1) The Grand Staff Magnetic Board Provides the Piano Student with Regular Review
Using the Grand Staff Magnetic Board during lessons is important to help introduce concepts to your students.
However, what happens when they go home? Just like learning piano cannot happen just once a week in lessons, mastering theory concepts also needs regular, daily practice.
When a student owns a Grand Staff Magnetic Board, they can practice theory concepts daily in a colourful and fun way. With parental participation and support, daily practice can really help solidify concepts learned and can also be fun!
2) The Grand Staff Magnetic Board Starts the Piano Student’s Personal Studio Collection
Every student you teach might use the knowledge and materials they gain from you to teach later in life. We never know which of our students will move on to teach–even the most unlikely students as children have turned out to be amazing teachers in the future!
You can help your piano student establish a solid piano studio collection from childhood with timeless tools like the Grand Staff Magnetic Board. They will definitely thank you later!
3) The Grand Staff Magnetic Board Instills Student-Led Learning
One of our goals as piano teachers is to help our students become independent learners and take initiative in their learning process.
When you provide your piano student with a tool like the Grand Staff Magnetic Board, it gives them the opportunity to daily invest in their own learning experience.
You can assign them activities, and then ask their input on activities they think would be beneficial. Give them assignments to figure out activities on their own.
4) The Grand Staff Magnetic Board Helps Daily Practice to be More Entertaining
Give your student a practice spinner to shake things up in their daily practice. They put the spinner on the back of the board, and spin to see what to practice next.
Our editable practice spinner includes 30 pages editable printable practice spinners in 3 different designs that you can customize for each student's needs.
>>> Get the Editable Practice Spinner here
>>> Get a free sample Editable Practice Spinner here
Don’t want to print a dial? You can help encourage student-led learning by having them draw a practice dial with dry-erase markers on the back of the Grand Staff Magnetic Board.
They can fill in the assignments you wrote down for their practice week.
5) The Grand Staff Magnetic Board Helps with Virtual Lessons
Maybe your student is virtual only, so you’ve never actually experienced using the Grand Staff Magnetic Board with them.
If your student gets their own Grand Staff Magnetic Board, the options of teacher-student activities during virtual lessons will be endless as you each work with your own Grand Staff Magnetic Board.
My favorite virtual activity with the Grand Staff Magnetic Board is doing ear training with melodic dictation and intervals. When the student has their own Grand Staff Magnetic Board, they can easily use the magnets to create what they hear me playing.
When your virtual student owns a Grand Staff Magnetic Board, it automatically takes virtual lessons to the next level as you work together on theory projects, composition, and more.
IDEAS FOR SEND-HOME PRACTICE
Send an “answer key” home
One of the essentials in practice is that a student does it correctly. When you are teaching a new concept to a student, you can send them an “answer key” to be sure they are practicing with the correct answers.
Each day, the student can replicate that chart to review the concept. A simple way to do this is to do the activity in lesson with the student, snap a picture of the correct board, and send it to either the student or parent so they have a reference.
Here are some examples you might want to use:
- Keyboard names
- Place the correct letter dot magnets on each key
- Lines & space numbers
- Place the correct number dot magnets on each line & space
- Lines & space names
- Place the correct letter dot magnets on each line & space
- Intervals
- Place an interval on the staff with color magnet dots
- Draw the correct interval with a dry-erase marker
- Chords
- Place chords on the staff using color magnetic dots and accidental magnetic dots
- Write the chord name with a dry-erase marker
- Scales
- Construct major scales and harmonic & melodic minor scales on the keyboard and staff using color dot magnets
- Using a dry-erase marker, draw either the steps or scale degrees on the board
- Key signatures
- Teach the order of sharps and flats on both clefs with the accidental magnets
You can teach almost any theory concept this way. For more specific ideas, visit our blog posts for 24 ways to use the Grand Staff Magnetic Board in piano lessons (Part 1 here and Part 2 here).
Random Practice Assignments
Have a set of cards for your student to drill themselves at home. “Place all Cs with red magnets.”
If your student needs note review, print off a set of Word Cards (free activity!) to send home with them and tell them to draw three random Word Cards each day to create.
Personal Composition
Assign your student to create a composition. The Grand Staff Magnetic Board makes this easier (and cleaner!) because the student can sample their composition idea and move magnets rather than write and erase their ideas twenty times.
Practice
You can definitely have your students drill difficult measures over and over in regular practice, but how much more fun would it be for the student to place magnets for their “trouble spot” on their own Grand Staff Magnetic Board each day to practice?
It gives them a tactile way to review where their notes are and then they can practice from the Grand Staff Magnetic Board.
GRAND STAFF MAGNETIC BOARD FOR GROUP LESSONS
Another benefit of each student owning their own Grand Staff Magnetic Board is for group lessons (whether in-person or virtual).
If you teach group lessons, you can include activities on the Grand Staff Magnetic Board for the entire class. It will multiply the fun of students learning theory concepts together.
How to get every Piano Student a Grand Staff Magnetic Board
Use this blog post to communicate with the parents how essential a Grand Staff Magnetic Board is for their child’s music education. If the parents can see the many useful ways of a Grand Staff Magnetic Board, they will be encouraged to get one and help their student use it.
Instead of relying on student parents to order the Grand Staff Magnetic Boards, order a set for your entire studio and pass them out (it will be like Christmas!). Include the price of the Grand Staff Magnetic Board in your tuition so it makes it easy for your students to obtain them.
Here’s all you need to get established with Grand Staff Magnetic Boards
>>> Get Grand Staff Magnetic Board
>>> Get Editable Practice Spinners (sample for free here)
How to get the most out of Every Piano Student Owning a Grand Staff Magnetic Board
Make a plan to use the Grand Staff Magnetic Boards each week in lessons. The Grand Staff Magnetic Board is a beneficial investment, but only if it doesn’t sit on the shelf collecting dust.
Read through our blog post of 24 ways to use the Grand Staff Magnetic Board in Piano Lessons (Part 1 here and Part 2 here) and plan now which ideas you’ll use each week in lessons.
How would each student owning their own Grand Staff Magnetic Board benefit your studio? What ideas do you have for using them?