Shhhh... your Piano Teacher thinks This is PRACTICE! (Book Review and Giveaway!)

I’m really excited to be reviewing a new practice book for students. I bought this downloadable book over a month ago and the second I read it I knew I wanted to share it with everyone but I had a ton on my plate at that time so it had to wait. Well… the wait is over and now I get to share!

Shhhh… your Piano Teacher thinks This is PRACTICE! is the brain child of Andrea and Trevor with Teach Piano Today, a piano teaching blog, community, and resource center. Their  main focus with the TeachPianoToday Blog is to help teachers advance piano education through creative innovation. “We aspire to revolutionize those aspects of learning piano that are, for lack of a better word, boring. Having this goal meant that improving the art of piano practice for students was very high on our list!”

This book is a practice activity book specifically for students. There are 88 activities students can supplement in their practicing. Each activity is unique in it’s own way, many time encouraging students to get up and off the bench. I asked my students at piano summer camp if they have been using the book at home with their practicing and one of my 5 year old students got up and started hopping on one foot singing “Old MacDonald”. I was thrilled to see this! First, I was glad the parent followed through and had her child use it, but I was also happy to see how excited my student was to share one of the practice activities. This meant she was having fun with her practicing!

Some examples of other activities that can be found in the book would be calling a relative on the phone and playing the piece for them right when they answer without saying a word before playing, create a TV commercial for this week’s practice coming up with 3 things that make your piece great, piano practice games such as hangman, practice in the dark or fill out a music mad lib!

Click new-aunt-gladys-sample and new-rockin-rhythm-sample to preview a couple activity pages of the book.

I’m always excited to find new ideas to make practicing more fun for students so I asked Andrea what inspired them with the idea of this book. She shared the following…

“Whether talking with teachers, parents, or students, we always hear the same thing; piano practice frustrates me. Teachers are frustrated with students who never practice, parents are frustrated with the constant struggle to enforce regular practice, and students are frustrated with simply having to practice. 

The main struggle for students is not an inability to be able to practice but rather a lack of motivation or desire. Because of this, we set out to create a piano practice book designed to inspire piano students to practice for 88 straight days!

With such a lofty goal we knew we had to create a never-before-seen practice book filled with 88 daily activities that would be absolutely, positively, most definitely NOT BORING!. And with activities such as Calling Aunt Gladys,Play Hello to the Sun, and Left Leg Rockin’ Rhythm we feel we have certainly inspired students not only to practice the piano, but to play the piano… and we do mean PLAY.” 

Though it can be implemented any time of the year, summer is the perfect time of year for students to try out the activities in this book. It’s a new tradition in my studio (started last year) for students to work on a practice project over the summer and share it when they return at our Fall kickoff in August. This book will be a fun tool for them to use.

While I can’t see my teenagers using this book (although adding a little silliness in their practice routine might do them some good?), it is a perfect tool for the elementary age child.

Did I mention that this book is reproducible for your studio? Can’t get any better! For more information on Shhhh… your Piano Teacher thinks This is PRACTICE! please visit their website at Teach Piano Today!

Andrea has graciously offered to give away a copy of Shhhh… your Piano Teacher thinks This is PRACTICE! to TWO lucky FPSResources readers! You can enter this giveaway by leaving a comment below by Tuesday, June 19th. Earn an “extra” entry by subscribing to this blog or liking FPSResources on Facebook (if you already do just make a separate comment that you do).

Good luck! Winners will be announced on Wednesday June 20th and will be chosen using random.org

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