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When music students improve their skills, they are more likely to become long-term students. MusicTeacherNotes helps students get much more out of music lessons. Here are some of the ways MusicTeacherNotes does that.
Teachers can upload videos to their Library. For example, you might record a video of you demonstrating how to play a song you teach. Ideally, you could do this for the most common songs you teach, as it saves you time explaining to students how to play those songs. Then, you could share the videos of your recordings when you teach those songs. Students could be pre-assigned to look the video over before the lesson begins, giving them a head start.
Another way video helps your students is it allows them to practice more effectively. The MusicTeacherNotes video player is custom designed to allow students to control the song's tempo and maintain the song's pitch. This will enable students to play along at a tempo they can handle. By playing along, students get used to the song's rhythm, too.
Additionally, MusicTeacherNotes incorporates a feature that allows users to clip videos. For example, you could record an entire song, but you or your students can cut it into the parts of the song students need to focus on. The clip can be played back and set to loop, over and over, giving students a lot of effective practice in a short practice session.
Documents and images can be added to your Library and shared with students as needed. You might have flashcards that help students learn music notes or symbols. You might have notes about music theory. You might have notes or images showing chord shapes. Any document or image can be added to your Library and shared with students.
Web-links are like shareable bookmarks. For example, you might find Youtube videos that explain a song or concept that you teach your music students. You could add that link to your Library and share it with students whenever you wish.
The Practice Planner is a student feature that helps students practice better by creating structured practice plans. Most students don’t set deliberate practice goals for their practice. A practice plan allows students to designate how long or how many times to play a piece each day. Having practice goals helps students practice more effectively than having only vague goals.
In addition to a practice plan, students can log their practice. They could simply check off that they completed their plan, or they could enter the number times or minutes they practiced. Logging practice builds stats that teachers and parents can see. For young children, logging practice leads to rewards.
Music Bucks, games, and Achievement Awards are tools that are designed to motivate younger students to practice more. Gamification for music practice is a proven way to help younger students enjoy their music practice more. The benefit is that kids argue with parents less, become better musicians faster, and stick with music lessons long-term!
Kids can spend their Music Bucks on things parents set up as rewards. For example, a parent might set up a certain amount of screen time as a reward and give it a price. Assume they set 1 hour of screen time to be 50 Music Bucks. Each time the child earns 50 Music Bucks, they could buy their screen time. This motivates the student to practice and helps solve another big problem parents have to deal with! Parents could set anything they choose as a reward and give them any price they wish. We offer parents ideas, but it’s entirely up to the parents.
There are games within child accounts, too. For example, one game involves virtual stickers (like badges). The more kids log practice, the more stickers they earn. Stickers are assigned randomly, and there are 200 stickers in all. Each month one sticker is deemed the prestigious title of Super Sticker. If a child has a sticker that matches the Super Sticker in her sticker collection, the student wins extra Music Bucks!
Students earn an Achievement Award every time they complete a practice plan. These show in the student’s account as a reminder of what the student accomplished. Each time a student earns an Achievement Award, they also earn 50 Music Bucks.
Teachers see all of the assignments in a student’s music journal, and they can assess how they are doing during music lessons. This feedback can help students learn and understand how they are doing and what they need to improve. Good feedback is a proven motivator, and MusicTeacherNotes makes it easy to give.
Music journals are digital records of the assignments a student has been given. During a lesson, a teacher can enter assignments into the Lesson View, which syncs with the student’s journal. Alternatively, a teacher could simply write the assignment down in a paper journal and have the student enter it digitally when they build their practice plan. Either way, the digital music journal is an easy-to-search record of the students’ musical journey. Over the years, it can be extremely motivating to look at a journal and see all that has been learned.
MusicTeacherNotes helps music teachers manage their students and helps students learn music faster. By empowering parents and students to get much more out of private music lessons, learning music becomes a better experience for everyone.
