Every November I pick up Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers, and every year Christmas comes and goes before it's finished. I can laugh about mine, but an unfinished Christmas piece can leave a student feeling they've failed. Here's why I start my students' Christmas music in November, and how I make sure every piece is ready by the last lesson, whatever instrument you teach.
In this episode:
Why I wait until the second half of the autumn term, and how to count the lessons you have left
How I judge a piece a student can finish: easier arrangements, duets and lead sheets
The range of Christmas music I offer, from carols to Sia, and where I find arrangements
Making Christmas music a choice for every student
Planning a fun last lesson of term now, with my Christmas rhythm cards
Links mentioned:
Sheet Music Direct and the PASS subscription (affiliate link) This is an affiliate link, so I may earn a small commission if you sign up, at no extra cost to you.
MuseScore (user-submitted scores, so quality varies)
Piano Safari method books
My student piano planners, with the practice stars page
Next week: The Christmas Recital That Takes Almost No Organising
If you've enjoyed this episode, I’d be so grateful if you could leave a rating or review as it helps other music teachers find the show - thanks!
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Part 1: The piece I never finish, and Christmas music then and now
The Waltz of the Flowers
Every November I sit down at the piano and I pick up Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers, and every year Christmas comes and goes and it still isn't finished. I've been nearly there with that piece for a few years now, but I am determined to finish it one day. Because once Christmas is over, who wants to keep practising a Christmas piece? So it goes back on the shelf until next November. You'd think I'd learn, wouldn't you?
I can laugh about that with my own playing, but this week one of my students said something that reminded me it isn't funny when it happens to them. So I'll be really honest. I'm always honest, but I'll be super honest about this: planning ahead for my own playing is something I'm still working on, and it doesn't just mean for Christmas time. I put my practice on the back burner and I prioritise all the other things. And it's one of those areas where I think if I was more proactive with my own planning, I would naturally be better at planning the timing for my students, particularly with Christmas pieces.
So last week I started Christmas pieces with all of my students, all of those who wanted to do them, and one of them asked for a Christmas piece easy enough to finish by the end of term. And of course that's what we want for all of our students if we do Christmas pieces. We want them to be able to finish them by the end of term, because then it's Christmas. Completely understandable.
And when you have a piece that you've been working on and Christmas comes and goes, it's so unsatisfying. And for a student, that can leave them feeling like they've failed. So I'm laughing about my own experience, but it's a bit more serious when it comes to our students. So that's why I start Christmas pieces in November. This episode is all about making sure every student's Christmas piece is ready to enjoy by the last lesson.
Welcome to the show
Welcome to The Victoria Clark Show for Music Teachers. I'm Victoria. I started teaching piano part-time nearly 20 years ago, alongside a career in pharmaceutical market research, and I made pretty much every mistake there is when it comes to running a teaching business. Today I run a full studio from my home on the south coast of England, with a waiting list, students I love, and a teaching week that fits around my family.
If you've ever felt your heart sink when your phone buzzed with another last-minute cancellation, put off raising your fees for another year, or heard yourself say, "Oh, I just do a bit of teaching," when someone asked what you do, this is the podcast for you. I've been where you are. Let's build you a studio that lets you be the teacher you want to be and live the life you deserve.
Today's episode is a slight diversion from my usual topics. We're going to be talking about Christmas music in my studio. A bit of a lighter episode after a run of episodes all about studio policies, very important things, but Christmas music is one of those things that brings a lot of joy into this longest term of the year.
So what I'm going to be covering in today's episode is how Christmas music has changed since my own lessons as a student, why I start in the second half of the autumn term, judging what a student can finish by the end of term, choosing and finding the music, a little bit about students who'd rather not get involved in Christmas music, and planning the last lesson of term now.
Christmas music in my own lessons
When I was planning this episode, it got me thinking right back to my own lessons as a student with my beloved piano teacher. She was a very traditional piano teacher, and that was fine, it suited me fine. I always learnt from books. There were never lead sheets or any modern music to speak of, and to be honest, I don't really remember learning much modern or popular Christmas music at all in my piano lessons. It might have been because I was focused on exams, but it just didn't form part of the lessons that I had with my teacher.
I remember when I was in my mid-teens, so I was probably about grade five or six, I was learning pieces from Tchaikovsky's The Seasons. Around Christmas time I learnt January, which I believe is Am Kamin, By the Fireside, and then later, as an adult, I learnt December, which is Weihnachten, Christmas. That was wonderful, and it was a nice alternative to all the traditional Christmas music that you were used to hearing. Because of course, if you get overloaded with Christmas music, you will seek out alternatives. So I think that's what my piano teacher was doing when she offered me that book.
So her approach had real value for me, because the music I was presented with needed reading. It needed me to discover this new music; it wasn't anything I'd heard before. And it's not better or worse, it's just a very different purpose from the way I approach Christmas music in my own studio.
Now, I was reflecting on this, and I think this possibly was because I was a very capable student. I did lots of practice, so I could read very well and I could get through lots of music very quickly and very easily. I don't know how my own teacher dealt with Christmas music for those who didn't practise much, but I imagine she made adjustments and adaptations to enable them to learn even the simplest pieces of Christmas music. And I'm guessing she probably opted for Christmas carols, because we're talking 30 years ago now.
Starting too late in my early years of teaching
In my early years of piano teaching, I would always start Christmas music too late. Some students would get part way through a piece, but they could never really play it properly in time for Christmas. And I would adjust and adapt as we went, and more often than not I would say, "Okay, you just focus on the melody with the right hand, and I will play the chords to support, and it will become a duet." And that worked out really well as a fix, as a rescue, but it wasn't a plan, and the student didn't get the satisfaction of playing it the way they'd imagined, that is, with two hands.
Part 2: When to start, and judging what a student can finish
Why I start in the second half of the autumn term
Now, as music teachers, you are probably sat there thinking, why would you wait so late? Surely we should all start really, really early. There's a difference between us as music teachers, as musicians, starting Christmas music very early for our own purposes, and I know many piano teachers who start learning Christmas music in August and September, if not before, because we're typically learning more complicated pieces that need more practice time and more time to settle in.
But I specifically do not introduce Christmas music for my students when we've just come back from the summer break and it's the start of the autumn term in September. Talking about Christmas in September, for the majority of people, feels really jarring. It's not on their minds. They're getting back into a routine of school and homework, having had, hopefully, a lovely long, relaxing school summer holiday. So it's a bit of a slap in the face if you suddenly say, "Right, think about Christmas." It would just be met with less enthusiasm and probably quite a few puzzled looks, like, why on earth are we talking about Christmas? It's only September.
When the clocks go back, once the afternoons and the evenings get darker at the end of October, it really does start to feel like Christmas is coming, and that aligns quite neatly with half term most of the time. And at that point, my experience is that Christmas music is very well received. People are starting to see Christmas stuff in the shops, and you get Christmas music popping up here and there. It's not wildly out of the imagination that you should be talking about Christmas. So for me, the second half of the autumn term is my benchmark for introducing Christmas pieces.
Last week my students were all choosing their Christmas pieces, because we have seven weeks of lessons left. For most students, that is the minimum to learn something worth playing. And I certainly wouldn't want to start something in December, because you'd get nowhere with it. It would have to be improv at the very most.
A couple of my adult students have already started their Christmas pieces, within the first couple of weeks of the autumn term, proactively asking for it and seeking out music, because they know how long it takes to perfect a piece and because they want it to feel really comfortable and finished by the time Christmas comes around. So students who are willing and capable can absolutely start before half term.
Count the lessons you have left
If this is something that hasn't entered your radar yet, don't panic. What I need you to do is have a look at what the rest of your term looks like. Whether you're in the US or the UK or anywhere else in the world, go and look up what your last teaching day is before we stop for the Christmas break and count backwards, so you know how many lessons you've got left. Then you can make an educated decision on the kinds of music you can start with each of your students, because you know your students so well that you know what each one is capable of, more or less.
So for me, I finish on Monday the 21st of December. It's quite a lot later this year, but that's just because I've been re-jigging my schedule for the entire year. So I have another six lessons left with all of my students, and seven lessons for the Monday students, which is a decent amount of time to work through an appropriately positioned Christmas piece.
Judging what a student can finish
Judging what our students can finish in a set period of time is really difficult. I'm not going to pretend it's just an obvious thing that anyone can estimate. Yes, we get to know our students over time, and yes, we can understand their strengths and their weaknesses, but Christmas time and the weeks leading up to it do throw a spanner in the works.
When you first start teaching, it's almost impossible to judge how long it will take any given student to complete a particular piece of music. It depends on so many variables. You get a sense of it over time, but each student is an individual. So if it's a reading piece and their reading is particularly strong, they will obviously learn it quicker than if their reading is less well developed. However, that doesn't take into account whether the student who is a capable reader practises regularly, or whether they have some upcoming events at school or an unexpected time away when they won't be practising. That will affect their speed of progress. Their motivation affects how quickly they learn things too, which is why it's so important to let them choose the pieces and be really invested in it.
So for me, each year that I've taught a student, I get better at understanding how long it takes them to learn certain pieces. But it's not foolproof, and I'm still adjusting my expectations for different students every single year. And people have good periods and bad periods. It can be a really productive, comfortable reading time for one student and the opposite for another, sometimes for reasons unknown.
So with this sort of unpredictability in how long it will take a student to learn a piece, we do need to be monitoring quite closely: right, how much progress are they making on this, what can we adapt, what can we change to enable them to complete the piece by Christmas? Which I'm sure you do anyway.
Motivation for learning Christmas music is often higher than at any other time of year, unless they have an exam or a recital or a festival to prepare for. One of the reasons is that, ideally, they've chosen that piece of music. They know how it goes, they can sing along, and they might lean on their ear more than their reading, especially if it's taught by rote. But the second half of the autumn term is really busy for children and parents, and for us as teachers. There are more events, there's less time at home, and routines kind of go out of the window, so practice does suffer. So you've got these things interfering with the general run of progress with each student.
Go easier than usual, and the duet
So my recommendation is to go easier than usual. Pick something much simpler than they would normally read, so that they learn it more quickly and get more satisfaction from it. But do this within reason, so it doesn't sound rubbish. I think we've all heard the very, very overly simplified arrangements of well-known pieces and cringed at the absence of the chords that give it the structure and personality that it needs.
For me personally, I more often than not overestimate what my students can handle, because I'm more optimistic about their practice and less realistic, to be honest, in some cases. So I feel like it's better to be over-optimistic than under-optimistic, I think, in this sense, but I'm undecided. I'd be interested to hear what you think on that. Which side do you fall on?
For quite a few students, unless they desperately want to play the whole thing themselves, I will suggest a duet. So they might learn the melody, either split between two hands or all in the right hand, and I'll play the chords to support it. This is a really comfortable go-to way of making something sound really good without it being too hard for the student.
If they only have about four weeks left by the time you're listening to this, then for me, in my studio, that has to be a lead sheet. Maybe just the melody, with me playing the chords, like I mentioned.
Practice still matters
Practice still matters. A Christmas piece needs pretty regular practice to sound good. So if the student doesn't practise, it's not going to go anywhere, and there's only so much you can do to encourage that. So it's probably worth saying at the start of learning the Christmas piece, "This is a really wonderful song. You've chosen it and you love it, so let's keep that practice going, so you can get to the end of the autumn term and be able to play this Christmas piece beautifully for yourself and your friends and your family at Christmas time."
Swap a piece, and the reading piece first
I would also like to point out that adding a Christmas piece on top of all the normal pieces is probably not the best idea. Something has to give; they can't just find more time. So what I tend to do is let the Christmas piece take the place of at least one of their usual pieces, rather than trying to cram everything in. Because I don't think any amount of extra motivation will magically make this Christmas piece work alongside all their normal pieces.
I am strategic about the way we do the lessons during this second half of the autumn term. I always make sure we do the reading piece first and then the Christmas piece, especially if it's not a reading piece and we're learning it by rote or by ear or whatever. In a way, it's just to keep the momentum going: you do the harder stuff first, the challenge first, and then the reward. That is always how we've approached things, and it's served me very well.
The motivation spike
And just a point about motivation in general with Christmas music: it really can spike motivation in children who maybe had no motivation, or very little motivation. So it's a wonderful way of seeing exactly what they're capable of if they're learning music that they really enjoy.
Now, it does muddy the waters a little bit, because often it will be a piece or song they're already familiar with by ear, so it doesn't necessarily mean that their reading is suddenly marvellous, because they will be relying on their ear a lot. But it's worth seeing what they're capable of in this sense, and maybe using it as a reminder in the spring term, when their motivation levels have dropped back down, to say, "Do you remember how much progress you made on that Christmas piece, and how beautifully you played it, and how it made you feel when you could play it really well? You can have that with this piece too. What was different? You practised." It's a really good way of bringing their own realisation back to the surface, so that they can feel encouraged by the practice that they do, and they can make that same kind of progress in a piece that typically wouldn't fill them with motivation straight away.
Because that's the conundrum, isn't it? We as music teachers know about all of this absolutely beautiful music out there, because we have discovered it and we've learnt it and we've played it. And these students, mostly children and some adults, have no idea what's out there. They have no idea about the wealth of repertoire, particularly for piano students, that is available to us. And I just remember this being one of the most magical things about learning to play the piano: being presented with completely unknown music, and using my reading skills to discover a piece of music that makes you feel all these emotions, that was composed two or three hundred years ago and still has the same effect to this day. So yes, it's one of those things that we need to balance, because these students don't know what they're missing yet, but we do, and that's what we need to inspire in them: this curiosity to discover the music that is out there.
The student who asked for something she could finish
So, for the student I mentioned at the start of the episode, who said she really wanted to learn something that was easy enough for her to finish: I've thought quite carefully, and we've made a decision together based on what we can see in the music, and she is on board, and I think it's going to be good. But it was a really important thing, and a really wonderful thing, that she expressed that to me, because I think a lot of students don't feel comfortable asking teachers for things in particular, like, "Please can we have a piece that's easy enough that I can finish?" It's very brave of her, but a really, really great comment.
Part 3: Choosing the music, and where I find it
How my students choose their pieces
When it comes to choosing the specific pieces of music or songs, I will first of all ask them if they have anything that they're bursting to learn to play. Some of them might have one or two that pop into their mind, but most of them say, "Oh, I don't know." So I break down the range of Christmas music that's available, because it is a huge range of music.
You've got all the traditional Christmas carols as one group. You've got the 1950s-style standards that Michael Bublé, the lovely Michael Bublé, has made popular again. And then you've got, broadly speaking, modern songs that range from the 80s up to today: Mariah Carey, Wham!, Sia, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson, Elton John, Ed Sheeran, all of those singers and bands that have created a wealth of Christmas music. So that's how I present it to most of my students, so that they can then home in on one of those three broad categories. I offer suggestions based on which category they think they would like more, and then the student chooses.
It's very rare in my studio that the parent chooses. They might have suggested something to their child before they come in, "Oh, I'd really love it if you played this," but it's ultimately down to the student. And most of the children that I teach are opinionated enough to say exactly what they like and what they don't like, which is great.
Last week I was playing bits of different Christmas songs in lessons and seeing which ones grabbed them, and it's been really exciting, not just for them but for me. Being able to hear the Christmas music just sparks all the joy and the reminders of Christmas time.
Something that I mention when I ask my adult students about Christmas music is that it's not just Christmas carols, because lots of them assume that that's all you play on the piano. It is the whole range. Christmas music covers absolutely everything, which is the joy of playing the piano: you can play pretty much whatever you want on it.
This year's requests
So far, this year's requests have revolved around things like It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas, Winter Wonderland, and All I Want for Christmas Is You, a very popular one. Snowman by Sia, which was a suggestion from one of my teenagers: a really beautiful song with lovely chords, and in 6/8, my favourite time signature. And from one of my adult students, Merry Christmas by Ed Sheeran and Elton John, which is another really lovely one.
Now, a lot of my younger students won't know the names of the songs or pieces, but they'll know how it goes. So I might hum a bit of it or play a bit of the melody, and then they'll go, "Oh yeah, I know that one. I love that one, let's do that one."
Are carols fading away?
Something I've noticed, though, and I wonder if it's the same for you: I have not done any Christmas carols with any of the children I teach for quite a while. I bring some of them in when they're really young, but most children these days don't really know many Christmas carols unless they come from a very musical family. And it's only a hypothesis of mine, but carols tend to go hand in hand with church and singing together, and in my experience, the state schools tend to choose modern music and don't tend to go down the traditional Christmas carols route. So it's just my impression from what I've seen.
But Christmas carols are fading away, which does make me a little bit sad, because, from my own experience, and I don't know if it's the same for you, when I hear Christmas carols, it takes me way back to the early magic and excitement of Christmas. Because of course, that's the only time of year you hear those pieces of music, and they're very different in style to the kind of music we hear every day. But that might just be me showing my age.
Where I find Christmas music
For me, sourcing Christmas music does not come in the form of ordering Christmas books. Mainly because each student just wants to learn one very specific song or piece of music, so for the most part, buying a whole Christmas book isn't suitable for them. It is for some students, and it's more appropriate for adults, who will bring the book back year on year and continue to learn new pieces from it.
So for me, I get most of my Christmas music through Sheet Music Direct. I have a PASS subscription that lets me see their entire library, so it's really, really helpful. I've talked about this before. It's so helpful when you want to check through an entire piece of music before buying it, to make sure it hasn't got any awkward, strange simplifications in the arrangement that ruin it, and to be able to play it through and feel how it is to play and think, is this feasible for student X, Y or Z?
Sometimes I use Musicnotes if it's not available on Sheet Music Direct. Very rarely do I use MuseScore, because the quality varies a lot, because it's just user-submitted scores that have not been edited by musicians or quality checked. But I do go to MuseScore if I can't find the music anywhere else, which happens with some of the more obscure requests, and we can make do with what's available on there. But just be aware that the quality of the music there is not something to rely on if you can help it.
Lead sheets and early-stage students
I've gone for lead sheets for quite a few of my students this year, where you have the treble clef with the melody and you've got chords for the left hand. So the students need to be able to read a little bit and understand chords, or at least pentascales. So if they are on the Piano Safari method books, they should comfortably be in Level 2 to be able to access this.
For those who are in Level 1 Piano Safari, I typically teach them something by rote or write the named notes out, and it typically has the melody shared between two hands in a fixed five-finger position, so you can then rely on finger numbers. All of it goes towards securing their music reading skills, just in a less holistic way. It will secure the reading of their finger numbers, or it will secure their identification of the letter names of the notes, as well as their ear training if they're relying on a by-ear approach. So it's all good. It's all going towards better reading; it's just not the whole thing at once.
A few years ago I created my own arrangements of simple songs, putting them in a fixed five-finger position, and it did work really well, but it was a lot of work. It took a lot of time. These things are available to buy, so you can save some of that valuable time for all the other things we need to do, including resting at this very busy time of year.
When "easy" isn't easy
I'm sure you have seen books that are given at Christmas and they are termed easy, and they're definitely not easy when it comes to the piano books that I've seen students be given. Easy takes them all the way up to about Grade 3, which is what, four or five years of dedicated practice and lessons. So just be aware, if you are going to buy books and you don't see the music first, that if it says easy, it's unlikely to be that accessible to these very early-stage students.
In the Sheet Music Direct library, they categorise the different levels of their music in quite a helpful way. They have Easy Play, as in EZ Play, which has all of the notes with the letter names written inside the note head. Then Super Easy has the same, but it's more like the lead sheet layout, with chords. And then they have Easy, which is another jump up, more like two staves and a simple bass line. So it can help to filter your search results by Easy Play or Super Easy or Easy, so that you can see the difference between the arrangements, and it makes it a lot quicker to find what you're looking for. So you don't have to open 50 different arrangements that all say easy when none of them are easy, because we don't have time for that.
Ordering and billing for the music
And the way I run this is that I will go and find the piece of music and order it directly through the website, download it, print it, and send the student home with it, and then I bill the parent directly. It's only a couple of pounds for each arrangement. If you have the PASS subscription, which is the annual subscription to Sheet Music Direct, you get a 50% discount on all sheet music, so it's well worth it if you're going to use their service a couple of times a year. The other benefit is that you can get the music instantly, and you don't have to worry about bundling all the orders together for a delivery that may or may not arrive before the next student's lesson. So that's why that's my go-to for Christmas music.
I do have an affiliate link for Sheet Music Direct, which you can see in the show notes. If you do decide to sign up and you want to go through that link, that would be greatly appreciated, because I will earn a small commission if you sign up. But even if you just check it out, I think it's a really, really good resource, and you'll see for yourself the value that you can get from having this library at your fingertips.
Part 4: Students who'd rather not, the last lesson of term, and why it matters
When a student doesn't want Christmas music
Some students don't want to learn to play Christmas music, and that is absolutely fine. So I always ask every student first, whether they're a child or an adult: would you like to learn some Christmas music? There are some adults I teach who are adamant that they don't want anything to do with Christmas music, and I don't ask why, and it's absolutely fine, because remember, Christmas music doesn't always bring happy memories for everyone. It's something to be aware of and to be sensitive to. If you're all excited about Christmas music and you're not seeing the same reaction in one or two students, there may be a reason. You don't need to know what the reason is, but just be aware that it might not be what they really want to do.
I also teach some students who don't celebrate Christmas. I don't make a big deal out of it, but I still offer it to them if they would like to learn Christmas music, because more often than not they do. So if they do, we pick something; if they don't, we carry on with their usual music.
Another thing is that you may have some adults who would rather keep going, and they don't want to lose progress in their method book or the current pieces they're learning, and that's their choice too. So however enthusiastic you may be about Christmas music, and you think, "Oh, but you're missing out on learning all these wonderful things," they might be really motivated to just keep going and make their own progress, which is absolutely fine too.
I do have a couple of adult students who are preparing for exams over the next few weeks, so Christmas music is unlikely to be a feature for them this year, which is completely understandable. It is supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be motivating, so just remember: if a student doesn't want to learn Christmas music, they don't have to.
Plan the last lesson of term now
Okay, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who gets to the last lesson of the autumn term and thinks, oh my goodness, I need to make this a special lesson because it's the last one before Christmas. I had all these wonderful intentions to plan all these amazing games and make it the most fun ever, and here we are, and I've forgotten what we were going to do. That is me most years, and I am determined for that to change. I still do fun things, but it's more spontaneous, "Hey, let's do this", rather than planned and prepared: let's choose from all of these Christmas games, and let's do this fun, music-based Christmas activity.
So my goal this year is that I want the last lesson before Christmas to be as fun as possible. I know I'm not normally that organised about it, but I'm determined to be organised this year. So plan it now. Do what I'm doing, and plan it now.
The last few weeks of the autumn term get busier for everyone. And do you remember? I'm sure you do, but we probably block it out. As we get to the end of the autumn term, every single year, everyone is tired, everyone is a bit strung out, and everyone is thinking, Christmas is coming and I haven't bought any presents, and I haven't booked this and I haven't organised that. So piling in something else that you need to find time to plan is not fun for anybody. Plan it in December and you're rushing it alongside everything else. Plan it now, and you can just relax and follow the routine, follow the schedule.
My Christmas rhythm cards
For my last lesson before Christmas, I will be using my Christmas rhythm cards. I made these a couple of years ago. I can't remember where the idea came from, but I made up the words myself. It's like fruit rhythm words, you know, like apple and pear and banana for different rhythm groups. So I made up my own ones with Christmas-related words, like mistletoe and sleigh and jingle and things like that. Merrily, that's the triplet one. It's my favourite one.
So I created these, and I used a dyslexia-friendly font, and the words are placed on a cream-coloured background, or there's a print-friendly version if you have cream-coloured card. So it makes them accessible for students who are dyslexic, or who struggle to read black notes on white paper as well. So I'm definitely going to be using my Christmas rhythm cards. The Christmas rhythm cards are free, and the link to them is in the show notes. It's just my website address and then christmas-rhythm-cards. You can go and download those, print them out and start using them whenever you want.
I'm going to source some more Christmas games, which is something I'd like to build up in my studio. I know you only use them once a year, but it can be a really fun and clever way of incorporating more musicianship and music theory into the lesson. So they are learning without realising and having fun at the same time, which is the best combination.
So for the Christmas rhythm cards, I give the student one of the cards and they tap the rhythm while the metronome is going. Each card is worth one beat, except for the sleigh card, which is worth two beats: it's a dotted crotchet and a quaver. But all the rest of them are worth one beat. So once they can tap the rhythm of one of them over and over, I line up four in a row. Then they have four different beats, which is a four-beat bar, or they could do three, and you can chain them, maybe up to eight if they're doing really well. It's doing an awful lot for their rhythm work, and it's fun to see them naturally do what we are trying to teach them to do when they're sight-reading, which is to look ahead to the very next card, so they know what's coming and can read it and be ready to tap the rhythm. It's brilliant. I love it.
Practice stars
This year, with my student academic year piano planners, one of the main updates was adding a practice stars page, which has been really wonderful to see the students fill in. They still complete their tick boxes to show what they've practised on which days, and then when they come to the lesson, we add up the number of days of practice, and they can colour in one star per day of practice on this practice stars page. There's one of those per term.
There are 55 practice stars in total, and the 55th one is a very big star at the top. As they colour them in, they zigzag from left to right and travel up, and when they pass a dotted line, they reach the next level. So I think it's a rising star, then a practice star, and then the top one is a superstar. In my studio, I give them an automatic Maoam or Biscoff prize for each new level they reach by completing a set number of practice days. When they get all the way to the top, they will be able to choose a prize from the basket.
So I'm really looking forward to seeing how many of the students manage to make it there. We've been keeping track, and there are quite a few students who are on track for winning a prize from the basket. It will have things like Iwako erasers, the little Japanese puzzle erasers that I love, glittery gel pens, maybe a notebook, and some colourful sticky tabs, which one of them requested. So it's just a way of motivating them to continue their practice, but it will come to a peak at the end of the autumn term, which I'm really looking forward to.
Recording for my virtual Christmas recital
The other thing I'm planning to do in that last lesson, with the parents' permission, of course, is to video students performing their Christmas pieces, or performing the duets with me, because this forms part of my virtual Christmas recital. If you are interested in learning about that, that is what next week's episode will be all about. It's a great way to incorporate performance into one of the busiest times of year without stressing yourself out organising an in-person recital.
"Isn't November too early?" and other objections
If you have been thinking that it really is too early to start Christmas music, here are a couple of things to consider: things that I used to think, and things that I've heard other teachers talk about.
Number one: November is too early, they'll be sick of it by December. It's only too early if you don't know how long it takes to learn a piece. We know how long it takes to learn a piece. The kids won't be sick of it. Seven weeks is what it takes to be able to play something comfortably, rather than just stumbling through it. And no one in my studio has ever said they're tired of it. It's Christmas music; they love it. With a younger student, you could explain, "Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to play it really comfortably by Christmas?" And more often than not, they'll just say yes.
Objection number two: Christmas music isn't proper repertoire. Okay, maybe you're right, but it doesn't have to cover every pianistic skill. It doesn't need to. Good technique applies to anything you play. This is music to be enjoyed, and that is its purpose. It often motivates students who weren't motivated before, and there's real value in using music like that.
Number three: I can't afford to lose seven weeks of progress. You're not losing seven weeks of progress. The Christmas piece replaces one piece, and the reading piece still comes first. Lead sheets build reading and chord skills too, which is another way of accessing music. And if an adult student would rather stay with their method book, that's of course their choice, and that's not a problem.
Number four: they want the real version, and an easy arrangement will disappoint them. A couple of chords and a duet part sound good enough to delight most students. You're far more likely, like me, to overestimate what they can manage than to give them something too simple. A finished, easier version beats an unfinished, difficult one.
Number five: not all my students celebrate Christmas. That's fine, just ask. Make it a choice for every student, whether they're a child or an adult, and carry on with their usual music if they'd rather do that. It's no big deal either way.
Number six: I don't have time to sort out Christmas music for everyone. You don't have to buy books or wait for deliveries. Single arrangements download in minutes for a couple of pounds, and you bill the family. And the time that matters is planning the last lesson now, rather than in the last week. You're not going to be spending loads of time finding Christmas music. And if you go down the Sheet Music Direct route, there is so much easily accessible music available that it will take you no time at all to find exactly what you're looking for.
Why Christmas music matters
Coming to a close: why does Christmas music matter? Memories are tied to emotion. You don't have memories without an emotion attached to them, and often, the stronger the emotion, the stronger the memory. And Christmas music brings back happy memories for a lot of people, though not all people, as I mentioned earlier. So when you're allowing students to recreate their own favourite Christmas music and Christmas songs, you're helping them to make some of their own happy memories, and forging a positive association between what is most likely one of the happiest times of year for them and their hobby of learning to play an instrument. So you're tying music and happiness together, and that can only do positive things for a student's outlook and their progress on that instrument.
Giving students something to play that their friends and family will recognise gives them a piece that they can play for them and feel really proud of. And when they're making music at home, they're spending a little bit less time on screens, and it's at Christmas time, so this is just a wonderful combination of things. Wouldn't you much rather know that your students are at home having fun recreating their favourite Christmas music than stuck playing, I'm just going to say Minecraft, because my kids play Minecraft, or Roblox (I don't recommend Roblox), or any other screen-based thing? Being able to connect with the music that they're making, enjoy it and share it with their family and friends is such a valuable thing that we can offer them at Christmas time.
That first lesson last week put all of us in the Christmas frame of mind, and it was wonderful. Rediscovering these beautiful pieces of music, with these lovely scrunchy chords, just kick-started my Christmas season. In fact, one of my students came to her lesson, I think it was on the 2nd of November, and she said, "Our whole house is decorated for Christmas already. We put the tree up today." And it just tickled me, because she was so happy, and I was just so amazed. I know everyone has their own traditions. Some people are very strict, and it doesn't go up until the first of December and all the rest of it. But the joy that comes with decorating your house for Christmas is unsurpassed by any other holiday, so it was lovely to see all the enthusiasm.
In summary, and something to try this week
Right, in summary: I start Christmas music in the second half of the autumn term, or earlier for anyone who wants to. Always ask your students if they want to do Christmas music, and see if you can be perceptive enough to judge when they might be people-pleasing if they don't really want to do it. Choose easier arrangements than you usually would, to allow them to perfect it sooner. Swap out another piece instead of adding a Christmas piece on top. Always do the reading piece first and then the Christmas piece, the reward, after it in the lesson. And plan your last lesson of term now, so it doesn't sneak up on you like it does on me.
Something you could try this week, unless you're already organised and on board with all your Christmas stuff: if you haven't used lead sheets before, go and check them out on Sheet Music Direct and see what they're all about. Try them out yourself, and you'll see just how accessible they make the music, and they're going to be really helpful for some of your students. You could experiment with chords and rote teaching if this is something you haven't done before. Or you could make a short list of popular Christmas songs from each era that I mentioned, so that in the lesson when you're introducing Christmas music, you're not scrabbling to think on the spot of all those Christmas songs that we hear every year.
Don't forget to go and download my Christmas rhythm cards. They are free, and the link is in the show notes. And like I said before, if you would like to check out Sheet Music Direct and the PASS subscription, I have an affiliate link in the show notes as well.
And I'll keep you updated. Maybe I will finish the Waltz of the Flowers this year. Who knows?
Next week's episode is the Christmas recital that takes almost no organising, so don't forget to tune in for that one. Thank you for listening to this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. It's slightly off piste from my normal topics, but an important one nonetheless. I figured these are the things that are going around in my mind at the moment, so maybe you would enjoy hearing my musings on Christmas music this year. Have a lovely day. See you in the next one.
