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The Top Three Teaching Methods Every Piano Teacher Needs

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The sole intention of Cascade Method has always been to teach students a fun and engaging way to learn piano. I love coming up with new ways to integrate easier learning techniques so that each student becomes a piano lover! Here are the top three teaching methods every piano teacher needs. 

Throughout my piano teaching career, I’ve come up with various methods and teaching techniques to help kids better understand the instrument and enjoy playing it. How did I come up with stuff? It’s always been inspired by my students and from how I’ve comprehended things as I’ve learned the piano! 

Although I believe that every resource within the Cascade Method Training Program is GOLD for your piano teaching career, I believe that there are THREE methods and tools that are MUST-HAVES. Read along to hear about each one and why they are NECESSARY at incorporating in your instruction!

Young boy coloring in piano notes on the life-sized NoteMatch while learning about chords

The Top Three Piano Teaching Methods 

If I was only allowed to teach with three piano teaching methods of my choice, I would choose the three methods below because I know that it would give each student the framework to play the piano fully and confidently, and that’s what it’s all about, right?! 

    1. NOTEMATCH:
      NoteMatch is a piano reading tool that will change the trajectory of how your students comprehend sheet music. This piano tool helps your students relate the notes on sheet music to the location on the piano!

      It’s designed as a grand staff made of whiteboard material that can sit directly behind the black keys of any and all pianos (including keyboards, uprights, and grand pianos)! When placed directly behind the black keys, students can see exactly where the notes in the music correspond to the keys on the piano! We made it out of a whiteboard material so it can be used over and over during each and every lesson.See how NoteMatch works in this video!


      This is the missing visual element your students need for their piano lessons. Your students will not only start comprehending sheet music and recognizing notes on the piano quickly, but they’ll also have so much FUN using this tool! Especially with my younger students, drawing on NoteMatch is one of their favorite parts of the lesson! They’re eager to move along so they can draw with their favorite colored marker on the whiteboard!

      If there’s anything I’ve learned about teaching piano to kids it’s that you have to keep them entertained. NoteMatch does the entertainment for you! Watch this video of one of my students learning E minor chords from The Chords 1 Book! First, she colored the ones on the page, then on the paper NoteMatch, and then on the real NoteMatch. Doing this step by step made it so simple for her to play the piece with those exact notes!

      Watch for yourself!
    2. THE CASCADE METHOD POP SONG METHOD:
      I can’t say enough good things about the Cascade Method Pop Song Method. Most of the success in my career has come from using this method. My mission is to provide students with a fun way to learning piano. In order to do that, you have to seek out your student’s interests and learn ways to connect the piano with their current lifestyle.How do you do that? BY TEACHING POP SONGS!

      The Pop Song method helps students learn notes as they are physically written out. It encourages students to focus on ear training rather than reading rhythm. The best part is that once you take the difficulty of reading rhythm away, they start to learn really complicated rhythms without even realizing it! Therefore, they are physically playing advanced rhythms and patterns that they normally would never be able to read at their age. I believe that reading the rhythm is important, but in order to teach students in the most efficient way possible, this method is the way to go! They learn confidently and eagerly which makes the “hard stuff” easy. Check out this blog post on the best way to teach pop music!  

    3. WANT TO SEE THE POP SONG METHOD COME TO LIFE?
      CHECK OUT THE CASCADE METHOD YOUTUBE PLAYLIST AND WATCH ALL MY STUDENTS PLAYING COMPLETED POP SONGS, all leaned BY EAR!

    4. TEACHING THEORY THE FUN WAY:
      Your students need a good foundation of theory knowledge and your boring theory books aren’t cutting it.Yeah, I said it. You need to be teaching theory in a fun way! I’ve heard countless times from teachers in the Cascade teacher training program that they either are intimidated by theory or they don’t really know how to teach it.
      The first book I ever released out of the Cascade Method Book Collection is The Cascade Method Piano Theory Book. Instead of having 50 different- and might I add, boring and colorless theory books, this piano theory book can take your students from Beginner all the way to Composer status! As a piano teacher, my goal is to have all my students capable of composing and writing their own music. In order to get them there, I have to give them ALL the tools they need to understand the structure of music. 

      That’s what this piano theory book gives. Your students can use this book up until they leave for college! 

      Start teaching theory the fun way by shopping the piano theory book! Find it on Amazon or the Online Shop!

All in all, I believe that training the ear and reading notes are equal in importance. The top three piano teaching methods discussed give you the opportunity to teach both with ease, confidence, and fun! 

I really believe that knowing both of these concepts makes for the best musicians ever.

Student smiling at the piano with her cascade method theory book, notematch, and chords 1 book

This is the Foundation of The Training Program… 

Okay, so here’s the big secret.

These three piano teaching methods are the foundation of The Cascade Method Teacher Training Program. Basically, we just touched the surface on Level 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the online teacher program! 

However, each concept discussed (along with numerous amounts of other teaching techniques) are broken down so much more. 

So many videos.
So many resources.
So many opportunities.  

If you are at all interested in learning more about what the teacher training program is, we offer a 30 day money back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose, and only to gain!

cascade method certification banner

Once you see all the goodies inside this training… it’s an easy yes. Your students and your future self will thank you for taking the steps to teach piano in a revolutionary way. 

CHEERS to business breakthroughs! I can’t wait to see you inside the program! 

 ♥️ Tara