I really enjoy having the option to send out lesson notes after a lesson through the Music Teacher’s Helper website. I find this is a great way to recap a lesson, reiterate the main theme of that lesson, and to remind me of what occurred in the student’s previous lesson, as the notes appear on my daily summary. As I teach solidly with very few breaks in between lessons, I keep a notebook on my piano that I jot notes into for lesson notes. When I sit down at my computer (sometimes that evening, and often times the next morning) I have a reference to go to on what happened at a student’s lesson and what comments I would like them to take away from that lesson.
When creating lesson notes each week, I always try to touch on something positive that happened in the lesson. Sometimes that may be as small as “Nice job being on time three weeks in a row!” or as large as “Great improvement! You are on to a new level!” I also have my students keep a “Voice Notebook” that I write in, as well as they write in.
Here are a few of my comments from past lesson notes:
- Great lesson this week! Remember to work on (maintaining your legato on mm 8-15 ) while practicing this week.
- What improvement at your lesson this week! Try incorporating a (lift into your phrase endings, delaying the pitched consonant at the end of the words in the first verse) like we discussed while practicing this week.
- Nice job on ________at your lesson this week. Try practicing more ________ so that you can find more success at your next lesson.
- Way to go remembering your theory book! Remember to finish Lesson 3 and to look for those terms in your new piece when practicing this week.
As Ed Pearlman recommended in his blog on lesson notes, I keep my lesson notes very short and progress-based so that they are read and not ignored as more information to sort through!
