Have you been on social media lately? It seems that everywhere I looked, Christmas had arrived long before thanksgiving. Why? Because it’s 2020, and we are all ready for some Christmas cheer! And one month of it just won’t do when living through a pandemic. I love decking my own halls and putting out old and new decorations, but I also love seeing how everyone else chooses to bring Christmas cheer to their homes!

When one family chooses neutrals, the next does the traditional greens and reds, and down the street they have decked out in Christmas- y shades of blue, it reminds me how unique it is that we live in a world with such wonderfully diverse tastes and beauty! As a city dweller, I get to see the diversity firsthand… and it also makes me think about the diversity among my students.

Just as we all celebrate the holidays in different ways that are meaningful to us, our students learn in different ways that are effective for them! So enter the 12 days of Note-Reading Christmas – learning to teach in a multisensory way, so that every student thoroughly learns what they need to know 🙂

This year as students moved to online school, struggled to find the new norm, and navigated through changing pandemic restrictions, it has been more apparent than ever that students learn differently. Some students thrive on self-guided work and have learned very well with online school. Other straight-A students have found their grades plummeting and their understanding surface-deep at best. I realize that some piano lessons are in person and others are online right now. But this does not change the fact that our students have different learning needs.

And this is where we can THRIVE! Because we typically teach one student at a time, we have the ability to cater to their specific learning needs. Some students, for instance, will learn better by seeing the concept. Note reading will click for others when they look at the page and can hear the notes they see. Still others may need to spend {extra} time playing to understand. Typically ALL students will need to immerse themselves in various types of repetition to fully grasp note reading (or any core music concept) in a successful way.

This is why I strive to teach with multi-sensory methods. Repetition is the key to fully understanding, but repetition does not have to be boring! For the first 12 days of December this year, keep your eyes on your inbox (sign up if you’re not yet on the list!), and receive 12 innovative and multisensory ways to teach note reading that will carry you through this month and all year round!