by Ashley Blankenship
In talking with some local piano teachers about the “summer slump” I was given the idea of a piano camp. Sometimes it is difficult to keep a regular schedule in summer, especially with vacationing families and busy kids. I loved the idea and decided to organize my own piano camp this year. I have worked as a substitute teacher in a public school setting so I was very comfortable with the concept. If you are not used to working with groups of children, getting together with another teacher or assembling a team would be a great way to start a camp.
First, I assembled a team of capable people to help me. Jessica is a current student of mine who has many years of piano background by note and by ear with me and another teacher. She beautifully plays classical music and is learning to chord church music by ear. Rachel is currently my longest-running student. She is sixteen years old and has been in lessons with me for nine years. She is extremely talented and can read music as well as she can read the newspaper. Paul is another of my current students who is also exceptional at reading music as well as composing his own compositions. He is an incredibly talented young man with a passion for music. Micah is a newer musician with a natural talent. Things come easily to him and he has quickly learned to play by ear.
The planning began in April with work on a brochure, choosing a location, assembling the team, advertising to the public (as well as my current students), and of course, lesson plans! I decided to hold camp at my church in a multi-purpose room with lots of space and of course, a piano! Camps were scheduled for the first Monday of each summer month from 9:00 am to Noon. We had great attendance at each camp. My current students under the age of ten were all in attendance, as well as students who enrolled through the public advertising.
Each camp built upon the last but a student could easily join the camp if they missed the month before. Camps were simple enough for those with absolutely no music experience but also challenging to the student with a musical foundation. This is why the team is so important! We did lots of breaking into groups by age and ability level. Here was our general schedule:
- 9:00 Circle time Introductions
- 9:15 Theory fun
- 9:30 Games! Get up, Get moving!
- 10:00 Table top Theory
- 10:20 Individual Keyboard Instruction/Craft Time at the Table
- 11:00 Games! Get up, Get moving!
- 11:30 Circle Time – Daily Recap
- 11:45 Snack time
- 12:00 Dismiss
The goals for the students with little to no musical background included topography (not technique), associating that each finger has a number and a purpose, beginning rhythms, and playing simple songs on the black keys and the music alphabet. No staff work was introduced. For students with more than a year of piano instruction, the goals included all of the basic goals listed above, as well as reinforcement of musical vocabulary, rhythm, finger technique and sight reading skills.
Because there is a wealth of games, activities, crafts and even music themed snacks available on the internet and Pinterest, the team developed and collected ideas to form our curriculum. I held the main responsibility of giving one-on-one instruction to each student during our Individual Keyboard time. I developed a basic curriculum and set goals for each student each month. My team did a great job of developing crafts, music themed snacks, fun books to read at circle time, games to get them moving and counting rhythms, and much more! I purchased all supplies with the money from Piano Camp Tuition and my team was there on a volunteer basis.
For tuition I was able to charge half of my usual monthly tuition cost. This made parents very happy since there were no weekly lessons this summer. They were able to save a little bit of money but still receiving great piano instruction for their students. I was able to cover all expenses of our camp as well as feed my staff lunch at the close of our day. Of course, I also walked away with an income comparable to what I would have made if I had continued weekly lessons all summer.
I received great feedback from my summer piano camps and I hope to only build on this concept in future summers. I also signed on two new full-time students this fall who were introduced to me through the community advertising I did for these camps. Summer Piano Camp was a great asset to my local piano teaching business. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have about starting a successful summer piano camp.
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