Professional Development for Music Teachers

Teaching topics

• Improvisation: reading from chord symbols, soloing, ‘faking’
• Understanding chord symbols
• How to teach playing by ear
• Creative ideas for general knowledge
• Managing limited lesson time
• Improving sight reading
• Improving aural skills

Past events

Professional Development Workshop

ACT Keyboard Association
Join us for a practical and interactive afternoon of professional development with Susan Deas! Susan will share ideas and resources for music teachers. Topics are relevant to all instrumental music teachers and include: Reading Rehab, Playing by ear, and Curating Your Student’s Library.

Beethoven: Resources and Stories

Music Teachers’ Association of NSW
How do we bring composers to life for our students? In this year of Beethoven’s 250th birthday, Susan Deas will discuss how to help our students understand more about this great composer. Learn about where to find great resources, including pictures, portraits, and videos, and hear fascinating stories you can tell your students.

Curating Your Student’s Library

Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference 2019
As teachers, we suggest and recommend the repertoire that our students play: and largely, where that repertoire comes from. What if we were to consider this as an opportunity to build a library for our students? A broad, comprehensive, inspirational library that might encourage joyful exploration of music for the rest of their lives?

Reading Rehab

Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference 2017
Most piano teachers have experienced the problem of the new student who has been learning for a few years, but somehow can’t read music. While this is not always the fault of the previous teacher, the new teacher has to find a way of teaching a student who is expecting to do a 5th grade exam, but has been playing everything by ear, memory, copying, or even from YouTube videos. And it has to be done without demoralising the student or disappointing the parents. This workshop explored methods to help students whose reading ability needs desperate help.

MTA Workshop: Creative Ideas for General Knowledge

How do we get our students interested in general knowledge? In this workshop we discussed creative ways to encourage students to explore the historical, artistic and social context of their music: not just to answer questions in exams, but to enrich their understanding and appreciation of the music they play. Resources included pictures and music examples for each period of the history of Western Music, fun and educational music videos on Susan’s YouTube Channel, and information on how to access the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians online.

Help! My Student Can’t Read Music!

Music Teachers’ Association of NSW
This workshop explored methods to help students whose reading ability needs desperate help. We looked at reading by landmark notes (also called signpost notes) and intervals, explored available resources, and shared ideas. Free resources included a landmark chart, landmark cards, and a book of Interval Reading practice. I’ve also added a note chart with a piano keyboard that can be folded at middle C to show how the treble and bass clef staffs fit together.

How to teach playing by ear, and use it as a teaching tool

MTA Conference 2010: Refresh and Recharge
Susan’s lecture “How to teach playing by ear, and how to use it as a teaching tool,” was a great success at the recent MTA Conference. As promised, the lists of graded songs to play by ear are available on the Resources page of this website. Please contact Susan you have any questions about her lecture.

Improvising from Lead Charts: Attitudes of Australian Piano Teachers

Susan’s two presentations at the Piano Pedagogy Conference in July 2009 were very popular. She presented the findings of her thesis, Improvising from Lead Charts: Attitudes of Australian Piano Teachers, and presented a worskhop on her book, Improvisation for Classically-Trained Pianists: How to Play from Chord Charts. The conference paper can be found here.