How to prepare a step by step music class

A well-prepared music class has five moments: warming, task review, a new goal, repertoire and closure with clear task. It all revolves around a single goal that you can see or listen to at the end and if you don't know what should sound different after class, it's still not ready.

Here's the structure with time for 45 and 60 minutes class, how to propose targets, a complete example, how to adapt class to every age and how to leave jobs that the student will do.

To sum up

Basic structure: heating, review, new goal, repertoire and closure with task.
A target by class, formulated with an observable form: what will the student be able to play and how about it.
With young children, 3 to 5 minutes and a lot of movement, with adults, more context and explanation of why.
The task should be short, concrete and written: what to practice, how, how at what time and how many times.
Always have a plan B: an easier version of the target and a spare activity.

The structure of a class, moment by moment

Protivative time distribution
Momento	45 min class	60 min class	What's his use?
1. Warm up	5 min	7 min	Prepare body, ear and instrument for the goal of the day.
2. Review of the task	5 min	8 min	See what worked at home and put them back together.
3. New goal	12 min	15 min	To present and practice the skills of the day.
4. Repertoire	17 min	22 min	Apply new to real music.
5. Closure and task	6 min	8 min	Play something complete, sum up and leave the task clear.

Calentamiento

No pilling: prepare what's coming. If the target is a corridor scrape, it heats with palms at three times and if it's a quick scale with long notes and loose fingers and if it's singing with breathing and soft vocalizations.

Review of the task

He wants me to play what he did before we have anything right. He hears completely, recognizes what he improved and chooses only one thing to adjust.

New goal

It presents the day's skill with a short demonstration, divulge it into steps and practice it first outside the piece: an isolated chord change, a difficult compass, a rhythm with palms.

Repertoire and closure

Apply the new in a song or play and here the student plays a lot and you speak little. He ends up with something that goes well and complete, so that he will leave with a sense of accomplishment, sum up in a sentence what he learned and leave his homework.

How to write a target that can be met

A good goal describes what the student will be able to do at the end of his class, not what you will explain. Compare:

Fallen target	Observing goal
To improve the rhythm.	Play 1 to 8 with a methonomer at 70, without stopping.
Learning chords.	Switch from Sun to Ree by guitar at four times, four times in a row.
Work reading.	Read at first glance four beamed beamed bars with black and clasp.
Practice tuning.	Sing Do Mayor's scale, up and down, tuned with the piano.
To see dynamic.	Touch the first strong sentence and the soft answer with a difference that can be noticed.

If at the end did not come true, it's a failure: it's information for the next planning. Maybe the step was very big or very short time. To follow the advance in tempo, the [online metronomer]](/herramientas/metronomo) He lets you write down a concrete number every week.

Example: 45 minutes piano class for an 8 year old

A student at his third year of piano. Purpose: to play with his and his two hands the first two phrases of Oda to joy, with his left hand in a note by compass.

Warm up (5 min): pat the rhythm of the piece by telling the name of the notes and then the five fingers "walking" from Do to Sol with each hand.
Review (5 min): He touches his right hand at home and celebrates what came out and sets up a single thing, for instance his wrist that sinks.
New target (12 min): his left hand alone, a note by compass, and after that his hands are put together at his first bar, very slow.
Repertoire (17 min): hands together with words by words, among attempts, a game in which the teacher is deliberately wrong and the child discovers the error.
Closure (6 min): He plays a complete piece that already dominates, his task is noted with his tempo and his family is told what his success was.

How to adapt class by age

Edad	Duration of each activity	What works	What to avoid
3 to 5 years	3 to 5 minutes	Movement, songs, echo games, minor percussion	Long explanations and prolonged stillness
6 to 8 years	5 to 8 minutes	Shorts challenges, success brands, known songs	To run everything at once
9 to 12 years	8 to 12 minutes	Visible goals, repertoire that you like, first presentations	Repertoire with which they are no longer identified
Adolescentes	10 to 15 minutes	His music, his autonomy to choose, to be recorded	Treat them as children or ignore their tastes
Adultos	Longer blocks	Explain why, connect with his music, realistic goals	To assume they understand without asking
Older adults	Stretch with rest	Significant Repertoire, Replay, Patience with Motricics	Rapid and excessive information

With the youngest, class looks more like a guided game than an instrument lesson. If you work with that age, review the principles of [musical initiation]](/blog/que-es-la-iniciacion-musical).

Clear challenges: what to leave for the week

What the student does at home depends to a great extent on how clear the task is. A good task:

It's short: Two or three points, not ten.
He says what, how and how much: "5 to 8 bars, separate hands, 60, three times followed without error."
It's in writing, in the student's notebook or a message to his family.
It includes something I enjoy, how to go through a piece that's already coming out or get an ear song.
He's got a model: A short audio or video of you playing the fragment at the right speed.

If you want to share with students and families a guide about how to organize daily practice, you can send them [how to practice music at home]](/blog/como-practicar-musica-en-casa).

Plan B: how to adjust the live class

Status	Ajuste
He didn't practice at home.	Turn the review into guided practice: show them how that fragment is studied step by step.
The goal was very difficult	Drop a step: slower, shorter fragment, separate hands or just rhythm.
He did that in ten minutes.	Have the following step or a variation ready: another tone, another tempo, another dynamic.
He gets tired or distracted	It starts with something active or with a piece that she likes, and puts the technique back to later.
It's frustrates.	Stop the exercise, play something that's good and get back to the problem from another angle.

A spare activity, such as an eco-rhythmic, an improvisation about two notes or an ear to a sentence, saves you any class.

After class: 3 minutes saving hours

Before passing to the next student, write down what was worked and if the goal was met, the exact task that you left with, an observation (something that worked, a doubt or an alert sign) and the tentative goal of the next class. With those notes, the next planning takes a few minutes and the student feels that there's a thread between one class and another.

In A medio tono we evaluate every teacher in music, pedagogy and human quality and a well prepared class is where best looks all three. If you teach and want to join with us, get to know the call at [Work with us]](/trabaja-con-nosotros)For the practical side of the trade, as the first class or family agreements, read [how to give particular music classes]](/blog/como-dar-clases-de-musica-particulares).

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to prepare a music class?

With a good record of the previous class, about five to fifteen minutes are usually sufficient for an individual class. The first class with a new student and group classes demand more training.

Do we have to write a plan for every class?

A formal document was necessary and guidelines with the aim, activities and intended task were sufficient and what was important was that they existed before they had been put to an end and that they should be revised at the end.

How do I get a group music class ready?

with the same structure but with activities in which all participate at once, roles that rotate and a plan for different levels: an easier and more challenging version of each exercise.

What do I do if the student just wants to play what he likes?

Use it for your sake: get out of your favorite song the technical goal of the day. Almost every song has a rhythm, a chord shift or a passage that serves to teach what you need.

How to prepare a class of music: step by step structure