Rethinking Your Piano Lesson Planning: Are We Giving Pupils the Best We Can?

How do you plan your piano lessons?

Be honest. Do you open your pupil’s tutor book, flick to the page they got to last week, ask if they’ve practised, and then move on to the next piece?

It’s a familiar routine. But is that really all we’re aiming for?

We have thirty minutes, sometimes less, with each pupil. Thirty minutes to make an impact. To engage, inspire, stretch, and support. Are we really making the most of that time if we’re just marching through a book we’ve used for years?

It might feel efficient, but it’s uninspiring. For the pupil and, let’s face it, for the teacher too.

What We Can Learn from Classroom Teaching

When I did my teacher training back in the early 2000s, I was lucky enough to include an instrumental teaching placement alongside my classroom placements. I had to plan each and every one-to-one instrumental lesson in the same way I planned my classroom lessons.

Was that overkill? Possibly. But it set me up with habits that I’ve carried forward ever since. I made notes. I thought ahead. I had a clear structure in mind before each pupil walked through the door.

In classroom teaching, you can’t afford not to plan. You need to know exactly how the lesson is going to unfold, what the learning goals are, and how you’ll keep thirty-two teenagers on task. You don’t wing it. If you do, they know. And it falls apart fast.

Planning for a piano lesson is different, of course. It’s more personal, more reactive. But that doesn’t mean we should treat it casually. In fact, it’s more like teaching A Level music. Your pupil has opted in. They want to learn. They’re looking to you for expert guidance, ideas, feedback, and motivation.

Planning Beyond the Page

Instrumental lessons inevitably depend on how much the pupil has practised and how far they’ve got with their pieces. But that doesn’t mean we can’t plan.

We can plan creative warm-ups. Rhythmic games. Listening activities. Small improvisation tasks. Technical focus. Quick wins that boost confidence.

If you’re planning to include improvisation, what will the parameters be? Will you limit them to the black keys? Offer a simple left-hand ostinato to play over? Introduce a few suggested rhythms or a motif to develop? Have you found a great backing track on YouTube that turns a simple exercise into something they’re excited to play?

Or what about a listening activity? If you’re introducing a new piece, do you ask the pupil to sight-read it straight away? Do you play it for them? Or could you go a step further and explore the genre of the piece together?

Is it a calypso? A sea shanty? The blues?

Where does this style come from? What are its musical features? Could you find a short video of a traditional performance or a professional pianist playing something in that style?

Adding context in this way builds musical awareness and helps pupils make deeper connections with what they’re learning. It transforms a new piece from a reading exercise into a window into a wider musical world.

These ideas don’t take hours to plan. Just thirty minutes of preparation each week can help you build up a flexible, inspiring lesson toolkit that goes far beyond the tutor book.

More Than Just a Method Book

The trusty tutor book has its place. It gives structure and progression. But it should be one of many tools in your teaching toolkit, not the whole lesson.

When we rely too heavily on the book, we risk turning our lessons into a dull conveyor belt of pieces, where creativity, expression and play take a back seat.

Instead, we can treat each lesson as an opportunity to open a window to music-making, where pupils explore, create, and experience joy - not just follow instructions.

After all, our job isn’t just to teach them how to play the piano. It’s to help them fall in love with music.

A Final Thought

Great instrumental teaching is responsive, thoughtful and dynamic. We’re problem-solvers, yes. But we’re also facilitators of creativity and joy.

With just a little more planning, and a willingness to break free from the page, we can transform our lessons into something far more meaningful.

So next time you reach for that well-worn method book, ask yourself: is this really the best use of our thirty minutes?

Or is there something more I could offer?

Want more ideas to bring creativity, context, and structure into your piano teaching?

Explore the Piano Umbrella video course - a resource designed to bridge the gap between traditional tutor books and play-based apps, with scaffolded lessons that inspire your pupils and support you in delivering engaging, well-planned teaching every time.

Find out more about the course