Once Upon A Time; A Music Lab Story

Apps, Business, Lesson resources, Misc., Musings, Tips

Once Upon a Time there was a piano teacher who lived in a small town. She enjoyed teaching piano lessons but was looking for something to spice things up a bit. Something that would allow her students to learn and engage in more than what there was time for during lessons.

She had heard about this thing called a music lab, where you can add time before or after a students lesson while continuing to teach another student. This would allow students to continue to learn, review and engage in music concepts independently. She loved this idea and decided to implement it immediately.

At that time, she only had money to invest in one piece of software, Music Ace. Students would work diligently on Music Ace and all was well until… there was no more to do. So she invested in more software and all was well in the studio once again.

Fast forward 10 years after moving to a bigger city and with now over 20 years of music lab under her belt, she felt like something was again missing. While lab time evolved into much more than computer games, she began to realize that students weren’t as purposeful during lab as they should be. She was worried that the games they were playing were beginning to feel like “time fillers” with no specific goals in mind. This really bothered her. She was bound and determined to find a solution.

Wanting to make sure that students were more mindful and purposeful with their time, she spent many hours creating music lab task cards that would give students a specific lab task/goal but also allow them reflect on what they had just worked on.

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The benefit became two-fold. Lab organization was now a breeze because many hours of research, planning and preparation was done and even more importantly students now had a specific purpose to their lab assignment.

Every once in a while, she will hold a “choice” day so students can play their favorite game, but for the most part students are now more mindful in their lab activities. When students have a specific purpose for a task and are able to reflect on that purpose through different types of questions (knowledge, comprehension, application, information, evaluation, and reflection) they are more likely to retain what they are learning.

Students now fully engaged learning from apps, software, websites, keyboard activities, printable resources, and more from all different music subjects, all was once again right with the studio.  The End.


Do you find that your students aren’t as mindful during their lab time as they once been? Or maybe you are brand new to lab and want to kick it off to a great start! Perhaps you just want to save on a lot of prep time? Music lab task cards help students stay engaged and more mindful in their lab assignments and most of the work is already done for you! Find out what these task cards are all about and how they not only benefit you in saving SO much prep time, but most importantly your students.

Read what a couple teachers are saying about the music lab task cards…

“I think that this might be the best $ I have ever spent! Don’t get me wrong, I have spent hours reorganizing things the way they will fit in my studio and my overall plan but… the majority of the work and research is already done!! Jennifer- thank you so much for taking the time and energy to organize all of this!! When I average out the number of hours that you have saved me – I am very grateful!! Thanks for this resource – it is amazing!!” Debbie

“Wow! I’m so excited to start using these cards with my students this year. You’re a life saver! I always appreciate the high quality and creative work you put into everything you do. These cards are amazing! Thanks, Jennifer!” Marie

Find out what the task cards are all about here.

 

FREE COURSE! New to music lab? Sign up for the free music lab course here. Looking for a more in-depth course to set your music lab up for success? Take the next step and register for Music Lab – Setting Up For Success below.

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