Hello,

Can anyone suggest any ideas or tips on how a successful group class should be like?
I would want to start giving group classes but I wish that I can receive good ideas of how to group the children and what to do during the class, how to pay attention to each of the children, activities to do, lessons to teach and review, etc.

Thanks!

I teach group lessons every 6 weeks.

Here's what works for me:
1. group the kids by age range, not necessarily by ability level.
2. favorite "game": put kids in a circle with 2 stacks of index cards face down. Kids take turns drawing from stack #1 and do whatever the cards say. If they don't like what's on their card, they must draw from stack #2 and do whatever that card says. Examples: "play a solo", "Play a scale", "play a duet", "Name the note played for you" (kid stands with his back turned to the piano and you play a note for him to guess). These stacks of cards are similar to Monopoly community chest/chance cards....

That's a good idea but won't the kids who are at a higher level get bored with what the kids of the lower level do?

Age is a good divisor in groups because ability isn't the most relevant as you're not able to pay special attention to everyone.

My friend Joy at Color in my piano shares a lot of her group lesson materials-- and she's quite successful!

Susan also has tons of group lesson materials.

I also have teaching resources on Pinterest.

I'd start with a theme and start with students that I want to "target".

You might do a composing camp, or composer study, or basics review. It's super fun though!

No, this has not been my experience.

My main focus is for the students to perform for each other and feel comfortable doing so. We play music games that are age-related.

www.susanparadis.com is a great resource! Ditto this post, I love Susan.
For an upcoming group lesson for the little ones, we will play her Halloween game "Music Bats and Cats", easy to download and print from her website.