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Do you ever cringe when your students forget their bags at home? Sometimes parents are running from A to B and forget the bag at home. Or the student brings the bag, but all of the books were left on the piano at home!

You probably have a copy of their music in your library, but then you’ll waste lesson time finding it all.

When a student forgets their music bag, just change gears. Work on skills that are often neglected. One of my favorites to work on is functional keyboard skills – using chords to create accompaniment.

Intermediate students who have been taking classical piano lessons often lack basic, functional keyboard skills.

So if a student forgets their music, have fun showing them various chord patterns for melodies. You can show the student how to accompany you while you play the melody or sing. Then you’ll be making music together, which is a lot of fun!

Once a student masters one accompaniment pattern, teach them a different pattern. Students LOVE this! In just one lesson they can master something and advance it. It is very encouraging for the student.

What materials can you use to do this?

Have a few lead sheets or arrangements at hand. My favorites:

  • Your First Fake Book
    This is a great fake book to keep in your library. Everything is in C, so you can easily show students how to accompany you. It has a nice variety of songs.

You can also find free lead sheets all over the internet. I find that it does help the student to see various accompaniment patterns printed.

Let me know how you handle this situation in the comments below!