Creating Beats On The Move

What elements are in great piano warm-ups?

Listen ➡ Movement ➡ (Reading) ➡ Playing

This approach is the foundation of “Creating Beats On The Move”, a collection of 40 piano warm-ups.  In 5 minutes (or less), ANY student in your studio can go from nervous to confident improvising with a backing track!

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Don’t believe me? The inspiration behind these warm-ups was to get my students (& me) moving each lesson while building on the improvising we do in my studio. And, I wanted something that could work with my youngest to oldest students, beginner to advanced levels, & even my special needs students. All while teaching online. The result?

• I felt less pain because I moved more,
• My students built confidence with their improvising AND composing
• We talked more about how musical styles, modes, meter & tempo influence how we play,
• My students became comfortable playing with backing/accompaniment tracks,
• And, we all had a lot of laughs along the way!

With 4 units of activities you will have at least 40 weeks of piano warm-ups ready for your studio.  Each unit contains the movement & improvising concepts covered, 10 movement & improvisation prompts, as well as backing tracks for each prompt.  Plus, each unit builds pedagogically on the previous concepts! Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.

Included are tips for each step of the approach (including how to sneak in music theory), plus specialized ideas for neurodiverse/special needs students, sibling/buddy lessons & online lessons. Scroll to the bottom for answers to your piano warm-up FAQs.

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Overview Of These Piano Warm-Ups:

• Category: Piano warm-ups
• Level: All
• Concepts: Keeping a steady tempo, duple & triple meters, intervals, half & whole steps, Major & minor modes, sharps & flats, types of chords, various rhythm patterns (up to sixteenth notes), creating melodies & accompaniment patterns
• Pages: 119 pages, covers included (more details below)
• Tracks: 40

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Resources Included With “Creating Beats On The Move”

Teacher Handbook (71 pages): 

Includes teaching tips for:

• Each step in the piano warm-ups: listening, movement, rhythm, & improvising
• Building theory
• Nuerodiverse & special needs students
• Sibling or buddy lessons
• Online lessons

Each of the 4 units includes:

• A general overview
• List of movement & improvisation concepts covered
• Pictures with descriptions of all movement activities
• Link to video of all unit movement activities
• 10 improvisation prompts: Each prompt has 46 ways to mix & match. Set up so it’s easy to visually block off options that are too easy or difficult for a student.

Student Improvising Book (43 pages): 

• All 4 units of piano improvisations
• 10 improvisations per unit (40 prompts in total)
• Set up for online use or printing

Backing Tracks (40 tracks + 5-page PDF): 

• Downloads of all backing tracks (zip files)
• Divided in folders by unit
• PDF: how to download backing tracks + teaching questions

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Studio License Terms:

When you purchase “Creating Beats On The Move” you get a studio license to share the following with your students:

• The STUDENT IMPROV EDITION
• Individual BACKING TRACKS

You may not share:

• Any portion of this TEACHER HANDBOOK, including photos of the movement exercises

• Any portion of the movement exercise videos (either sharing the link or showing any portion of the video to students)

You can use use these piano warm-ups in your studio with your own students. The STUDENT IMPROV EDITION & BACKING TRACKS may be distributed electronically when it is a private shared folder. Please ensure your clients do
NOT share these PDFs or backing tracks with others. Your license means they can print or listen, but not share.

If you would like to use this in multiple classrooms/studios or with multiple teachers, awesome! Please contact Rosemarie directly to purchase an additional license.
retain an electronic copy of the piece.

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Piano Warm-Up FAQs:

• What technology do I need?
  • Computer or device to store the Teacher Handbook, Student Improv Edition & backing tracks.
  • A way to digitally share backing tracks with students (if they need them during the week). Google Drive is a great for this, but you can use other private options for sharing.
  • You will need to unzip the backing track file once it is downloaded. Computers typically have this feature automatically available.
• Do I use these for in-person, online or group lessons?
  • You can use these for all of the above! While my student used these for online lessons, this is the type of thing we would have done during in-person lessons as well. And, wow did we have a lot of fun at our group lessons doing the movement activities, then improvising!
• Is this for during lesson or during the week?
  • You can use these only during lesson time if you prefer. Or, assign them as a follow-up activity during the week. It’s completely up to you!
• What will I have to do outside of lessons?
  • Not much. These piano warm-ups are designed to take minimal admin time since I know how precious that is. Share backing tracks & choose a couple of movement activities. That’s it!
• I’ve never done anything like this. Do you have extra help once I buy this for my studio?
  • Absolutely! Not only does your Teacher Handbook have a lot of tips for every aspect of the activities, but also for online teaching, special needs students, siblings & buddy lessons.
  • If you want extra help, just hit reply to your first email from me & I’ll send you a series of emails that cover everything from downloading/sharing, (hidden) features to save you time, & even how to use these in your studio’s social media!

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