“I chose to be a piano teacher because it’s something I wake up excited to do every day.”
Anna started teaching piano fifteen years ago, welcoming all students with a passion and a desire to learn. Thanks to WunderKeys, more families than ever are inquiring about piano lessons and her studio is growing. But it’s not just a blossoming studio that keeps her using the method books!
Her experience with WunderKeys began as a way to increase time with her family.
“I was spending more time preparing for my lessons than it took me to actually teach the lessons!” she explains. The long hours away from her three boys were stressful, and she was feeling burned-out.
Then she discovered WunderKeys, and everything changed.
“It fulfilled that huge need I had which was less prep time . . . Prep is literally maybe five minutes now! Everything is laid out so beautifully in each lesson.”
“My boys were hooked and begged for lessons every day!”
Anna first decided to test the effectiveness of the WunderKeys program on her own, younger boys, who were three and four years old at the time.
“My nine-year-old son even liked it!” she says. It didn’t take long before all her kids were hooked, begging for lessons every day. “They had never done that before! I knew I had found something special.”
After her sons’ remarkable enthusiasm, Anna began taking on other students. She advertised on Facebook and Instagram alongside the marketing pictures that WunderKeys provided, and also put up a few flyers in local coffee shops.
The results were incredible – and Anna was thrilled.
She not only gained new students, but also added a new age group to her teaching repertoire. “It opened my studio up to teach younger kids! I’d struggled getting younger students because I wasn’t sure how to teach them private lessons.”
Before WunderKeys, her youngest students were five years old. Now she has expanded to teaching ages three through four. Anna credits this to the fun, excitement, and accessibility of the WunderKeys program.
“My students cry if they have to miss class.”
One of the best things about Anna’s job is seeing her students fall in love with the material – and it’s obvious to her why they engage with the books so deeply.
“The characters stay with you through your journey,” she says. “Younger students want a sense of having a special buddy to do things with them. This method offers just that. The characters also help young, shy, not-very-attentive kids to pay attention and finish a task.”
Anna recalls a student whose love for WunderKeys actually moved him to tears.
“One of my students was recently sick. He is always pretty attentive and finishes the tasks each week, but I wasn’t fully aware of how much he enjoyed lessons until that week. His mom told me he cried for a while about having to miss his piano lesson with Miss Anna and his special buddies.”
“I realized just how much kids could accomplish at such a young age.”
Anna’s enthusiasm for WunderKeys matches her students’. Early into the program, she realized that three and four year olds, who rarely have much of an attention span, could learn to play piano successfully.
And just as importantly, she learned to enjoy teaching again.
“I love seeing my students reach their goals,” she says. “Their faces light up when they achieve something they didn’t think they could do. It brings my students, their families, and me a lot of fulfillment and joy. This is what finding your dream job looks like to me!”
When asked about her biggest advice for other teachers, Anna’s message is very clear.
“Don’t hesitate. Just start doing WunderKeys and see the difference in how you’re teaching, how your students are responding, and how much more patience it helps you have during the lessons.”
She stresses that she never lacks for anything when teaching WunderKeys. “There is so much support at your fingertips via the website, Facebook groups, and resources.”
Today, she has a wide range of students, which brings new life into her studio each week. “It makes me a lighter, brighter, more fun teacher!”
With WunderKeys, Anna was able to accomplish her goal of less prep time for lessons. She loves those extra hours that she gets to spend with her boys, and is excited for the future of her piano studio, which continues to grow.
