Music & Nature: Use the Winter 2025 Issue in Your Studio Today!

The Winter 2025 issue of Piano Inspires Kids is available now! Click here to receive the issue and give the gift of music to the musicians in your life! Keep reading for a sneak peek into the Winter Issue.

The Winter 2025 issue of Piano Inspires Kids celebrates the theme of Music & Nature, offering a wealth of activities, repertoire, and inspiration to bring this connection to life in your studio. From the beautiful cover art by Skyela Marie, the winner of the Design the Cover Contest, to engaging explorations of nature-inspired music, this issue provides countless ways to enrich lessons and spark students’ creativity.

Explore the Connection Between Music and Nature

How did composers represent nature in their music? This issue features pieces by composers such as Debussy, Price, Burgmüller, and others who drew inspiration from nature. Assign these pieces to your students and discuss how the composers used melody, harmony, and texture to evoke natural imagery. Explore nature-inspired music using the listening guides throughout the issue, and prompt your students to write down their own thoughts about how composers expressed the sounds of nature through music. Use this activity as a homework assignment or a studio-wide project. Students can share their reflections during lessons or as part of a group discussion. This not only improves their listening skills but also deepens their appreciation of music’s expressive power.

The 2025 Composition Contest

Have your students ever dreamed of composing music for movies? Now’s the chance! With our 2025 Piano Inspires Kids Composition Contest, young pianists can take on the exciting role of a movie soundtrack composer.

After choosing one of the four video shorts found on our YouTube channel @pianoinspireskids, download the Movie Soundtrack Activity to help create music that captures the emotions and tells the story behind the scenes. Use the ideas found in the Winter issue to create the sounds of cats, birds, wolves, and other animals seen in the videos.

Play New Music by V. Jessica Sparvier-Wells

This issue spotlights “pîwan,” a new work by indigenous composer V. Jessica Sparvier-Wells. Share the piece with your students and discuss its cultural and environmental themes. This is a wonderful opportunity to introduce students to contemporary music and diverse voices in classical composition. Incorporate a discussion about how music can tell stories and reflect the composer’s environment and heritage.

For more compositions by Indigenous composers, check out Weaving Sounds: Elementary Piano Pieces by Native and Indigenous Composers, now available from Piano Education Press.

Answer the Reader Poll

This issue’s Reader Poll asks students whether they prefer books or digital scores. Read the pros and cons of each format, and ask students to share their thoughts on analog vs. digital scores. Encourage students to cast their votes on the magazine’s website and share their opinions during lessons. Poll results will be posted in the Spring issue. Check back to see which format is preferred by all of our readers!

Plan a Nature-Inspired Studio Project

After reading about practice-a-thons and Ann DuHamel’s commissioned project Prayers for a Feverish Planet, ask students how they might want to use music to help others. Whether raising money for a worthy organization, asking local composers to write music based on a theme, or organizing a recital themed around music and nature, we can all use our music to make the world a better place!

Decorate A Piano

In the Winter issue, we explore keyboard instruments as early as the 11th century all the way to the modern day, including some surprisingly colorful instruments. Some keyboards of the past, like harpsichords, were often adorned with beautiful artwork. In the 20th century, Liberace was known for performing on pianos covered with crystals! 

Piano Inspires Kids is encouraging readers to design their own piano! Visit our website to download and print a ready-to-design picture of a grand piano. Get out your art supplies and decorate. Once the artistic piano is complete, take a picture of your artwork, and share it with us. Student pianos might be featured in a future issue of the magazine or on our website.

By integrating the Winter 2025 issue of Piano Inspires Kids into your teaching, you can cultivate a deeper connection between your students, music, and the natural world. This unique approach will inspire creativity and broaden their musical horizons.

Want to learn more about Piano Inspires Kids? Watch our webinar, “Inside Piano Inspires Kids: A New Publication of the Frances Clark Center” with Co-Editors-in-Chief Sara Ernst and Andrea McAlister: click here.