We had our November group class this week, so I decided it was time to pull out our Christmas Tunes Bingo game again! With our practice incentive theme this year (The PUZZLEMAKER), I built listening pages into the assignment books, so we’ve been using them at each of the monthly group classes this year. This […]
Rote Favorites in the Piano Studio this Fall
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that I’m a huge proponent of using rote teaching with all of my students. Here are a few favorite pieces from this fall: How do you get an energetic 8-year old boy who wants to play everything lightning fast to appreciate playing beautiful musical sounds […]
Another Successful September Surprise!
How can it be October already?! As always, we launched a new year in the studio with our beloved September Surprise! It’s an opportunity for the students to play any piece that they want (thus surprising me with what they’ve worked on over the summer) and it’s when I announce our new practice incentive theme for […]
Top Ten Takeaways from our State Music Teachers Conference
There’s nothing quite like a conference to marry my loves of teaching and traveling! Our annual state music teachers conference was a joint venture with Missouri this year, and it was fabulous. We’re just wrapping up a weekend full of insightful sessions, inspiring performances, and invigorating fellowship. By the time the last session concluded I […]
Keybird – A Portable Acoustic Piano
Several months ago I posted about the new PocketPiano – a digital piano that you can disassemble and fit in a backpack. Super cool! The only downside, of course, is that it’s digital. Apparently Lander Pinson feels that way, too. Drawing on his mechanical engineering background, this Danish innovator has built an acoustic piano that […]
Recovering from Finale’s Disastrous Announcement and Giving Dorico a Try
Are any of you long-time Finale users like me? When I purchased a new laptop a number of years ago that would require purchasing a new version of Finale, I thought I would try foregoing the purchase to save some money and opted to just use MuseScore instead. That decision didn’t last long. I needed […]
