Years ago I heard someone make a distinction by stating, “I don’t teach piano; I teach students to play the piano.” This has stuck with me ever since I heard it, and guides my perspective from week to week as I work with my students. One of the reasons I love teaching so much is […]
Music History Timeline
Several of my student’s moms commented on how much they liked the timeline that I used for our listening activity last week. This is one of the best timelines I’ve found! I love that it incorporates not only music history, but also little glimpses into other things going on in the world. Surprisingly, the timeline […]
Super Fun Listening Activity!
Each week, I try to think of some fun activity to start off each lesson. Hot on the heels of the previous week’s A Galaxy of Composers group class theme, I was inspired to do a composer-oriented listening activity with my students. I grabbed my favorite composer resource book (comes with a CD!) – Accent […]
Happy Birthday, Chopin!
Yes, I know I’m a day late. Yesterday, March 1, was the 200th birthday of the renowned Frederic Chopin. 200 is a pretty big milestone, though, so I think it’s acceptable to prolong the celebration for a little longer. 🙂 Thanks to Gerald Klickstein, of The Musician’s Way Blog, for putting together a great collection […]
Monday Mailbag – Memorizing Incentive
Do you have any incentive ideas for a memorizing contest, or something of that nature to encourage memorizing pieces? Some of my students are very beginner, and some are older students who have transferred (or who have REALLY applied themselves). How do you make it equal for both types of students – the 6-year olds […]
Earn Shopping Money through Swagbucks
This isn’t exactly a music-related resource, but I’ve found it to be a great tool for earning money to spend on music-related resources, so I thought I would mention it again now that I’ve been using it for a while (plus, I get some sort of special credit if you sign up through my link)! […]
