Do you ever have a student come to their lesson and say that they couldn’t practice an assigned piece because they couldn’t figure out what note to start on? Or do they play timidly and explain that they aren’t sure if they are playing with the correct rhythm? Here’s what NOT to do. Don’t point […]
Happy Labor Day!
Since it’s an official holiday, I’m officially taking the day off here. Plus, I’m fully absorbed in another website project at the moment, so any answers to Monday Mailbag questions might be less-than-coherent. 🙂
MuseScore – A Free Notation Software
I’ve been hearing rumblings about MuseScore for several weeks, but Joy’s review of it earlier this week prompted me to finally take a closer look. Like Joy, I was very disappointed to find that Finale decided to charge for the NotePad software that they previously offered free of charge. I had quite a few students […]
Must Have Downloadables for Music Teachers
Joseph Pisano, of the MusTech.Net, has compiled and posted a list of Must-Have Downloadable Freebies for music teachers. It’s a great list, separated into the following categories: Audio Editing, Ear Training, Early Music Instruction (Kids’ Stuff), Jazz Related Programs, Looping/Audio Mixing, Lyrics/Song Writing, Metronomes, Notation, MIDI Sequencing, Music Theory, Tuners, and Virtual Pianos. This is […]
Monday Mailbag – Scheduling Students
How do others handle scheduling students for the new year? Do you give returning students a chance to reserve their spot first, do you start with a clean slate each year and take requests on a first come, first served basis? Do you give priority to students who continue through the summer? I find that […]
Rethinking the Assignment Book
Chris Foley has posted an interesting collection of ideas and thoughts from teachers on how they write lesson notes for their students. As much as I love and try to utilize technology in my studio, I just can’t seem to break away from the handwritten weekly assignments. Part of this, I think, is because I […]
