Sometimes it feels like a never-ending quest to improve organization in various areas of my life. It’s a challenge I enjoy, and I’m glad to be making some headway in a few elements of my piano studio (digitizing student music theory worksheets and compiling a favorite rote repertoire for piano notebook are a few recent […]
Carnival of the Animals Ballet in the Park
Our local Ballet Wichita organization performed a series of ballets in various parks, including one just down the street from us. It was a perfect occasion for an outing with a couple of my nephews (who also happened to be piano camp students who were familiar with the Carnival of the Animals suite!). They loved […]
New Site for Free Piano Music
For years, IMSLP has been my go-to for free piano music in the public domain. But when I was compiling my Rote Repertoire for Piano notebook recently, I came across another source loaded with free piano music: Michael Kravchuk is a pianist, violinist, teacher, composer, music director, and book publisher currently living in Sacramento, California. […]
Favorite Rote Repertoire Pieces for Piano
As I mentioned earlier this week, I’ve been compiling a notebook of Favorite Rote Repertoire pieces for piano. A while back, Nathalie Herres, a Music Matters Blog reader and piano teacher from South Germany, contacted me with a suggestion for a couple of classical piano pieces that she recommends teaching by rote for various reasons. […]
Organizing Rote Repertoire for Piano
Many years ago I taught a young boy who loved music, but struggled learning to read it at even a basic level and often didn’t practice much during the week. I came across the piece Poet’s Lament by Jon George (in Kaleidoscope Solos, Book 3) and played it for him at one of his lessons. […]
September Surprise Fall Piano Kickoff!
It’s that time of year again! I know most teachers have already been teaching for at least several weeks, but I love summer too much to start fall piano lessons before Labor Day. So, as has been our tradition now for at least 15 years (as best as I and some of my former students […]
