This fall marks 18 years of blogging here at Music Matters Blog! I still remember sitting down with a spiral notebook before I launched the site and planning out what the first 30 days of posts would be. My biggest concern was that I would run out of things to blog about after that first […]
Review of Quntis Piano Lamp
For a while now I’ve been looking wistfully at my Clavinova and contemplating getting a piano lamp for it similar to the one I received for my acoustic piano several years ago. Needless to say, then, I was thrilled when a representative from Quntis reached out to me and asked if I’d be interested in […]
Rote Teaching and Improvisation with Older Beginner Piano Students
After attending our KMTA state conference last month, I was inspired anew by a session from my friend and colleague, Agniezska Lasko. Her session, Using Contemporary Compositional Techniques in Teaching Improvisation to Children, is one I could attend over and over again and probably gain new ideas every time! I came back to my studio […]
New Elementary Piano Solo of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
It’s that time of year! My students have started playing Christmas music over the last couple of weeks in preparation for our annual WinterFest community event. One of the aspects of piano teaching that I love is trying to find special music for each student that will appeal to them and that they will be […]
How to Give Your Students’ Note Reading a Super Boost – A Giveaway!
With the plethora of piano teaching resources constantly hitting the market it’s easy to let old favorites slip to the wayside when exploring new possibilities. I’m sorry to say that’s exactly what happened with Notebusters, a fabulous workbook created by Steven Gross and Karen Spurney. It’s been 10 years since I reviewed their original workbook […]
Free Piano Music from Composer Albert Rozin
When I received an email a couple months ago from Will Johnson about a project that he and a team of 4 others were working on, I’d never heard of composer Albert Rozin. Since then, I’ve enjoyed learning a bit more about him and perusing the fabulous website that Will and his team have put […]