With just a little over a week until our rehearsal for the Christmas recital, it’s going to be a close call for some of my students! It’s right about now that I start second-guessing myself and wondering if it was really such a good idea to give them a challenging piece to learn (even though […]
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Connect the Dots – Sans Numbers
After a number of requests for me to send the numberless version of the connect-the-dots pictures I referenced in last Friday’s post, A Memorable Way to Convince Students That Fingering is Important, I decided to just upload my simple Word doc and make it available for easy download and printing. Just click here or on […]
Monday Mailbag – 5 Tips for Teaching Theory to Transfer Students
I have a 13 year-old student girl who came to me this fall after having had piano lessons for a number of years, but she has little to no theory background. She plays better than average, but doesn’t know simple things like what a sharp does to a note. The songs she played when she […]
A Memorable Way to Convince Students that Fingering is Important…
It doesn’t happen often, but every once in a while I have a student who requires more than a convincing argument to believe that something I’m making them do is important. For example, fingering. I find this aspect of playing to be particularly challenging for students who learn to read the notes quickly. They seem […]
2012 MTNA – Concerts, Meet-up, and Live-Blogging!
Have you completed your registration for the 2012 Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Conference in New York City?! Today is the early registration deadline, so you can save $50 if you register by today. My registration is in and I am eagerly looking forward to a wonderful week in The Big Apple next spring! Also, […]
Collection of 12 Free Piano Pieces
Looking for a great collection of intermediate level piano pieces for some of your advancing students? Charles Wu has put together a very nice set of 12 pieces that will introduce students to a variety of composers and styles. The compilation includes: Georg Frederic Handel – March in G HWV 419/3 Henry Purcell – Air […]