We had our studio party this week – the culmination of our Cracking the Crystal Code practice incentive theme. It was a gorgeous evening, so after the students spent all the crystals they wanted to on items from the studio store, we filled our plates with snacks and headed out to the back patio to […]
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It’s Recital Time!
It’s hard to believe the end of the year for piano lessons is already here. It has been a fabulous year that culminated with our spring recital and cookout last weekend. Here are just a few snapshots from the occasion… All the important elements that make the recital special: custom programs that correlate with our […]
3 Problems with the Landmark Notes Method – A Guest Post by Rowina Seidler
A note from Natalie: UK educator Rowina Seidler has done some fascinating firsthand research into helping students become more proficient with note identification. With our practice incentive theme this year entirely focused on developing sightreading fluency (Cracking the Crystal Code), this is of particular interest to me! I hope you enjoy reading about her research […]
Inspired Piano Teaching
One of the most respected piano pedagogues of this generation was Marvin Blickenstaff. I was only familiar with him from afar, but I recently came across the book he published shortly before his death, “Inspired Piano Teaching.” I always love reading books like this from piano teachers; it’s almost like attending a year’s worth of […]
A Guide to Affordable High Quality Guitars from Martin Guitar – A Guest Post
Note from Natalie: Just last week I saw one of my piano students from over a decade ago and we enjoyed chatting and catching up a bit. He confessed that he rarely plays the piano anymore, but his face lit up when he told me he has started playing the guitar. I know he’s not […]
The Best Piano Sightreading Find Ever!
The primary goal with our piano practice incentive theme this year (Cracking the Crystal Code) is to develop excellent sightreading skills. I have been truly amazed at how much progress each student has been making in this area, and one of the main reasons is the fabulous Piano Adventures Sightreading Coach: I spent a good […]



















