In just a couple of days we will be holding our annual September Surprise! kickoff for the year. This tradition began over 15 years ago with two primary purposes: 1. to encourage students to spend time at the piano during their summer break 2. to announce the new practice incentive theme for the year. I […]
Resources
New Advanced Piano Solo Available!
After being stuck for several years on how to end it, I finally had a burst of inspiration this spring and was able to complete a piano arrangement of a medley of two beautiful and meaningful hymns: Jesus Paid it All and Wondrous Love. Once the arrangement was done, the next order of business was […]
Book Review: More Than Music Lessons
If you love to sit down with other music teachers to pick their brains about teaching philosophies and ideas that have worked with their students, then you will love Merlin B. Thompson’s new book, More Than Music Lessons. [You can even snag a 30% off coupon code on his website!] I appreciate Dr. Thompson sending […]
How to Teach Intermediate Piano Repertoire
Thanks to a recent mention from Amy at Piano Pantry I discovered that Janna Williamson, an intermediate piano repertoire guru, has a whole YouTube channel full of teaching videos for specific intermediate piano repertoire. What a treasure trove! I’ve already seen one of her videos for a Haydn Sonata that one of my students was […]
Custom Shirts for Your Studio
It’s been 10 years since I ordered custom-designed t-shirts for my studio, so my mind started rolling with ideas when I was contacted a few weeks ago by a custom-design apparel company to see if they could send me a sample of one of their products to try and review here on the blog. Especially […]
Heartbeat Rhythms – a hands-on dictation activity to help students understand musical pulse and rhythms
Ever since I came across D’Net Layton’s post on rhythm blocks many years ago, I’ve had it in mind to make a similar rhythm resource for my studio. Wood blocks cut to size were a bit more ambitious and space-consuming than what I wanted to create, but after lots of pondering and experimenting in the […]
