When I first began teaching piano over 20 years ago, one of the first books that landed on my shelf of must-have piano teaching reference material was Jane Magrath’s Pianist’s Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature. It was my go-to as students moved into intermediate level playing and I wanted to be sure to […]
Resources
ArrangeMe – A Platform for Publishing and Selling Your Own Compositions and Arrangements
Many years ago one of my 7-year old boy students was dying to play the theme of The Last of the Mohicans on the piano. The problem? He was still in the first half of the Piano Adventures primer level, so there was no way he could make sense of any of the sheet music […]
My Latest Greatest Teaching Gadget – Dry Erase Dice
I didn’t know exactly how I was going to use them when I saw them the other day, but I just couldn’t pass up this pair of dry erase dice! As I told my sister the other day, you know you’re in trouble when you see something cool when you’re out shopping and you stand […]
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. […]
