Michael Griffin, of Music Education World, has written an interesting article on the benefits of background music in the classroom. He kindly agreed to let me publish it here as a guest post, along with a special giveaway opportunity at the end: Do teachers use background music in classrooms in your school? Background music is […]
Resources
Music-Related Book Reviews
One of my favorite things to do is read a good book! Last year, I posted a list of recommended biographies, compiled from my own reading and recommendations from other Music Matters Blog readers. This year, I thought I would share several reviews of music-related books I read last year. I always want to read […]
Watch Our 2011 Christmas Recital
Even though we weren’t able to live stream our Christmas Recital (like we did in 2010), a friend of mine video recorded the event and we’ve uploaded it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure! I didn’t realize until after it was posted that the credits at the end rolled through at the speed of light! […]
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 […]
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 […]
My Favorite New Christmas Piano Book!
Several weeks ago, I posted about my afternoon of playing through Christmas music trying to find just the right piece for each student for the Christmas recital. As I confessed, I wasn’t that thrilled about spending a sunny Saturday afternoon in the basement at the piano, but when I started to play through these contemporary […]