Ever since switching to a digital calendar and mostly digital organization in my studio years ago, I always looked wistfully at the beautiful calendar planners that start populating shelves this time of year. Well, last year I came across one that I just couldn’t resist and decided to try something different – instead of using […]
Resources
Free Practice-Related Downloads for Musicians and Teachers
Gerald Klickstein’s seasonal newsletter is always chock full of links to various articles and resources for musicians. His book, The Musician’s Way, still stands out in my mind as one of the most insightful and practical that I’ve read on the topic of practicing. In his Summer 2023 newsletter, he linked to an Efficient Practice […]
Guide to Contemporary Educational Piano Composer Websites
Several times now I’ve heard Dennis Alexander mention his personal website and how few teachers seem to know it exists. And several times now I’ve forgotten about it! So I decided that maybe if I make a point of writing about it, I’ll be more inclined to remember it. And while I was at it, […]
Teaching Piano Technique to Beginning Students
Tim Topham recently wrote a fabulous article that presents 4 Tips for Teaching Beginner Technique to piano students. He outlines the importance of non-legato touch, emphasizes forming a naturally curved hand, discusses naming musical gestures, and describes rotating the wrist. These closely parallel some of the technique principles I’ve discovered over the years and incorporate […]
32 Free Folk Songs and Popular Tunes for Easy Piano
One area of particular interest for me is folk songs from different countries. Especially when I’m putting together the Piano Expeditions piano camp curriculum, I enjoy trying to find folk songs from the country we’re “visiting” and see if they can be adapted for use in our week of piano camp. I was recently checking […]
Anytune App
At a recent Dennis Alexander workshop sponsored by our local music teachers association, Dennis mentioned that Anytune app. Maybe I’ve been living under a rock when it comes to new apps, but I had never heard of this one, and boy, have I been missing out! Anytune is a free app that enables you to […]
