One of my goals this year is to purchase a piano to replace the current acoustic piano in my studio. The current piano is a low-end instrument that is 30+ years old. Some of the repair work it needs now would cost significantly more than it’s worth, so I finally decided I better get serious […]
Resources
Incredible New Scale Resource
Last weekend I received the e-newsletter from the fabulous Music Educator’s Marketplace and saw this brilliant new product: Nate’s Scale Plates. They were developed by a 9-year old piano student, and they are exactly what several of my students need! It baffles me that scale fingerings are as difficult as they are for some students, […]
Free Downloadable Music Theory Worksheets
Jerald Simon, of the Music Motivation Blog, is developing a page full of fabulous free downloadable music theory worksheets! Current worksheets include major and minor pentascales, intervals, chord inversions, and chord progressions. What a great resource, especially for students preparing for state theory tests! He is planning to add one new download every day for […]
Review of Irish Celebration
St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and if you enjoy hearing holiday-themed music in your studio you’ll want to grab a copy of Wendy Stevens’ latest sheet music: Irish Celebration. The melody is fun and catchy – one that any early elementary student will love learning and playing over and over…and over and […]
Monday Mailbag – Moving Away from Method Books
At what point do you discontinue using method books with more advanced students? What does their curriculum consist of (i.e. what do you do for repertoire, technique, etc)? Wow! Like my Introducing Baroque Music post, I’m afraid this will reveal my lack of structured lesson planning when it comes to the higher levels! Just don’t […]
Monday Mailbag – Jazz and Pop Music
Yes, I know it’s not Monday, but I have a backlog of questions, so I thought I would take a week to try to catch up a bit! What do you think about jazz music and popular music? Do you use it in your studio? Honestly, it depends a lot on the student. I don’t […]
