Don’t you just love it when your students come into lessons saying, “I want to play this really cool piano piece by J.C. Bach that I heard over the weekend?” OK, really, when was the last time you heard such a comment? 🙂 It’s much more likely that they want to play the theme song […]
Repertoire Suggestions
A Compendium of Composers
Yesterday, I shared a little bit about the Galaxy of Composers group class that we held in the studio last week. In preparation for this each student selected (or was given) a composition by a composer of interest to them. I tried to keep the duplicate composers to a minimum, but of course we did […]
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 […]
Free Christian Piano Arrangements
Those of you who are church pianists, or those who just enjoy playing sacred arrangements, should check out these free arrangements at KoertsMusic.com. So far, there are three arrangements available: For the Beauty of the Earth, Praise to the Lord, and Joy to the World. And while you’re there, you should click over to the […]
