What a whirlwind this spring has been! Full of activities and opportunities in the studio and beyond. Here are a few memorable highlights from the past couple of months: In February we were delighted to welcome composer Wendy Stevens to a Composer Connect event hosted by our local music teachers association. Each student played a […]
Teaching
New Piano Camp – To Outer Space with Holst and The Planets
It’s that time of year again – time to immerse myself in every resource I can find and break out the brainstorming journal to start planning for this year’s Piano Expeditions piano camp! I’ve been reviewing all kinds of music-related kids books for the occasion and trying to find just the right one to capture […]
A New Page of Reviews of Music Books for Kids!
In my planning for piano camps each summer I spend hours upon hours searching for music-related books for kids, trying to find just the right one to accompany each theme. Invariably, I ended up borrowing from the library books that I’ve borrowed before…and then forgotten. I perform all kinds of queries for “interactive children’s books” […]
Silhouettes – A Delightful New Piano Book by Jakub Metelka
One of my favorite pastimes is sitting down with a new piano book and sight-reading through it. The pleasure is further enhanced when it’s a new collection by a lesser-known composer with a fresh and engaging sound. Such was the case with the trio of books by Czech composer Jakub Metelka that I discovered last […]
It’s Time for Christmas Tunes Bingo!
We had our November group class this week, so I decided it was time to pull out our Christmas Tunes Bingo game again! With our practice incentive theme this year (The PUZZLEMAKER), I built listening pages into the assignment books, so we’ve been using them at each of the monthly group classes this year. This […]
Rote Favorites in the Piano Studio this Fall
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that I’m a huge proponent of using rote teaching with all of my students. Here are a few favorite pieces from this fall: How do you get an energetic 8-year old boy who wants to play everything lightning fast to appreciate playing beautiful musical sounds […]
