How do you know if a particular book or approach is helping a student? Well, when the student tells you that they think the book has really helped them, that’s a pretty good indication. 🙂 If only all students would just come right out and say so! One of my older beginners has been using […]
Feeling the Pulse
Checking Your Pulse
One of the areas that I am constantly aware of need for improvement in my studio is playing with a sense of pulse. We’ve spent an entire month highlighting just this aspect of playing, but I realize that it needs to be a part of every lesson. Instrumental students definitely have an advantage in learning […]
Monday Mailbag – Teaching 3/4 Time
How do you teach beginners ¾ time without having them pause and feel the nonexistent beat four? No matter how often I waltz around the room or count out loud emphasizing the first beat or even play the song for them, they still hold beat three twice as long as it should be. I’m starting […]
Rhythm, Rhythm, Who’s Got Rhythm?
Not very many students, unfortunately! 🙂 I received this question from another teacher and thought it would be a great one to get some feedback and suggestions from others. I’ll share a few of my thoughts below, but I would love to glean some ideas from other teachers as well. How would you answer this […]
Progress Report on Feeling the Pulse
This is an open post for anyone to share. Have you incorporated any of the Feeling the Pulse activities in your studio this month? How did they go? What worked or didn’t work? Have you seen improvement in your students?
Fresh and Fun! Idea #4
My students did much better with the “Rhythm Runs” than I expected. A few of them struggled, but most of them caught on pretty quickly. It proved to be a very effective way of getting them to really feel the pulse, too, which is great! This week will be our final week focusing on Feeling […]
