I’ve also been planning on doing an “Introduction to the piano” course…can’t wait to see your lesson plans! How many days does your camp go for? It’s getting to be that time of year when we all start thinking about summer plans! At least, in theory we are all thinking about summer plans, right? In […]
Monday Mailbag
Monday Mailbag – Using Online Classical Sheet Music
I would love to hear what you think about online free music – especially classical. I was just having a discussion with a teacher who has been teaching far longer than I, and she is very wary of this music. However, I have done a little research to find that the editing is actually quite […]
Monday Mailbag – Practice Incentives
My question is regarding what type of practice incentives you use, if any. Currently, I have an incentive program for practice time only, where they earn a prize after one month of consistent practice (and the parent’s signature). I set this up because this year I started over with all brand new beginners. I do […]
Monday Mailbag – Teaching Students to Play Beautifully
One of my families (I teach three of their children) has quite a different view on what is important in their musical education. They want to learn as many pieces as possible each week, without worrying too much about all the important details (dynamics, mood, rhythm, etc.). They also put technique down at the bottom […]
Monday Mailbag – Students Leaping into the Unknown
I had a beginning student come to lessons and pull out her lesson book we’ve been working on, except she had jumped ahead 10 or so pages and wanted to play that piece for me. She is still an off-the-staff-black-keys-only player, and this piece was on white keys complete with note names in the note […]
Monday Mailbag – Keeping a Steady Pulse
I am a piano teacher to eight students, and also a student myself. Keeping a steady pulse is one thing that I struggle with when I play, so I don’t often put enough emphasis on it when I teach. Could you share some ways that you work on it with your students so I could […]
