Last week my family and a couple of friends and I headed up to the slopes of Summit County, Colorado for our annual ski trip. After many years of skiing, several of us thought it would be a great adventure to give snowboarding a try. This was actually my second attempt at the new sport. […]
Teaching
Thank You!
Yesterday I had the exciting privilege of handing a check to Zach’s family in the amount of $700! Thank you so much to each of you who contributed through your purchases in the Music Matters Blog store last month. Along with the check I included all of the thoughtful notes and prayers that were sent […]
When Unwillingness in Practice is a Good Thing
In Bruce Berr’s column of the latest American Music Teacher magazine, he talks about relearning pieces and particularly the importance of good fingerings. I really appreciated the whole article, but was especially struck by one sentence toward the end: “The new approach I’ve adopted is about mindfulness, physical awareness and an ironclad unwillingness to accept […]
Monday Mailbag – Do You Have to Have a Degree to Be a Good Piano Teacher?
I am a piano teacher but haven’t gotten any degree in pedagogy. I took one pedagogy class in college and loved teaching. Since then I’ve been running my own studio the best I know how. I really care about my students and want them to succeed, but I feel like because I don’t have a […]
When the Lights Go Out…
…It’s Time for Three! Have you heard of these guys? They are an incredibly talented threesome who got their big debut in the midst of a lightning storm. You’ll have to read about it on the Time for Three website for the full story! The spring Young People’s Concerts were bumped up a little earlier […]
Trying A New Approach to Sight-Reading
At a local music teachers association meeting several months ago, one of the other teachers brought a book called, Joining the Dots: A Fresh Approach to Piano Sight-Reading by Alan Bullard. I was immediately intrigued and ended up ordering the whole 5 volume set so that I could begin experimenting with some of my students! […]
