Several weeks ago, I posted about my afternoon of playing through Christmas music trying to find just the right piece for each student for the Christmas recital. As I confessed, I wasn’t that thrilled about spending a sunny Saturday afternoon in the basement at the piano, but when I started to play through these contemporary […]
Teaching
Monday Mailbag – Not Giving Credit for Missed Lessons
Do you credit students for missed lessons if they let you know in advance that they’ll be gone? Also, do you charge for holding a space open for a student such as the one you mentioned that was moving or say if they had a long term injury such as a broken wrist? I had […]
A Story of Thanksgiving
Since I’m taking the week off of teaching, I won’t be blogging either, but I wanted to share a really cool story with you that happened this past week. The church where I have been holding my Christmas recital for years disbanded this fall and sold the building. I knew I wouldn’t be able to […]
Theory is the Grammar of Music
As many of you know, I rarely use theory books with my students, but we are constantly discussing theory concepts as they relate to the scales and music they are playing. It is so fun to do a chord analysis of a piece with a student and watch the proverbial light bulb come on as […]
Theta Music Trainer Announces Winter Competition 2012
If you’re looking for a fun activity to give your students to keep their musical minds working during Christmas break, check out the Winter Competition 2012 that Theta Music Trainer just announced! Winners can receive up to $30 in Amazon gift cards. Come to think of it, that’s a good enough draw that maybe I’ll […]
Some recent videos from the studio!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the importance of making music at every lesson. There are so many things that I want to fit into our 45 minutes together each week, but if I had to pick just one thing, I would make sure that in some way or another the student gets to […]
