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! […]
Teaching
Review and Giveaway of Compositions by Lisa Donovan Lukas
Close your eyes, sit back in a comfy chair, and imagine a beautiful interlacing of impressionistic and contemporary harmonies drifting from piano music that might provide the soundtrack for your favorite tear-inducing drama. Now you can skip the imagination part and let this video fill in the music for you: Goodnight, Sweet Dreams is one […]
Monday Mailbag – Group Class Assignments
I’ve never done group lessons before, but I’d really like to try one. When you do a group lesson, what do you do about students’ individual assignments/songs they’ve learned the week before? And what do you assign them for the next week? Or do you think of group lessons totally differently than individual lessons? In my studio, […]
How to Motivate Your Kids to Practice Their Instrument
Jason Bernstein, of the Piano Lessons World website, has a helpful post on How to Motivate Your Kids to Practice Their Instrument. He shares 6 specific ideas that are great for parents looking for practical tips on how to help their child be successful. In particular, I really appreciate #2 – Participate in Performance Opportunities. […]
Mixed Messages
In last Friday’s post, I mentioned that we played a game at our group class called Mixed Messages. Students had to translate Italian music terms and then write the definitions to complete English sentences. All the students were split into two teams and whichever team finished all their sentences first won a Free Travel Pass. […]
Monday Mailbag – Composer Biographies for Students
I have a student that is a very avid reader (girl, 7th grade, homeschooled). Her mother asked me to compile a list of good biographies or books of composers/music. She thought that this would help her practicing since she might be more interested in the composer or subject matter. One of my all-time favorite collection […]
