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 […]
Teaching
The Perfect Game for Reinforcing Stem Placement
My students do a lot of notating, whether for compositions or for various games. One thing that always gets me is how much I have to remind them which direction the stems should go and on which side of the note they should be placed. It doesn’t seem like it should be that complicated, but […]
Effective Piano Performance Warm-Ups
Have you ever been judging at a piano event and when you tell the student that they can take a minute to warm-up before playing they tentatively depress the notes of a C-major chord and then quickly assure you that they are ready? I’ve had this happen on more than one occasion. Sadly, I’m sure […]
Free Major Chord Worksheet
Sarah, of the Discoveries Piano Studio blog, recently posted a free major chord worksheet that is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day! It is a page of shamrocks with the root note of a chord pre-printed on one of the leaves. Students have to write the name of the two subsequent notes to form a major […]
Are You an Amateur or a Pro?
The other day I read an article called, Pushing Past the O.K. Plateau, and was especially struck by this quote from Joshua Foer: “Amateur musicians, for example, tend to spend their practice time playing music, whereas pros tend to work through tedious exercises or focus on difficult parts of pieces.” Here’s a fascinating paragraph that […]
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 […]
