If I have a student who struggles with note reading, but loves “doodling around” on the piano and/or if I have extra time at the end of a lesson, I often opt for my quick and easy improvisation activity. I sit at one piano and the student sits at the other (if you only have […]
Teaching
Monday Mailbag – Practice Expectations for Sick Students
I was wondering if you and other teachers would share their policies for students getting their practice time in if they are sick? I have had the flu for 7 full days and realized how completely it knocks one out…I thought of my students, and think if they get it that I should most definitely […]
Happy Thanksgiving Week!
I’m off this week in my studio and decided to take a week off from blogging as well. Hopefully I can tackle all the things that I’ve been adding to my list of oh-I-can-just-wait-and-do-that-during-my-week-off. 🙂 I’ll leave you with a beautiful quote that some friends sent me recently: “Next to the Word of God, the […]
More About Christmas
Is everyone else in the midst of Christmas music and preparations for Christmas recitals? Somehow it snuck up on me this year, so I didn’t get the recital selections to all my students until last week. Gulp! I hope they are motivated to work really hard between now and the recital to get them learned […]
Monday Mailbag – Finding Music
You seem to have plentiful sources of repertoire at your fingertips. I am having a hard time finding good supplemental music for my small, beginning studio. The closest music store is about an hour away, so I rely heavily on internet searching and shopping. However, I find it difficult to know the level of the […]
For all those who despise sight-reading…
I wish all of my students who are resistant to sight-reading would read this excellent article by Derek Polischuk, of the Michigan State Piano Pedagogy Blog: Musical Understanding through Sight Reading. At any given time, I have a handful of students who are naturally very musical and have a good ear for music, but lack […]
