Sometimes it seems like I have to say the same thing five different ways before a student loses the glazed-over look in their eyes! And then, usually it’s still many more explanations later that the proverbial light bulb goes on in their brain and they finally get it. They’ll say something like, “I realized that […]
Teaching
Teaching Your Piano Students How to Accompany
A couple weeks ago, I bookmarked this article on Teaching Your Piano Students How to Accompany. I finally got around to reading it, and really appreciate the thoughts and ideas that Jennifer shares in the post. She gives some practical tips for incorporating accompanying skills into a student’s music education, and also shares her list […]
Teaching Toward the Future
One thing that I’ve realized that I do frequently with my students that keeps my enthusiasm for teaching fresh is visualize them in the future. I imagine that Landon is no longer a 9-year old boy with hard-to-control fingers, but a mature 19-year old who sits at his family’s piano accompanying hymns while his family […]
Monday Mailbag – More About Piano Camp
One of my readers asked a handful of great questions as a follow-up to last week’s Carnival of the Animals Summer Piano Camp post. I think I’ll just do a question and answer format for the whole post to make it easy to read! Q. What was the schedule? 5 days per week? Yes, we […]
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Have you ever wondered why a student can successfully correct a problem at the lesson when you point it out to them, but then return the following week having reverted to the incorrect way of playing it? I actually started to understand the fundamental issue involved in this phenomenon as a result of taking lessons […]
Another Key Signature Game
This sister duo is always begging to play a game if we have time at the end of their lesson, and I usually try to accommodate them! This week, the younger one was working on all her Major flat key arpeggios and memorizing the corresponding key signatures, so I decided to play a related game. […]
