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 […]
Teaching
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. […]
Fun Percussion Activity Ideas
I just came across this Kids Music Matters website and as I was perusing I found this collection of easy activity ideas to use with a homemade drum. I could see some of these – especially the popcorn one – being a fun, energy-releasing activity for a group of young students. I think they would […]
Monday Mailbag – Carnival of the Animals Summer Piano Camp
I have been thinking about doing a summer music camp theme, but haven’t done it yet…could you give me more of an idea of what other type of activities you did with your Carnival of the Animals piano camp? Here’s what my daily outline looked like for the camp. Daily Outline: 20 minutes – welcome, […]
