Well, I didn’t plan to live blog at all from the conference, but since I have free wi-fi here and I”m sitting in an interesting workshop, I figured, why not? 🙂 Nancy Blockcolsky, our KMTA President-Elect, is giving this workshop – Improvising is Easy! – and is giving us a systematic approach to teaching improvisation […]
Teaching
This Week in Photos
I’m thinking of starting a new weekly post idea…throughout the week I’ll take pictures of various activities and lessons in my studio and then on Friday I’ll put up a post with a couple of favorite pictures. What do you think? Since I’m leaving tonight for our annual state music teachers conference, I’ll post this […]
New Music Blog Joins the Blogosphere
New music-related blogs are joining the blogosphere all the time and it’s thrilling to see what was once just a tiny network now expanding to offer all sorts of resources for music teachers. The latest one I’ve come across is the Michigan State University Piano Pedagogy Blog. Teacher Derek Polischuk offers short video clips and […]
20 Questions to Ask Yourself when Practicing
Mike, over at howtopractise.com, has a great list of 20 questions to ask yourself when practicing. Good ideas for my students and me!
September Surprise!
Several years ago I started the tradition of holding a September Surprise! event as the kick-off for the new school year. I hold it sometime the week of Labor Day and then officially resume lessons the following week. The point is for students to practice and prepare a piece and then surprise me with it. […]
How to Plan a Group Class
I’ve been holding group classes in my studio for years and have tried tons of different ideas. Some have worked really well. Others have bombed. 🙂 The group classes I offer are in addition to the regular weekly lessons and students can opt to participate or not. I might have anywhere from 5-25 students taking […]
