If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that I’m a huge proponent of using rote teaching with all of my students. Here are a few favorite pieces from this fall: How do you get an energetic 8-year old boy who wants to play everything lightning fast to appreciate playing beautiful musical sounds […]
Teaching
Another Successful September Surprise!
How can it be October already?! As always, we launched a new year in the studio with our beloved September Surprise! It’s an opportunity for the students to play any piece that they want (thus surprising me with what they’ve worked on over the summer) and it’s when I announce our new practice incentive theme for […]
Top Ten Takeaways from our State Music Teachers Conference
There’s nothing quite like a conference to marry my loves of teaching and traveling! Our annual state music teachers conference was a joint venture with Missouri this year, and it was fabulous. We’re just wrapping up a weekend full of insightful sessions, inspiring performances, and invigorating fellowship. By the time the last session concluded I […]
Review of Color Suites Piano Solos by Starr Meneely
A delightful book of piano solos called Color Suites (or Colour if you’re in the UK!) by Starr Meneely made it to my studio this week, and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing through it! Starr lives in the UK and has been teaching piano for 27 years. In addition to this new collection she has […]
The Rhythm Randomizer – A Fabulous Free Tool for Piano Teachers
At our recent local music teachers association meeting one of the teachers introduced us to a new resource (at least new to us!) called The Rhythm Randomizer. I have dreamed of having something like this for years! You can select 1,2,4, or 8 measures and then set parameters for time signatures and various note values. […]
New Piano Keyboard Diagrams for Creating Music Theory Worksheets
One of my favorite things to do in the summer is brainstorm and plan for the next year’s practice incentive theme. My students and families may think I do it all for them, but in reality, idea creation is something that energizes me and gets me excited for another year of teaching. I’ll share more […]
