It’s here! Our much-anticipated week of piano camp has arrived. This is one of my favorite activities of the summer. All week long the studio will be full of life and energy as little bodies fill the space and experience the wild and wonderful world of music with our Piano Expeditions camp. This year: To the […]
Teaching
New Free Music Listening Worksheets!
Sixteen years ago I shared a listening worksheet that I used with my piano students at the request of another teacher. It has to be one of the most boring worksheets I’ve ever created! I’ve had it on my to-do list for a while now to create a new one that I’m not embarrassed to […]
Video Summary of Cracking the Crystal Code Piano Practice Incentive Theme
This year of focusing on piano sightreading skills with all my students with the Cracking the Crystal Code practice incentive theme has been fabulous! Here’s a brief 5-minute video summary of the theme and how we used it in our piano studio. Remember, use the code CRYSTAL by June 15 to get 20% off this […]
New Practice Incentive Theme is Here! Save 20%!
If you are looking for a way to motivate and guide your piano students to become excellent sightreaders, Cracking the Crystal Code may be just what you’re looking for! We have just wrapped up this year-long practice incentive theme in our piano studio and it is one of the favorites we have ever done. It has […]
3 Problems with the Landmark Notes Method – A Guest Post by Rowina Seidler
A note from Natalie: UK educator Rowina Seidler has done some fascinating firsthand research into helping students become more proficient with note identification. With our practice incentive theme this year entirely focused on developing sightreading fluency (Cracking the Crystal Code), this is of particular interest to me! I hope you enjoy reading about her research […]
Inspired Piano Teaching
One of the most respected piano pedagogues of this generation was Marvin Blickenstaff. I was only familiar with him from afar, but I recently came across the book he published shortly before his death, “Inspired Piano Teaching.” I always love reading books like this from piano teachers; it’s almost like attending a year’s worth of […]

















