I’ve been teaching my little 4-year old nephew online piano lessons this year since he lives in another state. It’s amazing how quickly he’s picked up on various concepts, and whenever he comes to visit we get to do an in-person lesson where I can see just how much he’s learning! In light of that, […]
Teaching
Educational Piano Music from Polish Composers
One of my favorite ways of learning about new or favorite piano music has historically been via attending showcases at conferences or workshops at our local music store. Since most of those opportunities have vanished in the last year, I was delighted to recently find out about a project of Podstrona Music that aims to […]
How Well Do You Know Your Piano Scales?
A recent video by the always creative Tim Topham features 20 Ways to Teach (or Play) Scales on the Piano: I’ve used a handful of these before, but especially like the idea of playing each scale with only one finger – for both theoretical purposes and to encourage the technique of weighted arms and whole […]
Maestro Classics Music Story CDs for Kids
Anytime I see anything having to do with the Carnival of the Animals, I am immediately hooked! It’s one of my all-time favorite collections of music and I have used it multiple times for piano camps – for my piano students and for a special preschool Piano Expeditions music camp. So, when I recently came […]
A Personal Update
For anyone who follows along closely enough to notice, you can see that I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus here on Music Matters Blog. It’s been exactly three months since my last post – the longest break I’ve ever taken in the 15 years I’ve been blogging here! Some of that has been due […]
Free Videos for Teaching Young Piano Students
Renowned piano pedagogue Fred Karpoff, of Entrada Piano, recently announced his new free video series, Teaching Little Hands. So far he has uploaded video clips on Encouraging Improv, Arm Weight Drops, and Counting and Tapping Process. I have always loved and learned so much from observing masterclasses, so I’m thrilled to be able to watch […]