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 […]
Teaching
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 […]
The Best Piano Sightreading Find Ever!
The primary goal with our piano practice incentive theme this year (Cracking the Crystal Code) is to develop excellent sightreading skills. I have been truly amazed at how much progress each student has been making in this area, and one of the main reasons is the fabulous Piano Adventures Sightreading Coach: I spent a good […]
Create a Custom Music Note Identification Worksheet in Seconds!
Since our piano practice incentive theme this year (Cracking the Crystal Code) is focused on building sightreading skills, one of the ways students can earn extra steps in the Enthusiastic Exploration cave is by completing various worksheets. More than one of my students completed all their worksheets within the first month of lessons, so I’ve […]
A New Book Find for the Piano Studio
I’m a sucker for children’s books. As I’ve entered the world of grandparenting, I established a rule for books – I only purchase and/or keep ones that I enjoy reading. They must be engaging or clever, educational, and beautiful. I’m constantly on the lookout for fitting titles to add to our library. I’m equally picky […]
Happy New Year! Plus a Piano Camp Deal!
We’ll just pretend like it’s not already almost the end of January, ok? Haha! I guess I decided to celebrate my 20th year of blogging here on Music Matters Blog by taking a three month break…pretty sure that’s the longest blogging break thus far. But we’re definitely not on break here in the studio! Our […]
