Perhaps one of the most transformational moments of my music teaching career was attending a showcase by Forrest Kinney at the MTNA conference in 2010. It is not an exaggeration to say that my teaching has never been the same since! I began incorporating his ideas on improvisation into our lessons right away and was […]
Teaching
Win a Free Circle of 5ths Wall Art Poster!
We are thoroughly enjoying and frequently utilizing the new Circle of 5ths Wall Art poster in our piano studio, so I thought it would be fun to give away a copy of this colorful poster for free to a special Music Matters Blog reader! Just leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing […]
Group Class – Keeping it Simple
One of the greatest benefits of offering regular group classes in my piano studio is the camaraderie that develops between students. They love coming, playing games, performing music, and hanging out together. Sometimes the simplest activities prove to be the most fun! Such was the case at October’s group class. We began with a fun […]
Using Scale Blocks to Teach Common Tone Voicing in Chord Progressions
Having a functional understanding of music theory is extremely important to me as a piano teacher, so my students are continually learning scales, intervals, chords, etc. Our state Music Progressions curriculum has been invaluable to me in helping me establish an appropriate and systematic approach to teaching theory. And my indispensable teaching tool is a […]
Circle of Fifths Poster a Hit!
I was curious to see if any of my students would notice the new Circle of Fifths poster adorning our studio wall this week (surprisingly, it arrived just two days after I ordered it!). Sure enough, the observant ones among the bunch mentioned it as soon as they walked into the studio! A couple of […]
A New Piano Teacher Resource for Rote Teaching
I recently came across composer Dennis Alexander’s website and was perusing his page of new compositions. (I love that he has free pdf samples from all of his piano books so that you can get a glimpse of the material before purchasing!) I was looking for a collection of Nocturnes recently reviewed in the American […]
