One of my favorite things about taking breaks from a regular teaching schedule is the opportunity it gives me to evaluate how I’m doing as a teacher and how my students are doing learning and retaining new concepts and skills. I love pondering possibilities to help me be more organized and intentional as a […]
Teaching
A Neighborhood Christmas Concert
We always love to try new ideas in our studio, and this year we thought it would be cool to expand our annual Christmas recital into a Neighborhood Christmas Concert as a way to get to know our neighbors better and share our musical selections with them. So we printed up invitations about a month […]
Linstead Market – a Fun Piano Ensemble for 5 People!
At the beginning of September I mentioned a cool piano book I had come across called 4 Afro-Caribbean Songs for 5 Right Hands at 1 Piano. After much sweat and many hours of counting I am happy to report that we were able to pull together the lively Linstead Market arrangement. I think everyone is […]
Just Make it Up
Sometimes when students are preparing for a performance I encourage them to “improvise” when they get stuck or have a memory lapse. Some students understand this, but for others who are younger or more concrete thinkers, I found a very simple phrase this week to help them keep going in a performance. Around 1:27 in […]
Piano Studio Practice Incentive – Giveaway #4!
One of the highlights in our piano studio is the announcement of the new practice incentive theme for the year! This is something I started doing about 15 years ago and it’s amazing the excitement that it generates, along with the determination to work toward specific goals. I always incorporate 4 Components when I’m developing […]
Sacred Christmas Volume 2 – Giveaway #3
Do you have those composers that you love to play? You wait expectantly for their next release? You know that when you sit down to play through their work that it will be a treat for your ears? Even though I am not a fan of hearing Christmas music ad nauseam this time of year, […]
