I really appreciate this quote that I came across this morning by Carol Barnier, one of the featured speakers at our local homeschool convention: “It’s always been important to me to give people something they can take home and use right away. Whether it’s teaching fractions to a distractible student or reconnecting with the heart […]
Teaching
Consecutive Club
In the latest e-mail from Yellow Cat Studio, Sarah shared her idea for the Consecutive Club, a simple way to keep students (and herself!) accountable for spending time at the piano every day. I really like this idea, and may try to incorporate something similar into my practice incentive theme next year! We did something […]
Music Education and Therapy – Guest Post by Marcela De Vivo
My oldest son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was a toddler, and ever since we’ve tried countless treatments and alternative therapies to help him live as rich a life as possible. Our most recent exploration was into the world of music therapy, and it was astonishing how well he responded to it. Since […]
Friday Film Find
With Easter this past Sunday, the song “The Holy City” came to mind so I looked it up on YouTube and found this gem: What an impressive example of embracing any environment or equipment to present a beautiful musical experience! (I probably would have complained to no end about having to play such a piece […]
How to Learn Intervals – A New Guide from Easy Ear Training
Christopher Sutton, of Easy Ear Training, has just put together a very helpful guide on How to Learn Intervals. After a brief explanation of intervals (with accompanying sound examples), he identifies three approaches to learning intervals by ear: Reference Songs Solfege The “Nike Method” Check out his handy guide for specifics on each of these!
Monday Mailbag – How to Develop an Internal Sense of Pulse
I want my students to feel an internal beat; it seems that any kind of external beat (counting, tapping, metronome, etc.) can be “warped” or ignored while concentrating on note location, etc. But, I’m having trouble with some students who never seem to get it (it doesn’t matter what song it is). When approaching a […]
