One of my early music inspirations was the CD “World’s Favorite Piano Music” by Van Cliburn. I think because of that and because of the opportunity I had to hear him in person at the 2006 MTNA Conference, he will always have a special place in my heart. The piano competition he began in 1962 […]
Teaching
Monday Mailbag
One of the fallouts of my computer crash several weeks ago is that I no longer have access to all of my e-mails. In particular, I had over fifty Monday Mailbag questions saved for upcoming postings. So…it looks like we’re going to have to start over from scratch. If you have a questions you’d like […]
Friday Film Find – Triumphant
Jerald Simon, of Music Motivation, has put together an inspiration video dedicated to athletes everywhere. I assume this also includes musicians, who have been dubbed “elite athletes of the small muscles.” 🙂 This would be a great film to show students to give them an idea of one of the many ways that music can […]
40 Interview Questions for Prospective Piano Students
Years ago I started conducting and interview and evaluation/assessment with every prospective piano student and their parents. This is so helpful in getting to know the families, the individual student, and their musical expectations and aptitude. I’ve recently been coming up with some new questions that I’d like to add to the forms I use, […]
Back in Business!
After a couple of weeks with no computer I finally “bit the bullet” and forked over a big chunk of my hard-earned savings to do something I’ve been considering for years. I officially converted my studio to all Mac-based technology. Having owned three Dell laptops and being fully invested in PC software, this was a […]
When Teaching Beats Doing Laundry
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 […]
