Mike Saville, of the fabulous How to Practice blog, has put together a beautiful ebook called, “Complete Beginner’s Guide to Practice.” Once you register a free account on the site, you can download the colorful 55-page ebook for free. In addition to lots of great tips and inspirational quotes, the book contains handy lists and […]
Practice Incentives
No Hands Left Behind!
The key-notes blog recently posted a question and answer regarding how to strengthen and train the left hand. I thought the tips shared were helpful to keep in mind for both personal practice and when working with students. I’ve got a double-note drill pattern that my teacher taught me several years ago that is still […]
Monday Mailbag – Setting Up a Website for Students
Can you talk more about your “Studio Splog” website? I’ve been so intrigued the few times I went on and saw the variety and interest that your students showed in postings on it! How can you set something like that up and what guidelines have you given them? Sure! It’s a website I started last […]
Monday Mailbag – Age Appropriate Practice Incentives
I love your incentive ideas! Just wondering if you use them with your entire studio, or only up to a certain age. I have always felt uncertain about students perhaps outgrowing incentives, and have generally phased them out by high school. Yes, I use my practice incentive themes with the whole studio. It’s definitely a […]
Monday Mailbag – Special Student Awards
I love your Music Matters Blog. So inspirational!! But I have a question regarding your practice incentives. How can a teacher pull out all the bells and whistles to make this what I’d want it to be when I teach in my home – in the living room to be exact? I’d love to have […]
Getting Ready for Another Year (or…random ramblings)
For quite a few years now I’ve been taking off teaching for the month of August to give myself time to travel, come up with a practice incentive theme for the next year, catch up on other projects, do lesson planning, and hopefully feel put together by the time my students return for another year […]













