Our local Ballet Wichita organization performed a series of ballets in various parks, including one just down the street from us. It was a perfect occasion for an outing with a couple of my nephews (who also happened to be piano camp students who were familiar with the Carnival of the Animals suite!). They loved […]
Videos
Educational Piano Music from Polish Composers
One of my favorite ways of learning about new or favorite piano music has historically been via attending showcases at conferences or workshops at our local music store. Since most of those opportunities have vanished in the last year, I was delighted to recently find out about a project of Podstrona Music that aims to […]
How Well Do You Know Your Piano Scales?
A recent video by the always creative Tim Topham features 20 Ways to Teach (or Play) Scales on the Piano: I’ve used a handful of these before, but especially like the idea of playing each scale with only one finger – for both theoretical purposes and to encourage the technique of weighted arms and whole […]
Free Videos for Teaching Young Piano Students
Renowned piano pedagogue Fred Karpoff, of Entrada Piano, recently announced his new free video series, Teaching Little Hands. So far he has uploaded video clips on Encouraging Improv, Arm Weight Drops, and Counting and Tapping Process. I have always loved and learned so much from observing masterclasses, so I’m thrilled to be able to watch […]
Imagine Symphony Live Premiers this Wednesday
Thanks to a successful $20,000+ Kickstarter campaign, Imagine Symphony Live will premier free to the public this Wednesday, at 5:45 p.m. (PCT) followed by a live Q&A with the creators. The film short is a collaboration between Musicians from Central Oregon Symphony along with cinematographer Bradley Lanphear, TV and film composer Chris Thomas, and producer/director […]
The Cliburn Organization Relaunches Cliburn Kids
In the wake of this year’s pandemic, The Cliburn organization launched a music education site for kids. Now they’ve completed relaunched Cliburn Kids as a “robust online music education program” and it looks fabulous! Most episodes are less than 10 minutes and feature engaging Classical music selections with commentary by Buddy Bray that encourages students […]
