It’s that time of year again! I’m in the throes of preparing for our Piano Expeditions: To Italy with Vivaldi and His Four Seasons piano camp next week and also working on pulling together ideas and plans for next year’s practice incentive theme. So in light of that, I’ll be clearing out my studio from […]
Free Resources
Free Practice-Related Downloads for Musicians and Teachers
Gerald Klickstein’s seasonal newsletter is always chock full of links to various articles and resources for musicians. His book, The Musician’s Way, still stands out in my mind as one of the most insightful and practical that I’ve read on the topic of practicing. In his Summer 2023 newsletter, he linked to an Efficient Practice […]
Carnival of the Animals Remix
Anyone who’s been around here a while knows that I am a huge fan of Carnival of the Animals. It’s made its way into the theme of two of my piano camp programs! I was thrilled to discover recently that the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra performed a Carnival of the Animals: Remix that “takes viewers through […]
Guide to Contemporary Educational Piano Composer Websites
Several times now I’ve heard Dennis Alexander mention his personal website and how few teachers seem to know it exists. And several times now I’ve forgotten about it! So I decided that maybe if I make a point of writing about it, I’ll be more inclined to remember it. And while I was at it, […]
Teaching Piano Technique to Beginning Students
Tim Topham recently wrote a fabulous article that presents 4 Tips for Teaching Beginner Technique to piano students. He outlines the importance of non-legato touch, emphasizes forming a naturally curved hand, discusses naming musical gestures, and describes rotating the wrist. These closely parallel some of the technique principles I’ve discovered over the years and incorporate […]
32 Free Folk Songs and Popular Tunes for Easy Piano
One area of particular interest for me is folk songs from different countries. Especially when I’m putting together the Piano Expeditions piano camp curriculum, I enjoy trying to find folk songs from the country we’re “visiting” and see if they can be adapted for use in our week of piano camp. I was recently checking […]
