Month: August 2018

September Members of the Month

Meet the Idris family from small town Pennsylvania! Dewi, Denny and their 11 year old daughter Abigail.


Q: What’s your musical background?
My Husband (Denny) and I grew up without any formal musical education.
Denny self taught himself guitar when he was in highschool.
Actually, I (Dewi) had a piano lesson for like.. 2 classes (if this counts) with private teacher, but on the third meetup, she quit (Gasp!) Not because of me, but because she found out that she was pregnant and had bad morning sickness and (this is not related to musical background, but… anyway..) A few months later my mom signed me up for dance class. After just one class (guess what?) this teacher also quit with the same reason (I know…I know.. you must be thinking that I was some kind of a wizard-fertile-machine kid back then, me too :D). Back to music, I know one song that I can play on the piano, Beyer no.8. That song introduced Abby to piano and made her want to learn piano.

Abby has been playing violin since she was in 3rd grade, she is starting 7th grade now, so she is pretty familiar with reading music. She is also a member of the junior symphony orchestra in our county. Continue reading “September Members of the Month”

Piano Practice Tricks That Will Change Your Life

I sometimes feel as though I can’t come up with another way to motivate my strong-willed child to practice. I’ve tried all the piano practice tricks. I’m out of creativity.

Or maybe you have a wiggly worm who can’t sit still longer than a few minutes and you aren’t sure how to get anything accomplished.

Or maybe you have a perfectionist who becomes immediately frustrated when she makes her first mistake during piano practice. Continue reading “Piano Practice Tricks That Will Change Your Life”

Creating a Piano Practice Space

When a parent of a student calls me and says, “Johnny is really resistant to piano practice lately,” the first question I ask is, “Where is your piano located?”

More often than not, I’ll learn that a student’s piano is located in a cold, damp basement or in their bedroom, leading the student to feel like he’s “missing out on the action” when he goes to practice piano.

This doesn’t mean your piano practice space needs to be a Pinterest worthy room of expensive decor and laminated practice charts.

What SHOULD a piano practice space look like? Read on for my tips… Continue reading “Creating a Piano Practice Space”

August Members of the Month

Meet the Hawkins Family! Ashley and Karen and their three children Sam (13), Allie (10), Kaili (5), Eliana (2). These Busy Kids are very excited to become pianists and love sharing their new skills with relatives.

Q: What’s your musical background?

I (Karen) took piano lessons from age 6-12, but I kept playing piano in our church and for my middle school choir.

Q: Anything fun or unique you’d like to share about your family?

A fun fact about us is that we just found out that we are related to someone who fought in the American revolutionary war! Continue reading “August Members of the Month”