October Members of the Month

Greetings Busy Kids Do Piano Families!
Allow me to introduce you to our October Member of the Month, William. Don’t miss William’s great advice for other Busy Kids Do Piano students below. He has been a part of BKDP for over 1 year and attends school at home. William works through the BKDP online materials several times a week. This kind of commitment is the way to learn an instrument! Way to go, William!

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Free Printable Piano Flash Cards

 

Learning to play the piano is an exciting and rewarding journey, but it comes with its own set of challenges, especially for young beginners. One of the fundamental skills that budding pianists need to develop is a solid understanding of keyboard geography. Knowing where each note is located on the piano is essential for playing melodies and reading sheet music. I’m thrilled to offer a free printable set of piano flash cards that are designed to help young piano students grasp the layout of the keyboard. In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of keyboard geography, how these flash cards can be a valuable tool, and how to get your hands on this free resource. Continue reading “Free Printable Piano Flash Cards”

5 Ways to Get Out of a Piano Practice Slump

Today, I want to talk about something that many musicians OF ANY AGE experience at some point: the dreaded piano practice slump.
Maybe you’re having a difficult time getting back to regular piano practice because you’ve been traveling or busy and haven’t had a chance to sit down at the piano in a while. Maybe you’re struggling with motivation. Regardless of your reason, I believe that with a little determination and some helpful strategies, we can overcome this together!
Here are a few tips that might help you get out of your piano practice slump:

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August Members of the Month

Allow me to introduce you to our August Members of the Month, the Brander family. They have been a part of Busy Kids Do Piano for over 1 year, and have two boys in the program, Dominic (11) and Allen (8).
The boys attend school at home and access the BKDP online materials several times a week. We love the enthusiasm and commitment, boys!
Melissa, mom to the boys, took 8 years of piano lessons as a young person and has spent some time in music programs through church. She says the boys initially started taking piano lessons from their “Oma” (grandmother) but were unable to continue after she moved onto a boat!
Melissa shares, “Playing piano is important to me so that [the kids] have a solid understanding of music. Additionally, I think that learning to play an instrument brings a lot of brain benefits for people of all ages! We really like the practice challenges to help keep them motivated.”

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July Members of the Month

Allow me to introduce you to our July Members of the Month, Saanvi and her family from Australia. They have been a part of Busy Kids Do Piano for just under a year with their daughter, Saanvi, who is 8 years old. Saanvi attends a local elementary school and digs into the BKDP online materials several times a week. Way to be committed, Saanvi!

The family immigrated from India to Australia, and they all enjoy music, even though neither mom nor dad had any formal training. Likewise, Saanvi had no musical background, but her mom, Ruchi, says her primary reason for keeping her in the BKDP program is to encourage her self-confidence through learning to play and read music.

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May Members of the Month

Allow me to introduce you to our April Members of the Month, the Tare family. They are long-time members, a part of Busy Kids Do Piano for more than two years, and have their son Lanz in the program, who is 17
years old.image2
Lanz attends school at home and works through the BKDP lesson videos 2-3 times a month. Nice work, Lanz!
Lanz started taking piano lessons around 5th grade, but when the pandemic interrupted his learning a couple of years later, he took a break. Mom Jizel shared, “We encouraged him to continue learning piano because we saw his potential and knew the benefits of playing piano. We were thankful when he
enrolled in Busy Kids Do Piano. We love how well this piano program is taught and how it works well with our busy schedule.”

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Broadway Musicals: A Round-Up of Resources

If you could see me in person right now, you’d see my giant smile because April is BROADWAY MONTH for the Busy Kids Do Piano community! That simply means we’re going to learn all about Broadway Musicals this month. I have a deep love for Broadway and could talk about it endlessly. In fact, last month, I took a trip to NYC and was fortunate enough to see three shows in three days! Pure musical heaven.

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I have all kinds of fun Broadway Musical resources I’ve put together for your musical learning fun this month (or any month!). If you follow me over on Instagram, you can check out my quick tour of the Museum of Broadway in this reel, or learn about some of the Broadway careers available to musicians in this post.

BROADWAY MUSICALS PODCAST CONTENT

Over on the podcast, I have two very special episodes with Broadway-themed content.

This episode is a dive into what defines a Broadway musical, and the history of how Broadway came to be.  The episode is full of “fun-facts” like how long Broadway Street actually is, how many theaters dot its vicinity, and how many seats a theater needs to have to be counted among the venues. Then we dive into the history of Broadway, which I find absolutely fascinating. If you can believe it, we as a society have been passionate about seeing live theater and musicals there for several HUNDRED years at this point:

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March Member of the Month

I am excited to introduce to you March’s Member of the Month, Amy Hochstetler.
Hochstetler
Amy has been a member of Busy Kids Do Piano for over 2 years, and her son Henry, 10 years old, is her star piano student. Little brother Jack, 6, gets to listen to all of Henry’s practice sessions. The boys attend school at home, which has helped enable the family to do lots of traveling. This year alone, they’ve visited 9 states!
One of Amy’s favorite things about the Busy Kids Do Piano program is that it’s flexible, able to meet their piano learning needs when they are back home in Maryland.

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February Members of the Month: The Redmond Family

Allow me to introduce you to our February Member of the Month, Alejandra Carranza Redmond.
Alejandra is a newer member, only having been a part of Busy Kids Do Piano for a handful of months, and has two daughters in the program. Monica is 9 years old, and Rebecca is 6. Her other daughter Clara, 2, is the lucky audience for her two older sisters’ performances. The girls attend school at home, which has made it simple to incorporate Busy Kids Do Piano into their learning. They access the BKDP online resources daily, which is surely a way to see more rapid progress. Great job, Redmonds!
BKDP came into their lives after the shutdowns had caused Monica to have to stop taking in-person piano lessons. Here are a few of their answers to our interview questions.

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Piano Student Brag Tags

In my personal experience, when I feel successful at something, I’m more likely to stick with it. The same has proven true for my children as well. I’ve noticed that as their mother, I have a lot of power in how I shape my kids’ experiences; giving them feedback that is positive and encouraging always seems to help them persevere. This is true for piano learning as well, and let’s be honest, learning to play an instrument is not for the faint of heart. A student has to persevere through many iterations of getting the notes wrong before they can finally get them right. That takes some serious stamina, even for the most self-confident among us.   Continue reading “Piano Student Brag Tags”