Meet Yenson, Fabienne, and their daughters Eva age 7 and Matilda age 3. They are from a lovely village in Cheshire not too far from Manchester in England. Eva is student in the Busy Kids Program while her mom, Fabienne is part of the Busy Moms program and just recently Matilda has tried out the preschooler program! Continue reading “March Members of the Month”
Tag: online piano lessons
January Member of the Month
Meet the Dauenhauer Family of 8 from Texas! Dustin, DorothyAnne, Aidan (12), Aliyah (10), Daniel (8), Liam (5), Evan (2) and Avery (2mo). This Busy Family loves travel, baseball and shopping! Busy student Aidan is enjoying lessons and has even composed a song with his mom!
Continue reading “January Member of the Month”
December Members of the Month
Meet Maghen and Kyle from Pennsylvania! They have four children 9 year old Natalie, 7 year old Caroline, 4 year old Savannah, and 2 year old Graham.
November Member of the Month
Meet Jessica and her family of six from Utah. She and her husband have two sons and two daughters between the ages of 2-12. This musical family loves the outdoors, if they aren’t outside this family is enjoying a board game or movie night.
Let’s Talk About Piano Technique.
Technique is not a very exciting word. I am envisioning your eyes glazing over at the computer screen as you read the words “piano technique”.
Believe me, if I could come up with a sexier word to introduce this topic, I would!
Even though it sounds rather boring, piano technique is super duper important. And there is SO MUCH to it. Continue reading “Let’s Talk About Piano Technique.”
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”
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”
Summertime Piano Practice: Tips and Ideas
If your family is anything like my family, your summer schedule probably looks a little bit different than your schedule during the school year (maybe even a LOT different). Our days tend to not have quite as much structure and more free time, but we also have some pretty big interruptions to the new “normal” with family vacations or even hosting friends and family as they come to visit. Does this mean summertime piano practice is nonexistent in your house?
Continue reading “Summertime Piano Practice: Tips and Ideas”
Independent Piano Practice: What It Looks Like & Your Role In It
You’ve arrived! Your student is practicing piano independently!
Truly, independent practice is reason for celebration BUT it doesn’t mean that you get to go watch Netflix whenever your student sits down to practice.
You still have an important role to play!
Watch my livecast here to learn what independent piano practice means for YOU — the parent: Continue reading “Independent Piano Practice: What It Looks Like & Your Role In It”
