As a piano teacher, I make sure my students have many opportunities to share their musical gifts through piano recitals, playing for church or school talent shows. Even with my online students, I provide an online recital hall and suggestions for holding recitals at home. But what if your student suffers from performance anxiety? Continue reading “Reducing Performance Anxiety”
Tag: learning piano at home
When a Student Can Play By Ear…
Sometimes students will come to me for piano lessons with a strong ability to play by ear in place already. It could be that the student has spent time listening to favorite songs on iTunes and picking out those melodies on the piano. Alternatively, a student might hear me play a piece of music she is working on in a lesson and, rather than reading the music, rely on her memory of what the piece sounds like in order to learn it.
It can be difficult to figure out how to approach teaching a student like this piano.
Do we completely ignore theory and technique and musical scores in favor of just learning pop hits by ear?
Do we start from the very beginning and scrap all the pop music in favor of meticulous theory and music-reading? Continue reading “When a Student Can Play By Ear…”
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.”
Reinforcing Ledger Lines
My 9-year-old daughter and piano student is working her way through Level 4 of my Busy Kids program and transitioning to independent practice. As we were skimming a new piece of music and she noticed many notes were written on ledger lines, she got a little panicky. She grabbed a pencil, figured out what the ledger line notes were and wrote in the names. Continue reading “Reinforcing Ledger Lines”
Teaching Expressive Piano Playing
I often attend workshops and conferences for piano teachers and have the opportunity to observe adjudication sessions with piano students from many different age groups. Expressive piano playing ALWAYS comes up during these sessions. Continue reading “Teaching Expressive Piano Playing”
Brain Breaks for Piano Practice
When my daughter was in kindergarten, I often volunteered in her classroom. Upon my first visit, I was struck by a brilliant concept I had never heard of or experienced: brain breaks. Continue reading “Brain Breaks for Piano Practice”
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”
