When I see teachers doing amazing things… it makes my heart sing. Last week Anissa reached out to let me know about the unique way she welcomed students back for the new school year! She took the #myjam idea and ran with it. And...
Read more
This probably isn’t news to teachers who see me in the forums or on FB live videos… but in case you haven’t heard: I’m kind of addicted to a game called NoteSpeed. My students and I use it all the time in the studio...
Read more
The Christmas lights are down, snowmen are put away, and this morning I brought up my Valentine’s Day wreath to decorate the front door! Studio decorations will come out next week. ‘Tis the season of love! And since I love my...
Read more
As mentioned in my previous musings (see Part 1) , my piano clubs were split into two different age groups: a younger group and an older group. The Crunch Club was intended for ages 6-12, and was appropriate for students who were...
Read more
Instead of full-out piano camps/workshops this year, I decided to run “clubs” that met four times throughout the summer. This was a big change for my studio, and while I was a bit nervous about doing this at first, overall I felt it...
Read more
Have you ever struggled with teaching rhythmic values? Who am I kidding — this would probably make a better statement than a question. Let’s try this again: We all have struggled with teaching rhythmic values at one time or...
Read moreThis blog post comes from Brandy Woods, a piano teacher and blogger who lives close enough that we will have to have coffee together someday. (How cool is that?) You’ve just enrolled your preschooler into private piano lessons! You and your...
Read moreTeaching chords in your studio? Here are 5 creative ways to teach or reinforce chord concepts such as inversions, chord quality, and lead sheet reading. These activities are great for private lessons or group lessons! Best of all: Most of them...
Read moreHey everyone! Thought I’d share a live video that I did earlier this week… this one’s all about activities that I use in my studio for young piano students. (Spoiler: You’ll get to see those cool rhythm shakers in action...
Read moreFinding “off bench” activities for very young piano students can sometimes feel a little bit tricky. They don’t have enough music theory knowledge to play the games you use with regular beginners, and most of the cool music...
Read moreJust a little snapshot of Caroline as she works on syncing up with a backing track from Supersonics Piano Plus. The pieces she’s working on come from the Supersonics Piano Blast Off! Galaxy Pack by Daniel McFarlane, which contains a...
Read moreCoffee with Ray has been sitting in my “to read” pile for the past several weeks. While I will admit to peeking through a few pages, I’ve been saving it for my trip to Vermont at the end of March. Recently I had a really unique...
Read more