Review – Black Key Blast by Wendy Stevens
I had a lot of young beginners in my studio this year, so as Spring Recitals began approaching I went on the search for some solos that would be accessible for the little ones but impressive for the recital. After inquiring about pre-reading solos in the...
Recital Invitations Free from JoyTunes
Recital season is upon us and I am happy to say that all 5 of my recitals are complete! We had a full weekend, but who can complain when you have so many wonderful students. Today we're sharing a free resource that the wonderful folks at JoyTunes have created. If...
A Tour of My Teaching Space
I moved to a new teaching studio this past fall where I am now able to teach alongside a good friend from graduate school. It is nice to share a teaching space with others who share similar teaching philosophies and a passion for teaching piano. My colleague runs...
Christmas Song Mix Up Game
Looking for an exciting Christmas game for your next group class? Try this rhythm game at your next private lesson or group class. Print out the Christmas Song rhythm cards and Christmas Song Titles (or first lines). Each file has 3 pages, with 4 songs per page. When...
Fun with Hemiolas
When you think of hemiolas, what song comes to mind? For me, the following clip contains the ultimate hemiola example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKXKkgQf51A "America" from West Side Story - such a fun song! Today I'm sharing an idea to help introduce students to...
TED Talk Tuesday – A different way to visualize rhythm
You may have seen this video come up on TED last week, but if not, I wanted to make sure you don't miss it! This is a really neat video about visualizing rhythm. It could be interesting to share with adult students who are having trouble with complex rhythms....
Pick It Up – Reviewing Pickup Notes
While it's not hard to explain or understand the concept of pickup notes/measures, it seems like many method books bring it up once and then forget about it for a while. At least my students have forgotten about it until that theory worksheet or new supplemental solo...
Halloween Improv
All of my students can't stop telling me about their Halloween costumes! I'm not sure I'm ready to even think about what I'll dress up as but if these kids are so excited about this holiday so we might as well jump on the band wagon and bring some Halloween fun into...
TED Talk Tuesday – “He looks like he’s enjoying the music”
We are back with another TED talk for you today, but before you watch I have a question for you: when you teach or perform do you look like you are enjoying the music? Notice in this TED talk that the robot seems more human when he bobs his head and seems to be...
Back to School Rock ‘N’ Roll
"How long until the student begins making music?" This question haunts me since the days of critiquing our teaching from recordings during undergrad and grad school. Too often, it's easy to begin with some chatter about the week and while this is great, it's so...
1 2 3 Networking
As we were brainstorming topics a few months ago, we thought of "networking" - this is something we are all striving to do yet have very little time to do and sometimes, it is just hard to do! We all agreed that Arjola was someone we knew to be very talented at...
TED Talk Tuesday – El Sistema
This week's TED talk is not really a talk, but it is definitely worth your time! Watch this engaging performance by the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra, the top youth orchestra in Venezuela. This orchestra is part of the El Sistema program. Founded in 1975, El...