Sometimes it’s fun to look back over some of my old blog posts. I posted this one WAY back in 2015! I think it’s one of my better posts, so sharing it again. ————- Last Friday, I provided the program for our local Music Teachers’ Association. My title was “Unlocking Your Students’ Creative Potential: A […]
As I approach another one of those birthdays that starts with the number 5, I’m shocked to realize just how long I’ve been teaching piano. I opened my piano studio in 1987, almost 3 decades ago. I took about 3 years off during graduate school and when my daughter was a baby, but still, it’s
Reflecting on Nearly 3 Decades of Teaching: What Has Worked Read More »
Apple iPad Mini Piano by iadwords Technology has been slow in coming to the traditional piano studio. Most teachers over 40, like myself, didn’t use anything more techy than a digital metronome and a cassette tape recorder in our own study. However, if we want to stay relevant in the decades to come, that means
Embracing Technology in Piano Study Read More »
The 88 Creative Keys Educator’s conference only lasted 3 days, but my head is still there. Yesterday, I went to the grocery store. I just needed a couple of items, but I also came home with a beach ball, dry erase crayons, some cute little rubbery animals, and a magnetic fishing pole. This is what
What Will My Teaching Philosophy Be In Regard To Improvisation? Read More »
Photo by wiccked.School is out, and my studio is closed until June! I’m sleeping in, taking it easy, and making no apologies for it! I wrote this post about five years ago, and I believe it even more today, so I’m sharing it again. Rests are good – quarter rests, half rests, whole rests, even
Rests Are Essential Read More »
When I was a young piano student, my teachers never asked me to improvise. There were no gold stars awarded for “doodling” – no certificates, recital trophies, or pins. So, I never did it. And that’s a shame. Bach “doodled” until he became so good at it that he could test out new organs by
Improvisation: Nurturing The Ear That Sees And The Eye That Hears Read More »
Photo source Laura’s Note: Today, I’m pleased to welcome Doug Hanvey to The Piano Studio as a guest blogger. Doug is a pianist, piano teacher, improvisor, composer, and author who blogs about piano teaching at Portland Piano Lab. I’ve already had the opportunity to put some of these suggestions to use in my studio, with
Improvisation Master Class: Letting Judgment Go Read More »
Soaring I wrote a post last Tuesday that was a manifesto against spending any more lesson time teaching students to perform from memory. (Mind you, I’m not totally against memorizing music – just against the idea that a memorized performance is the only legitimately good performance, and against inflicting what I believe is unnecessary stress
image: http://psychologykisml.wikispaces.com/ Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License The events of my last several days have been staggering. In the space of about a week, I’ve learned of the deaths of several friends and friends of friends. These events plus the news of terrorism and the devastating Nepal earthquake have me doing some ruminating. I’ve been
Performing from Memory…or Not Read More »
Photo by Wel Han Frank Lin Today, I had the most delightful lesson with the most adorable 6-year-old boy. He’s my only “little” this year – actually, my only one in two years now. I remember in former years feeling so pressured to cover so much material in the first lesson because I wanted to
Letting The Agenda Go Read More »
