This week’s ‘splainer video is intended for older students, piano parents, and piano teachers. If you have a child studying piano, or if you have people of varying heights all using the same piano bench, you need an adjustable model! Even adults of roughly the same height can need to sit at differing levels due […]
All About Adjustable Benches Read More »
My next ‘splainer video is up! This one shows all of my tricks for having a good hand position at the piano, and includes clips of me demonstrating them with students. These videos are intended to be resources for my students and yours between their lessons. You can assign them to your students to
New Video: How To Have A Great Hand Position At The Piano Read More »
There’s a new video up on my YouTube channel! This one is an explainer on how to read intervals quickly. I’m big on intervallic reading with my students, and in this video, you’ll hear how I teach them to move past the stage of counting lines and spaces when identifying intervals by number, and how
New Video and a Free Halloween Piece Read More »
I think I’ve posted before about how much I enjoy using the Sight Reading Pattern Cards at Jennifer Fink’s Pianimation site. (They’re free!) I use them with every beginner starting at about the 4th lesson while they’re still in pre-reading notation as an introduction to how notes move on the staff, and I continue to
Using Sight Reading Pattern Cards and Updates Read More »
I’m a month into our fall term with now 4 online students and 11 in person, and thankfully, no students have gotten sick – at least not with Covid. If you’ve read my previous posts about my cleaning and masking protocols, I’m happy to say that’s working out well. I’m thrilled to have 6 beginners
I’m Making Videos! Read More »
We piano teachers hold some negative feelings about things people say about piano lessons. One is when parents refer to lessons as “practice,” like soccer practice. At soccer practice, tennis practice, basketball practice, a lot of the time is spent in drills to reinforce movements and techniques. With piano lessons, since we meet only once
While looking for something else today, I discovered a fantastic set of videos by Dr. Peter Schubert of McGill University. Using an exercise first conceived of by Mozart to help a piano student who played well but “had no ideas” for creating her own music, Dr. Schubert coaches a student through the creation of his
Improvisation Inspiration – See How Lame I Am! 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 »
If you’d like to do a summer piano camp with your students who are ages 10-15, look no further! I’ve done all your planning! Piano Boot Camp: Special Ops has everything you need in a 22-page teacher guide and a 30-page student workbook that includes a personal journal and musical exercises. The only materials called
On Sale Now! Piano Boot Camp: Special Ops Read More »
Believe me, I’ve done a lot of work planning your summer piano camp! Especially, if you have students who are at least 10 years old and older! Last summer, I developed and field tested a summer camp curriculum with my own students, and this year, I’m making the lesson plans and student workbook available to
Your Summer Piano Camp Is All Planned! Read More »
