Recently, I went to my client’s home for our regularly scheduled piano lesson. I was greeted at the door by my client’s father asking me to assign more material for them to work on during practice time. I was thrilled to hear that they had a practice schedule and that my client was moving quickly through her new material. What became evident as our lesson progressed was that she had the notes down pat, but was paying little to no attention to the other parts of the music. We then spent 10 minutes of our lesson relearning the piece with dynamics, phrasing, and a steady beat. At the end of our lessons, we discussed that practice time should be used to not only learn the notes, but to also work on the other aspects of the music as well. While it was a great conversation to have, I thought creating a concrete list of things to work on would be helpful for not only my student but for her parents as well. I created three pdf documents that I am Read More
Tag: teaching reasources
3 Quick Tips for a New School Year
Where oh where has summer gone? I feel like just yesterday we were at the end of May and now we’re almost half-way through August! School is just around the corner for many of my clients so here are a couple quick tips to get the new year off to a good start! 1. Establish a routine! Transitioning back to school can take it’s toll. There are so many new experiences, schedules, activities, and all around changes that it can make a person crazy! Having a set routine can help ease part of that transition and set up you up for a successful rest of the year. The fewer surprises and rushed tasks there are in the morning and evening, the happier the whole family will be! Plan ahead for the next day and let the kids know about any change that may upset this routine. 2. Set specific times/goals for practicing. If a child knows that at 5:30 every day they sit at the piano for 10 minutes or play each of their songs 3 times, it’s going Read More
7 Reasons I Love Using YouTube
I love YouTube for so many reasons! Here are just a few reasons why YouTube is something I use on regular basis as well as some idea of how you can use it! 1. Instant access to music, comedy, demonstrations, talks, and teaching videos! I use youtube to learn new songs, listen to things I forgot about, learn new skills, and listen to live performances. You can listen to/watch whatever you want and for FREE!! Also, there are probably multiple recordings of songs, so you get exactly what you are looking for. 2. Teaching What a great way to show my students new songs, encourage them explore new music, and show them what performers look like. Often my students can sing or play a song, but have no idea how to act or perform it. By looking at live performances, my students get a better idea of what they need to do! 3. Learning about my clients My clients love sharing their music preferences with me and I love learning about them. Often I want to know more about the Read More