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Recital Prep, Part 2: Things Students Need to Know
OK, everyone! Here is the students' part of the blog posts. Parents with young children, please go over this and explain it back to your children. Older students, don't skip anything! On Friday or Saturday before the recital, flag your books! Put a sticky note on the page with the song you are playing, so you can flip to it easily and quickly at the recital! If you have loose sheet music, make sure you have it with you (preferably in a binder and flagged, or glued to a piece of cardboard). If you're playing from a book, and you have a page turn and haven't memorized the second page, get your mom or dad to photocopy pages so you don't have to do a page turn. Unless, of course, you've already talked with me about having me turn your pages for you. (This does not apply if you're playing from memory, though it won't hurt to bring your books along anyways even if you're not planning on using them.) Does it make you nervous to play in front of people? I...
Recital Prep, Part 1: Things Parents Need to Know
All right, piano parents! Recital time is just around the corner, and it's your budding musician's time to shine! It's a busy time of year, I know. But please take a minute to read this so you can help your young pianists to really shine their best at the upcoming recital. :) I know you're probably going to think this is obvious... but please make sure your child is practicing. It's not going to help their confidence if they lollygag about practice until the day before the recital. It's one of those times when it's perfectly OK to be the mean mom (or dad). Trust me, it will be worth it. Make sure you and your family arrive at the church on time (a few minutes before 2:45 P.M.). Check the address ahead of time, so you know where you're going! Please be respectful of church property while we are there, and remind your children not to run in the sanctuary, play with things in the ch...
September Update: Medieval Month Returns!
Hello, all! So... I'm starting to realize that regular blogging is... ...harder than it looks. Mostly because browsing other people's content is more fun than creating my own. 😆 So, yes, I finally decided that October would be a throwback to 2020's Knights and Princesses Theme . Except, instead of reusing any of the games I created then, I came up with a whole new set of games. Because why go the easy way, right? As usual, I forgot to take pictures, and had to recreate photos of my activities. Which is too bad, because my opening week activity was pretty good. At least, in my books. It was kind of based on the escape room idea... as much as you can have an escape room when your studio is in an open-concept basement. ;) The "prison" was made out of string. Students had to solve a series of musical riddles to "escape the dungeon." In the second week, I had two differ...
Attention! Feedback wanted for Theme Month!
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Hi, everyone, If you follow me on Facebook (see link to your left), you might have seen already that I put out a request recently. The request goes like this: Every September, I do a theme month. We've had a lot of fun in the last few years with Knights & Princesses month , Jungle Month , Dinosaur Month , and Viking Month . But this year, I need ideas. As you can see, I've tried to make previous theme months pretty epic. :) This year, I am totally open to suggestions. Do you want to see Knights & Princesses come back? Have you got an idea for a theme month that I haven't thought of yet? If you're already a piano parent, what was your child's favourite theme month? Comment below or shoot me an email! Top: Dinosaur note reading Bottom, L to R: Viking rhythms. Jungle Hands & Sounds. The Royal Scepter Flashcard Review.
YouTube Tutorials: To use or not to use?
A couple months ago, I blogged about why taking piano lessons is superior to using an app. However, while there are six very good reasons in that post about why you should take piano lessons and not rely on an app to learn piano, there's also a flip side to that coin. That flip side is that technology can be a genuine aid to learning. Now, I'm not a high-tech teacher, comparatively. I do offer online lessons , an option which can work really well for some, and that I'm quite comfortable using. But there are other teachers who are way more techy than me. I don't use a lot of music apps... except one. As you might have guessed from the title, that would be YouTube. So, let's explore the pro's and con's of YouTube piano tutorials! Con's The biggest one is this: YouTube tutorials, by their very nature, cannot possibly teach you correct technique. And correct technique is ...
April-May-June-July Update (why do I write these again?)
Whoops. Honestly, my goal is to blog once every two weeks. Not every three months. Well, let's see how it goes to do a three-month recap all at once! April The biggest highlight of April, hands-down, was watching two of my students perform at Showcase. One of those two got recommended for Provincials, and she performed there in May. Whoo-hoo! Meanwhile, in the studio, I began finding out two things, both of which surprised me: Some of my students were composing. On their own. When I heard their compositions, I was actually able to help them improve. Now, the reason why #2 is a big deal to me is this: A few years ago, when a student would show me a composition, I'd be in a mental panic. I was proud of them for owning and creating their own music, but I felt helpless to direct them as to improving that music or doing more composing. So the fact that I was able to give input, ...
Piano Prep for Parents and Students
Hello, everyone! Yes, normally this is two posts, not one. But as it so happens, this year none of my students are doing a recital for the first time. I still think review is important, but I also think that it can be condensed a bit. ;) So, without further ado! For parents Make sure you and your family arrive at the church on time (a few minutes before 2:30 P.M.). Check the address ahead of time, so you know where you're going! Also please sanitize your hands upon entering. Help your child feel relaxed before the recital. Many children get very nervous before a recital, which doesn't help them play their best! All your children are prepared for this. And, much as we'd like it if everything went perfectly, mistakes do happen and they're not a big deal. Remind them of these things. They will be fine! Please clap for each student when they finish playing. All of them...
Word of the Week
Will be the same as last week's word ( Rubato ) because I forgot to post it on Facebook last week! Sorry, everyone.
Word of the Week
Rubato A flexible tempo Fun fact about this word: It originally comes from an Italian word meaning, "to rob." When playing rubato, you "rob time" from one part of the song (meaning play a little faster than normal), and you "give it back" in another part (meaning play a little slower than normal). You don't have to remember all that for next week's Word Whizzes point!
Why Take Piano Lessons When I Can Use an App?
These days, it seems like there's an app for everything. I mean, I'm not even 30, and I distinctly remember the first time I saw a smartphone. It was my older sister's, and it was the absolute latest technology available. My older brother and my dad would continue using flip phones for several more years. (Actually, Dad clung to the flip phone for as long as he possibly could. He finally has a smartphone now.) My mom didn't even own a cell phone. My friend's dad, a computer programmer, had a Blackberry. Now people depend on their smartphones. And you can get an app for literally anything, from budgeting to cooking to... learning piano. As you can imagine, we piano teachers are not crazy about the latter apps! But why is this? Are we just anti-technology in this department because it takes away part of our income? Or is there a real, genuine reason for taking actual piano lessons above using an...
Whew! I'm back! (I think)
After a very busy couple of months, I'm finally writing my long-overdue update! Thank you for your patience. You know, I never realized that I'd be one of those bloggers... the kind who has intentions to blog... but the weeks slip by... and next thing you know, it's been months since I've actually written anything. I think, though, that today's post will prove, if nothing else: I really have been busy. Very busy. Weddings Within the last six months, two of my friends have been engaged and blissfully wed. Congratulations, ladies! Their weddings, as it turned out, wound up happening one weekend after the other. Both asked me to play for them. Now, to make it clear, I don't advertise playing piano for weddings. As part of my career, I'd be too picky about which ones I took and which ones I didn't to make it worth my while. However, this was different. These are my friends we're talking about. So ...
Word of the Week
This week, Word of the Week is a bit different. Since I didn't post a Word of the Week over the weekend, students can tell me any music vocabulary word and its definition to get their point this week. To get you started, you can click here to check out previous words.
You Know What? Let's Do a Throwback Thursday
Whoops. I definitely messed up my blogging schedule again. Sorry. Next week I'll have an update for you (and hopefully some photos of me playing for a wedding for the first time!). This week, I decided that we'll take a look at some old posts. (Yes, I do that a lot these days. That and Pinspiration -- inspiration from Pinterest. Just don't have much else to write, I guess.) Here's a fun post about one of my teaching inspirations, back in the days of few students, dark brown flooring and walls, and '70's-style room dividers. (Hint: I still have those dividers. They're just covered in a less garish fabric now.) I'm happy my décor has updated, but reading this post makes me think that maybe I should pull out the masking tape again.... This story about Mr. C was my very first post when I started blogging in earnest, and it's still among the three most popular posts on my blog. Check it out to read about how ...
January Update
Hey! For a change, I have something to write about in my January update! I'll take a minute to talk about a couple of different things below that are new.... Lesson Planning and Organization I've made some updates to my lesson planning system. This does not mean, unfortunately, that I've completely eliminated the "oops-doing-another-lesson-on-the-fly" syndrome. I wish it did. But sometimes life gets in the way of lesson planning. However, moving my system from a notebook to a binder means that I can also keep the games I want to use for different students together with each respective students' lesson plan. It also means, because each student has their own page, I can easily see what we did and didn't cover, and take notes for specific things that need to be covered. Also, now that I've got my games sorted into a filing cabinet, life is so much better. (Previously the games were in the ...
On Harmony and Art "Rules"
I realized I had to blog today. And I juggled my lack of inspiration against the stack of my harmony student's work that still needs to be marked and sent back. And then I thought of my own journey through the harmony textbooks. In Grade 9, while I was struggling to remember and follow all the rules, my Grade 9 teacher said, "Yeah, and then you get into studying music history, and you discover that all the famous composers ever did was break the rules anyways." That discouraged me. Why was I learning this stuff if it didn't matter? If no one regarded it? If the rules were only there for the exam and nothing more? In Grade 10, I silently carried this attitude over to my new theory teacher. She didn't reprimand it. Maybe, because I was the silent and obliging type, she didn't even notice it. Instead she took me to her piano. She made me play the wrong harmonies, the rule-breakers. Then she had ...
Blogging Schedule Update
Hi, all, Just as a heads up, I won't be blogging on a weekly basis anymore. Not that I was doing that consistently anyways. But from now on, until further notice, it's official. I will be blogging once every two weeks -- the end-of-the-month updates, and tips, thoughts, and memoirs in between. As always, please still head over to my contact page to get in touch. Or you can click on this page to learn about accompaniment services. Finally, the most important page on this blog you possibly can click on is this one. (I know that's vague. I did that on purpose. Hoping to pique your curiousity and that sort of thing....😉) Stay warm!
OK... finally writing November and December updates
Whoops! I never got around to writing a November update. Or a December one. And to top it all off, I also forgot to take pictures. Actually, correction: At my recital, I forgot to ask my mom to take pictures for me. Normally my brother does that. But he was dashing home to grab the dessert I hadn't thought of bringing. Yeah. So, let's start with November! Composer Month Composer Month this year went well. As the month drew to a close, it became clear that the Chopin team was not winning. At 58 points, they came in last. Poor Chopin. The Brahms team started off with a bang, and were in the lead for at least the first two weeks. But at 76 points, they took second place. Not bad, Brahms. The Tchaikovsky team won at 87 points! They owed 65 of those points to three students, who were all in the lead for individuals who brought in the most facts. Two of them ti...