Songbird Piano Lessons

 Rubato A flexible tempo

 T-rexes, raptors, Silvisaurus, and Brachiosaurus all roamed...    The studio for the entire duration of September. ;)    Sometimes in highly unusual locations!    Welcome to Dinosaur Month and my not-so-prehistoric studio! This month we had a lot of fun, using these plastic reptiles as teaching aids. During the first week, dinosaurs stuffed in plastic Easter eggs helped kids review concepts that they learned last year and provided new students with an icebreaker matching game. Online students had a print-out page version of this.     A spinner with dinosaur-themed rhythms worked equally well for in-person and online students. In-person students used the spinner; online students used a dice!    While a dinosaur-track worksheet helped online students ID their white keys, in-person students used the actual dinosaurs to practice note reading and naming.    And finally, while I don't have a picture of it, all my students wrapped it up with a dinosaur composing activity!  By the way, I&

 Staccato Short and detached

 I couldn't think of any piano-related stories to share with you today. So you get to hear a little more on some of the handbell mishaps that I briefly referenced in the post  Bells are Ringing.  Namely, mishaps involving gloves.    Of course, if a mishap happened during practice, it was no big deal. When the director would look up to see what had happened, the person could just shrug and say, "Sorry, I grabbed the wrong bell." But naturally, most of our mishaps didn't happen during practice. They happened during concerts.     We wore gloves to protect the bells from getting tarnished by our skin's natural oils. This was all fine and good, as long as you remembered where you put your gloves right before the dessert intermission. During practice, we just left our gloves at our spot. During concerts, there were two choirs playing, so you couldn't just do that as easily. There were several mad scrambles as ringers tried to find both their gloves following an inte

 Largo Slow and broad

 Today's post is for your budding musicians!     We're one week back into lessons. Students, have you gotten back into your piano routine yet? If not, I want to share some things with you today that will help you in your practice routine. Ready? Let's go! <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/female-hands-playing-old-piano-closeup_31621867.htm#query=kids%20piano&position=18&from_view=keyword">Image by pvproductions</a> on Freepik Try to practice at the same time every day. The earlier you do it, the less likely you are to forget it. If you're really ambitious, and your family doesn't mind, you can try practicing before you head off to school. (Make sure your playing isn't waking the rest of your family up!) For most of you, that might not work so well, so set a time that works for you and stick to it -- every day as much as possible!  While you practice, watch your hand position! You all know what good hand position should loo

 It's back! *cheers* Forte Loud

 Well, the piano year is officially starting, and from the students I've seen so far, I think it's safe to say that they are just as excited as I am!     If you've seen my FaceBook page, you know that the theme this month is Dinosaur Month. Which means I should have lots of cool photos to show you in a few weeks. But for now, to celebrate, enjoy The Piano Guy's video of the Jurassic Park theme. 

 It's official. Only three more days till lessons start! *wild cheers*    With that in mind, you may have questions about piano lessons. If you are looking for a piano teacher for your child this fall, let me give you some links where you can find various answers to questions you might have.  What are your rates? You can find those on my  Rates and Contact Me Page. What's a good age to get my child started on piano? Contrary to popular opinion, preschoolers are not too little to start on their music journey. I accept students as young as three years old. Want to know why?  This blog post addresses three reasons why lessons for preschoolers really work!  (Plus I've also had a preschool student. So I know from experience that it works, not just that it should work theoretically.) Do online lessons work? Absolutely! And remember, I will gladly teach online anywhere in Canada.  You can click here  to see if online lessons is a good fit for your family. I have other posts that a