Just a quick story to share today… I was teaching my homeschool music class this morning, and we started learning about Franz Liszt today. After talking about his life, I played this YouTube video of Evgeny Kissin playing a Liszt etude to listen to as they colored a picture of Liszt. As usual, I had to [...]
“Music is an outburst of the soul.” – Frederick Delius Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send me a message here.
My goodness, because of those two weeks I took off from blogging, I completely forgot to draw the winners of the “Matthew 6:33 Piano Teacher” eBook giveaway! Sorry about the delay. Here are the 5 winners: Rachel Cohick Suz Nona Nancy Potoczky Janelle Congrats to our winners! Winners — stay tuned for an email from [...]
This morning with my homeschool music class, I played this game with my students: As I was lesson planning last night, I was trying to think of a new way to practice the names of the piano keys. My homeschool music class is mostly a music history class, but we’ve been learning basic music/piano concepts [...]
“A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not to dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students creativity enough so that they can go out and find the answers themselves.” – Herbie Hancock Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in [...]
A few weeks ago, I received an email from a 16-year-old homeschooler, asking if I’d answer some interview questions for a research project about piano teaching. I was happy to oblige, and she was willing to let me post my answers here too. It was kind of fun! How old were you when you first [...]
I’m back! I ended up taking two weeks off instead of one, I know. :) But it felt great. It feels great to be back too. At the MTNA National Conference in NYC this year, one of the sessions I attended encouraged teachers to do yearly or quarterly assessments/evaluations of their students. Some teachers accompany [...]
Just a quick post to let you know that I will be taking the week off from blogging. My brother is getting married this weekend, so my husband and I will be staying in Michigan with my family for a few days. And the early part of this week is going to be busy with [...]
A large percentage of my studio right now is beginner/early elementary students. I like having simple and short games to play with them at the end of the lesson that reinforce concepts we are learning in their books. Motor Music Match is a game that I created with these things in mind. Take a look: [...]
A reader sent me this amusing story: I taught a beginning keyboard group experience for 4-5 years olds – before anything was on the market – at a local community center. I had 5 preschoolers per class and we got to know each other very well in the small sessions. I was at the [...]
As I mentioned yesterday, our Spring Recital was Saturday! Here’s how it went down: It was held at the local library. They have an atrium with a Steinway baby grand piano. In the past, I’ve always held recitals at churches (and once at a school). I look for churches with grand pianos that can be [...]
Joy Morin is a piano teacher in Ohio. She enjoys keeping her teaching fresh with new ideas & resources.
