Category Archives: advanced level

Play forte – but NOT accented…

By joy (admin) | Published: 2 April 2010

You know, learning to play an instrument is all about making breakthroughs.  There are so many things to consider and train yourself to do.  It’s a complicated process!  You are never done learning.  There’s always room for improvement. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been realizing that when I play forte on the piano — [...]

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Teaching 2-Against-3 Using Movement

By joy (admin) | Published: 18 March 2010

In answer to a question a received last week, I thought I’d talk a little bit more about teaching 2 against 3, as I had mentioned in a post about teaching music through movement. To tell you the truth, I have not needed to teach 2 against 3 very often so far, and when I [...]

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12 Tips for Memorizing Piano Music

By joy (admin) | Published: 2 March 2010

I’ll be the first one to admit: memorizing music does not come easily to me.  I really have to work at it, and it takes a lot of time.  Over the past couple of years, I have been reading and trying out everything I could find about memorizing music, and I’ve come up with a [...]

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Teacher Resources @ Clavier’s Piano Explorer site

By joy (admin) | Published: 19 November 2009

Many piano teachers subscribe to Clavier magazine, and some even subscribe their students to Clavier’s Piano Explorer, the music magazine for kids.  I recently found out that their site contains some great resources for teaching about various composers and concepts in music history.  This month, there have some great resources about Beethoven, including: Links to YouTube recordings, [...]

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My Favs: Jim Brickman solo piano music

By joy (admin) | Published: 20 October 2009

In a post last week, I mentioned Jim Brickman — composer of new age solo piano music (as well as some pop music with vocals).  His music is great to play when you are stressed out and just want to play something relaxing that doesn’t require as much concentration as classical music.  =D  I thought [...]

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Free piano arrangements of anime music

By joy (admin) | Published: 16 October 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwxbelTTsjE”>orchestral

I recently received a new transfer adult student.  She’s an excellent sight-reader and a fun person to be around!  She has a great interest in anime (for those of you not familiar with anime [AH-nee-may], it is “a style of animation developed in Japan,” according to Answers.com).  Shehas been teaching me quite a bit about anime [...]

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Free Sheet Music @ pianostreet.com

By joy (admin) | Published: 22 September 2009

Free sheet music is always a good thing, right?  :] By signing up for a free Silver membership over at pianostreet.com, you’ll have access to free pdfs of classical music scores, including: Bach – 15 Inventions Beethoven – 32 Sonatas Burgmuller – 3 pieces from 25 Easy and Progressive Studies Schumann – Traumerei Tchaikovsky – [...]

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Book Review: Soprano on Her Head

By joy (admin) | Published: 11 September 2009

Amazon.com Widgets I just finished reading a marvelous book, called Soprano on Her Head: Right-Side-Up Reflections on Life and Other Performances, by Eloise Ristad.  My piano professor recommended I read this book during a lesson when we were discussing performance anxiety (which I experience frequently, I must admit). In this easy-to-read, humorous book, Ristad shares her [...]

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Playing-By-Ear Activities

By joy (admin) | Published: 3 September 2009

Learning to play by ear is one of the most natural ways to develop the ear – and one of the most fun!  Below are some lists of familiar tunes you can assign at the lesson for the student to learn to play by ear.  I found this valuable information about playing-by-ear activities to assign [...]

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Example Studio Policies handout

By joy (admin) | Published: 10 July 2009

Here’s a sample of my Studio Policies handout I made during my Piano Pedagogy class at college.  (This one is just a sample — the info is not completely accurate to my own current studio policies.)  Hope it helps in making your own!  

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Studio Policies

By joy (admin) | Published: 9 July 2009

As a fellow piano teacher, I can’t stress enough how important it is to have written Studio Policies.  They’re great for letting new students know about how your studio is run!   It will help improve the level of communication between you and the parent/student, because it becomes more clear what you each expect of each [...]

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3 Printables for Interviewing New Students

By joy (admin) | Published: 5 July 2009

Just added: THREE new printables on the Printables > Other Resources page: Beginner Student Interview Form Transfer Student Interview Form Student Information Form These resources are useful for conducting student interviews at the first lesson with a new or transfer student.  The interview forms help evaluate the student’s musical aptitude and background, to help the teacher determine [...]

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