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Category Archives: Improving as a Teacher

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 [...]
Also posted in Advanced Level, Beginners/Elementary Level, By Student's Level, Group Keyboard, Ideas, Intermediate Level, Memorization, Practicing, Recitals / Performances, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

3 Benefits of Incorporating Improvisation | Part 6 of the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 11 February 2010
We’ve arrived at the end of the series on incorporating improvisation!  We’ve already discussed the obstacles, history, and value of improvisation.  And in the last few posts, we discussed at length a practical, 4-part method for incorporating improvisation into the piano lesson.  Today’s consideration is the last of the series: what are the major benefits [...]
Also posted in Improvisation, Memorization, Motivation, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Things I Learned from a Yeol Eum Son Masterclass

By joy (admin) | Published: 9 February 2010
Last week, my university held a master class by Yeol Eum Son, the silver winner of the 2009 Van Cliburn competition.  I played a Chopin Etude, op.10 no.6.  She gave me a number of specific suggestions which were very helpful, but there were two general concepts I took from the experience: 1. Posture: keep your chest [...]
Also posted in Inspiration, Posture at the Piano, Topics in Teaching Piano, What I'm Up To | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5d in the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 5 February 2010
This is a continuation of the series on the topic: incorporating improvisation into private piano teaching.  I had originally planned to post all 4 steps into one post, but the post would be too lengthy.  So the topic “Incorporating Improvisation” is being divided into 4 separate posts: Develop Related Skills Create an atmosphere conducive to improvisation Use improvisation [...]
Also posted in For During the Lesson, Improvisation, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

30 Theme Ideas for the Music Studio Events

By joy (admin) | Published: 4 February 2010
Here’s a list of 30 theme ideas for music studio events!  Themes can be used as the studio theme for the school year, or for summer music camps, or for studio recitals.  If used for the studio theme for the whole year, there are a number of ways the theme can be incorporated: the incentive [...]
Also posted in Group Keyboard, Ideas, Incentive Programs, Inspiration, Motivation, Music History, Recitals / Performances, Studio Class / Group Lessons, Topics in Teaching Piano, piano camps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5c in the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 1 February 2010
This is a continuation of the series on the topic: incorporating improvisation into private piano teaching.  I had originally planned to post all 4 steps into one post, but the post would be too lengthy.  So the topic “Incorporating Improvisation” is being divided into 4 separate posts: Develop Related Skills Create an atmosphere conducive to improvisation Use improvisation [...]
Also posted in For During the Lesson, Improvisation, Other Resources, Printables, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5b in the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 29 January 2010
This is a continuation of the series on the topic: incorporating improvisation into private piano teaching.  I had originally planned to post all 4 steps into one post, but the post would be too lengthy.  So the topic “Incorporating Improvisation” is being divided into 4 separate posts: Develop Related Skills Create an atmosphere conducive to improvisation Use improvisation [...]
Also posted in For During the Lesson, Improvisation, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Keyboards vs. Acoustic Pianos

By joy (admin) | Published: 26 January 2010
Check out these pictures at dvice.com, featuring modern keyboard designs by Yamaha!  I particularly like the one shown in the screenshot at right. Would I ever buy a keyboard such as this?  No, probably not.  If I had the money to spend, I’d buy an acoustic piano, not a keyboard.  Acoustic pianos are still far superior [...]
Also posted in Posture at the Piano, Technology, What I'm Up To | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5a of the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 25 January 2010
Now to the heart of the discussion!  We’ve already covered some common obstacles encountered when trying to incorporate improvisation, and we’ve briefly discussed the history and the value of improvisation.  Now let’s discuss a practical way to incorporate improvisation (non-jazz improvisation, in particular) into the piano lesson. There are 4 steps in the method I am [...]
Also posted in For During the Lesson, Ideas, Improvisation, Other Resources, Printables, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Value of Improvisation | Part 4 of the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 22 January 2010
As we saw in Part 3, improvisation has a rich history in Western classical music, but has virtually disappeared from modern piano pedagogy.  Today, we are going to discuss the value of improvisation: Improvisation fosters creativity and individuality. Improvisation appeals to both the performer and the audience. Strengthens the connection between theory and practice in the developing musician. We [...]
Also posted in Improvisation, The Power of Music, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment
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