Have you ever have a student play a piece with frequent hesitations throughout, even though you know they can play much better than that? This phenomenon can occur with all ages/levels of students. Why does this happen? What is going on when this happens? This article will examine possible causes of and solutions for a lack [...]
I’ve blogged before about my thoughts on and struggles with memorizing music. I can definitely see improvement over my college years as far as successful memorization goes, but I admittedly still find it discouraging. I think what makes it frustrating for me is the fact that sight-reading is so easy for me, and memorizing is so not easy. :) Some [...]
Some of you may remember the Scale & Arpeggio Fingering reference sheet I posted in December of 2010. About a month ago, a friendly reader made some very helpful suggestions for improvement, and so I spent quite a bit of time revising the printable. It’s called “Scale and Arpeggio Fingering for Piano (2 Octaves)” and [...]
Perhaps you are wondering why there is a picture of a bunch of stuffed animals for this post. Haha, I’ll get to that in a moment! My private students are preparing to play for the university’s Community Music School recital tomorrow! There will be about 12 students performing, 4 of which are my students. For [...]
Last week was Spring Break from college for me! My husband and I had a wonderful time visiting our families and spending time with them. Our days were full doing all kinds of family activities — however, I did manage to keep an eye on my blog, especially the Forum Q&A about memorization that was [...]
Last week, we discussed standardized testing – the advantages and disadvantages, do you require it, and why, etc.. Click here to read the comments that were left! As always, it’s never too late to add your thoughts so feel free to jump into the conversation. This week, we are going to talk about pedaling. Pedaling [...]
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve added a new printable to the Printables page….so here’s one I created a couple of months ago. You can find it on the Printables > Other Resources page. Scale and Arpeggio Fingering (2 Octaves) Reference Sheet (3 pages long) I created this printable with my intermediate/advanced students in [...]
A reader asks for practice tips for learning to bring out the melody in the midst of a series of chords.
At the 2010 Michigan Music Teachers Assocation conference this weekend, our conference clinician Martha Hilley had some wise words for us that I thought I’d share here: Always be a musician, even when you are counting aloud! As she led us through some various exercises during one of the sessions, Martha Hilley encouraged us to [...]
Lately, I’ve trying out this phrase with my students, in situations when a student is struggling with the technique of playing a particular passage: “Pretend this is really easy for you to play.” This phrase works best in a situation where the teacher observes that the student is holding far too much tension in his/her [...]
Why do we learn and practice scales? Is it just for tradition’s sake? This post discusses 5 great reasons for learning and practicing scales.
The first look at a new piece is crucial. As accomplished pianists/teachers, we automatically know to scan the piece to check the time signature, key signature, texture, composer, title, etc. before playing through a piece. Of course, we were trained to go through those steps before sightreading through a piece. Before having students sightread, what do [...]
Joy is a pianist and teacher in Ohio with great passion for helping students experience the wonders of music making!
