Category Archives: my students

Piano Valentine Craft (Printable & Tutorial)

By joy (admin) | Published: 30 January 2012

Today, I have a fun little printable and tutorial to share just in time for Valentine’s Day. Pin it

Also posted in other resources, printables, seasonal/holiday | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Semester Planning & Organization

By joy (admin) | Published: 2 January 2012

I’ve been doing a bit of cleaning and reorganizing in my studio, like putting all those music books that always seem to migrate to the piano top back in their proper place on their shelves.  :) I also visited the music store today to pick up new books for some of my students.  I’m so [...]

Also posted in professional development, studio business, what I'm up to | Tagged , | 1 Comment

My Christmas Recital – Slideshow of Photo Highlights

By joy (admin) | Published: 22 December 2011

As promised, here is a slideshow of photos from my student’s recent Christmas recital/party.  Enjoy! Click here to read about the three games we played after the recital. Pin it

Also posted in recitals / performances, what I'm up to | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Christmas Gift for Piano Students

By joy (admin) | Published: 20 December 2011

Here’s what I gave my students for Christmas this year: A Symphony chocolate bar, and a personalized glass ornament.   I found the glass ornaments at a craft store (Hobby Lobby).  On each ornament, I wrote the student’s name and “2011″ on the ornament using a paint pen.  I put colorful confetti and pieces of [...]

Also posted in seasonal/holiday | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Christmas Recital/Party Success! – Games

By joy (admin) | Published: 19 December 2011

Well, my students’ Christmas party/recital was a success!   What a great way to finish off the year. The recital took place in my home.  Whenever my college music history textbooks mentioned Schubertiads, I used to dream about the idea of having informal music performance parties in my home.  Since my studio is still small, [...]

Also posted in games, recitals / performances, seasonal/holiday | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Easy Black Key Improvisation

By joy (admin) | Published: 10 October 2011

Today, I’m at the Ohio Music Teachers Association conference (affiliated with MTNA) all day!  Yes, in case you are wondering, I will be posting notes from the sessions I attend later this week.  :) But for now, I wanted to share a quick video of a black key improvisation from a recent piano lesson with [...]

Also posted in improvisation, private lessons | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Hear my New Piano!

By joy (admin) | Published: 18 August 2011

I promised over a month ago that I would post a video so you could hear my new piano!  I wanted to wait until after I got it tuned, of course, and recently I finally got around to recording something. In this YouTube video, I’m playing a short piece I composed during undergrad called “Contemplation.” [...]

Also posted in composition, technology | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Improvisation Yields Creativity and Musical Understanding

By joy (admin) | Published: 9 July 2010

The benefits of including improvisation activities in piano lessons. The freedom to explore and be creative. Discovering musical concepts on your own. Developing your musical ear. Playing by ear. Composing an original composition.

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, by student's level, composition, improving as a teacher, improvisation, private lessons, settings: | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

A Peek into the Incentive Program Prize Box

By joy (admin) | Published: 3 June 2010

Here’s a peek into the prize box I use for my incentive program.  In case you haven’t read about my incentive program before, here’s the lowdown:  I create an index card for each student, and when they pass a song, they are given a point/sticker for every page of the song learned.  They can also [...]

Also posted in incentive programs, motivation, piano camps, settings:, studio class / group lessons, what I'm up to | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Fun tip

By joy (admin) | Published: 28 May 2010

Today I just thought I’d share a fun little tip I learned from one of my students this week!  Yes, you read that right: she taught me.  =)  She is a young beginner student, just learning how to read music on the staff.  She informed me that she came up with a way for remembering [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, by student's level, inspiration, private lessons, settings: | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments
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