Category Archives: My Students

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, For During the Lesson, Ideas, Improving as a Teacher, Improvisation, Topics in Teaching Piano | 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 Ideas, Motivation, Studio Class / Group Lessons, Topics in Teaching Piano, What I'm Up To, incentive programs, piano camps | Tagged , , , , , | 4 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, For During the Lesson, Ideas, inspiration | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Piano transcription from the Pixar movie “Up” soundtrack

By joy (admin) | Published: 3 May 2010
I recently had a student ask if she could learn to play some of the music from Pixar movie “Up” soundtrack.  (Have you seen this movie?  It’s a super cute family movie!  Keep a box of tissues nearby.)  I get pretty excited when I have student who requests to learn a piece of music, and [...]
Also posted in By Student's Level, Intermediate Level, Repertoire/Method Books, Resources / Links, Technology, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

A Follow-up on Recording Students Before Performances

By joy (admin) | Published: 19 April 2010
I don’t know about you, but I have some students who are participating in a spring performance coming up soon!  Last week, I recorded my student Jean playing her recital piece during her lesson (click to read more about recording students as preparation for performances).  Then we spent some time listening and discussing the recording. [...]
Also posted in For During the Lesson, Ideas, Motivation, Recitals / Performances, Technology, What I'm Up To | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Free piano arrangements of anime music

By joy (admin) | Published: 16 October 2009
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 [...]
Also posted in Advanced Level, By Student's Level, Repertoire/Method Books, Resources / Links | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Music Bingo

By joy (admin) | Published: 15 July 2009
One of my favorite blogs I follow is Susan Paradis’ Piano Teacher Resources.  She does an amazing job creating colorful worksheets, games, etc. on her computer and she puts them up on her website to share with other teachers.  A couple months ago, I had the opportunity to try out her Music Bingo game (complete [...]
Also posted in Beginners/Elementary Level, By Student's Level, Games, Resources / Links, Studio Class / Group Lessons, Topics in Teaching Piano, What I'm Up To | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

…it's been a while.

By joy (admin) | Published: 18 June 2009
Hello, again!  It’s been a while.  I took a longer-than-intended break from blogging, unfortunately, because I was dealing with graduation (yes! my hubby and I both graduated with Bachelor’s Degrees) and moving (we moved 2 hours away, where we will be attending grad school in the fall).  We have settled into a little apartment, and [...]
Also posted in By Student's Level, Ideas | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Congrats to Elizabeth!

By joy (admin) | Published: 25 April 2009
Congrats to my student, Elizabeth, who won the 3-part Invention division of the local Bach Competition earlier this year. Last Sunday afternoon she performed in the winners recital. It was her first entry in a piano competition, and she played fabulously!
Also posted in Advanced Level, Recitals / Performances | Leave a comment

Recital Preparation

By joy (admin) | Published: 4 April 2009
My students are currently preparing for our studio piano recital in May.  They are all doing great.  I was doing some brainstorming (which can be dangerous), and decided to hold a “practice recital” the weekend before the actual recital.  I envisioned all my students cramming into my music room, listening to each other playing their [...]
Also posted in By Student's Level, Recitals / Performances, Studio Class / Group Lessons, What I'm Up To | Tagged , | Leave a comment
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