2018 Masterclass Exchange

For the past four years, I’ve arranged a “masterclass exchange” with a fellow piano teacher to give my students an opportunity to receive feedback from someone besides me. I like to correlate the dates to fall within a few weeks prior to my studio recital, so that the event serves as a rehearsal for the students.

Last weekend, I visited my friend Christina Whitlock from Muncie, Indiana, to give her masterclasses to her students. We had such fun!

Each student performed a piece, and then afterwards I provided one or two ideas for the student to consider incorporating into his or her performance.

Christina’s students have been preparing their pieces for a National Federation of Music Club local event.

I love the way this crew crowded around the piano here to get involved in what’s happening!

This was the youngest group. An energetic group, but so engaged!

Christina has a lovely studio space.

A photo with the second group.

The oldest group included a brother-sister violin-piano ensemble performing a humorous duet. Everyone did a lovely job.

One more group photo.

Christina created this sheet for students to take notes about what they learned.

In a few weeks, Christina will be traveling my direction to return the favor and give a masterclass for my students. Update: Check out Christina’s masterclass with my students here.

If you’ve never done anything like this, I highly recommend it! Perhaps you’d like to reach out to a fellow teacher in your area and propose your own a masterclass exchange.

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To see pictures from last year’s masterclass exchange with my friend Loretta Cetkovic: click here.

To see what Christina has to say about building community within your piano studio, check out her guest post series on Amy Chaplin’s Piano Pantry blog.