Announcements, Resources

How to Give the First Music Lesson: Interviewing the Student

eHow articleAre you a frequent eHow user?  My husband and I both have accounts on eHow, where you can write your own “How to” articles and make money.  The money you make is based on how many times your article is read by others, and the money is safely deposited into your linked PayPal account.  Don’t expect to make a ton of money, but if you keep up on it, it may be enough to cover your website hosting expenses each month.  (That’s my current goal!)  Below is a link to the article I wrote that summarizes the information from my most recent blog post, about conducting student interviews:  

eHow article:  How to Give the First Music Lesson: Interviewing the Student

If you haven’t tried using eHow before, give it a shot!  There’s lots of great articles to browse through, and it is fairly easy to write your own articles.

Announcements, Group Classes, Performances

Recital Preparation

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 pieces, and then leading discussion about various aspects of performing.  Afterwards, we would play a round or two of Music Bingo.  🙂   Continue reading “Recital Preparation”

Announcements, Performances, Practicing

Reflections upon Interpretation

Yesterday at a piano lesson, my student kept saying how she wasn’t sure “what to do in this section.” Although I wasn’t completely sure what she was feeling, I think she was saying that she sometimes wonders how she can make decisions about how to play a particular piece / passage musically. We were working on a Chopin Nocturne, and the main concept I was trying to communicate to her was to allow the RH melody to dictate some push and pull of the tempo, rather than allowing the LH accompaniment to metronomically determine the tempo. Continue reading “Reflections upon Interpretation”