Category Archives: piano instruction

Trading places with our piano students

Posted on July 12, 2017 by

As teachers, the empathy we have for a pupil’s budding learning process with its slips and slides, is at the foundation of good mentoring. By remembering what it’s like to be in the student’s position, sitting at the piano under … Continue reading →

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Two-timing scale practice

Posted on May 13, 2017 by

I appreciate two-timing piano students who practice their scales with acutely sensitive ears. They are made keenly aware of what it takes to repeat a faulty step-wise sequence that’s been thrown out of rhythmic alignment along a 4-octave route. (Auditory … Continue reading →

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When the flu hits or the weather tanks, ONLINE piano lessons preserve progress

Posted on January 24, 2017 by

Here in California we’ve been blitzed by pounding rain, gusty winds and the inevitable round of flu. In the midst of bad weather conditions and the flight of viral illnesses, piano lessons are often suspended, as students are immobilized and … Continue reading →

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Piano Lessons during the holidays: Inserting a creative composing dimension to chord exploration

Posted on January 4, 2017 by

Every winter holiday season most music teachers are asked by parents to devote at least a few weeks to the absorption of Christmas and related celebratory selections. In the traditional musical cosmos, “Silent Night,” “Deck the Halls,” “Hark the Herald … Continue reading →

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Piano Technique: Working with the character of rhythms

Posted on December 6, 2016 by

It’s easy to assess a student’s difficulty with navigating scales in progressive tempo framings from quarters to 8th notes to 16ths, etc. as being the result of shortcomings in rhythmic perception, when a larger cosmos of awareness is lacking. I … Continue reading →

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A 9-year old’s “complete” piano lesson integrates theory and ear training

Posted on November 19, 2016 by

After 9 months of study, “Liz” whom I’ve followed at regular recorded intervals since her first lesson in mid-February, has been exposed to multi-tiered music learning that’s incorporated a Theory and Ear Training dimension. (Note the choice of Frances Clark’s … Continue reading →

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Reading Between the Lines: Making decisions about Dynamics

Posted on November 14, 2016 by

Dynamics cannot always be taken literally when a player embarks upon serious study of a particular composition. In fact, what often governs the shaping of phrases through many measures even with composer inserted soft (piano) or loud (Forte) directives, are … Continue reading →

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