Highlights from Rina’s 6th piano lesson: Learning and Tapping F’s to music; serenading Aiden cat with C’s

Rina made a significant leap in progress today, tapping accompaniments to her prerecorded C, D and E pieces. This activity took up the greater part of her lesson and was not videotaped since I'm currently highlighting only new lesson material. For the opening relaxation warm-up, Rina soared around the living room like an eagle as…

Rina, 4, has her 5th piano lesson: tapping C’s, D’s and E’s to music (Videos in 4 parts plus treat time with Aiden cat)

These are lesson excerpts Part One: Relaxation Rina enjoyed soaring around the room with the grace of an eagle to the music of Beethoven's "Fur Elise." She had been inquisitive about a music-making globe that was sitting on the piano that when cranked, played "Fur Elise." This discovery was a springboard to the movement activity.…

Thoughts about teaching a 4-year old with an innovative approach (Tales of a Musical Journey)

I would never have entertained the idea of teaching a 4-year old child. Over the years I had adhered to a rigid age boundary when accepting new piano students. Seven was the magic number. When an opportunity arose to sample a new book created by Irina Gorin that focused on instruction for children in the…

Rina, age 4, has her second piano lesson using “Tales of a Musical Journey” (videos in 6 parts)

I'm videotaping all of Rina's lessons as I travel with her through the "Magical Kingdom of Sounds" from Irina Gorin's Tales of a Musical Journey. Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0WNfp5QIDU Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYkLIYsMQcY Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph7zWYNqNkk Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK1EuaqWAVs Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfXHUEhnEsc Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqDSmdRgFx4 RELATED: Rina's first piano lesson https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/piano-lessons-starting-rina-a-4-year-old-using-irina-gorins-tales-of-a-musical-journey-book-1-videos-in-parts/ Rina's THIRD Piano Lesson: https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/rina-age-4-has-her-third-piano-lesson-using-irina-gorins-tales-of-a-musical-journey-videos-in-6-parts/

Piano Instruction: Learning from our colleagues (Videos)

Since we are very isolated as piano teachers, nurturing one-to-one relationships with our students for months and years at a time, we sometimes forget that there are other teaching universes beyond our own with repositories of ideas that may enrich the learning environment. One example, is the cosmos of Irina Gorin's studio in Indiana. I've…