Find out how this piano teacher found new ways to getting her students spot the difference with their ears instead of their eyes.
See why mental preparation is just as important as physical practice, and how training won’t get you all the way without focus and determination.
Check out what are the discoveries that I made about the way I approach practice versus the way I assume my students will approach practice.
If you’ve ever had the privilege of watching a good sight reader play with ease from a tricky score, it is awe-inspiring. This blog post is about five general things that good sight-readers do. All good sight readers do these things: scan, edit, guess, predict and fudge.
Performance-readiness is like peak physical fitness: it must be maintained, or it disappears. That’s because rehearsing and performing, in and of itself, does not develop any of the skills required for retaining long-term piano skills. Here are three ways of playing that are essential for keeping piano skills for life.
I will simply be delighted to have my students in the same room with me again. Whilst online teaching is an excellent option when in-person teaching is not practical, it most definitely has its limits, and most of my students are hankering to come back.
There are lots of studio families who have been caught up in the financial nightmare of COVID-19. I know many teachers, including myself, who have been helping these families by teaching students on scholarship or for free, as needed. That is not what I am talking about here.
Like everyone else, I have experienced a very steep learning curve by embracing online teaching. I have developed skills I never thought I’d have: camera use, audio adjustment, screen-sharing – the list goes on! Teachers have been SO generous in sharing their insights, discoveries and expertise with each other that I think I have actually become a bit overwhelmed with all the information.
So this short post is about the ONE thing I have found to be most useful in online teaching.
For parents who say they “just want their child to have fun”… 4-5 practices per week means students can actually have fun with piano.
Last week, I learned how to play the piano. This may sound strange, as my bio clearly states that I’ve been playing piano for 47 years.