Just a few days ago I received this question; One of (my students) chomps down on her teeth in rhythm to the music and I hear a loud click when she is playing. The other gal sucks in her breath at the beginning of every measure and then holds it. They are oblivious to this… I realize that they are not relaxed and it can become an entrenched habit. They are both beginner- Level 1 students and I want to figure out something to help them…. more
April 2, 2011
Alright – hey everybody out there!! All two of you who read this!!! OK, no, I’m sure there’s more. Three maybe. That headline will look pretty ridiculous if it says “zero comments” up there forever. I want YOU to tell me what you think about this… I’m looking for feedback on this whole CLAY note reading deal. I think its the most exciting avenue of teaching music I’ve experimented with, and it has helped so many of my students. Just… more
March 30, 2011
Buried within the often whimsical seeming comments of a 5 year old, can be essential clues to understanding their interests and motivations. Yesterday, I was teaching a 5 year old student out of Faber’s “My First Piano Adventure” level C. An interesting thing happened. I think the piece she was learning, was “Ludwig’s Accents” (which is really well arranged by the way, the Faber’s did a superb job of this). Everything was going as… more
March 26, 2011
Alright folks – check THIS out. Watch how in this video, we turn stiff wrists into loose wrists, we turn flying fingers into controlled fingers, and we achieve a nice “bridge” shape in my student’s hand – all with one simple exercise. I was absolutely FLOORED when we hit upon this solution, I barely caught it on tape as he was trying it for only the second time. This is PART THREE of my series on posts regarding teaching good hand… more
March 17, 2011
Hey there! So continuing my experiments with using CLAY to help kids read notes, here’s another way you can incorporate it in your lessons. I’ve set up the clay grand staff to line up directly in front of the corresponding keys on the real piano. The short Middle C line is directly in from of middle C and so on. This provides an insanely useful connection for the student between how the grand staff is laid out, and how it relates to the… more
March 13, 2011
Alright… here it is! This has been the most exciting game and teaching tool I think I’ve ever used. For the past year, I’ve been using CLAY to help my students read notes. It works unbelievably well. I’m not going to say too much about it here, just yet, I think the initial video speaks for its self. Maybe some of you have tried other ways of incorporating 3D objects into your piano teaching? If so, I’d love to hear about them. … more
March 4, 2011
I’d like to take a quick minute to answer one of TAMI’S questions about hand position more directly. In my post where I asked you to ask me questions on how to teach piano, Tami asks; “When do you personally focus on making sure the student’s hand shape/ posture/ etc. is ALWAYS correct? I assume that this is usually goes case to case according to age, learning style/ type, and level?” You’re very right – teaching piano is SUCH a… more
March 3, 2011
A few weeks ago, I asked you to submit questions about teaching piano to the blog. Two people submitted questions on the blog, and one via email – and to my surprise, they ALL had something to do with correcting bad hand position on the piano. (Thanks Tami, Lynn and Renee for the questions!) So I am going to do a series of posts all about helping to correct student’s hand position on the piano. While doing these posts, I’m also just… more
February 10, 2011
Hi! Anyone out there want to ask me a question about teaching piano? Anything at all! Honestly, I want to be as helpful as possible for anyone starting out or wanting to improve their teaching skills. Leave a comment, email me or send me a tweet. Don’t be shy! I’ve drafted about 5 posts in the past month (but haven’t posted a single one). I really just want to know what would be helpful to you. Does anyone have any students they… more
December 28, 2010
Video of a fun note reading game. Great for students whose fingers won’t slow down to let their brain catch up! The steps for each note are; The student holds the ball in hand that will play the note (this is so they are not tempted to hit the note first) They name the note If correct, they toss the ball to the teacher Then they find and play the correct one on the piano (another hidden benefit, is for every single note, they have to… more
I teach piano in Holden, MA and I built this website to help serve all piano students, current and future, in the Worcester, MA area.
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Hey Piano Teachers. Can we get some NOTE-READING LOVE in heeaa??!?!
Incredibly Effective Note Reading Activity
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April 9, 2011
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