Category Archives: Rhythm
In the Technique Box – Part 3
In the box marked Advanced: 1. Essential Daily Exercises for Piano (Boris Berlin, pub Alfred). My go-to book for transfer students; a systematic approach to fixing or developing every aspect of technique. Organized in 20 sets (increasing in difficulty) of 14 … Continue reading
In the Technique Box* (part 1)
There are three boxes of technique books sitting on the shelf, organized according to the level: Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced. These are used books. Stuff that I pull out for students as needed. My beginner and elementary students use the … Continue reading
Posted in Method Books, Piano pedagogy, Practice Tips, Rhythm, Studio News, Technic
Tagged Alfred, Finger exercises, Music, Pianist, Piano, Piano Adventures, piano teachers, Piano teaching, piano technic, Piano Technique
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A few musings on methods
Given the width and depth of early teaching materials available, I don’t like to stick with one method. New stuff is coming out all the time and I like to explore it. To be able to toss in any supplementary … Continue reading
YOU do the counting.
TTM: Talkative Teacher Mode. *Most teachers feel compelled to speak, as if explaining, defining, reminding, admonishing, outlining, encouraging, and a host of other “ings” were of paramount importance, all the time. It’s as if TTM… was a built-in feature of … Continue reading
Brain Goals
This is your Brain… on Music. Our studio incentive program for this year is off to a fine (well, slow – my fault) start this year. I have FINALLY got the pages in everyone’s binder. I printed this on 2 … Continue reading
No advantage for lefties
Almost everyone struggles more with the left hand (LH) than the right hand (RH) – especially in technical passages, and especially when the LH line is descending, moving from the stronger to the weaker part of the hand, “backwards” in … Continue reading
Posted in Piano pedagogy, Rhythm, Studio News, Technic
Tagged Left-handedness, Piano Performance, Piano Technique
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Double the Nerves
Sometimes my roles of teacher and parent merge in a competition or other public performance or exam situation. Although I’m better at handling this than I was ten years ago, my stomach still ends up in quite the knot.
Use Whatever Works
Any good teacher will relate new or difficult concepts to something the student already knows – “From the known to the unknown” is the familiar educational maxim. As piano teachers of private one-on-one students, we get to know them well … Continue reading
Teaching note-reading without reading notes
To use an over-used phrase, I was forced to think outside the box with one of my young students this fall. He has now had a year and a half of lessons but can barely read any notes. Being strongly … Continue reading
Posted in Piano pedagogy, Rhythm, Studio News, Theory
Tagged note reading, Piano pedagogy, Rhythm Drills
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A Year of Blogging
Today this blog is one year old. It’s been way more adventurous than I could have imagined. I started it for two reasons: one, to record some of my impressions of the Artistry at the Piano method – a method … Continue reading
