Tag Archives: Rhythm Drills
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
Jaws and Trills
Friday night, with my daughter, I watched Jaws for the first time in my life. It came out when I was in my teens and simply everybody went to see it – standing in line-ups that went around the block … Continue reading
Posted in Piano pedagogy, Practice Tips, Technic, Theory
Tagged Finger exercises, Mozart, Music Humour, Piano pedagogy, Practice Tips, Rhythm Drills, Theory, trill exercise
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It’s all about the brain
After looking at numerous incentive programs, and rejecting many because they’re more complicated than I’d like them to be, I’ve decided to use Jennifer Fink’s This is Your Brain… on Music! (Pianimation) I like this because : (1) It’s easy. It’s … Continue reading
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
Tasty Fix to 3/4 Time
Erica Ann Sipes at Beyond the Notes recently wrote a witty, almost poignant apology to 3/4 time. It is massacred so often. Students invariably add a fourth beat, completely unaware of what they’re doing. There is nothing stable, nothing to ground … Continue reading
Performance Classes
We’re in the midst of Performance Classes this week. I’m having my Christmas Piano Parties over the next 2 weekends, so the primary focus of the classes is to prepare for the recitals. A few students missed last weeks’ lessons, … Continue reading
Posted in Games, Piano pedagogy, Studio News
Tagged Piano Performance, Rhythm Drills
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Performance Class: Elementary
A class with a half-dozen 7-9 year-olds, pretty much all starting their second year of piano lessons, needs to be over-prepared with plans, materials, and energy on the part of the teacher! Between the six students, I’m using 3 different … Continue reading
Posted in Piano pedagogy, Rhythm, Studio News, Uncategorized
Tagged Piano method books, Piano pedagogy, Rhythm Drills
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But I Don’t Like Peanut Butter
Ah – that wonderful late intermediate stage – grade 7/8 and up – where those nasty cross-rhythms appear. Playing two against three is fairly straight-forward. It works out to be the equivalent of a quarter, 2 eighths, then another quarter … Continue reading
Fingering – the solution to most problems
One of my regrets is that I didn’t take the piano pedagogy course during my university studies. It conflicted with a shift that I had working in the library on campus, and I thought the few dollars a week were … Continue reading
Posted in Artistry at the Piano, Piano pedagogy, Rhythm, Technic
Tagged Artistry at the Piano, Pedalling, Piano pedagogy, Piano Technique, Rhythm Drills
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