games, tips, and ideas for the music teacher and student
I have taught all of my children, and quite a few others how to play the piano. We play games, and use apps to learn the notes, but by far, the most effective way to grasp those notes is to break out the flash cards. [su_spacer size=”40″] So, off to amazon, ebay, or your local …
Tick, tick, tick. The metronome beats back and forth, and…you got off. Again. You start over. You contemplate how a metronome would accent your lawn. Outside your closed window. How does metronome practice help?![su_spacer size=”40″] Metronome Practice: One Bar at a Time[su_spacer size=”20″] First, find a bar where you made a mistake. We will call …
Exam season is upon us, and it’s time to look for some efficient ways of preparing for your piano exam to make your practice session work a little harder. Once you’ve learned your pieces, it’s difficult to know how to practice. I have 2 students taking exams in a few weeks, so here are some …
When you start off playing an instrument the rhythms are quite easy. But soon enough you may find yourself wondering how to play triplets! Triplets are one of those funny rhythms that can be difficult to learn unless you have a little trick up your sleeve. Read on to discover one of these tricks that I …
“I could never write my own music; I don’t know how you do it!” This is what I hear often when I tell people I arrange my own music. But, arranging is so much fun! Why should only a few people get to arrange? That’s why I’ve designed a course for you to learn …
Recording Clavinova to laptop sounds simple enough. So easy, in fact, that it took me about 10 hours of failed attempts before I finally gave up. Three days later, after trawling through countless web tutorials, I waltzed into my local music store and purchased a focusrite Scarlette 2i4 digital interface. I installed the interface, but …
As my seven-year-old fumbled through the rhythm of her level 2 piece, I made a desperate attempt at waltzing across the room. Bang. She nailed it. What made the difference? She felt the rhythm and the song fell into place. Music is more than just notes in mathematical time. You must paint a picture by feeling the music …
“Mom, I can’t remember if my thumb is 5 or 1!” my oldest child said to me only last week. My third child also struggles to remember finger numbers on her beginner piano pieces. So I decided to try making some gloves that the children could slip on if they forget. Here is a tutorial on how to …
