Not Exactly Pre-Reading: 1-2-3 Line Read & Play
With the beginning of the school year looming, the teachers I am mentoring are again full of questions about how to best help their beginning readers—especially those who look at the…
Building Habits Or Correcting Mistakes?
Teacher: How did your practicing go this week? Student: Good. Teacher: How did you practice __________________? Student: I played it over and over for an hour everyday and always went…
Pedal To The Metal
Ped. Signs Remember the old Bugs and Daffy cartoons where Bugs repeatedly tricks Daffy into saying “Shoot me now, shoot me now” and finally when Daffy realizes the trick he responds,…
Tangled Fingers
After the first couple of weeks of lessons, the theme of our semester is clearly fingering. I went to dig out my handy-dandy handout from 2005 and decided to share…
Remix: Earthquakes, Bright and Shiny Objects, One Speed Ponies, & Time Travel
Pieces have been chosen. Dates have been set. Arrangements have been made. Yep, we are working toward spring masterclasses, recitals, and end of the year piano exams all right. In…
Letting Distraction Go
There are times when all of us are easily distracted by bright and shiny objects—diamonds, texts, emails, the slip of a finger, the person sitting in the front row, your…
PA Shorts: A Pianist, A Halfpipe, & A Snowboard
"Amanda," I said, "You have to spot your landings before you get there!" She looked at me for a minute and then said, "" We talked about the fact that…
Interference: No Penalty 2
The universe is conspiring to make me think hard about practicing. Coincidenza? I think not. I’m up to my eyeballs in Lieder and Art Song in preparation for a recital…