Materials for a New Year: 7 Things to Keep in Mind
It’s back to piano again. For me the start of a new semester can be both exciting and overwhelming. There are new students to get to know and ongoing students…
Vintage PA: Fireworks!
Some American pianistic fireworks in honor of The Glorious 4th! These are the best kind of fireworks for us in Arizona since our state has mostly been on fire lately.…
Giving Your Best Guess
My favorite quote about guessing comes from a Star Trek movie. No, I haven’t finally lost it. Please bear with me. Here’s the full text from IMDB. How do we get…
The Size of the Problem
Students come in with baggage from their week. Ok, sometimes from their lives. Some of them are overwhelmed, some guilty, others defiant. Occasionally they get in a preemptive strike. Here's one…
PA Shorts: Soulful Stuff
A young student and I have been practicing and improvising with 5 finger and chord patterns in all keys. This week we began to explore the minor keys and delighting in how…
Cartwheels, Piano Style
“Oh! It’s like a cartwheel with my fingers,” she said. Oh, yes she did. We have been working on learning our penta-scales and chord patterns in all keys. She has…
PA Shorts: Grassroots Piano
As part of running this here blog, I try to keep up with the world of piano and pianists. One way I do this is via, you guessed it, Google…
Vintage PA: Leaving People Better Than You Found Them
It's easy to teach when everything is going well, when families support each other, when children are perfectly behaved, when students are healthy. It's a lot tougher when parents are…