Duty or Joy?
A gonga post by John Terrauds of Musical Toronto made me sit up and take notice last week. In it, he wrote about his experiences taking on a group of…
Body Parts, Chocolate, & Equality
Last Saturday I had the privilege of judging the piano portion of an arts competition in Northern Arizona. I heard 28 pianists play 48 pieces—everything from Cobb’s Chocolate Soldier to…
PA Shorts: Practice, Perfection, & Personality
Lately, cyberspace has been full of posts and articles dealing with practice and perfection. Together, they have all got me thinking hard about both myself and my students. We can…
Guest Post: Teaching Students From Different Backgrounds, Neeki Bey
Those of you who know me, know that I am totally against, what my friend calls, "drive by arts experiences". These experiences can encompass a range of genres; the Chopin…
PA Shorts: Hard Work
How often do our students (and occasionally ourselves) end up banging against a brick wall (figuratively speaking) because we need to change our game plan and gain the knowledge and…
Review: Tales of a Musical Journey
Irina Gorin’s Tales of a Musical Journey starts a young beginner on a trek through an enchanted musical land called The Magical Kingdom of Sounds. Along the way, students meet…
Just Paint! Methodology & The Nitty Gritty
Today in the Sunday paper, there was an article by Marni Jameson describing a new book on preparing surfaces for paint (not any actually painting mind you) in which there…
Essential Skills for the Transferring Developing Pianist: Part 3
This just in from QoTS: the third installment of essential skills that most middle intermediate to advanced transfer students would do well to develop. Memory 101 Use theory to help…