Program Covers

I'm now taking student art work for our recital program. The drawings must be in black and white and have something to do with Christmas and Music!

I'm looking forward to lots of great art work!

Wonderful Group Lessons!!!

I am so sorry that I haven't posted for a number of weeks! Thank you for being so patient with me and for understanding when I have so many things come up!

Group Lessons were AMAZING!!! The students did such a great job and I was so proud of everyone! I know that it was a busy week, and I am sorry that so many kids had to miss group lessons, but if your child missed it is ok. I will catch them up!  

The students did such a great job playing for each other. I love group lessons because it is such a good opportunity for students to get used to playing for each other! We also learned about Claude Debussy, so I encourage you to ask your kids what they remember about him and Impressionist music. We listened to Clair de Lune and learned a lot of great things about Debussy. 

I loved the costumes that everyone wore and it was super fun to see them all in their Halloween gear! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Also, be listening for Christmas music! I sent it out last week, and everyone is already working so hard on it! The recital seems so far away still, but it is really just around the corner! Please encourage your kids to practice and remind them that recital music has to be memorized! :)

Watch for an e-mail in the next couple of days. I am starting to finalize my school schedule for next semester, and I will have to make some changes to my piano schedule, so I will be getting in contact with you if I will need to change lessons, so please look over your schedule so we can find something that works for both of us!

Group Lessons

Next week we are having our group lessons!!! Please read the e-mail that I sent out about group lessons and the day that your child is coming. You can also check their folder, which should have their group lesson time written in the "teacher comments" box of their practice sheet. Please remember that group lessons will "count" for the kid's lessons this week and that they will not have their regular private lesson.

Also a reminder that students are invited to wear their Halloween costumes to the group lesson if they would like!

Please have your kids bring their Halloween music, even if they have it memorized, because we will be checking it in at the end of group lessons! Thanks!

October Break

This week is October break for your kids (exciting!) but I am still in school, so I am still teaching if you still want to come to lessons. Some of you have talked to me about canceling this week, which is fine, but if you are planning on missing your lesson this week, please just let me know at least a day in advance so that I am not planning on you! If you already talked to me, you are good to go, so don't worry about it. I hope that you all have a very restful break! I am sure that you can all use it at this busy time of year!!!

Just a reminder that if you have not e-mailed me back about group lessons to please do so this week so that I can finalize all of the groups! Thanks!

Thoughts

I have had such wonderful experiences the last couple of weeks that I really just want to share them with you. Your kids are awesome!!!

One boy came to lessons so excited about a piece because he had come up with a whole story to match the song. He played so well because he had a great picture in his head of what the music meant. The music really came alive to him as he told me his story so animatedly!

Another girl came to lessons and when it was time to turn in points, she saw that her sister did not have as many points as she did and she let her sister use some of her points so that they could both get the same rewards.

When kids memorize a song, they usually look at the "memorization board" and see how they are doing compared to others, but rather than say something like "I can't believe how far ahead of me so and so is" they say something like "Wow! Look how good they are doing!"

A boy came to lessons so excited and animated because he had learned one of his favorite popular songs, complete with chord accompaniment, by ear in just one week. 

Many students have come with their Halloween music already learned, and some have come with it even memorized!

I love that the kids come and tell me how their weeks are going and everything they are involved in. We have students in dance, drama, football, soccer, choir, orchestra, student council, cross country, cheer, softball, volleyball, tennis, etc. Some students are writers, babysitters, artists, etc. Your kids are so very talented and I am grateful that I get to be a part of their lives. As you can tell from these stories, your kids are amazing! I am in awe at their kindness, dedication, and excitement! Thank you for helping them be so great!

Halloween is Just Around the Corner

This week I am sending home Halloween music for our group lesson which is the last week in October. The kids are all choosing really great music and I am already looking forward to a great group lesson!

Remember that the October group lesson is our "Halloween Party" and the kids are invited to wear their costumes to the group lesson. No one has to wear their costume, but it is lots of fun!

I will be sending home more information on the group lessons next week so that you can plan on the correct day to send your child. 

Thanks for a great year so far!

Wow!

First off, sorry for not updating last week! With the holiday, it completely slipped my mind.

This week, I just cannot get over how grateful I am for this wonderful job! Each day is so rewarding when your kids come so prepared and excited to show me what they have been working on! I also am so appreciative of your willingness to work with me with my busy schedule. I have a heavy school load this semester and lots of students and you have been so understanding of the times I have had to reschedule or even cancel. You are all so wonderful and I thank you for making this such a great experience for me!

So some updates on what has been going on: Our focus for this month is on practicing and practicing skills. Your kids have truly risen to the challenge that I have given them to practice more often and to practice more in depth. Many of them have come to lessons so excited to tell me the story that they have matched with their song for the week that helps them to remember certain things about it! It has been fun to watch the kids reach beyond the notes and find the deeper parts of the music!

Either next week or the week after I will be sending home some Halloween music for our group lesson. I am really excited for the group lesson and hope you'll encourage your kids to work on this music right away! 

Thanks again for a great year!

Practice Tips

With the start of a new year, it is always good to have some reminders of good practicing routines. I know that life gets busy, and these suggestions are not always possible, but I encourage you to try these suggestions and adapt them to fit your child's needs. 

First, start with your warm-up. I try to assign warm ups that match what you will be working on in your other books

Next, practice your technique. Technique almost always prepares you for your other assigned pieces. 

Day 1:

Before you start to play a song, look over the entire piece and identify areas that might give you trouble. Become familiar with the set-up of the piece and take note of any special directions (D.C. al fine, Codas, etc.)

Play through everything slowly one time.

Day 2:

Review your pieces. Tackle "trouble spots" by breaking them up and practicing hands alone. Slow the difficult sections down and try hands together. If the rhythm is offering difficulties, try clapping and counting. 

Play through everything again one time if time remains (this makes through 3 times through everything)

Day 3:

Go through everything one time to remember what you have been working on. 

Review the sections that were difficult for you and make sure that they are clean.

Play through everything one more time.

Day 4:

Play through each piece one time.

Look through each piece and take note of the stylistic features (dynamics, tempo, performance suggestions, etc) and work on adding them in (Especially Dynamics! :)

Play through everything one more time

Day5:

Polish all pieces and if ready, perhaps try to memorize one of them

General Notes:

   Always start and end with something that you enjoy! If you don't have a "favorite" piece for the week, choose something fun that you worked on in the past. 

   If one piece is more difficult than the others, spend the bulk of your time on it. While the others come more easily, it is less beneficial to practice something you can already do than to work through something that is difficult. 

   Don't get discouraged! If you are working hard, it is absolutely fine to keep pieces for a number of weeks. As you know, I like to give at least one "challenge piece" for the week to expand your abilities and give you something to work towards. It's perfectly fine to keep pieces for more than one week.

   Ask questions! If someone in your house plays the piano, I'm sure they are more than willing to help you. If not, you can call me or make a note to ask in your next lesson.

   Quality over quantity! I would rather you have 5 good minutes of practicing where you are working through hard sections, adding stylistic features, etc than 50 minutes of not as good practicing.

   If you are playing the pieces I assign you easily, you can either try to memorize or add a song of your choice!

   Have fun! Learning to play the piano is a process. If you learn to have fun no matter what you are playing, you will go far!

Wonderful Group Lessons

I am so pleased with how well group lessons went! I was extremely excited at the end of last week after the great success we had a group lessons. Thank you to those who played and also to those who came and participated fully! It was so fun to meet many new students and I am excited to get to know you all better! 

We were very productive at Group Lessons and learned all about the new activities for the year. Your students should have come home with a number of papers and information and I hope that you will go through their binders to see all of the new updates. Please especially look over the calendar of events and mark the activities on your calendar now so that you are aware of the important dates for the year, especially the recital! 

As we enter this first week of private lessons, I look forward to seeing where everyone is at and establishing the foundation for a great year. Please send your students with any and all books that they might be using and we will go through them and decide which we will work from. 

Your kids are so wonderful!  I am very blessed to work with them and hope that they are as excited as I am!

Some of the older students wanted to know how to make the "rainbow cupcakes" that were the treat for this lesson.

First, make a white cake mix. 

Next, divide the cake mix equally between four bowls.

Add a different color of food coloring to each bowl.

Drop a spoonful of each color in to each cupcake tin. It takes about three layers to fill the cupcake paper. You don't have to do fourths like this picture, it turns out good however you drop the colors in. Just don't mix the colors, it will not turn out good.

Bake like a regular cupcake.

I am not sure the exact recipe for the frosting, because I didn't measure anything.

Basically add about a cup of powdered sugar to a package of cream cheese. Add some milk to thin. Mix in a bit of vanilla. 

These are great treats and a great activity for kids! They are a bit time consuming and can be messy, but are super fun! Kids love to help with them and there is really no way to mess them up. As you can see from the picture, they turn out pretty good no matter how you plop the different colors in!

Welcome Back!!!

I am so very excited for this new year of piano! I have been working hard the last month or so to get everything planned and ready and I can't even tell you how excited I am. My family is probably terrible of me always saying "what do you think of this?" "let me run this by you" and "this is going to be SO COOL!" We have a lot of changes and new things this year. Please ask your children what they did at group lessons and about all the changes that they learned about. This is going to be a great year! Check back here next week for pictures of group lessons and for the introduction of this year's theme!

A New Year

I cannot believe that it is already time for a new season of piano lessons! I feel so very blessed to be starting my 5th year as a piano teacher. I am looking forward to all of the fun things that this year will include. There will be a lot of changes, this blog being one of them, but some things will be the same as they have always been. As I learn more and more, I feel like I can offer my students better things. This year, with 35 students in my studio, things are going to be very busy. I am excited about starting this blog, because you will be able to come and read about what your kids are working on and how things are going. Starting the 3rd week in August, when regular lessons resume, I will be posting on this blog once a week to update you on what is going on and/or to give advice on practicing, success stories, pictures of our activities, etc. I am very excited for the 2009-2010 season and look forward to working with you all! Feel free to comment on any of the postings here, and I encourage you to do so! The comments will come directly to my e-mail so if you have any questions, you can call me like usual or just leave a comment and I will get back to you very soon! Thank you for being great parents, students, and supporters. This will prove to be a great year!