Exploring Improvisation: Unleash Your Inner Cool.
How do you bring Improvisation into your Studio?
Being able to Unleash Your Inner Cool by Exploring Improvisation is such a fulfilling experience and valuable skill.
Let me share some tips to get started and tell you have exciting this new resource is…..
More Ways to Listen…
Listening
is such an important part in playing music - but as a teacher, sometimes I forget to actively encourage my students to take time to listen: for study, as they play, and just for fun.
You can incorporate more listening in your Studio with these easy steps. See below to get started...
🎹 Swing vs. Straight 🎶: 3 Easy Tips to get Started.
I’ve heard from some of you that you love to play JAZZY pieces! And you probably know by now - that's one of my favorite styles!
But I've also heard that sometimes, this is a tricky style to teach, so I wanted to share some pointers that help my students.
BTW, these types of pieces are great to pull out when you have a student who is bored with their repertoire -- a little bit of jazzy might spice up their life!
Here are 3 easy tips to get your students started with a jazzy style…
Got the Blues?
Summer is a great time to sit back and ponder. Let me give you one more topic for your summer reading list: an easy way to introduce the Blues to your students. Let’s focus on just 2 aspects: what is the 12 Bar Blues chord progression and how to create a simple solo, using a flexible solo guide….
Beyond the Page: How about those “Other” Pedals?
Do your students ever ask you about those "Other Pedals"?
It's actually a cool subject and it's a shame most students don't get asked to play these pedals until the repertoire gets quite advanced.
So it was perfect timing when Nicola Cantan commissioned me to compose two pieces for beginners and Intermediate players to be included in her book, Concept Collection 2, featuring the "other two pedals." In case this is a neglected topic in your studio too, I'd like to share some of what I learned.
MUSIC is a like Recipe.
Music is like a Recipe.
What kind of cook are you? Do you follow the recipe step by step or do you like to wing it?
I know. I can hear some of you out there, already taking sides. And I can understand this might be a controversial topic: most Classical musicians are trained from the beginning to play every note- exactly as the composer intended. Where as Jazz musicians are taught to explore from the beginning.
Where do you fall?
New Year. New Goals. Back to the Gym!
Do you struggle getting your Ensembles to do Warm Ups?
Let’s turn them into a fun “exercise” for reading, thinking, playing, and listening! Read more….
Beyond the Page: Easy tips for Christmas Piano Parties!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
It’s all about Christmas right now in my Studio. Students are asking for their favorite tunes and they love playing them together with friends and family. This year we were so busy with our Halloween recital, we decided to pass on the Christmas recital and instead, go with group lessons for our last week of December - Piano parties!
The Plan: Every student will prepare 1 Christmas arrangement to perform for the group, next they will prepare 1 Christmas tune from a lead sheet, and then we will sight read some Christmas ensembles. And of course, you gotta have cookies!
Tip: Create your own Lead Sheets….
Beyond the Page: What’s on your Christmas list?
Fall is here and Winter is coming too quickly!
I don’t know about you, but Halloween came when I wasn’t looking, and Christmas is right around the corner! My Studio wrapped up our Halloween Recital, um, I mean our Music Masquerade in the Park, on October 29, and now we are in the midst of selecting and preparing music to share with our community at the local Mall on December 10!
Beyond the Page: What does Teamwork look like in your Studio?
What does Teamwork look like in Your Studio?
just wanted to share something magical that happened in my studio this month.
Although I’ve been writing for ensembles for a few years now, I have a confession to make - I am a private, one-on-one Piano Teacher- for over 30 years. And finally this year, I made the commitment to introduce ensemble playing to my students.
At first, I wasn’t sure how to do this- there are some many options! In the end, we selected a double duet (one for Late Elementary, one for Early Intermediate) to perform together for our Halloween recital. We chose “Top Gun Anthem” since it’s so popular right now. We had 3 rehearsals on Sunday afternoons to put it make it happen. Everyone learned their parts in their private lessons, and when they got together in our group rehearsal, playing with the Backing Track made it easy.
Beyond the Page: an Introduction
What does it mean to go “Beyond the Page”?
For me, it started with exploring Lead Sheets. So many musicians think the notes and instructions on a page of music are the Gospel truth; not to be altered. I’d like to challenge that idea. As a composer, I like to think that my pieces are like recipes- a starting point for players to express how this music speaks to them- what story they want to tell. I encourage my students to feel freedom to explore, create and express. Maybe you agree; maybe not.
Let’s talk about it.