dawn's piano

Every summer at Dawn's Piano, students who are continuing lessons from the previous school year have the opportunity to compose, notate and record original music with our Young Composers program. At the end of the summer we collect the sheet music into a single book file, and upload the audio tracks of each student piece into an album, and that's what we're sharing with you today!  Composing music is a wonderful way to exercise some creativity and enjoy a change of focus during summer lessons, while putting into practice the music theory understanding that students have built during the school year. It's one of my favorite times in the studio year, and many students also highly anticipate this season of creativity, and enjoy getting to take ownership of their musical journey in a new way. It is important to me that the equipment and programs we use for this project are accessible for any students who would like to continue composing on their own. So  student notation i...

Once again, it is Recital Day! Students have had another wonderful year in their lessons - a year full of growth in musical understanding and expression. For the last month or two we've been working hard on pieces to showcase that growth, and I am very excited to present this recital to you today.  Since this piano studio is a hybrid studio, Recital Day a little extra fun. Right as this video recital is being posted, local McPherson area students are making their way to our recital venue for the in-person concert, so even if we are on different platforms, our Spring Recital truly is a studio-wide event.  If you'd like to download a program for today's video recital, you can do that here .  From myself, and the featured students, we hope you enjoy the show! 

Students have been working on these compositions throughout the summer session, and today's the day we get to share them with you!  Young Composers is an annual summertime project in our studio that started back in 2013. All continuing students (which just means students who have taken lessons with the studio heading into that summer) work on creating an original piece of music. Then they notate it, and in the final week of lessons we have a recording session to lay down the tracks of their pieces.  Composing is such a valuable exercise for music students. It gives them a chance to take a little extra ownership of their musical journey and to put what we learn about music theory throughout the year into practice from a new angle. As a teacher, I enjoy seeing the different approaches that students take to composing, and what they draw inspiration from.  Be sure to let these young pianists know how much you appreciated their music the next time you see them. And for any pia...

They say necessity is the mother of invention. And this was certainly true this past Monday when my studio had it's July music theory Piano Party coming up on the schedule. I looked at the student RSVP's and noticed at least half of the group would be brand-new beginners with just a couple of lessons experience, half would be early intermediates, with a few late beginners thrown in. Choosing a game that would be engaging and level appropriate for all of them to play together was going to take some thinking.  Rhythm review is always a good way to go for a multi-level activity. I flipped through the body percussion activities, rhythm cups etc that I had on hand and nothing was exactly what I wanted. But I did have a large stack of rhythm cups with various note values drawn on them for quarter, half and whole notes that I've used for a spin off of this stacking game . Using those, I came up with my Rhythm Relay game.  The object:  Be the first team to collect rhythm cup...

Today's the day! Recitals are a major highlight of the year in a music studio because opportunities to share music with our friends, family and community is an important part of being a well-rounded musician. I'm excited to once again present our Spring Video Recital. While I was editing all the student submissions together, I found myself looking back at some of the clips from last year's video recital and I have to say I was very impressed by the growth and progress these piano students have accomplished in the past year. Sometimes it can be hard to gauge just how much we're growing in the day-to-day or week-to-week, but when we compare to a similar milestone from an earlier year we can really see how far we've come.  I'd like to share a huge 'Well Done' to all the performers for the time and commitment you put into preparing your music. And a heartfelt 'T hank You' to the friends and family for your ongoing support for these students.  If you...

In the Spring of each year students in our studio have the opportunity to participate in KMTA's Music Progressions. This is a musicianship evaluation that has 10 progressive levels, I won't get too far into the particulars because you can find  more information here.  But a big part of that musicianship is demonstrating an understanding of Music Theory both on paper and by analyzing what we are hearing. This blog post is a resource round-up of some leveled exercises that can help build these Theory & Listening skills.  All these exercises have been created on MusicTheory.net , which is an excellent free resource for teachers and students alike. These are designed to be a quick review or check-in on a concept, so each exercise is only 10 questions. And they don't even require you being near a piano. If your piano kid tries some, and would like to email me the codes with their scores, please do! I'll enjoy seeing their progress. Level 1 - Note names on keyboard and s...

A lot of my marketing tends towards lessons for children (which is mostly just because they go in for brag photos more than adults do). And while childhood piano lessons are a big focus of the studio, we also have at least half a dozen adult learners on the roster at any one time. And because I believe playing piano is valuable and beneficial at any age, I'd love to start to see more adults giving it a try! So I wanted to use this first blog post of 2023 to make known some of the offerings this studio has for adult students. If you've been curious about starting piano lessons, or perhaps encouraging a friend or family member to look into it, let this be your motivation to get started. Am I too old to learn? Perhaps you've always wanted to play piano, but never had the opportunity to start. I'm here to assure you that it's not too late. Currently my oldest student is in their late 70's! If you're feeling hesitant though, this article about the joy of being an...