dawn's piano

Composing and creativity is such a critical component of being a well-rounded musician. It is a terrific way to flip our learning and apply the theory that we cover so often in a new and inventive way. It gives us a special space for creativity, and opens up a discussion about the components of music like melody, harmony, rhythm, motifs and cadences to name a few. Being able to celebrate the accomplishment that each of our Young Composers makes each year is so very important for building their confidence in music and performance. So I proudly present the 2015 program's finished results:

After a few years of teaching, I began to notice a marked difference between my students who had well-maintained instruments and those who have out of tune instruments, or keyboard instruments that don't reach my digital piano guidelines (see below.) Unfortunately, this difference only becomes more pronounced the longer a student continues with a piano that isn't contributing to their learning experience. But the good news is that when a family is able to upgrade, there tends to be a noticeable change in the student's interest, and in their progress, over a very short period of time. And many times I have seen that learning gap diminish, and ultimately disappear in a matter of months.

And once again, here are our submissions to the 2015 online music festival, hosted by makingmusicfun.net . I love looking back and seeing how in just a couple short years, we can see major strides in musicality and ability.

One of my personal favorite pieces that I've performed was this piano & cello duet with Mallory. This was the finale for our 2014 Masquerade Piano Recital, which explains why I am wearing Totoro ears. We host these musical masquerades each fall, and encourage our students to dress up, be glamorous or mysterious or whoever they want to be, and put on a great show.

Every so often, one of my younger students will look up at me from the piano bench with eyes wide and ask "Can you play every song in the world?" The first time I got this question, I was completely taken aback as to how to answer, and probably tried to say something along the lines of "it would take an entire lifetime to collect every song in the world, let alone play all of them."