dawn's piano

Since we'll be taking next week off for the winter break, I wanted to use the last post of 2017 to look back at the year, and share a few of my favorite moments. So here they are! The highlights: We put on 2 fantastic recitals with over 100 performers in both the spring & fall schedules. We had another successful summer of Young Composers where 20 students participated in composing, notating & recording original pieces of music. Many of those students have received awards from the Reflections Art Competition for their compositions. Click here to see the finished results. We launched a couple practice challenges , and, I might add, several of our students are rocking it in both the 100 day & 40 Piece practice challenges - keep it up everyone! Follow @dawnspiano on Instagram for regular updates. We started a little side-hustle selling sheet some music. Click here to see our store. Dawn gave an interview with Piano Parent Podcast . Mallory published an article ...

Are you already getting a little weary of "Jingle Bells" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" this season? I don't blame you, I can usually listen to KOST 103.5 for about 20 minutes before I start hearing repeat songs and make my own playlist instead. The good news is there's actually a huge wealth of holiday music out there besides the radio favorites.  Last year, I actually attended my first Sing-along Messiah (pictured). I was nervous, but guys, it was really fun! It was a great way to put my sight singing into practice (a bit rusty, hadn't done that in a while!) and participate in bringing a 275 year old piece of music to life again. Now, you don't have to sing if you don't want to, you can just watch and enjoy, but I'd definitely recommend giving it a shot. Just stand next to someone who looks like they know what they're doing and sing whatever they sing.  So, if you'd like to enjoy some classical Christ...

When is it too early to start thinking about holiday music? Well, if you're a music teacher, the planning for new music begins in early fall at the latest. Before September was over I had already placed 2 large orders for new holiday sheet music collections & downloaded several studio licenses for individual pieces to start preparing for the holiday season! Part of this is because heading into the holidays is one of my personal favorite seasons. I get excited by how life speeds up in anticipation of slowing down, and I truly enjoy the music that surrounds this time of year, and how people share it with one another. I also recognize that not everyone feels this way about holiday music, so I made sure to include some lovely new wintry piano solos from Musica Ferrum in the planning this year instead of all Christmas & Hannukah classics. One factor that really makes my piano teacher heart happy this time of year is that students are excited about reviewing music from prev...