dawn's piano

Part of being a piano teacher is helping connect students with the music that they're going to be excited to play. Sometimes that means learning about new-to-them styles of music and as exploring them together with our newfound knowledge, and getting to enjoy the feeling of discovery. Sometimes it means finding sheet music of a piece they already know and love for them to learn. Perhaps they have a favorite popular artist, movie or video game. And every so often, when I can't find just the right arrangement for a student I end up putting one together for them myself. Over the years, this has ended up building a sturdy little collection of sheet music arrangements that I've gradually been publishing as digital sheet music for sale via Hal Leonard's Arrange Me program. Today's blog post is just to let you know that earlier this Fall the sheet music store got a facelift, as well as several new  uploads! Going forward I will probably not be making too many blog posts he...

It comes inevitably for most all piano students, at some point we stop taking lessons. Maybe its because they've decided to focus on some other hobbies and commitments as they transition into the middle or high school years, maybe its because they're off to college. Maybe it's something else. But how can you as a piano parent continue to support the role of music in your child's life after they've ended formal lessons?  If you are reading this blog post, I am assuming that your child is not going on to pursue a formal music degree or career. And w hile your job of helping them get to lessons and schedule in practice time has ended, a lot of your other contributions as a piano parent will continue to be meaningful in helping your child create space for music.  Here are a 4 ways I recommend making space for music after formal lessons have stopped.  Have an instrument You might be tempted to make some extra space in the house by moving out the instrument now that lesso...

As we're heading into an era of rediscovering some 70's-90's fashion, we're seeing the long nail trends coming back in full force, which makes this post both timely and necessary as I'm seeing more of these coming into lessons again. My goal with this post is to provide some considerations that piano parents or non-musicians may not be aware of.   So are long nails ok for piano students?  Unfortunately the short answer is: No, they're really not a great idea. This means that when you head to the nail salon with your piano kid, keep in mind that those really fun long nails can cripple good piano technique. So much so that it can actually cause tension related repetitive stress injury or nerve issues if sustained in the long term. Our hands are part of our equipment for playing the piano, and just like you wouldn't send your child to soccer practice in ballet shoes, you don't want to send them to piano lessons or performances with the wrong equipment on th...