dawn's piano

Several times during the year we'll have a Piano Party! These are open to all students who would like to attend.  What do we do at Piano Parties?  Each one has a distinct musical focus on a topic that may not always get the spotlight in lessons: Music Theory Game Night . Often I'll frame this as a 'Bootcamp' with a specific topic like note reading or rhythm fluency.  Look   Inside the Piano . We'll learn more about what makes our instrument so special and all the moving parts that are there to help us make our music.  Improvising . Each year the style of music we improvise or compose may change, this year (2019-2020 Session) I'm planning a Pop Composing class using the 4 chord composing model. Students will write an original pop-style melody to play over a chord progression accompaniment.  Music History .   Students learn about the major periods in the Western Classical genre, and some of their distinctive composers while filling out composer tr...

Flex weeks are un-billed lessons that are built into the term where either parents or the studio can cancel a lesson if necessary without the loss of a paid lesson, or the need for a make-up. Basically it offers us that flexibility to take a week off when we need it. We have 3 flex weeks built into the school year session, and 2 built into the summer session.  If you're interested in seeing how this all calculates into the studio tuition, here's an example of the math based on a random year's* group lesson rate. There are 37 weeks in the term (end of August through April) 4 weeks are holidays (1 week Thanksgiving, 2 weeks Christmas, 1 week Spring Break) 3 weeks are unbilled flex weeks That leaves us 30 lessons in the term at the all-inclusive (materials included) lesson rate of $22.50 each.  30 x 22.50 = 675. This means the total tuition for the school year session is $675. Divided evenly over 9 months, and the monthly tuition comes to $75.  To put it simply, ...

It's inevitable that once in a while we will have a conflict with piano lesson schedules. When this happens, you can request a recorded video lesson to do at your convenience.  And let me tell you, I love these as an alternative to missing lessons, because they keep your piano kid's progress and momentum going, PLUS it is one less thing for you to reschedule, and it takes so much the stress out of those "oh no, we have a conflict!" realizations knowing we have a solid backup plan. So today's blog post is all about what's in a recorded video lesson, and how to make the most of it.  First up, what do I put in a recorded video lesson? Well, using your assignments from the previous week, I will record a video that's about 10 minutes long, give or take a few, and typically choose: an updated technical exercise expand on our method book piece, or add a new one same with repertoire and if applicable, a theory game Depending on your student ...