dawn's piano

Next Monday we'll be having our first piano party of the school year, and it's the one where we learn all about the piano! So it seemed fitting for this week's blog post to finally finish up this one from my drafts encouraging us to think about the history of keyboard instruments.  The piano didn't just spring into being one day and then people started writing keyboard music, it evolved from a number of earlier keyboard instruments like the harpsichord and the clavichord . A lot of the early classical genre music that we now play on the piano was actually written on earlier keyboard instruments. Anything out of the Baroque Era (which includes everything JS Bach wrote) all pre-dates the piano as we know it, and a lot of early Classical period music as well. Understanding the differences in instrumentation at the time when certain pieces were actually written can really help us to interpret the music, and to understand how certain ornaments functioned to create more dyna...

I want to introduce everyone to our composer timeline! Each week on the Studio Facebook page I've been sharing a 'hand-washing song' chosen by one of our students. And today's post is a closer look at what that means, and how that plays into our lessons and musical study. I have a cup full of composer cards (from Vibrant Music Teaching ) and when it is a student's turn, they draw a card, and we search up that composer on Youtube. The student gets to pick a piece from the list of selections available, and that becomes the week's hand-washing song! That music then plays for the next week while students are coming into the studio, I am sanitizing pianos, they are washing their hands, and getting their books prepped for lessons, etc. With the few extra minutes of cleaning procedures that come with operating our studio in a pandemic, this has added a sense of musical purpose and routine to our slightly longer transition time. After we are settled and ready for lesson...

Sometime last year our studio contributed to a kickstarter for a tabletop card came called ' Lord of the Chords' , and several months later received our physical copy of the game. Not too long after that I scheduled a game night with a couple local music teachers so we could get the hang of game play before implementing this game in our teaching. Today I'm writing up a short review of Lord of the Chords, and how I look forward to implementing it in lessons.  A short sum-up of game play: You try to build chords, and when you've built a chord in the chosen key signature, you get that key signature tile. Whoever gets 3 tiles first wins. It sounds fairly simple, but there's lots of fun strategy opportunities built in like 7th steals, and action cards that create all kinds of surprises as you go along. Also, when you first sit down to play, you look through the instrument cards and decide which one you'd like to be. Each instrument offers different advantages spe...

As I announced at the beginning of the year, instead of doing a year-long practice challenge this time, we are trying 4 short one-month practice challenges spread throughout this school year. I like to think of this as something like running intervals: we will do some short sprints with the month challenges, and we'll also have some time slow down to a walk to breathe in between. So, what's coming up next? Well, we wrapped up the "Fall Into Music" challenge in September, and our next one is going to start up in November when we'll be joining Pianovember hosted by the Piano Parent Podcast .  In this practice challenge, students get one point every time they practice a song outside of lessons. Each student will need to keep track of tallies during their practice sessions each time they play a song, and at your lessons we will update the total tallies on the studio chart.  But it doesn't stop there because this practice challenge is also global! This means...

Almost as soon as I arrived in McPherson, Tiffiney Harms, area piano teacher, invited me to join MAPTL (McPherson Area Piano Teachers League) and to participate in running their upcoming brand-new Espressivo Piano Camp. I eagerly accepted both invitations.  I have wanted to do a piano camp for several years now, but being a traveling teacher in Southern California made finding a place to host a camp a bit tricky. My associate teacher Mallory & I brainstormed possibilities a few times, but weren't able to come up with any options where we'd be able to reserve a location AND keep the cost affordable for parents.  So needless to say, I was thrilled to participate in Espressivo Piano Camp's first run the week of June 4th through June 8th. Here's a bit of what we were up to: Performance Class - Students were taught how to approach a performance with confidence, musical expression, performer's ettiquette & increased focus. The weeklong camp wrapped up ...

Hello all! I hope you're enjoying this month's resources for staying engaged with your music education over the summer months. Today I'm sharing another Youtube playlist that discusses things you may not always encounter in every piano lesson. The videos discuss a broad range of music history, terminology & concepts, and definitely have something to offer to older students. You can learn what classifies one piece of music as an Aria? or a Fugue? A Gregorian Chant? Or you can delve into some music history & learn about the classical periods, or watch some composer bios from Bach & Mozart to John Williams. It is a widely varied playlist that I'd recommend for intermediate students who are ready for something beyond keyboard basics, and can start to see how what they are learning in lessons will plug them into the larger musical community. You can watch the first video below to find out what and Aria is, or scroll through the playlist to something that ca...

This app has been in use in my studio for the past several years, and it is such a well-formatted, intuitive introduction to music appreciation & classical music history, that I think it would make a perfect summer bridge activity to keep your elementary piano student engaging with music in new ways over the summer months.  So, the app works like an animated book with a chapter on selected classical composers, another on the parts of the orchestra & instrument families, and a third on what music is & where you can find it out in the real world. Every page is interactive with illustrations, and text that you can tap to be read aloud, and recordings of the discussed music. This makes for a great format for young students to read on their own. And they can choose navigate through it in order, or pick & choose where to go next from the home page.  The app is available on both iTunes & Google Play for a very reasonable price (compare to the price of a ha...

 Looking for something to do on a Friday night in Pasadena? The Pasadena Community Orchestra has another concert coming up and it has a terrific looking program.  You can see the concert description here . First the basics:  When: Friday, November 10th at 8:00pm Where: Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene This is one of those perfect triple threats: Fun, Free & Educational. The Church of the Nazarene has  a very large auditorium and balcony seating, so even if you have younger kids and would like to show up for as much or as little of the show as they can handle, you can choose balcony seating, and not worry about disrupting the concert! I am planning to attend, so if you do come, please let me know! (I wouldn't recommend this for under 5's, especially as it is later in the evening, but older students would most definitely benefit.) And -insert drumroll- here is the program! The show will start with a bang with the epic Fanfare for the Common Man ...

So let's talk about piano tuning. A couple years ago I set a personal goal to get a suitable practice instrument in every one of my students' homes. . . and it's been easier said than done. Since then, I have drafted soo many email tuning reminders or instrument upgrade recommendations, and had conversations with several studio parents about how important it is to get your current instrument tuned every year.  So, why is piano tuning such a big deal? Well, three big reasons: First, aural and listening training are a huge part of musical education. Every time we play a melody, harmony or series of notes, our brains take stock of how those notes relate to each other and then creates and reinforces the neural pathways that help us recall the notes when we need them . If a musician practices these aural skills enough, they can eventually play entire pieces by ear, and not just the melodies. They can also create music in their head away from their instrument, and wr...

One of the families I teach is going to be going on a European adventure for part of this year, and instead of trying to cram new music into the last few lessons leading up to their departure, we decided instead to create a couple music history lessons that would follow their trip!

Thank you everyone for a great Recital! I was very proud of everyone's performances, and grateful for all the help I received in coordinating it. This month's post will be inspired by my song choice from the recital. As my piano teacher from high school will attest, I always hated to play Bach. His music is very intellectual, but it is not as overtly passionate as other periods and composers. I told myself it was unninovative and not interesting enough to play. However, in the years since then, I began to hear the brilliance in Bach’s music.