dawn's piano

Have you ever wondered what other parents do to motivate their piano kids to practice? Or how they balance the requirements of piano with everything else on their schedules? Well, there's a podcast for piano parents that you should check out! And yours truly was the guest for their latest episode!  Click here to download the episode, And here for the shownotes .

The pieces that we already have a connection to are often the ones that we are more motivated to practice. Its just really fun to play music that we've heard before. So one of the things I really enjoy doing as a teacher is creating piano arrangements of student requests. If you want to know more about when and why I began doing this, you can read read that blog post here . And so after several years of sitting down to arrange student requests on a regular basis, I've accumulated a number of popular pieces arranged for beginner and intermediate piano that have been so successful with my own students that I decided to try publishing several of these arrangements for others to purchase. And in doing so have officially joined the world of music publishing! You can visit my store here . I set up shop for all of my popular arrangements on SMP Press because they do all the work of getting permission from the original copyright holders and delivering their royalties. All I ha...

It's almost time for our annual Masquerade Piano Recital, and we can't wait! The show will be on Saturday, November 4th .

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...

Climb on board the Wunderbus, the updated edition of Wunderkeys is here! Created by Andrea & Trevor Dow, this method is an early childhood method for music education. The series focuses on early musical concepts with fun and engaging games, rhymes, songs and off-the-bench activities. All along the way, students are building an awareness of crucial musical elements like hand-eye coordination, spatial reasoning, rhythm, sequence, pattern recognition, early math & counting skills and so much more. And it is perfectly paced for preschool students ages 3-5. Not only is the music part great, but it is also just plain fun. Join Thumbelina, Pointer Panda, Middleton Mouse, Ringo and Pinky Pig as they explore the fundamentals of music and keyboard theory together in an original and truly engaging way.  And we here at Dawn's Piano are proud and excited to be able to offer this method to our youngest students! If you or anyone you know would like to inquire about availabilit...

Looking for a way to round out your child's music education? Or to squeeze in some practice when you are away from the piano? Just peruse your local library or bookstore's performing arts section. I headed over to Vroman's last week to see what was available and found some great choices! I was also glad to see some of my long-time favorites are still in print. This list is mostly picture books   meaning that if you read the book, then went on YouTube and listened to the artist or piece you read about, these would be a perfect fit to substitute for a 15-20 minute practice time. Children's Book of Music by DK Publishing (pictured) This book is an incredible survey of music history from early ancient to popular & film music of today. It comes with a CD to listen along, and has the photo and information block layouts that we've all come to love and expect from DK nonfiction books. This is an excellent book to take on a trip and study a few pages each day. (W...

In light of the 100 day challenge we are running for the 2017-2018 school year, I'm sure many of you are wondering, "but what about when I'm on vacation, or don't have a piano handy?" Well, you could always try fitting the piano in your car (or getting a portable Roll-Up Piano ) but just in case that doesn't work, never fear! We've got lots of "off-the-bench" ideas so you can stay on track for your challenge!