Teaching Done Differently
My daughter made the travel basketball team! I have loved watching her play. It is mesmerizing and so fast-paced. As activities have started to conflict, however, I’m finding I am automatically canceling or deferring her other interests/lessons without remembering how the art/music/science professionals running those after-school activities view our choices. It can appear that maybe […]
Read more
By. Chrissy Ricker, NCTM www.chrissyricker.com One of my goals as a piano teacher is to help my students learn how to practice both efficiently and independently. Since most of the work of learning to play an instrument happens outside of our weekly lessons, I want my students to have a full “toolbox” of practice […]
Read more
By Gail Fischler, founder of Piano Addict I love mixed-level group activities. Yes, students need to learn alongside those who are working on the same skills and concepts. But, I believe it’s equally important to occasionally kick things up a notch and combine levels. Mixed-level activities allow less experienced students to aspire to something […]
Read more
by Lou Ann Pope & Nicole Douglas, Creative Education Specialists Want to engage your students during the holiday season in a fun new way? Check out the newest addition to the Tonara’s Examples section of the Repertoire area on the teacher’s desktop platform. (You can right-click the image to save it to your computer.) […]
Read more
by Chrissy Ricker, NCTM www.chrissyricker.com Assigning and pacing the repertoire we use with our students is one of the most challenging tasks we face as music teachers. The music we assign not only shapes the development of our students’ technical skills--it can also play a huge role in maintaining our students’ motivation to practice. Some […]
Read more
By Gail Fischler, founder of Piano Addict Blog Do you judge yourself as you practice? Those negative inner thoughts are human nature. Sometimes voices from the past echo in our heads. Sometimes, the thoughts have nothing to do with the task at hand at all. Every good book that I have ever found, on practicing […]
Read more
by Chrissy Ricker, NCTM www.chrissyricker.com Musical notation is a complex and elegant language. Using just lines and dots, the lovely sounds of our favorite works of music can be captured forever on the written page, to be learned and enjoyed by those of us fluent in the language of music. However, learning how to “decode” […]
Read more
By Elisa Janson Jones “Right now I’m just delighted to be alive and to have had a nice long bath.” Richard Branson, Philanthropist and Entrepreneur Richard Branson is one of my biggest idols. He has a lot of money and spends a lot on good causes. He keeps a notebook. He’s an innovator. And […]
Read more
by Jennifer Foxx of Music Educator Resources One of the most important skills a student must have when practicing is to be able to listen. Have you ever had a student that can play through a piece and it sounds completely off? They might be playing in the wrong key or wrong position, or are […]
Read more
by Gail Fischler, founder of Piano Addict Blog Have you ever been horrified to discover rhythmic or voicing errors in music you have known and performed for some time? It happens. A case in point for me is Copland’s Four Piano Blues. The changing meters in these pieces evoke the improvisatory rhythm and rubato of […]
Read more