Recently, I joined Music Teacher’s Helper. That’s a website designed to make the business aspects of the Music Teacher’s life easier. I’m not sure that I’ll sign up for the …
Bilanz
Stop the Chaos
excerpt from the kcmta Newsletter Vol. 8, #9 June 2008 Joyce Berg, NCTM We cannot have a successful and effective democracy without intelligent, disciplined, conscientious, and loving people. As teachers, we …
Travelling to teach
In March, when my accountant informed me that the IRS allows me to deduct mileage when I travel to a student’s house to teach he also admonished me for traveling to …
songs on white keys
In the course of discussing ideal first pieces for beginning piano students, one of my teenage students suggested “the Do-Re-Mi song from The Sound of Music” – not so much …
Sorrow
I live in the old part of Olathe, where the houses are small and the trees are tall. Hardly anyone here has a real lawn, it’s more like just lots …
The way I practice
My style of practicing is similar to the way I discuss things with Mark. He’s a good listener and I appreciate his feedback, so I like to bounce ideas off …
Getting off the Scaffold
When Kirstyn started lessons with me, in the summer of 2005, shortly before her 11th birthday, a couple of things were immediately obvious: she loved playing the piano, she had progressed …
Boris Berman Master Class
Park University in Parkville, Missouri, is different. Perhaps not so much in that Parkville is not your typical college town, or even in that Park University offers undergraduate and graduate …
Piano Concerto Competition
The Manhattan Area Music Teachers Association (MAMTA) hosted the 11th Annual Piano Concerto Competition today. The Competition is open to students in grades 4 – 12. Contestants are grouped by grade …
You can do it.
Last summer, Mark and I, in an attempt to find some kind of exercise we enjoyed and would therefore be more likely to stick with, tried out Tai Chi. I liked …