My biggest gripe with piano teaching is not what you’d expect – students who don’t practice. It is the parents. For the most part, I have wonderful parents: they are …
Planning and growth
Many, many years ago, when I was still in the first ten years of my teaching career, I was successful. I was able to attract good students, where good meant …
Standards and Expectations
Many parents, after looking at my website or after the initial meeting where we discuss piano lesson details and the student plays for me, comment that they like that I …
The frustration of not playing well at your lesson
A common complaint of many students is that they never play as well at their lesson as they do at home. They are frustrated but at the same time seem …
Being Creative in the 21st Century
For as long as I can remember, I have been improvising and composing at the piano. A few weeks after I started lessons, my fourth grade class listened to Mussorgsky’s …
What good are the Arts?
You’ve heard it a million times. “We need the arts because …” and then come all kinds of good reasons. For instance, Yehudi Menuhin said in an interview with the …
The Pressure of a Day Off
My schedule in the summer is wildly irregular. Not only does it change from day to day but also from week to week. Which sounds stressful but I actually enjoy …
Goldberg Variations . Aria da capo e fine
Around the middle of February, I decided to join 31 other Kansas State University piano faculty, students, alumni and guests, preparing a performance of J. S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, to …
Tigers, Helicopters, Elephants
As a piano teacher I meet all kinds of students, families, parents. Fortunately, I have mostly a lot of simply normal parents in the studio: parents who are supportive, who …
Technique
I have a new student. Early advanced, learns a new 4-5 page piece in one week, note-perfect. I can tell that his previous training has been good – he knows …