Happy New Year! I’m excited to share my book list for 2024.
I like to vary my reading material throughout the year by choosing books from several different categories. Here’s what’s on this year’s list:
The Blog
Engaging, practical ideas, helpful tools, and creative
strategies to help you lead and teach with confidence
A friend reached out recently to ask about how to find a piano teacher for her two young children.
"Any pointers on how to find the right person?" she asked. "Do you think going to a school is better or finding someone to come to us is better?"
The interview process for finding a music teacher goes both ways:
I first heard about this book from one of my grad school professors.
We were sitting around a long table one snowy January evening at our annual dinner for current and prospective doctoral students. I asked my professor about books he was reading lately and he named several including Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and Carol Dweck's Mindset.
How can we as teachers add variety and musical interest to their repertoire lists? How can we include more diversity in the composers we choose and the musical styles we teach?
A few weeks ago, I wrote a post with 15 supplemental collections for elementary piano students. Today, I’m sharing my favorites for intermediate students.
Confession: I’ve always struggled with written assignment sheets.
I know they’re important for home practice, but what about when a student doesn’t take their assignment notebook out of their bag all week? I wanted to find a better solution.
Looking for an alternative to handwritten assignment sheets in your studio? Here’s an easy 5-step guide to using Notability.
Have you ever used an incentive program in your music studio?
This might be a month-long practicing challenge, an annual assessment period, or a summer music camp (or other break-week).
This is a great way to keep momentum in the studio, encourage good practicing habits leading up to our end-of-year recital, and assess where my students are in all facets of their musicianship.
Looking for a fun, creative theme for your next studio incentive program? Here are five to consider.