Hands up music teachers if you have ever used the words “don’t stop!” during a music lesson. Often this is when a student pauses to think at a bar-line or automatically comes to an abrupt halt when they make a mistake. As this rather humorous quote points out, “Some pianists have alcoholic rubato – they…
Month: November 2020
What is music?
What is Music? How do you define it? Music is a calm moonlit night, the rustle of leaves in Summer. Music is the far off peal of bells at dusk! Music comes straight from the heart and talks only to the heart: it is Love! Music is the Sister of Poetry and her Mother is…
Jungle Photobomb: a time signatures game
This game is SUPER!! Sorry, make that a MASTERPIECE!!! Music student user The camera is all set up in the jungle, but will you get a photobomb from the cheeky animals? ‘Jungle Photobomb’ is one of the most popular music theory games on my website and is always a huge hit with students learning about…
Music lessons and the individual learner
Teach the student first, the music second and the piano third Frances Clark At first glance you might look at this quote and think, ‘hang on, my job is to teach the piano, so why is it not top of the list?!’. But actually it highlights the importance of thinking about the individual when teaching….
How helpful are recordings when learning a new piece?
Hands up if you look up performances on places like YouTube when learning a new music piece? Back in the olden days when I was having music lessons, there was no such thing as YouTube. Internet was through the phone line (showing my age now!) and deathly slow. Lecturers at university actually suggested taking a…
