Never compare one student’s test score to another’s. Always measure a child’s progress against her past performance. There will always be a better reader, mathematician, or baseball player. Our goal is to help each student become as special as she can be as an individual – not to be more special than the kid sitting next…
Music as brain training
Train your brain with music I was quite interested to read recently that playing the piano (or any musical instrument) can burn calories. It certainly feels like a workout sometimes, particularly when playing fiendish passages of fast semiquavers in more advanced music! But there are also numerous studies that have found learning music is good…
Which instrumentalists have a “rakish, scampish” look?!
Life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music George Eliot Hands up if you enjoy reading! As a student (which seems a long time ago now), I enjoyed quite a lot of Victorian literature. I didn’t read much by George Eliot (or Mary Ann Evans), however, but I really like…
What is a teacher?
What is a teacher? I’ll tell you: it isn’t someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows. Paul Coelho It is the start of a new term for me today and I’m looking forward to seeing all my students again….
Music is a gift
Music is a gift from one person’s soul to another. It is the art of all things we cannot see nor touch Nicola Bennedetti, Classic FM Interview What a beautiful quote and a lovely way to restart the blog in 2020! Hope everyone had a lovely teaching break (if you had one) and a Happy…
Happy New Year!
Wishing everyone a very happy and peaceful new year! Hope 2020 is full of great music 🙂
Happy Holidays
Wishing everyone a very happy and peaceful break!
Garbage bins and music theory!
These cute monsters have been a huge hit in my music studio this term – from my very young beginners up to my older teenagers! I love music studio competitions and have always found them to be highly motivating amongst my students. Since September we have been playing ‘Garbage Monsters’, and at the start of…
A successful term of music making
How lovely to end the term with some excellent music exam results! I have always loved giving out good news to students when the results land on the doormat (or more often these days in my email inbox!). In fact, for many years of teaching we would only find out through the post, and I…
Don’t stop at the bar line!
Some pianists have alcoholic rubato – they stop at every bar Peter Mack If you have students who stop at the bar line this might make you smile!
Christmas in the music studio
What has been the most requested song to learn in your music studio this year? Last year, ‘Last Christmas’ was the definite winner but this year Frosty The Snowman seems to be the most popular with my students. I love getting out the Christmas books with students and it’s great to see them so enthusiastic…
Learning is fun
Learning should always be fun. They should be having a ball. It’s amazing how much they remember when it is fun. Dan Grable Stumbled across this quote today and couldn’t agree more!
