I often have parents reach out to me about practice habits. I LOVE this because I am all about working within the parent/student/teacher triangle to problem solve! In the past couple years, one of the main practice problems actually seems to be an outside factor … students are drawn to their screens. And as I’m …
Author: McKenzie
Confessions of a Piano Teachin’ Hoarder
Confession time. Sometimes I reorganize my lesson materials just to see which system works best for me. I LOVE organizing …. But am often guilty of reorganizing things I’ve already moved around, instead of moving onto areas that desperately need the attention. So this year as the shutdown happened, and I took a good long …
Christmas Around the World
2020 has surprised us all. And not just one big event, but seemingly over and over and over again. As I plan for Christmas this year, I dutifully pick out leveled music that will inspire my students to practice and (try) to end the year on a positive note. My studio also participates in a …
This Halloween’s Pumpkin Racing
Halloween is just around the corner! And truth be told, I have been spending most of my focused time choosing Christmas music for my students and coming up with our studio Christmas project for this year. This is why I have an “October” binder that allows me to grab my stash off the shelf and …
Resource Roundup: Choosing the Best Christmas Music for Each Student
Christmas is here! Kind of. But I recently had the pleasure of one of my favorite store tasks of the year - sorting and organizing Christmas music! And because 2020 has been one crazy trip around the sun, I am definitely ready for the Christmas season and some hanging twinkle lights. My students don’t begin …
Continue reading Resource Roundup: Choosing the Best Christmas Music for Each Student
Resource Roundup: Composition
It is time for a new resource roundup, and I am so excited about this one! This past summer I used Nicola Cantan’s “Fantastic Fiction Composing” project throughout my studio, and it was a huge hit among all ages! I generally weave in composition work throughout the year, but there is something exhilarating about the …
House Renovations and Piano Teaching
I have been largely absent this summer ... but I haven’t been sitting around lazily enjoying this season! My husband and I signed on a house, completely renovated it (with the help of our amazing families), and moved in - all in less than 5 weeks. And needless to say we are exhausted and our …
Resource Roundup: Practice Packs
Yesterday I taught 8 lessons. Of those 8 lessons I believe two students practiced this week. And I spent 15 minutes of one student’s lesson watching the student search the room for any trace of her books (we were online). Mom joined in the fun and was also unsuccessful in finding them. The lesson started …
When Life Gives You Lemons…
Right about now is usually the time when my studio is in transition. The spring recital is ending, school is out or close to it, and I’m announcing fun summer plans. This year I have realized that although the transition looks quite a bit different, we are still in transition as we navigate what this …
Adaptive Piano Lessons Domain: Physical
We have arrived at the end of our Adaptive Piano Journey! (For now … this is truly a journey that once you begin, never ends!). We have explored creative ways to foster excitement and creativity at the piano when you have students showing deficiencies in the cognitive, communication, socio-emotional, and behavioral domains. My earnest desire …
