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 …
Category: Adaptive Piano Lessons
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 …
Adaptive Piano Lessons Domain: Behavioral
“Nearly all academic and social activities require interpersonal interactions; therefore, a behavioral disorder can affect every area of a student’s development: intellectual, educational, and social.”* Please read that again, and let it sink in a little deeper. What’s being said is that a behavioral disorder literally affects every aspect of a child’s life. I don’t …
Adaptive Piano Lessons Domain: Socio-Emotional
Music is an integral part of society. Here in America, our musical experience has been described as being a part of our lives from birth to death, experienced from the lowest to highest cognitive functioning, and enjoyed by one person at a time to thousands of people together*. So it is little wonder that we …
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Adaptive Piano Lessons Domain: Communication
Imagine that you greet a new student at the door. Although mom looks at you and politely says hello and begins a normal conversation, the student is clearly distracted. Your kind and genuine welcome do nothing to put him at ease. He never looks at you when he speaks, and doesn’t say much more than …
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Play Dough and Music
Since switching to online lessons, I will ask my students to have various household items on hand. The excitement of wondering how we will use them is usually evident the moment we start video chatting! They always hold their items up proudly, making sure I haven’t forgotten about their mystery assignment J I am married, …
Adaptive Piano Lessons Domain: Cognitive
The cognitive domain can range from exceptional cognitive ability to severe cognitive and learning disabilities. For our purposes today, we will be focusing on the side of the spectrum where we find disabilities. Students with learning disabilities do not necessarily have a cognitive disability. But we will be looking at strategies for teaching a student …
Adaptive Piano Lessons: Intro
According to dictionary.com, to adapt means “to adjust, or modify fittingly to requirements of conditions.” And at this point, I’m sure your mind is racing. It seems as though the whole world is on some form of stay-at-home restrictions. And due to the coronavirus, we are all learning to adapt our piano lessons into the …
The Perfect Method Book
There is no such thing as the perfect method book. There. I said it. Now please hear me out on this one before you head to your next task … Besides teaching, I also have the amazing job of working at a music store. I have learned so much working behind the desk and meeting …
Have you heard the term “Secondary Gains”?
A secondary gain is a fancy concept I heard a lot in college. I was deep in the thick of music therapy classes, and we were busy learning how to track a client’s progress. In order to keep good records, we had to have identifiable goals. Lots of paperwork, but I had the opportunity to …
