Piano Parent Podcast: Helping Teachers, Parents, And Students Get The Most Of Their Piano Lessons.

I e-met Leah online when her studio participated in the PIANOVEMBER Practice Challenge. She runs a vibrant studio, that is actually called Vibrant Valley Music Studio. She is active in her own pursuit of learning to teach her students. In fact, we were just able to book this interview before Leah heads to the MTNA Convention in Spokane, WA. I love the name of her studio, Vibrant Valley Music Studio and I especially love her teaching philosophy, "Nurturing tomorrow's musicians through creativity, inspiration, and community." Listen to the full episode here Resources Mentioned in this Episode Debra Perez “Way Cool Keyboarding” Bullfrog Jamboree by Mayron Cole Jennifer Eklund’s Piano Pronto FM Sheet Music Teacher video recommendation "Things and Wings" by Liz Story is one of the pieces that made Leah feel like an actual accomplished pianist. She still has this piece memorized and under her fingers to this day! Other LIz Story pieces at MusicNotes.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n8lpsiZkG8 Words of w

Doing new things can be challenging for all of us. Piano students are asked to do new things constantly. Once they master one concept, another is given to them without pause. Faced with something new, in this case a new musical concept to master or a new song to play, students have to exert a lot of conscious effort. They have to intentionally think about what they want their hands to do. That is hard work!  Piano kids will often resist and not even try because they don’t feel they will be successful. Rather than try and fail, they choose to give up. They feel like the music is too hard. Parents can help their kids look at music and their abilities differently. It’s not too hard; it’s too new. As students practice and put in multiple, slow repetitions, their hands and muscles “learn” how to do the movement and play the notes and rhythm patterns. The effort becomes less mental and more automatic. Automaticity definition: The condition of being automatic. The ability to do things without occupying the mind wit

In Episode 130 I gave you a list of ten songs that are perfect for playing along with YouTube videos (I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from that episode! Thanks for letting me know it was helpful for you).  It occurred to me while recording that episode that I haven’t really talked about building chords and their inversions on the podcast. Build by counting piano keys Many piano kids may be familiar with chords that are grouped by their shape. Major Chords with all white keys: C, F, G. Chords with a black key in the middle: D, E, A. Chords with black keys on the top and bottom and a white key in the middle: Db, Eb, Ab. But what about chords that don’t fit in those groups? You can find the notes you need by counting piano keys - all keys, black or white. For Major chords, start with any piano key. This becomes the ROOT of the chord. Today, let’s use B. From the ROOT, count up four piano keys (C, C#, D, D#) D# is the fourth piano key up from B. D# is the middle note of the chord. In terms of intervals, i

Click here to download this episode. In this episode we learn ♫ How Raphaelita’s instructor, mentor, and lifelong friend discovered her when she was practicing at a local church one day. ♫ How Raphealita’s upbringing and the influence of her mother helped her become an excellent student. ♫ The difference between the casual piano parent who aims to broaden their child’s interests and knowledge versus the more stern piano parent who views piano study as a launching pad for additional opportunities for their piano kid in college and beyond. ♫ How Raphaelita uses WhatsApp to help her students stay motivated and practicing throughout the week. One question I enjoy asking the teachers I interview is, "If you could spend time with any composer, who would you choose and why?" Without hesitation, Raphaelita gave me her answer. The person Raphaelita most admires and would love to spend time with is her instructor and mentor, Veda Zuponcic. Professor Zuponcic is the Founding Artistic Director of the Northern Lights Mus

The last few shows have mentioned playing chords or pop songs or getting creative at the piano in some way. Talking about it is great and your piano kid might really be interested in playing some pop tunes but getting started can feel a little overwhelming. That’s why I put together this list of 10 songs that are perfect to play along with a YouTube video and I have the videos embedded on the show notes for this episode. I chose these songs because most of them use only a few chords (most of them five chords or less) and those chords occur in a repeating pattern throughout the entire song or through a large portion of the song. The basic formula for playing each chord is to have the right hand play the chord in root position (your piano teacher can share more about this) while the left hand plays the root note only. In most cases, students are holding the chord as a whole note until it's time to play the next chord. Often, after students begin to feel the rhythm pattern and the pulse of the music they choose

A few weeks ago I got an email from Sanette Brems, a piano mom in my studio. Listen to Sanette's parent interview with me on Episode 019. In her email, Sanette said, "I saw this and immediately thought of you!" The link in the email took me to the Kickstarter page for a new music theory game called, "Lord of the Chords". Their website declares that they are the "geekiest, punniest music theory game in the world". Lord of the Chords Kickstarter Page - click here I love puns and really love games that help my students learn and use music theory so I did a little research and was able to contact the developers of the game. Jonathan Ng, one member of the development team, responded to my email and we set up our interview within days and now I am pleased to share that interview with you! Listen to the full interview here A little of Jonathan's background Jonathan started violin when he was eight years old but never felt a strong connection to the violin. By ten, Jonathan wasn't really enjoying the violin but his

In recent episodes, I've alluded to the idea of keeping a video or audio journal of your piano kid's musical progress. This is a way for them to see their growth as a musician. In today's show, we will talk in more detail about the advantage of keep a video journal as well as  the practical details like equipment and storage. Great Learning Tool The primary reason to video your child is for them to learn from the experience. When we are playing or reading music, our minds are so focused on that activity that we can stop listening to the music we're making. Having a separate recording gives students a chance to hear themselves as the audience or judge will hear them.  In their imagination, they may have had a bigger contrast in dynamics or tempo or other musical elements but the reality of the recording tells them how accurate they really were. Sometimes, in their imagination, students think the whole performance was flawed. They focus on mistakes or missteps they made while playing and think the entire perfo