Productivity
This is Lesson #5 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. I’ve referenced this one at the beginning of the year when I was making 1 year goals. I love her last line, “Don’t worry
Why I Love Being a Composer
I love hearing from students who have played my pieces! This is the 2nd group of pictures I have received from a student who learned my Twister piece for his recital last year. I had the privilege to hear this
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Music, Meaning, and Morality
When I was an undergraduate, I was fascinated with the question about whether music had meaning, was moral, and whether it was effective in communicating meaning or morality. I wrote several papers about this, but when I crossed over into the world
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Great Resources for Teachers & Students
Over the past few weeks, I’ve come across some great posts and resources related to teaching piano. Here are a few of them: * Toilet Paper Dynamics: Jason Sifford, a composer and piano teacher has written a great post that
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Connected
This is Lesson #4 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. This one reminds me that while I need to embrace the benefits of new technology, I need to remember that there are parts of what has worked well in
Encouraging Dynamic Playing
After reading some of her very creative ideas on one of the Piano Teaching Email Lists, I asked Mary Jane Cope to write a guest post on how to encourage students to play with more dynamics. Mary Jane is a
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The Sensitive Amateur Listener
Like most composers, I am always testing my music. I test it for the following reasons: To know what works and what doesn’t. To know what is difficult for the performer and what is easy. To know if the piece
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Change
This is Lesson #3 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. This one is great for both composing, teaching, and life in general. Lesson #1 Passion (page 51) Lesson #2 Knowing (page 78) Lesson #3 Change (Page
Basic RSS
A lot of teachers ask me how I have time to follow all the piano teaching blogs and other sites that I do. I admit to them that I really don’t have the time to look at each blog individually,
Knowing
This is Lesson #2 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now. This inspiration is directly relevent to music teachers! Lesson #1 Passion (page 51) Lesson #2 Knowing (page 78)
