Do the Hokey Pokey and turn yourself around, after all, that is what “it” is all about – so the song says. I would have to agree to some degree. I find myself doing the Hokey Pokey from time to time, turning myself all about in music class as I work with my students. I would…
It is piano lesson deja-vu. I am sitting with a student listening to a piece for the 4th week. The piece sounds exactly like it did last week and the week before. The phrase mark that blankets bars 6,7 and 8 has been ignored and the notes of the left hand are still being played…
I love the following words from Haim Ginott. I first read it when I was an undergrad in university. It was in the “Ask Ada” column of the city paper and I cut it out. I still have that worn piece of newsprint and the passage has been my own personal teaching guideline ever since….
Did you know that the average time a teacher waits for a response from students after posing a question is 1 second?????? Consider that for a moment. The teacher asks a whole classroom of students a question and waits only 1 second for a response before rephrasing a question or offering a prompt. When one…
Children do amazing things when they feel that you are behind them. Self-esteem is a delicate part of human character. It is like a balloon that can deflate with just one sharp comment. Though some people have tougher balloons of self-esteem than others, I don’t think anyone is impervious to negative or belittling comments. Children who…
One ship sails East, And another West, By the self-same winds that blow, Tis the set of the sails And not the gales, That tells the way we go. -Ella Wheeler Wilcox- I am sure every piano teacher will love that I am comparing us to a gale…but it’s not because we’re blowing hot air…
