The teaching calendar between the new year and the end of the school year is a long one. Even those of us who teach private lessons typically follow some sort of “school” calendar. Over the past few weeks, I’ve observed both teachers and students starting to show the signs of being caught in the Spring … Read more
Playing and practicing music can be a real grind. Just like anything that requires discipline and hard work, it’s easy to lose track of why we even do it. We often lose touch with what is really important to us, or we never find it in the first place. We simply follow a path that … Read more
There’s an assignment that we often miss as teachers. And it’s one that always makes our jobs way easier—maybe easier than anything we could have students do. Over time, it simply transforms our students’ musical experiences and their abilities. Students should be asked to listen to music each time we see them. It can be … Read more
There are allegedly only so many hours in a day that students can set aside time to learn repertoire. Many teachers I speak with get flustered by the amount of time they spend trying to get one to a few pieces up to a student’s potential, knowing all along that the student needs to know … Read more
Students have often come to me asking if they are “ready” for a musical situation. Whether it be an audition, adjudication, festival, accompanying gig, college program, a certain ensemble, a tour, etc.—my answer is always the same… Participate in as many musical situations as possible where you are the worst one. Be musically overwhelmed as … Read more
In this part of the series, we’ll explore how to use the Circle of Fifths to improvise your own melodies.
Several years ago, I had an adult student who was a great jazz player. She felt that all of her issues in playing music stemmed from not understanding the circle of fifths. She brought in the diagram and explained it to me perfectly. I told her it seemed like she already understood the information well. … Read more
Learning cadences and voice leading are important aspects of playing music. We can also improvise to learn or reinforce these concepts. This video works through a process on how to do this.
In the beginning, my whole teaching studio at Creative Music Adventures was built on this phone call from teacher friends around the community: “I have a student who has some potential, but they are driving me crazy. They are supremely talented but won’t do anything I ask. Can I send them to you to see … Read more
While in college, I started teaching piano lessons regularly. I could play piano, compose, and improvise on a standard college level—but teaching was a whole different animal. Thankfully, I had great teachers growing up and could call upon my experiences with them to help the lessons become productive as quickly as possible. The methods were … Read more
