Am I alone in thinking that students aren't playing enough? In the beginning there is so much to learn, and reading music is hard. How...

Teaching the smallest thing to the greatest number of students. Getting students to repeat things that are more interesting. How easy do...

Words are great, but video and sound can demonstrate a point better. Yesterday I posted the March 2025 Circle of 5ths and included Puck...

It's March 2025 tomorrow. Time for another circle of 5ths. This time, it's Shamrocks. Download the March Circle here: It's interesting...

Here's a checklist I use with students when we get a new piece. You can download it below. A few things to note: Circling the sharps or...

So February's piece around the circle is the theme from Alexander Borodin's Polovetzian Dance from the unfinished opera, Prince Igor....

What's not to love? If you're one who's been checking back occasionally, you'll see that I'm circle obsessed. February (2025) is the...

My students are way smarter than I am. They make great observations and have brilliant ideas. One of them is when we use the key name...

Saving keys from stickers and markers one piano at a time. . . Today I was teaching students I have had for a year. They're 8 and 9 years...

What if by the end of 2025 all of your students could do 1-4-5 cadences in all major keys? What if it were easy? Or, at least easier....

Last year I did a holiday challenge where I had students learn the major scale in all keys and then play the opening bars of Joy to the...

In the endless development of motor skills, another trip around the Circle of 5ths is in order. It's been over a year since this...

Honestly, the circle of 5ths challenges are the gift that keeps on giving. When I'm teaching variants of In the Hall of the Mountain King...

I can't help it. The change in my students since I started teaching around the circle is remarkable, interesting, amazing, satisfying,...

(scroll down to download the free pdfs) I recently picked up a book by Daniel Levitin, "I Heard There Was a Secret Chord, Music and...

Do you teach all keys from the beginning? Why (or why not)? I've been using key finder cards to teach all keys for over a year and a half...

The 2-5-1 chord progression is one of the most beloved and useful ones in jazz. Learn to play them, learn to hear them, learn to...

When do you start teaching or learning the circle of 5ths? How do you do it? Recently I went down a Circle of 5ths rabbit hole on...

This is a video reference library to get you started in learning the 7th chords that get played again and again in music. It was created...

I think pianists are privileged. As a soloist, a pianist can play unaccompanied for hours, in front of a crowd or at home, with a full...