It’s that “most wonderful time” once again – and if your studio is anything like mine, you’ve been eyeing that stack of Christmas song books for the last few weeks wondering when the right time to start Christmas music. Here are a few ideas for incorporating Christmas songs into your lesson time to initiate thoughtful discussion with your students. Christmas songs are a great time to explore what it means to...
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by Jamey Mann Often students and professionals find themselves at a plateau that can be difficult to work out of. Just like athletes need to change up their workouts to make gains in sports, musicians need to get out of comfort zones to make gains musically. At a certain point everyone’s routine begins to get stale which in turn, is mentally exhausting. Doing the same technical...
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Every instrument comes with a system of fingering to help the composer illustrate how the piece should be played. This goes beyond tempo markings and dynamics and tells the performer exactly which finger to use to play a note, what position the student should be in, and what string the note goes on. All of this affects the sound/tone of the note. Fingerings are important for...
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So, the school year is starting again, and it is a perfect time for we music teachers to remind students and parents of our goals for this upcoming year. To have another successful and artistic year with music lessons we need a bit of planning, forecasting and development to help guide us through. Ask your student about their home practice area and supplies. What do they...
Read MoreBy Wayne Estes My interpretation of the dictionary’s definition of tone is that: tone is the quality that a musician uses to create their personal sound that will influence their audience. I thought I could easily write a quick blog on tone and be done. But after thinking acutely for three minutes and looking back on my 35+ years of musical experience in searching for the...
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