Piano Teaching

Blog Post Share: 15 things to know to support your child learning to play the piano

Julie Cleveland Benefits of Music Lessons, Piano lessons for kids, Piano Students, Piano Teaching , , , ,

This is one of the best blog posts I’ve read on the subject of how to help and support your child, written by another piano instructor, Elissa Milne, who lives in Australia. I agree with every one of these 15 things! 🙂

Here are the absolute basics that you need to know to be able to support your family’s journey into profound musicianship.

15 Things You Need to Know About Supporting Your Child Learning to Play the Piano

https://elissamilne.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/15-things-you-need-to-know-about-supporting-your-child-learning-to-play-the-piano/

The gifts we get from our students…

Julie Cleveland Piano Students, Piano Teaching , , , , ,

A few weeks ago a young student currently in love with Tchaikovsky (yes!!), who was learning an arrangement of Theme from Piano Concerto No. 1 from one of her method books, told me she wanted more pieces like this one (yes!!). I picked out an arrangement that I found of Tchaikovsky’s Theme from Romeo and Juliet, a personal favorite symphony of mine. It was all set to go for her lesson. While on my break, waiting for them to arrive, I thumbed through the book I’d found the Romeo and Juliet theme in, and came upon Theme from C Minor Concerto by Rachmaninoff and sightread through it, thinking this is lovely, I’ll play it for her, but she’ll want the Tchaikovsky one, I know.

Wrong! She practically raced to the piano to sightread through it, after I played only the first several measures. She loved it.

After the lesson I looked up orchestra versions on YouTube to send to her to listen to, and this one came up on the top of the list. I had not listened to this concerto in a very long time. Although I had errands to run, I decided to stop what I was doing and take the half hour to listen to this most gorgeous piece of music.

A gift.

A nickel for your thoughts

Julie Cleveland Piano Students, Piano Teaching , , , ,

A few weeks ago I told one of my young female students that she didn’t have to say “I’m sorry” every time  she made a mistake in a piece, or had to start her song over. I told her that as a young girl and later as a young woman, she doesn’t have to say “I’m sorry” for everything—I’d just recently read this op-ed article from the New York Times about women and apologizing so it was on my mind.

She smiled and said, jokingly, “Ok, I’m sorry!” and we went back to the lesson. I told her that at the next lesson, she had to give me a nickel for every time she said “I’m sorry.”

At her next lesson, while she was playing, she made a mistake, and out popped “Sorry!” She promptly whirled around on the piano bench, reached into her shorts pocket, and took out a nickel and handed it to me! (I’d forgotten all about the nickel think—old age.) I laughed and put it on the table. She slipped out a couple more I’m sorry’s and gave me two more nickels.

At our last lesson, mistakes and all, she didn’t apologize once! 🙂

nickels