My 40 Piece Challenge – A Piano teachers journey
byIn 2015 I began searching for a new approach to learning for my students. There had to be something out there that would be…
Australian Composer
Making My Own Music – Teaching Beyond Technique, Repertoire, Reading, and Exam Preparation
by[dropcap letter=”I”]t seems counter intuitive that the goal of the successful piano teacher is to ultimately make themselves redundant. The successful teacher equips…
Coping with Cross Rhythms
byOne of the most frequent problems I have encountered with students in my teaching and examining is their approach to cross rhythms. Yet, a…
Piano Village – Elena Kats-Chernin
byElena Kats-Chernin has been writing piano music since she was a little girl. In Piano Village, a mixed collection of pieces of up to…
Ten minutes with….Thembi Shears
byThembi Shears is a name synonymous in Australian teaching circles with engaging and inclusive teaching. She holds a degree in Primary Education and has…
The Pirate Challenge!
byEach year in my studio, I come up with a new whole studio challenge for all of my students to get involved in. This…
The Busy Teachers’ Guide to Repertoire: Solo Collections
byThere’s something very exciting about discovering and working with repertoire that you know students are going to engage with, including finding composers and works…
Make-up Madness and Enrolment Fatigue: How to Alleviate your Ailments with Studio Policy
byEach of us has a ‘way we do things’ and our studios are no different. When it comes to communicating the way things are…
Creating a Buzz with Film Music
byHands up if you’ve ever taught the James Bond Theme, Star Wars or the Pink Panther? My guess is that at least 99% of…
The Beauty of Books.. and the consequence of Copies
byCall me old-fashioned, but I love using music books. I insist that all of my students buy them. To me, a music book is…
Doorway to the Treasures Within
by“I was around eight years old when I took my first AMEB exam. Strange as it may seem, I had a dream the night…
Unravelling Rhythm, Addressing Articulation and Finessing Phrasing
by[separator type=”thick”] Among the list of objectives in the AMEB piano syllabus levels 1 and 2 are the following: ~ Rhythmic and…