Category Archives: Learning

95/100 Scales – Start at the top

Posted on December 27, 2016 by

Here’s a thing; Suppose the brain is like a battery, that runs out of energy when it is used; When your student is playing a scale, especially if it is a new one, (and I’m talking piano here because that’s what … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Practising | Tagged | Leave a comment

94/100 Memorization

Posted on December 26, 2016 by

A blog I follow is www.bulletproofmusician.com, written by Noa Kageyama. I used to be a great natural memoriser. My first piano teacher used to insist on learning all piece hands separately, in minute detail, before putting the hands together, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Keyboards, Learning | Tagged , | Leave a comment

86/100 Nee Nah Nee Nah; Strings and Semitones

Posted on December 9, 2016 by

On the piano, tones and semitones really aren’t an issue – there they are, all laid out in black and white. The physical relationship isn’t a big deal on wind instruments either – you just use the fingering for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cello Teaching, Learning | Tagged , | Leave a comment

85/100 Intentional Learning

Posted on December 8, 2016 by

That sounds a bit serious… But I mean that kind of practising when you first work out, and then work at, exactly what has to happen to manage to play the right notes. Let’s take this extract from the A2 … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Practising | Tagged , | Leave a comment

72/100 Cracking the Code

Posted on November 14, 2016 by

There’s a lot said about “sound before symbol” in teaching young children, and quite rightly too. However there comes a point where the children need to be able to fathom out the symbols in order to get on with learning … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Lessons that have happened | Tagged | Leave a comment

69/100 – Jig-saw Learning

Posted on November 10, 2016 by

What do you do when a pupil turns up at a lesson, declaring that she hadn’t done any work on the piece from last week because “it is too difficult”…. Let’s pretend she was a violin pupil learning to play … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Lessons that have happened, Practising | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

64/100 The Post-It Window

Posted on October 24, 2016 by

I follow  the www.teachpianotoday.com site, and often use ideas that they suggest. I’m pretty sure this one came from them, but I haven’t been able to track it down. Anyway, here it is; Can you see, under the coloured pencils, … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Practising, The organised teacher | Tagged | Leave a comment

52/100 Brushing up on Sight Reading

Posted on July 25, 2016 by

  I’ve just bought some of the new syllabus ABRSM piano teaching books to have a look at what’s coming up for next term. So I open them up, and start playing through – and AAARGH! where have my sight-reading … Continue reading →

Posted in Learning, Sight Reading, The organised teacher | Tagged , | Leave a comment