FAQ/About my studio

Do's and Don'ts to helping your student practice

Music games for piano students to play with parents

How to motivate your child to practice

How to make piano practice fun

Fun printable games for the piano

Bach Bucks

Named after the popular composer "Bach", I have an economy I use within my studio for Elementary and Middle School aged students. As students complete tasks in and out of lessons, they earn Bach Bucks. These are redeemable for small prizes and candy, as well as lesson rewards, such as using the comfy office chair for the lesson. As with other Positive Behavior Incentive Systems, it is important to know I will never take away Bach Bucks for undesired behavior, instead I use them to reinforce and encourage desired behaviors. A student will typically earn 5-30 Bach Bucks over the course of one lesson.

How much practice at home?

Depending on the age of the student, practice time varies. In general, I recommend the following:
Ages 4-10, or beginner: 30 minutes per week
Ages 10-15, or intermediate: 60 minutes per week
Ages 15+, or advanced: 90 minutes per week

These suggestions can be broken into days. Usually, breaking the amounts into 3 days works best, however, you can practice more or less in what fits your schedule. I would not recommend practicing less than 10 minutes at a time, as this does not usually seem effective, unless it is for those who have started within the past 2 months. A great way to get your student practicing is to make it part of their daily routine. For example, every night after dinner, the student practices for 15 minutes.

How do we practice at home?

Play or sing through the piece or passage once. Identify what parts went well or did not go well. Isolate those parts (this may be only 3 notes) and practice them several times in a row (usually 5 times is sufficient). Work this part back into the piece by playing or singing slightly before it. Try the piece again and repeat. With younger children, there are often simple games you can play with them to practice concepts. With children in the primer series (sideways), remember that "practice" is less about sitting still at the piano and concentrating for long periods of time, and more about remembering the concepts (such as steady beat, finding notes, identifying low and high sounds, etc).

What does a piano lesson look like?

At the beginning of each lesson, I ask to hear each piece I've assigned your student. In most cases, if they can play the piece with little to no help from me and only make a few mistakes, I pass them on the song and they earn 5 Bach Bucks. For the younger students, there is often a duet piece for the teacher to play while the student plays the part they practiced. This encourages them to listen while they play and develops crucial skills in playing with others. I give them the option to play the duet with me for an additional 5 Bach Bucks, or we can move on to the next piece.

After I've heard everything they've worked on for the last week, I will introduce a new piece with them. We work through notes and fingerings, and get a general idea of how it should be played. After, we move to theory or games/activities that reinforce the concepts introduced in the new piece. If we have time, I will assign additional songs as I feel the student can handle.

At the end of the lesson, we review a concept, usually in the form of a game or in playing a past song. This is also a chance to earn additional Bach Bucks. At the conclusion of the lesson, I help the student count up their Bach Bucks and they decide if they would like to spend or save their Bach Bucks.

If you feel your student is struggling, or you feel lost when trying to help your student at home, you are more than welcome to observe during a lesson. I recommend that parents only observe once a month (excluding brand new students), as students tend to thrive in environments where they feel independent.

What does a voice lesson look like?

At the beginning of each lesson, we warm up our voices with some light singing exercises. Depending on the age of the student, this could involve dancing, stretching, humming, vocalizations, breath control, vowel work, register placement, palette control, ear training, and more. We will also do an exercise from the exercise book assigned to your student.

Next, I ask to hear each piece I've assigned your student. Usually, it will take several weeks for a student to "complete" one song. First, we will work on notes and rhythms (the basic "singing" of the song). Once the student has mastered these, we will move on to breath support, register placement, emoting, and more, depending on the age of the student. For some songs, I encourage students to memorize the piece. This helps students internalize the musical elements and also allows them to focus on technique and "acting out" the song once they are away from the paper.

If we complete a song or are close to completion, we will select a new song. Typically, I alternate between having the student request a song and presenting a few songs of my choice for the student to choose. This is called "cross-training". By working on technique in the more "classical" or "traditional" style of my pieces, the students can then apply these skills to the songs they choose, which are often more contemporary (pop, rock, country, etc).

I may also assign theory worksheets to do together with me at the end of the lesson or at home. These are meant to help reinforce concepts and help us learn as musicians. I will never assign work for the sake of doing work, and will focus on assigning meaningful exercises that will help your student progress musically.

What does a singer/songwriter lesson look like?

Singer songwriters will have a more general lesson. You will learn the basics of voice and the basics of one or more accompaniment instruments (piano, ukulele, or guitar). I can help teach you the basics of these, however, please note the focus will be on song creation and performance as a whole, rather than mastery of the instrument.

At the beginning of each lesson, we warm up our voices with some light singing exercises. Depending on the age of the student, this could involve dancing, stretching, humming, vocalizations, breath control, vowel work, register placement, palette control, ear training, and more. We will also do an exercise or theory example from the workbook assigned to your student.

Next, I ask to hear each piece I've assigned your student, or pieces they've written that we are critiquing together. Usually, it will take several weeks for a student to "complete" one song. We work on vocal technique (similar to voice lessons), but also focus on the craft of writing a song - hooks, lyrics, chord progressions, sing-ability, etc.

If we complete a song or are close to completion, we will select a new song. Typically, I alternate between having the student request a song and presenting a few songs of my choice for the student to choose. This is called "cross-training". By working on technique in the more "classical" or "traditional" style of my pieces, the students can then apply these skills to the songs they choose, which are often more contemporary (pop, rock, country, etc). I try to incorporate a wide variety of styles and teach about theory and techniques used in each style to broaden the student's knowledge on the composition process.

I organize more recitals and coffee shop style performances for my singer songwriter students to maximize their performance experiences and ability to organize and manage themselves as performing artists. We will also work with Rob to record their original pieces, as well as learning about the business side of the industry