I’ve always said I only need one pencil and one piano to do my job. That was true until coronavirus appeared on the scene....Fortunately, I teach adults and...

Pronouncements abound here. “I can’t do this” is a truly ubiquitous remark. Yes, of course you can’t do this. That’s why we’re here. But because you can’t ...

While living in College Station, Texas, in 1989, I studied with a teacher by the name of George Rutherford, student of famed pianist Abby Simon. Mr. Rutherf...

Alan wasted no time in declining my invitation to join our piano evening at the Belfry. I chalked this up to his being a newbie and let it lie. One good th...

Learning to navigate D.C. al fine, D.S. al Coda and even simple repeats is pretty basic stuff, but it’s easy to miss these signs in the midst of sight readi...

Dear Beautiful Pianist, Today you apologized for making a mistake. Please don't. Mistakes are a natural part of your music journey. When you encounter a m...

You know the saying, you are what you eat?  Well, as you practice so you'll play.... What is your purpose? 1.  Are you working out a passage in a new piece o...

Students -- adults and kids -- tend to focus on playing the correct keys when starting lessons, generally paying far less attention to the time values of the...

Organize your practice:    Any plan is better than no plan.   Keep a journal, not of time practiced, but of this plan.  It will capture the immediate goals,...

1.  Be kind.  To ourselves.  It's easy to be kind to others.  We learned that a long, long time ago, way back when we were children.  How come no one taught ...

“Anyone who acts without paying attention to what he is doing is wasting his life.  I’d go so far as to say life is denied by lack of attention, whether it b...

We can learn A LOT about someone by listening to his or her piano playing.   It’s much harder to observe ourselves. Regarding adult piano students, here are ...

Waiting 9-10 minutes for pasta al dente allows for a pretty focused practice moment.   Putting your phone on speaker while waiting for the next available cus...

I regularly remind students during lessons NOT to worry if they found no time for practice, which seems to happen at least one week a month.  Children usuall...

May music awaken you to each new day, music from deep within, a silent, peaceful knowing, to guide you gently through the hours, the precious moments, of lif...

Obviously, this title has quite the negative connotation.  Forgive me.  But, I think it’s time to put out a fair warning to would-be pianists. Joe is my newe...

It’s always ideal to learn music with help from a qualified teacher.  But for lots of reasons this isn’t always possible.  Roughly half of the adult students...

While I was searching for the ever-elusive pencil, despite starting each teaching day with a fresh pencil pile and sitting in one spot for hours, my student,...

It's a curious thing that almost every adult student who contacts me prefaces their conversation with a clear statement that they want to learn to play music...

I began working with adults, almost exclusively, in 2005. Being the mother of four and having taught piano to children for 17 years at that point, I felt I u...