Beyond the Page: Easy tips for Christmas Piano Parties!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
It’s all about Christmas right now in my Studio. Students are asking for their favorite tunes and they love playing them together with friends and family. This year we were so busy with our Halloween recital, we decided to pass on the Christmas recital and instead, go with group lessons for our last week of December - Piano parties!
The Plan: Every student will prepare 1 Christmas arrangement to perform for the group, next they will prepare 1 Christmas tune from a lead sheet, and then we will sight read some Christmas ensembles. And of course, you gotta have cookies!
Tip: Create your own Lead Sheets….
Beyond the Page: What does Teamwork look like in your Studio?
What does Teamwork look like in Your Studio?
just wanted to share something magical that happened in my studio this month.
Although I’ve been writing for ensembles for a few years now, I have a confession to make - I am a private, one-on-one Piano Teacher- for over 30 years. And finally this year, I made the commitment to introduce ensemble playing to my students.
At first, I wasn’t sure how to do this- there are some many options! In the end, we selected a double duet (one for Late Elementary, one for Early Intermediate) to perform together for our Halloween recital. We chose “Top Gun Anthem” since it’s so popular right now. We had 3 rehearsals on Sunday afternoons to put it make it happen. Everyone learned their parts in their private lessons, and when they got together in our group rehearsal, playing with the Backing Track made it easy.