Do you stress out when you think about preparing for a musical performance? If so, chances are that you’re worrying about being good enough to play for other people.

There’s a way around performance anxiety that works especially well for sensitive, heart-led people. Building a healthy music performance mindset can start with the small step of considering your own general intention when you practice. When you’re preparing for your performance, do you focus on showing off (for your audience) or showing up (for your music)?

I got a comment on my last video on naming landmark notes where a person shared the way that they learned notes in the treble and bass clefs, using the popular sayings like “All Cows Eat Grass”, “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge”, and so on. This made me realize that perhaps some of you wonder, do I use those sayings at all?

The answer is basically no! I don’t really like using those sayings in teaching people how to read music and I find I don’t even really need to! Here’s why.

Today’s post is for anyone who signed up for piano lessons or a keyboarding in college at the beginning of September and are now finding themselves at the end of September wondering what on earth they signed up for!

Are you having a hard time remembering your piano pieces? If so, here’s a tip I use to help my students accelerate their memorization skills.

Commit to using the same fingering every time you play the song.

Here’s why that works.

Yesterday I took the day to myself to work on a passion project that has been bouncing around in my head lately — to design and share my own beginner piano book!

I know there are a lot of beginner books on the market already, but every time I use them I end up making supplemental material to fill in gaps I find along my students’ learning journeys.

Why not have fun making my own?

In piano lessons, it’s common for teachers to encourage their students to “upgrade” to an 88-key acoustic piano as soon as possible. This can leave many learners feeling frustrated if they cannot afford to purchase a new instrument or maintain the one they already have!

But I actually embrace the use of digital pianos in my lessons! In fact, I love digital pianos so much that I bought an electric piano for my own use!

Today I want to share five reasons I love having an electric piano, that have nothing to do with cost, so that you can see how an electric piano might actually be a better fit for you! Enjoy!

In my previous post, I encouraged beginner piano players to choose the kind of music they wanted to play before signing up for piano lessons. It seems to have struck a chord (no pun intended!) for some viewers, because I received some comments back about it. Here’s a response from a viewer that really drives home the importance of being purposeful in your music lessons.

I've been teaching for over 20 years and I can say from my experience that the #1 factor that determines whether or not someone is going to be successful in learning is not necessarily the quality of the teaching or the material, but is the motivation of the learner.

And I can also say that motivation lasts longer when it comes from a place deep inside rather than some external motivator, like keeping your teacher happy.

So how do you tap into your internal motivation?

By playing what you love, from the very beginning.

If you're learning piano because you would like to perform one day, here's the game plan I would use to help get you on your way.

If you’re a visual learner, you may prefer to watch the video above. If you prefer to read, here’s a summary of my game plan.