Over New Year’s, I published a video on social media asking people how I might help them in 2023. It seemed like a timely thing to ask, as I suspected a few people might have created New Year’s resolutions related to piano and I love to support people in achieving their goals.

Although the occasion of New Year’s prompted this question, I think it’s important for me to ask all the time, not just at the beginning of the year. Goals come up all the time, and I want to be available to support them anytime they do!

If you want to grow in your independence as a piano player, one of the best skills you can learn is the ability to isolate and identify the things that are bothering you.

For many people, this means resisting mental and emotional habits they’ve surrendered to for years.

The process of learning how to read note names in piano music is really similar to the process of learning how to find your way to a friend’s house.

The first time you visit a friend, you need specific instructions in order to get there, usually in the form of an address.

Once you visit a couple of times, you won’t rely on the address as much because you’ll start to build little mental shortcuts to help you find your way.

If you’re at the stage in your piano journey where you're still trying to become comfortable in reading new notes, it’s okay to look for shortcuts in your music as a way of helping you understand your song.

A shortcut could be anything from noticing a note on line 2 is the same one that you labelled on line 1, or noticing that a phrase, hand position, or chord progression repeats itself.

If you want to unlock your musical creativity, your first step is both very simple and also the hardest thing you will ever do.

Are you ready?

If you want to unlock your musical creativity, you have to start taking seriously the ideas that you already have.

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.