ABOUT THIS WEBSITE

The piano teaching resources and activities featured on this website are the result of my work with beginning and intermediate piano students over the years. Each activity grew out of the need to extend the learning experience to help students grasp a new idea or to reinforce something recently learned.

Of the many aspects of teaching piano that I enjoy, a couple that stand out for me include guiding my students to make new discoveries about music and the piano and looking for ways to make those discoveries relevant and meaningful to them. As a piano teacher working with students of varying ages, backgrounds, and skill levels, I look forward to the challenge of taking what is presented in a method book and extending it a bit further to provide students with constructive opportunities for application and problem-solving.

The extension of learning activities and performance tasks offers teachers a peek into students’ level of comprehension and the thought processes they use to arrive at the resolution of a learning scenario or task. This information is very important in determining where a student is in their understanding of the content or concept at hand and how to go about creating genuine interactions for them with the music to meet specific conceptual and practical objectives.

Also featured on this website are two collections of early childhood resources: the first includes fingerplays and rhymes for young children, and the second features stories with songs and song stories. These resources are a sampling of the songs and activities I’ve used over the years in my work as an early childhood music teacher and elementary general music teacher. A child’s early introduction to rhymes, stories, and songs enriches their understanding of rhythm, melody, language, and movement. By interacting with their children through rhymes and songs, parents and caregivers help create for them a rich foundation of experiences that crossover to other areas of learning.