Christmas Recital Info

Date: December 15th
Time: 7:00pm
Place: Oakside Baptist Church, 1921 Hamilton Road, LaGrange, GA (right across the street from Troup High School)
Dress for the recitalists: No blue jeans; guys--collared shirts; girls--something pretty
Don't forget: Your music (if you're using it), and a camera

I'm looking forward to hearing everyone tonight. You've all done a good job on practicing the last couple weeks and your family and friends will be very impressed with your efforts.

Christmas Music is Here!

One of the great things about piano is we get an early start on humming Christmas tunes. October is the month to start working on Christmas music--that way when December rolls around everyone already has several songs ready to share with family and friends. Yesterday I started handing out Christmas music and I was happy the weather cooperated by cooling off...it is a little hard to play "Silent Night" when it's still 80 degrees outside! If you haven't been to your lesson yet this week don't worry! I have a whole stack of Christmas music that I'm still waiting to give out...in the meantime, I need to get my fall decorations out...

Prioritizing Practice

Everyone's been back in school now for a couple weeks and gradually getting into their fall routine which will hopefully be accompanied by cooler weather. I know I'm ready for it!
I've had many students excitedly start piano lessons. It's new, it's exciting, it's fun...and then, a couple months into lessons, practicing is no longer new, exciting, or fun. So what do many students do? Stop practicing! A few months later they're frustrated as they crawl their books not progressing and struggling to pick out simple tunes. I'm never surprised when a student stops progressing shortly after they stop practicing.
Piano practice needs to be looked at the same way as soccer practice or math homework. Whether or not you like doing math, you have to eventually work through the problems the teacher has assigned or you'll never be able to progress to the next level. Just like many boys and girls spend a couple hours a day practicing for one 80 minute soccer game, it takes several days of practicing 15-30 minutes to be able to successfully play all your assigned pieces.
Instead of thinking as piano practice as "optional" this fall, determine to set aside a specific time each day to practice piano. It could be ten minutes before you leave for school in the morning or before bed at night. I could be right before or after homework. Once practice becomes a priority, success will follow...I promise!

Spring and Summer Update

Congratulations to Nicholas and Leah for coming in 1st and 2nd in the Spring Practice Competition. Everyone involved in the competition made great progress and I hope you keep up those good practice habits!

Also, I'd like to welcome Josh, 15 to piano. He's off a very serious start and progressing quickly.

And to all my Monday students, we will not be having lessons this coming Monday due to the holiday. Have a happy 4th!

Welcome Back!

With Christmas behind us and the snow and ice slowly melting, it's time to begin piano lessons again! I hope everyone enjoyed their break and had plenty of time to spend with family and friends and play in the snow! Lessons begin this week for Tuesday and Wednesday students and due to the ice storm, next week for the Mondays! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again.