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 Do you have beginners that struggle with flying fingers or tension in their shoulders, arms, and hands? If so, check out these quick and easy exercises that will help students of all ages to develop body awareness and learn techniques to release tension at the piano. Click "read more" to watch the video!
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 Most of us teachers have come up with little tricks over the years for introducing certain concepts to our students! Today I am sharing a "2 Minute Teaching Tip" video for how (and when) I introduce the concept of wrist lifts to my students. Interested? Click "read more" to watch the video!  Check out this new, limited time freebie over at Piano Pronto! This bluesy solo for intermediate students is great practice for left-hand leaps! Click HERE for your free copy.
This fun piece is part of the Perfect Patterns PLUS collection, which features pattern-based pieces that focus on a variety of technical concepts. This collection is on sale for $8 for a limited time! You can see and listen to the whole book HERE. Have a great weekend!  Teaching technique can be overwhelming. There are hundreds of different technique books out there, and nearly as many different schools of thought on teaching technical concepts. As teachers, we may be afraid of instilling bad habits in our students. Our students, overwhelmed with learning keyboard geography, note reading, and rhythm, may be resistant to practicing technical exercises and taking corrections on their technique. What is a teacher to do?
Over the last few years, I have developed an approach to teaching technique to my beginning students that has changed my teaching for the better. Today, I would like to share the first five techniques I focus on with my students, and the activities I use in my lessons to reinforce these skills. We learn these techniques away from the piano first, then we practice them at the piano using rote patterns like scales and broken chords. Finally, we incorporate these techniques into our repertoire pieces. Mastering these techniques in the first year of lessons will create a firm foundation for the more advanced technical concepts that follow.  I am excited to share the release of the newest book in my "Perfect Patterns" series: "Perfect Patterns Plus!" I wrote my "Perfect Patterns" series to give students who struggle with note reading fun, flashy pieces that can be learned quickly and sound sophisticated. I have had such a wonderful response from teachers and students who enjoyed the original "Perfect Patterns" and "Easy Perfect Patterns" books that I am thrilled to share this newest release in the series! Like the first two books in the series, "Perfect Patterns Plus" contains sophisticated-sounding, pattern-based pieces. However, this book has an added bonus: each piece focuses on a technical pattern that appears in intermediate piano literature. Students will have fun exploring patterns such as the chromatic scale, rolled chords, two-octave scales, blocked and broken inversions, arpeggios, and more! Check out a few of my favorite pieces from this new collection:
Click HERE to see sample pages and hear recordings of every piece in this book! What do you think? Have you tried the "Perfect Patterns" books yet? Do your students enjoy pattern-based pieces? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! |
AuthorChrissy Ricker is a pianist, teacher, and composer from North Carolina. These are her thoughts on teaching, composing, and all things music. Looking for teaching ideas related to a specific topic? Use the "search" feature or scroll down to see blog posts organized by category!
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