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Photos from our Holiday Party / Music Salon 2018

Each year, I host a Holiday Party and Music Salon for our music students at one of our student’s homes. It’s a great way for our youngest and shyest to get over their fears of performing in front of others. And every year it gets better. It also gives a chance for new friendships to […]

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Blog Teaching Methods

This is why you should not learn to read music first

Should All Music Students Learn to Read Music? As a music teacher, I’m often asked about reading music.  Some parents want to know,”Will my child learn to read music?”  These are usually parents who have had musical training and see the benefits of being able to read music from the last 1000 years of music […]

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Blog Teaching Methods

Can special needs children learn to play an instrument?

Music lessons for special needs children? If you ask the average music teacher about special needs children as students, you may get a blank stare. There isn’t much literature focused on this. Children with special needs may include those with learning disabilities, developmental issues, as well as those on the Autism spectrum. At Park Slope Music Lessons, […]

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Music education instills compassionate confidence

I believe music education is vitally important as it teaches one of the most important skills of childhood…confidence.  But it’s not the egotistical, brash arrogance posing as confidence that is plaguing our society. Rather, we parents want our kids to be a clear channel for intuition and spirit developed by learning the laws of the […]

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Brain scans show marked difference before and after music lessons

There has been a lot of attention towards the affects of music instruction on brain development. But I think this is the first time I’ve seen actual scans of the brains of young children. Studies have already shown that learning music can be beneficial to children with brain development disorders like autism. Researchers from the […]

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Announcements

Summer 2015 Music Lessons in Park Slope, Brooklyn

Summer is usually the best time to get started with private music lessons.  There’s less distractions going on with other activities and homework and my roster is much more flexible and open. Dates:  July 6 – August 6, 2015 Days:  Monday through Thursday Times available:  10am – 6pm (last lesson starts 5:30pm) You can register […]

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Blog Teaching Methods

Teaching Strategies For Growth Mindset

What is the most important factor in a student? Many people would say it’s talent, or effort, or persistence, or luck or some combination of these. Behind all of this is something that is more important – the proper mindset. Recent research (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007) has shown that there are two different mindsets among […]

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Is Music Education The Key To Success in Life?

This past Sunday, there was a NY Times Article on the importance of music education in everyone’s life.  I feel like it was written specifically for music teachers!  The author interviewed some of the top performers in numerous  and diverse industries and has found a surprising number had deep musical training from Condoleeza Rice to […]

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Announcements Music Lesson News Teaching Methods

Play Piano For Kids, Volume 1 iPad interactive book app is now available

As many of you know, I’ve been working hard on an interactive iPad iBook for quite some time.  Today Play Piano For Kids, Volume 1 (Penguins Don’t Play Piano, But You Can!) is officially live in 32 countries around the world in the Apple iTunes Bookstore.  It’s on sale for the next week for only […]

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Blog Music Lesson Teaching Methods

Glenn Gould’s Finger Tapping Exercise for Piano Technique

Many of you are struggling with playing cleanly and smoothly. This simple technique can help you to relax your fingers to pay more fluidly. Developed by Glenn Gould’s mentor and longtime teacher Chilean pianist Alberto Guerrero, it aims to retain a relaxed muscle memory. You can learn more about this in the wonderful documentary Genius […]

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Winter Music Recital 2011 – Pictures and Video

What a great success our Winter Music Recital was last Saturday!  I hope you all celebrated the great achievements of your children.  No matter if they played some notes that were not intended, the entire process of going on stage, in public, in a crowded room of at least 80 people, and performing the piece […]

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Blog Teaching Methods

Teaching and learning music in slices

I’ve been talking with many of my students about the importance of not trying to learning in giant gobbles but rather in small bite size pieces or slices of pie.  Learning a new piece is like eating pie; you don’t eat it all in one bite.  You take slices, and then forkfuls and then chew […]