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How To Talk So Kids Will Practice

How To Talk So Kids Will Practice Just about everyone I’ve talked to has a challenge with getting their kids to practice.  I too had this issue.   When my son Alejandro was young, not only was I the parent, but also the teacher. It was very challenging and we would often end our lessons […]

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Announcements Blog

This is the gift of music for your grandchild

[products] Looking for the perfect gift for your child or grandchild this holiday? Sick of all the usual toys, games and gadgets? We’ve all heard a lot about the over-saturation with technology, screens and electronics in our children’s lives.  How can we steer our young ones back to real experiences? What about giving an experience […]

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Announcements Blog

Halloween in Park Slope

One of the biggest events of the year in Park Slope Brooklyn is our Halloween Parade.  While it’s not as large and raucous as the NYC parade in Greenwich Village, its still super fun and far more family-friendly.  Of course! We are Park Slope, known for our double wide strollers, infants in bars ( dogs […]

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What is the real reason we send our kids to college?

What if we could be limitless?   What would you do if you knew you could not fail?     What projects would you work on?  Where would you go? Would you still be doing the work you do now?   In the film Limitless, a pill gives one human the power of all knowledge, and […]

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Announcements Blog

Brooklyn music lessons for kids – now in more neighborhoods

Now serving new additional neighborhoods with in-home lessons. We send patient, kind and caring music teachers to your home in: Bay Ridge Bed Stuy Boerum Hill Brooklyn Heights Bushwick Carroll Gardens Cobble Hill Clinton Hill Crown Heights Gowanus Kensington Lefferts Gardens Park Slope Prospect Heights Sunset Park Williamsburg Windsor Terrace We teach the following instruments: […]

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Winter Recital Concerts

You can see the joy on their faces and it’s awesome! Excitement is building for the two Winter Recital Concerts coming next week. It’s a massive undertaking to produce these concerts and I appreciate your support. Here’s some reminder details. Date Time and Location Where: St. Francis Xavier church – corner 6th Ave and Carroll […]

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Announcements Blog

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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Blog Teaching Methods

Why I want my student’s “desk” as big as possible

Did you ever go to a library or coffee shop just to have a bigger desktop?  There’s something so spacious and freeing about just having more physical workspace right in front of you. Last week, I visited several co-working spaces in New York City just for that reason. Having a bigger desktop is incredibly freeing. […]

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The best way to praise your children

The best way to praise your children Take a look at these two sentences. 1) “Great job, you must be really smart.” 2) “Great job, you must have worked really hard at this.” So similar but a vast difference in results.   If you say “Great job, you must be really smart,” the child hears, […]

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Blog Teaching Methods

This Will Make Your Kids More Successful In Life

When I was a kid, I felt like loneliness was my best friend.  It’s not like I wanted to be around him.  He just clung to me. We were the only Asian family in an all-white neighborhood in a suburb of New York City.  The typical question was, “What are you, Chinese or Japanese?”   […]

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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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Announcements

Spring Recital is June 10, 2017

It’s less than a month to our Spring Recital. Public performance is a huge growth opportunity and an essential skill for success in life.  I’ve heard many adults say how public speaking is at the top of their fear lists. It was mine too! Back when I was an awkward kid, somehow, I knew that […]

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Blog Teaching Methods

How to ensure your child’s success?

What can we do to help our children become successful?  It’s a question that reverberates deeply in every parent. [box] “To give our kids the best possible potential for a successful life, we need to teach and model for them how to work well.” – Cal Newport[/box] The summer I was 10 years old, I would […]

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Ukulele for kids: what size should I get?

There are several sizes of Ukulele.  This instrument, from Hawaii, has had a major resurgence in the last decade or so. (If you’ve never heard of Jake Shimabukuro – just google him now.) And why not?  It’s so fun!  And portable! Plus you can get a really nice one for less than $100. The four most […]

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Recital Awesome-ness January 2017

Wow, what a great set of concerts we had on Saturday! Life Skills It’s truly amazing to see what our kids can accomplish with some directed focus, guidance and perseverance. These skills translate into wonderful life success skills and you may already notice them surfacing in areas like school, sports and homework. But, I think […]

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Announcements Blog

Winter Music Recital at Park Slope Library January 28, 2017

Tomorrow is our big day. We have two concerts scheduled at the Park Slope Library at 9th street and 6th Avenue. 11:30 am 2:15pm As we have grown, we’ve had to create two separate concerts as the auditorium would not fit us.  Plus, I’m afraid of tiring out our audience with multiple renditions of Hot […]

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Music Lesson Teaching Methods

What will my child learn in their first piano lesson?

When you’re searching for a music teacher for your child, you want to get a feel for the teacher.  What is a lesson like?  What’s their philosophy?  What can I expect? We have taught hundreds of kids in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn over the last decade.  The secret to our success is in […]

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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 […]