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Channel: Leila Viss – Music Teacher's Helper Blog
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Apps for Your Digital Toolbox

  It’s amazing how much can change in a year. I just returned home from the 2015 Music Teachers National Association conference in Las Vegas. When I asked a roomful of teachers to raise their hands if...

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A Musical Mother’s Day Card

Kristin Jensen’s site called Ear Training and Improv offers unique worksheets, videos and posts to spur musical imaginations. Kristin’s growing library of clever resources for music teachers is...

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Develop the Mind’s Ear with Meludia

Imagine a pink elephant. You’ve just used your mind’s eye. Now imagine the tune “Happy Birthday.” You’ve just used your mind’s ear. If you struggled to recreate the tune in your head it means your...

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forScore and Cicada: A Match Made in Heaven

This past weekend marked a major milestone in my use of my favorite device, the iPad. I played piano at my niece’s wedding and read all the music scores from my iPad with the help of an app called...

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Explore and Create Harmony with Tin Pan Rhythm

Count on Tin Pan Rhythm to boost your budding musicians’ understanding of harmonic progressions. Count on the app to trigger arranging skills thanks to the app’s intuitive interface. One more, you can...

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Finding A Creative State of Mind

Last month I wrapped up my first year of chairing the inaugural Creative Pianist Track at NCKP 2015, the National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy under the auspices of The Frances Clark Center for...

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Four Secrets of a Successful Studio

There are four secrets of a successful studio. I realize it’s a bold claim to narrow it down to just four and you may be asking, what does successful mean? Keep reading. Like any other human being,...

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Wolfie App: A New Reality

Ever wonder what the future of piano lessons will look like? The Wolfie app is it: a new reality. In short, it’s a virtual piano book bag for your students packed with power tools.  No more forgotten...

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How will you play it forward?

  Two weeks ago, my student Addison entered my studio and declared, “I wrote a song for Paris!” A little puzzled by what he meant, I probed further and learned that he improvised a piece on the piano...

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Kick Off 2016 with a Pop Music Webinar

As students return for lessons after the holidays, why not kick off 2016 with pop music? Surprising your students with some Coldplay along with Chopin–or any favorite tune from the past or the...

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Quality Home Practice Begins with the Teacher

Between lessons, music students are left to fend for themselves and practice without your nagging–oops– I mean guidance. The minute they walk out of their lesson, it’s almost as if they walk into a...

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Produce Your Own Pajama Conference

There’s nothing like attending a music conference. The insight gained from experts in the field, the buzz after a stunning concert, down time spent with fellow colleagues and the exhibit hall...

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Savvy Musician in Action Here I Come!

The Savvy Musician in Action Have you heard of it before? It’s an immersive, experiential week-long workshop designed to help artists and increase income and impact.  The entrepreneurship workshop is...

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A Tip for Becoming a Better Improviser

“Here’s my top tip for musicians interested in becoming better improvisers: Forget the metronome. Practice with backing tracks, those auto-accompaniment loops that inspire, keep you on the beat, and...

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Is It Time to Update Your Mission Statement?

What do you do when you have have four marvelous, faithful, dynamic and long-time pianists who are graduating from high school and leaving your studio? You throw a Senior Showcase AND check to see if...

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What Great Teachers Do Differently

The Virtual Music Education Conference produced by Janice and Kevin Tuck packs four days with online presentations by experts in the field of music education. Even though it’s been around for years,...

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Four Ways to Feel Like a Kid Again

Decades away from my childhood, I recently encountered some experiences, events, and resources that sparked memories of what it’s like to be a kid. I’ve been taken back to those feelings of curiosity,...

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Improvisation is Scary

For some, improvisation is a little scary. It doesn’t have to be with a clever back pocket pattern guaranteed to sound black-cat cool. As I was planning for the fall, I wanted to include an...

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The Five P’s of Performing

Once a piece is memorized with all the details in place it would seem a successful performance would follow. I believe there are THREE MORE ESSENTIAL elements that guarantee a positive outcome for a...

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Student Gifts That Keep on Giving

Do you give your students gifts during the holiday season? If so and if you’re like me, it’s usually a struggle to find something that is meaningful with a reasonable price tag. A couple of years ago I...

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