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3 ways to improve your music student’s ears

Oclef teamSep 27, 2016 Teacher No Comments

3 ways to improve your music student’s ears

One of the toughest things to teach students, is how to listen. Over the past few years I’ve really pushed students to listen and think about listening as much as possible. I find that it’s one of the best ways to help them improve. How do...

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

Oclef teamSep 24, 2016 Teacher No Comments

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

Teacher

I recently ran an audition for students looking to join our studio. It reminded me of my last audition – the day I was accepted into the Royal College of Music in London. But this time I was the one doing the decision making. It’s really tough....

The five whys in music education

Oclef teamSep 21, 2016 Teacher No Comments

The five whys in music education

Teacher

Taiichi Ohno pioneered the Toyota manufacturing system back in the 1950’s and he did it by taking the exact opposite approach of American car factories. He gave power to the workers and had managers serve the workers. To this day, workers in a Toyota...

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence (Part II)

Oclef teamSep 18, 2016 Teacher No Comments

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence (Part II)

Teacher

A teacher of mine from a long time ago once told me that mistakes in performance are like if someone walks in front of the TV while you’re watching a show. This always stuck in my mind. The person walking in front of the screen temporarily messes...

Tough love

Oclef teamSep 15, 2016 Teacher No Comments

Tough love

Teacher

Every so often I need to reach for the tissue box in lessons. Tears happen. Does it mean we’re too tough as teachers? It depends. I often push students as hard as I think they can go. The result is a deeper student to teacher connection in the long...

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence – Part I

Oclef teamSep 12, 2016 Education No Comments

Avoiding errors vs. achieving excellence – Part I

Education

One of my first blogs on Oclef was a message that I sent to my students before a competition. You can read it here – The Perfection of Pursuit What I work to make clear to my students in every opportunity is that mistakes and errors are not the...

Want to keep students long term – do lessons twice weekly.

Oclef teamSep 09, 2016 Teacher No Comments

Want to keep students long term – do lessons twice weekly.

Teacher

When I first started teaching at my current studio there were several students who I taught twice weekly – they were all beginners. I found that they progressed quickly because I was able to guide their practice and they knew they would have a lesson...

The piano teacher’s word cloud

Oclef teamSep 06, 2016 Teacher No Comments

The piano teacher’s word cloud

Teacher

I love my job teaching kids. But I often have a feeling like I’m a broken record. The other day, one of my students came to the lesson very prepared and when I asked him what happened, he looked at me and said “I just did what you said to...

4 types of memory and how to improve them for performance

Oclef teamSep 03, 2016 Perform No Comments

4 types of memory and how to improve them for performance

Perform

Preparing for recitals is difficult especially when they happen often. I push students to always work on their memory of some piece. I tend to think of memory as a muscle that has potential to falter, but if it’s trained properly, it’s unlikely...

Scheduling challenges

Oclef teamAug 31, 2016 Teacher No Comments

Scheduling challenges

Teacher

One of the toughest problems as a private music educator is scheduling. When your studio is full and all you can do is offer someone a time that they need to get out of work early to bring their child what do you do? I think one answer is to have a big...