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Friday, January 24, 2014

The Kiwanis Music Festival...28 years later

Between the years of 1986-1996 there was no question what I would be preparing for each April: playing piano in the local music festival. I have lots of memories of driving to Owen Sound with my mom to play out my (usually) carefully prepared pieces in one of the city's churches. Of course missing school and going out for lunch were the highlights of these excursions! As a shy kid the festival was always a terrifying experience, though looking back it was good for me in many ways. Now I am helping my own students prepare for this annual event in the same city, so I can't help but reflect on the positive impact this type of festival can have on a community.

Monday, January 13, 2014

A New Toy *ahem* TOOL for the Studio

Something arrived in my mailbox on Friday...it came in a smallish white box and looked like this:
Woo-hoo, a new studio teaching tool: the Apple iPad Air! I'm thrilled to be able to incorporate this iPad into my teaching routine. There are so many great apps available out there, ranging from beginner note reading apps, ear training games, theory tutorials, composition tools and more.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Music for Yoga II

Happy New Year! If by any chance one of your New Year's resolutions is to start doing yoga, great! There are so many benefits of doing yoga (which I'm sure you already know) and besides, you can listen to great music while doing it!

In the first Music for Yoga post I shared some favourite piano pieces, and this time I'd like to add a couple early orchestral works to the mix.