Skip to main content

Back to the Keyboard

Recently, I made a casual comment about going back to teaching piano lessons to Mr. Right, and his immediate response was "Yes! Please do!"  I'm going to be honest here, although I have a Bachelor's of Music in Music Therapy, I'm really intimidated by teaching lessons.  Here are my excuses:
  • I'm not the best piano player (I majored on trumpet, and minored on piano)
  • I like the freedom of having my weeks to myself - let's face it, piano lessons have to be done every week on the same days and times.
  • I'm definitely not as good at piano as many of my college classmates.
  • What do I do when I get a student farther than my own skills?
  • It's hard to attend all of my own kids afterschool activities, when I'm tied to lessons every afternoon.

So there it is, most of my excuses for not wanting to teach. On the other hand, though, we need the money AND I have degree in this!  It's my talent, why not try?

I started by offering lessons to local homeschoolers first and then just put up a post on Facebook just for my friends. In just a few days, I was able to start off with six new students!  I was surprised at how many people were interested in having their children in lessons.  There are two things that surprised me the most: 1.) a lot of moms of toddlers wanted their kids in lessons and 2.) Many adults wanted to take lessons too! 

These two things actually got me excited, because although I enjoy teaching beginners, I really love the challenge of teaching music to non-traditional age people.  After doing a lot of research online about piano lessons I was able to find a preschool program that fits my style as well as got excited about doing piano lessons a little different than what I was raised with.  The very best websites so far that I have found for piano lesson ideas are: www.teachpianotoday.com and www.susanparadis.com.  Both of these sites have great resources and ideas for piano teachers to make their lessons fun and exciting. 

So most of my list of  reasons not to teach piano were just fears and excuses.  I've been having a lot a of fun learning about my new students and their needs.  I'd almost wager to say that my lessons are more music therapy than piano lessons sometimes.  I love the challenge of finding what works best for my students, and not necessarily doing "traditional" mold piano lessons.  And most of all, I love to see my students learn to love and make music!

If you are local to the Camas Prairie and would like to learn more about my lesson schedule and Preschool Lessons, please contact me HERE.  Stay tuned for more of my exciting endeavors in getting Back to the Keyboard, too!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DIY Pig Feeder

  This is our second year of raising pigs for the fair.  We've had some bumps along the way, one of them was our homemade feeder of last year.  I tend to have ideas, and then Mr. Right gets the pleasure of trying to execute my ideas.  Most of the time it works out, but last year, our feeder was a fail.   This year, we need a feeder that can go a long period of time, since our pigs are not on our property where we live.  Our neighbor made a complaint about the smell of the pigs last year to our landlord, so the landlord told us no more pigs. (Keep in mind, there are only 2 pigs on 6 acres and they are only here for 5 months and then go to the 4-H fair and livestock auction) Thankfully, another neighbor graciously allowed us to pen up a corner of her horse pen, to put our pigs in.    This year, I wanted to be sure that Mr. Right did a quality version of the pig feeder that would make it through the entire five months, and hopefully...

Recycled Denim Jacket

My 18 year old daughter found this denim jacket for $10 at a thrift store and fell in love immediately! She’s been wanting to ink a denim jacket, so this fit the bill!  She’s worked on this while I read history to her in homeschool. My girls enjoy being creative during homeschool time.  Supplies for this project:  -denim jacket -white ink -Vintage Paris Transfer —Small squeegee Shop for other options  HERE!   ♻️ Thrift + Create – Giving old pieces a fresh look is a great way to craft with purpose! 🎨 Personalized Touch – No two inked designs are the same, making each project truly unique. 👩‍🎨 Creative Bonding – Crafting together is a beautiful way to share skills and creativity across generations. Want to start your own thrift flip project? Let’s chat about how Chalk Couture inks can transform your wardrobe! Drop a 💙 if you love DIY fashion

Local Harvest

I am so surprised at the amount of people who don't take advantage of local farmers and produce!  We heard about a place called "Tomato Toms" and just had to check it out. (Especially since it seems nearly impossible to grow tomatoes in our town.  I think it's something about the elevation)  We took a Sunday afternoon to drive to explore local produce and find Tomato Tom. This drive, I thought for sure that no one could be possibly growing anything on such dry land (see the background to the first picture, below).  Then we drove up a scary driveway and look what we found: Tomato Toms was a fantastic sizable garden of u-pick heaven!  We picked 60 pounds of tomatoes in 10 minutes.  Then took about twenty more minutes to figure out just what onions and peppers we needed to go with our tomatoes. The tomatoes weren't store perfect, as in no blemishes or anything, but they were beautiful and tasted wonderful off the vine!  I don't normally ...