20Mar 2017 by Shelly Davis

Episode Highlights:

Anne Robinson is a piano teacher from Madison, Wisconsin.

She can be reached at akrpiano@gmail.com.

Student reminder: “Music moves, you should too.” Technic begins with the feet. I work from the ground up, focusing on balance and body movement.

Parent reminder: Parents must practice with their child. Parents attend lessons with their child. They can’t expect a young child to remember what to practice or how to practice. Take the time to be with them.

Of course we want our children to be independent. We can’t just make them independent by saying, “Go be independent.” We have to be side by side to teach this independence.

Ask, “What was your thing in lessons today?”.

Teacher motivation: I really love piano music and learning the next thing. The same is true for teaching; each student is different and a new puzzle to understand. I love to practice!

“There are eighty-eight keys on a piano and within that, an entire universe.” – James Rhodes

In English, we call it “playing the piano”. If we were in Italy, we would call it “sounding the instrument”. In China it is referred to as “touching the piano”. For us, I like that we get to say ‘play’.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Steinway & Sons, Madison

Piano Safari – Anne studied piano pedagogy under Dr. Julie Knerr, co-author of Piano Safari.

Dalcroze teaching method

Music Moves for Piano

Tales of a Musical Journey

70 Keyboard Adventures with the Little Monster

Anne’s Composer Pick: Beethoven. She is currently practicing Beethoven’s Opus 110. She wonders if he would be able to hear her, depending on the time of his life that she could visit him and she would like to eat macaroni and cheese with him, his favorite dish!

Follow the music with this performance of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Opus 110.