Author Archives: dawntm

Useful Piano Teaching Quotes

It took me a long time to recognize the value of using quotes with my students when teaching the piano. I’m not good at remembering quotes and used to feel that people who used a lot of quotes were really just trying to be pretentious. However, after having lessons with teachers who valued and usedContinue reading “Useful Piano Teaching Quotes”

MTNA National Conference 2025

This was my third time going to the National MTNA (Music Teacher National Association) Conference for music teachers. However, it was my first time attending with my NCTM (National Certification for Teaching Music in Piano). Since, I had received my NCTM this year, my name was on the board in the hallway at the conference.Continue reading “MTNA National Conference 2025”

This Is What It Sounds Like – Book Review

I absolutely adore this book by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas. I have gifted the book numerous times to various family members and it has helped me to understand “the meaning”, “the how”, “the why”, and “the what” of my musical preferences. That being said, I also struggled a lot with this book because theContinue reading “This Is What It Sounds Like – Book Review”

Teaching Scales

I teach all my adult students scales quite early in their lessons (or make sure they know their scales well already) because I believe listening and understanding the structure of scales are one of the most foundational building blocks of understanding western music. I typically teach chord and arpeggio construction based on scales and useContinue reading “Teaching Scales”

Favorite Online Sheet Music Websites

I have such a huge library of music already, why do I keep acquiring new music? Well, because I love new music and because my students often want to play a particular piece at a particular level. So this post contains some of my favorite sources for sheet music. Free sheet music is great, butContinue reading “Favorite Online Sheet Music Websites”

My National Certificate of Teaching Music

I belong to the Music Teacher National Association which is an American professional association of music teachers whose mission is to advance the value of music study and music making in society and to support the professionalism of music teachers. MTNA has a membership that includes 73% independent teachers, 14% college or university instructors, 5%Continue reading “My National Certificate of Teaching Music”

Rainbow Figures for Piano

I’ve been using Grimm’s Rainbow figures for explaining scales to my piano students for years. I loved that these figures come in the seven colors of the rainbow which typically matches the number of different scale tones in Western Music. I like that the figures don’t have faces and can be configured to represent many different typesContinue reading “Rainbow Figures for Piano”

Famous Song Introductions for Fun and Technique

I recently had a student where I was struggling to find approachable and appealing material. The student always wanted to work on pieces that were above their technical ability, so they typically spent a very long time (too long) on each piece. Method books had shorter and easier songs, but were unappealing to this youngContinue reading “Famous Song Introductions for Fun and Technique”