Back in February I wrote about Notice Happiness Cards in a blog post (you can read here) . In it I shared that I've started ending all my lessons by writing on the back of a card with a small piece of art. Four months later my students now have mini-art galleries filled with positive comments and joy. I've written things like: I love how you connected the melody of Somewhere in My Memory to the Pachelbel chord pattern. (to a 9 yr old) I love being able to talk 2-5-1-4 chord p

If you don't know who Priya Parker is, you're missing out. She's the author of "The Art of Gathering." From her website and in her own words: "I’m a facilitator, strategic advisor, author, and life-long curious student. I believe everyone has the ability to gather well. I’m here to help you rethink and reimagine how we spend our time together and infuse it with creativity and meaning." Last week I opened one of her emails which had a audio recording of her latest thoughs. She

After teaching this piece for a while, I have some observations and strategies. This piece is supposed to be fun. If modifications are needed for a student to be able to play it, go for it! The Moonlight Birthday police won't crash your party. Small hands, don't play the octave, for the bass, play the lower notes, and in the treble, don't play the thumb. For the most part, the chords are diatonic triads related to E major and C sharp minor. Happy Birthday is most commonly pla

Have you ever had students start a piece, and get really good at the beginning, only to not finish it? Do you need a good, crowd pleasing version of Happy Birthday that everyone will fall in love with? Do you know people with birthdays? If you answered yes to any of these questions, I have the piece for you. Here's Beethoven's Moonlight Birthday I thought about doing a series of birthday versions of half finished pieces. But really, this one is so good, it will be hard to bea

My studio is working on a group project to build the Lego Grand Piano. It is one of the most fun projects I have ever worked on with my students. At the end of each lesson, everyone (from ages 7-70+) builds a few steps. I write their name and the date on the page in the instruction book and take a picture on my phone. The grand piano has 3600 pieces and 840 steps (this is where I show what a nerd I am). It's taking about a month to get through 25%, so if we started in March,

Do you have students who come to you bouncing off the walls because they have already had a busy and over scheduled day? I do. For me, it's generally the younger ones and the ones who I suspect have ADHD. After reading a chapter about managing transitions in Strong Ground, by Brené Brown, I shifted how I start lessons. For the first 5-7 minutes, I'm playing bass lines with chords while my students play improvised melodies. Playing Heart and Soul in G flat, for example, allows

Have you ever wanted to know what it's like to be your own student? I started live streaming lessons a week and a half ago. (Today's the 10th of March 2026) I'm going to do my 6th one today or tomorrow. It's such an interesting experience. You should try it. I started by teaching an imaginary student. At the moment, I'm working on having all my students be able to keep steady beats with repeated chord patterns and bass lines in all 12 keys, both major and minor. I'm probably

Today I recorded the 3rd lesson in the Key Finder Lesson series. For whatever reason, I can't link the live stream video on this page, but you can find it here: https://youtube.com/live/9ekBn3YajOg?feature=share I'm a nerd. I like counting things, tracking things, and playing around with ideas to see what works and what doesn't. In the first two lessons, I played around the circle of 5ths with I-IV major chords, using a syncopated rhythm with the left hand chords. Notes from

Yesterday I live streamed a complete first lesson. It was about an hour, and this is pretty much what I do with a brand new student 12 years and older. Most of my newer students are adults at the moment. Here's the link to the video https://www.youtube.com/live/8PLNCo1S1AU In a lesson, the student would be the one playing, not me. If you were my student, at the end of the video I would be asking: What did you notice? (I let this question sink in for a few minutes, students of

Many of you who have some of the key finder cards are at a loss on how to use them effectively with students. I'm creating a video lesson series of what I do with all of my new students. Here's the introduction: Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be recording 7-9 lesson videos to go demonstrate how the cards are used to build a solid foundation of being able to play in all 12 keys from the very first lesson. Here are the materials I refer to in the video: Many of

Because noticing a good thing is a good thing. At the end of every lesson I fill out the back of one of these cards with something I noticed my student doing well that day. I'll write things like I noticed : you played that passage with really great fingering the melodies you were playing when we were improvising were well formed as soon as you corrected the left hand fingering for that passage, the music was magical you noticed things about the circle of 5ths that normally t

Last month I changed my job description. I'm now officially a Happiness Teacher . I teach happiness in the form of playing the piano. Happy people learn more easily, are more resilient, are able to deal with adversity better, and, in general are more fun to be around. Who doesn't want to be happier? Arthur Brooks, a professor at the Harvard Business School and happiness researcher has a podcast, Office Hours (check it out on youtube here ) I have been listening to it for a w

How are you with transposition? I wasn't good before I started with the chord and scale cards. Now I'm a lot better. I can play a lot of things in different keys, but, I couldn't take a piece of music and transpose it on the fly. . . until now. 3 years ago, I created piano key finder cards. One of the cards is a key name card. Align the black keys with the black strips on the cards, and they keys practically name themselves. Key names moved up, so when I play in "C" I'm actua

Happiness, I am moving my company in the direction of happiness. Care to join me? Happiness is playing music, teaching music, playing with others, and helping my students find the same sense of delight I get when I play. Over the holidays my reading list was filled with Brené Brown (Strong Ground), Arthur Brooks (The Happiness Files), Simon Sinek (Start with Why), Donella H. Meadows (Thinking in Systems), Charles Mackesy (Always Remember), and Robin Ha (Cook Korean!). These b

This is how I start all my new students before a single note is played. It's useful to understand the learning process when learning anything, so these can be tailored to teaching and learning anything. I say this at the beginning of a relationship with a student, and they hear it over and over through the course of their lessons. I hope it's useful for you both as a teacher and as a student. I'm grateful you're here Happy Playing!

Have you watched any Korean romantic dramadies? I'm a fan. Some of my students are fans, some of my friends are fans. I use them to quiet my mind in the evenings, while knitting. They take my mind off of current events and I find them weirdly calming. Are you wondering what this has to do with piano? Well. . . one I watched recently, Dodosolsollalasol, is about a young woman who took piano lessons from the age of 4 to 20. And, wait for it, she ends up opening a piano studio,

Have you ever done something or created something and forgot that you did it? Then something triggers the memory and you get excited by it. That happened to me this year a couple weeks ago with a student who loves stories. His love of stories reminded me that I rewrote the lyrics to Turkey in the Straw, and my mother, Beatrice Powell, had illustrated it. When I started looking for the originals, I found many other paintings tied to different stories. My mom passed away in 202

November's circle of 5ths is a warm drink. As the year comes to a close, I am wondering if having the circle of 5ths with a different theme has had an impact on students other than my own. Last month the theme was a minor circle with skulls. When students entered the piano room they recited the order of sharps, and when they left, they recited the order of flats. Each was rewarded with a piece of Halloween candy. It was pretty effective. Most, though not all, students now hav

It's October 2025 and I've been working on an Advent, or Christmas project for the last several months. Today I am sharing with you the first part of the project which includes the documentation, the music, a series of videos to go along with this. You can get a taste of what this project encompasses from this first week. The rest of the videos and music for weeks two, three, and four will be posted by the beginning of November. You can download the instructions and summary h

Every year around this time (autumn), I pull out the Halloween and Fall themed materials. The originals were illustrated by my mom (...