Em is for Music Studios, LLC

Made this WunderKeys Preschool Book 2 ear-training activity into a Halloween game by saying each of our coins was a trick-or-treater going either to Ringo Racooon's house or Middleton Mouse's house for candy! J said our trick-or-treaters were dressed as a ninja, a bat, a witch, a vampire, and a pumpkin. Love engaging preschool imagination in lessons! 🥷🦇🧙‍♀️🧛‍♂️🎃

The studio may still be decorated for Halloween, but believe it or not, it's time to start planning Christmas music! We won't be playing it JUST yet, but this is the week we start pulling out last year's books and seeing if we need to order new ones. Students and parents, make sure to check your lesson notes this week for info about what Christmas books you'll need this holiday season!

Preschool lesson kitty snuggles! Albus is seriously the sweetest, gentlest, best studio cat ever!

A studio-favorite game, Marshmallow Mummies, made extra fun with REAL marshmallows! Albus was very interested! 🤣

Rhys had a visitor in the studio for his practice time this morning! Uncle Jon got a mini-concert of Disney songs, a lesson in note reading, and even played our favorite Halloween ear training game! (Escape from Zombie Acres from )

More fun Halloween treats in the studio this week! AND more fun Halloween manicures!

Today I actually instructed a preschool student to make a round hand shape "just like this skeleton hand"! The things we'll say to get a point across! (Oh, and it worked!)🤣💀

M's beautiful rendition of The Semplice Session (again by Andrea Dow at WunderKeys Piano Method Books ) lulled Tom Servo into a sweet sleep at her lesson yesterday! M has really grown in her expression and musicianship in recent months and her delicate work on this piece really shows off her talents!

We played a very festive duet in G minor in M's lesson this week (by the wonderful Andrea Dow at WunderKeys Piano Method Books ). Our Halloween manis DEFINITELY helped us play our spooky piece a little better, I think!
🎃👻🕷🕸🧟‍♂️💅

This will be the view for online students this month! Studio is decked out, but online kiddos don't get the full effect!

Albus cuddles are fairly common in the studio, but as soon as it's cool enough for me to bring out my favorite fuzzy blanket, he is sure to make an appearance and claim his place on my lap!

These aren't your mama's boring old piano lessons! Halloween theory activity fun starts this week in the studio! Thanks to for all these amazing resources!

Off-the-bench activities are SO important for young learners. It's a fun way for them to take time to isolate and process the concepts we just learned at the piano and reinforce them without the multi-level mental process that goes into playing (coordinating reading the notes on the page, knowing their names AND location on the keys, counting and reading rhythm, applying technique, PLUS interpreting dynamics, articulation, and tempo...music is SO good for your brain! 🧠)

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning.”
~Mr. Rogers

B has been hard at work for months preparing to play the processional at his mom's upcoming wedding!🥰 He's playing a beautiful piece by the wonderful Andrea Dow at WunderKeys Piano Method Books called The Infinity Session, which was written just for this kind of scenario where a pianist may need to adjust the length of their piece for a ceremony-type situation. We've practiced every possible scenario and potential distraction and he is ready for anything! 😍👰‍♀🤵🎹🎶

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is plan little treats for my students. What treat would you choose?!

👍 = Candy Corn
❤ = Reese's Cup
🤗 = Gummy Bears

We welcomed a few new students to the studio in September! Albus definitely approves of the sweet sibling crew, E & H. 3-year-old J was all about his first preschool piano lesson... but less about having his picture taken!😅

Congrats to our recent book graduates! E & E have been working hard to get to this point, but their sweet smiles show how much fun we're having as they learn and grow!

My heart about burst yesterday when Rhys asked if he could help out with a Preschool piano lesson! He was so patient and helpful and even asked me the best way to correct J's mistakes. I may have another student teacher ready to go in a few years! For now, the role of teaching assistant is sounding like a great idea!

Congratulations to all our recent WunderKeys book graduates!

Willow - Preschool Book 1
Elle - Primer Book 3
Caroline - Primer Book 2
Julian - Preschool Book 1

Great work and well done!

It looks like I will have a few daytime slots available for new preschool students starting this fall! If you have a 3-5-year-old who loves music, then this program is perfect for them! Each week, we explore the piano and music fundamentals, learning high and low sounds, long and short sounds, counting quantities up to 10, and work on listening skills, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills. And that's just in the first book! By book 3 of the preschool series, students are playing in position on black keys and counting rhythms including quarter, half, and whole notes. And all this within a fun, colorful, story-based, game-filled curriculum! Contact me if you are interested, and please feel free to share with friends and family!

To all my wonderful studio families!

Happy Father's Day to all my studio dads! If you need help reading this just ask your kids! 😄

The Spring Recital today was so great! Please share your photos here and/or tag this page in your posts! Great job everyone!

Recital ready! 🥰🎼🎹🎶🎵

The boy studio pets were all about the extra game time (read: snuggle time) students are getting today! Students are so well prepared for Saturday's Spring Recital that we are having tons of theory game time in lessons this week! Can't wait to see you all for the big event this weekend!

I'm diving in to summer scheduling! Hoping the iced coffee in my Wonder Woman glass (from my wonderful friend and studio parent Joy Heitkamp !) gives me the strength I need to get this knocked out today!

We had a ball at our Spring Theory Game Day in the studio this morning! Great group of kiddos around the same age/grade/level. Everyone played well and maybe even learned something!

This is a great little post about how the WunderKeys method books are different and why they work so well for so many different learning styles and ages!

If you’ve taught WunderKeys for years, you’re familiar with how WunderKeys method books are separated into units, but if you’re new to WunderKeys this is likely something new!

Traditionally, method books follow a piece-by-piece format where students work through a method book learning new concepts that are introduced and then reinforced using pieces of music. Method books are typically a collection of repertoire. After every few pieces, the concept changes, and those skills are then added to the repertoire that follows.

In a WunderKeys book, new concepts are grouped into clearly-defined units and within each unit are several different activities. Each of these activities works together to teach and reinforce this new concept in a variety of ways. This addresses various learning styles and provides teachers with a multi-faceted lesson structure where your student is engaged in several different activities, each with the goal of reinforcing the new concept.

For example, in WunderKeys Level 1B where eighth notes are introduced, instead of simply learning a new piece that now has eighth notes, WunderKeys students first:

💡 Learn how to clap and count eighth note rhythms by contrasting similar rhythms with and without eighth notes.
💡Sight-clap eighth-note rhythms using our pick-a-path format where various combinations result in different lines of rhythm.
💡Compare and contrast one-measure rhythms on the staff with and without eighth notes.
💡Play an ear training game where they listen for eighth-note rhythms
💡Practice technical exercises that include eighth note rhythms in pairs and then in sets of 4
..And THEN learn new repertoire that includes eighth notes.
This a really effective way to engage children in the learning process and it gives teachers many opportunities to a) check for a true understanding of the concept and b) practice the new concept before putting it into the context of a piece where other demands on their students’ skills are present.

BUT… it’s also SO fun to teach this way! 🌟

Instead of simply working through a book piece after piece you and your students are truly interacting with your method book. You’re on and off the bench, you’re having discussions about the new concept, you're using game-based learning, and you’re playing with the new concept in various ways.

It also makes lesson planning much easier and more effective. Your teaching focus becomes very clear when you know exactly what skill or concept is being taught and you can therefore bring in other resources to round out the experience even more. Once you start teaching this way you'll think to yourself, "Well... this makes perfect sense!" 😉

For example, if you’re learning about eighth notes, you can bring in rhythm instruments to use with your student or a PianoGameClub or WunderKeys game that reinforces eighth note rhythms. You can plan a composing activity that uses eighth-note rhythms for motive-making, or you can grab a supplementary piece where eighth notes are featured prominently. etc. etc. etc.

Leveling of supplementary repertoire also becomes easier: knowing exactly what skills your student has obtained allows you to quickly look at a piece supplementary repertoire and immediately know if your student has covered the required concepts.

You’ll find this unit structure in all of our method books from Preschool to intermediate.

Get started with WunderKeys here: https://wunderkeys.com/piano-books-music/

Our recent WunderKeys graduates from this week! M & T finished Primer 1, and E completed Primer 2! Great job and well done all! Your hard work is certainly paying off!