Medley Blog
Showing 42 of 42 posts
Jul 20, 2026
Recitals
Student Accomplishments 2025-2026
Student Accomplishments 2025-2026
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Jul 9, 2026
Practicing
Practicing--It's an Art!
Hopefully, students are taking piano lessons because they want to. Hopefully, they are enjoying their music. Hopefully they are motivated to prepare for festivals,...
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Jan 28, 2026
Resources
Summer Camps
It’s that time of year to be thinking about summer camps! Have you ever considered expanding your child’s music experience and sending them to a music camp? A colleague of...
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Dec 6, 2025
Teacher Notes
Christmas Music!
I’ve been keeping track of all the Christmas music played by my students this year! 2025 Christmas music!
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Nov 10, 2025
Recitals
Virginia State Music Teacher's Conference 2025
Highlights from the 2025 VMTA State Conference at George Mason University—music teacher panels, inspiring classes, performances, and creative teaching ideas. This past week was...
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Oct 7, 2025
Adult Students
Adult Piano Lessons--Spring 2026 Project: Dreams
I’m excited for our Spring 2026 theme: Dreams. Here is a list of ideas to begin planning ahead. Dreams of Love and Memory – Schumann, Chopin, Rollin Dreams of Imagination –...
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Oct 7, 2025
Adult Students
Adult Piano Lessons--Fall 2025 Musicale
Adult students in my studio gather 2-3 times a year to share music with each other, learn new repertoire, share research on composers, and enjoy each other’s company. On...
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Oct 3, 2025
Practicing
Sister Act on Two Keyboards: Organ-Piano Concerts
Concert List Sunday, July 13, 2025, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Groningen, Netherlands Saturday, August 23, 2025 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,...
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Sep 13, 2025
Practicing
Parent Crash Course--How to help your child be successful with piano lessons!
Parents are encouraged to participate in a 5 week crash course. The purpose of this course is to provide you tools to help your children get the most from their piano lessons....
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Mar 21, 2025
Practicing
Repertoire Study List
Would you like to enjoy some beautiful piano music? These are titles that were played in competitions at the 2025 MTNA conference in Minneapolis. Here is the list with Titles,...
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Mar 5, 2025
Adult Students
Adult Students--Recitals Ideas for October 2025 Musicale "Evil"
My adult students voted on the theme for the next musicale and it will be “Evil”. Here are some repertoire ideas I have gathered from other piano teachers on Facebook. Stacy...
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Feb 18, 2025
Adult Students
Adult Musicale Programs
March 2025: Music that tells a story Sarah: Wayfaring Stranger Fumie: Castle in the Sky, Hisarshi Penny: Sonatina Op. 27 No. 18, Kabalevsky Terry: Andantino from Children’s...
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Dec 11, 2024
Theory
Free Music Resources
Christmas Music https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IP83w1brod3rFip7vtz185qEBuCg1Y6l?usp=share_link https://gmajormusictheory.org/Fre.../Holidays/Christmas.html...
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Nov 5, 2024
Adult Students
Adult Students--Recital Ideas for March 2025
March 2025 Music Tells Stories In March 2025, my adult students will get together and share music that tells stories. Here is a list of suggestions that are at an intermediate...
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Oct 4, 2024
Practicing
Have Fun with Six-hand Piano Pieces!
Six-hand piano pieces add excitement to lessons! In this article, I share how I plan a trio program to boost collaboration and fun. By grouping students by skill, choosing...
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Feb 15, 2024
Recitals
Trio Time!
Playing trios in group piano classes can be really fun! These students have been working together for a while and I was so proud of their performance in our class today!...
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Jan 8, 2024
Student Accomplishments
Student Composition Highights--PTA and other
2026 One of my former students, Peter Hinckley is now a composer and sound designer for film, television, video games, and other media. He participated in the PTA Reflections...
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Nov 11, 2023
Practicing
1000 hours at the Organ!
In the spring of 2021, I learned about an organ scholarship program through the local American Guild of Organists from one of my piano students. Since he was young, Adam Baker...
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Aug 23, 2023
Adult Students
Albert Rozin--Rediscovered
Albert Rozin’s music is being rediscovered and made available to the world! Please visit his website: albertrozin.com for access to his music (pdfs and recordings) as well as...
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Jul 26, 2023
Student Accomplishments
Student Accomplishments 2022-2023
NVMTA Fall Festival Kyla Dorotheo, Sloan Frischknecht, Nolia Landrigan, Lawrence Madi, Henry McMullin, Sarah Ott, Shi Chong Zhao Alma Grayce Miller NVMTA Composition...
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Jul 26, 2023
Practicing
How to get the most out of Practicing
You just got a new piece at your lesson! Now what? Let’s say you want to have the assignment learned well by your next lesson. Maybe it’s the whole piece, but it could also be...
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Oct 4, 2020
Practicing
YouTube Links and Theory Practice links
Spreadsheet with level specific exercises VMTA Syllabus (click here to see requirements for each level) Keyboard to print for scale and pentascale practice:...
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Jun 12, 2020
Recitals
Student Performances, June 2020
Due to Covid-19 and online lessons and it not being possible to have a regular end of the year recital, my students recorded music they have been working on and it was...
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Jun 12, 2020
Practicing
Student Accomplishments 2019-20
Fall Festival Underlined and bold means superior from both judges. Jack McNair , Bradley McMullin, Qing Shuang Downing , Quinn Downing, Adam Baker, Lawrence Madi , Peter...
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May 23, 2020
Practicing
Online Piano Lessons Reflections
Hooray! We’ve completed two months of online lessons. I’m very proud of my students for their hard work, effort, and ability to adapt to the conditions imposed by Covid-19....
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Apr 1, 2020
Teacher Notes
Music During Covid-19
From Clavier Companion:
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Mar 21, 2020
Practicing
Music and Art Competition During Coronavirus
Schools and gyms are closed. Church is cancelled. All sports and entertainment events are postponed. Everyone is social distancing. BUT, PIANO STUDENTS are: Practicing...
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Dec 27, 2019
Student Accomplishments
Christmas Holiday Music Competition Results
During December, I was very proud of my students who passed off 124 Christmas songs well enough that family or friends could sing along with them! Twenty-three students...
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Dec 17, 2019
Recitals
Pianist recommendations on Youtube
It is often helpful to listen to recordings of intermediate and advanced pieces when learning a new piece. A student doesn’t need to copy the same performance, but much can be...
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Oct 5, 2019
Practicing
Success at the Piano
Introduction Some might say that receiving awards or winning competitions constitute success at the piano. Others might say that easy facility of playing whatever piece is...
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Jul 27, 2019
Practicing
Practicing with Young Children
In 2018, I discovered WunderKeys, a piano approach for children as young as 4 years old. It is delightful with age-appropriate activities and well-planned graduated progress...
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Jul 1, 2019
Adult Students
Famous Pianists, by Terry Burridge
(This is a contribution to the Johnson Studio Blog from one of my adult students. Enjoy!) I grew up in a household where music was easily available to me. We had a stereo and...
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Jun 17, 2019
Teacher Notes
The Piano in the White House
I recently read an article about the White House piano which brought back some memories of mine. Here is a photo of the article from the Clavier Companion (Jan/Feb 2017). Since...
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Jun 6, 2019
Practicing
Student Accomplishments 2018-2019
2018-2019 Fall Festival Event sponsored by NVMTA. The requirements include two memorized pieces one of which must demonstrate contemporary compositional techniques. Underlined...
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Mar 10, 2019
Practicing
40 Challenge 2019
I hope you’ve heard about the 40 challenge. I’ve challenged each of my students to learn at least 40 pieces this year. I have a card for each student on which I record the name...
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Jan 1, 2019
Practicing
2019 New Year's Resolutions
At the start of a new year, I like to think about new goals. Here are some of mine: Musically: I’m going to try to new method book for young beginners ages 5-7. I’m excited...
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Dec 4, 2018
Practicing
Piano Memories from age 14
I reviewed some personal journals this evening and found some gems that I thought would be fun to share. These entries were from when I was 14 years old, a freshman in high...
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Oct 8, 2018
Recitals
Fall Festival--Celebrating Contemporary Music
We are in the final month of preparation for Fall Festival now. I enjoy doing this festival each year because it gets all of my students off to a great start in the fall....
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Sep 24, 2018
Practicing
Practicing!
During a recent class lesson, my students had a lively discussion about what was most effective in making progress at the piano. This discussion was based on a study by Noa...
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Jul 30, 2018
Practicing
Students Accomplishments-------------- (always in progress)
I am so proud of students when they work hard and accomplish their goals! Great job!!! In 2009, a Bowen Boyack, a 7 year old student wrote a piece which was orchestrated and...
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Jul 26, 2018
Recitals
Thoughts on Recitals
May 2018 Recital
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Jul 20, 2018
Practicing
Welcome to the new website!
I'm excited to share this new website, created by my son, William . If you are hoping to join the studio, please contact me ! If you are already part of the studio, I look...
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