Pianos on Parade (POP) places ‘artistically transformed’ pianos around Kansas City in various outdoor locations for all to play and enjoy. In order to celebrate 100 years of excellence for the Kansas City Music Teachers Association, our goal is to place 100 pianos around our city during the summer of 2015.

Our own studio mate Hendrix performed at the unveiling of the newly-painted pianos. Here are some pictures:

Jacob and Elyse following their fantastic results from Music Progressions 2015 at South Middle School

Music Progressions 2015 was a huge success for the 8 students that participated. Music Progressions is an annual event hosted by the Kansas Music Teachers Association where students complete 1 of 10 levels of skill. Each level includes performance of piece, technical skills, a listening test, and a theory test. Great job to all of those who completed their level this year!

Madi tries to play a song with fake witch fingers

For a fun Halloween activity, I bought these fake witch fingers. You simply slide them onto your fingers and voila! You have witch hands! One piano technique that beginner pianists have to learn is that we don’t play piano with flat fingers. We also don’t play with long fingernails. These witch fingers force you to play with flat fingers and the fingernails are incredibly long! 

Ben attempts to perform a piece wearing the fake witch fingers

As the students tried to perform while wearing these creepy fingers, they soon realized that playing piano was nearly impossible! They had a lot of fun wearing the fingers and it reinforced a simple lesson that could always use a good reminder. 

Fake witch fingers that I bought from Michael’s. They also glow in the dark!

Here is the listening list for the 20th century listening exam that will take place during our May studio class. As our music history progresses, you’ll notice that more complex harmonies arise. Composers begin breaking more and more “rules” in the search for a new sound. If you listen to the recordings from this list and compare them to the pieces from the Baroque era, it’s astonishing to hear the differences between them. These are just a sampling of my favorite pieces from this era. There are many more. Please remember that the student needs to know the name of the piece AND its composer.

1. Excursions – Samuel Barber

2. Miroirs No. 1 “Night Moths” – Maurice Ravel

3. “Cinderella Waltz” from Cinderella Suite – Sergei Prokofiev

4. Suite for Piano – Francis Poulenc

5. Arabesque No. 1 – Claude Debussy