How many times you said to yourself: "Why am I doing this again?" after you listen to your  own recording/ a bad day of practicing/ a frustrating lesson  with a student / a feeling that you are stuck and cannot change actions... We all have habits: in our daily routine, in our personal behavior and of course in our work. Some of them good (up to a certain time and point) and some are not good for us, however it is very difficult to get rid of them. Being a musician and a teac

How many times we face the reality: the student did not practice well enough/ too little/with wrong sound or fingering/without any concentration. Facing it  we can definitely feel negative emotions, such as frustration, desperation, lack of interest and even anger. Many times we will not show these feelings of course but our body language or intonation will show the student that we are not happy. These negative emotions are important to understand, but they cannot interfere w

As performers and teachers we are aware of the connection between  concentration  and stamina when we experience  either short pieces that require intensity and physical stamina like etudes (Chopin's op. 25 no. 11 for example) or tiring passages and figurations (like the "Pathetique" sonata by Beethoven), or long composition that require also full concentration and intensity (like the "Waldstein" Sonata by Beethoven, especially the third mvt.). Students in my class have been

One of the virtues of technology is that you always face a new challenge in your teaching. I never thought teaching online was possible, but seems that the challenge makes you think and try to do your best. When it comes to advanced students, the task is even more difficult: Therefore preparation and goals for each lesson are a must, especially if you have to prepare the student for an audition/competition etc. Such is the case now that I happen to teach a very gifted student