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Dear Friends,
A quick note before we get started: Piano Lit is ready! It’s a self-guided six-week mini-course that consists of weekly curated listening lists to help you get more familiar with piano literature. Each week is organized around a theme. Click here to check it out!
I just got back from NCKP — the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy – which takes place every two years in Lombard, Illinois. More than 750 independent teachers, collegiate faculty, and graduate students converged in hotel ballrooms, hallways, lounges, restaurants, and the exhibit hall to share stories, learn from each other, and be inspired.
Piano teaching is work that takes place one-on-one or in small groups. We sit with students in our teaching studios, focusing on the person in front of us. Periods of time can go by where we don’t see our colleagues very often. Even at the university, weeks pass where I wave at my colleagues down the hallway but don’t get the chance to connect.
As is the case with other piano teachers, after my students finish with me, they go out into the world and I no longer see them every week. The work we do is bespoke and personal.
That’s why a conference like NCKP matters so much: it gives us time to be together as a community.
I had several “full-circle” experiences at this conference:
- A student I taught back in 2012 at Interlochen came up to me with a big smile and a hug. She is now a doctoral candidate in piano pedagogy at a big Midwestern university - I’m so proud of her! She has come so far since that summer, her first in the US when everything was so new for her.
- A former teaching assistant who is now on the faculty at a school in Texas gave a wonderfully researched and insightful session. As I sat in the audience, I realized I was watching a former student become a colleague.
- I gave a ride home from the conference to a former grad student who is now a full-time independent teacher in Indianapolis, and also, now, a friend. We talked about the sessions we attended, people we saw, and life updates!
- I connected with a colleague from another university who, like me, also studied with Gilbert Kalish, although we were not there at the same time. She gave a stunning performance at one of the recitals. Hearing her play was a reminder of this legacy we are part of, not only as teachers, but also as performers.
In a few weeks, I’ll welcome a new cohort of students at Butler. Thus, the teaching cycle continues.
Our work as teachers and music educators isn’t just about the students in front of us; it’s about the people they become. We are building a community, brick by brick, teacher by teacher, student by student, over generations.
Sometimes, if we’re lucky, we get to see the outcome of our teaching in the form of a student who is now a professional in the field, or even students who didn’t become musicians but have a special appreciation for music or the arts.
As I return from NCKP and unpack my suitcase, it’s time to turn my attention back to my own work at hand. After I finish writing this I’ll spend the morning practicing Fanny Mendelssohn’s Das Jahr and other pieces on the docket for this fall. This week I’ll start preparing for the upcoming school year, answer a lot of email, and make some videos.
This is all solitary work. However, my time at NCKP was a good reminder: we may teach alone, but we don’t teach in isolation.
Thank you for being part of this community! I hope you have a wonderful week, wherever you are in the world.
Happy practicing!
-Kate
PS I shared a few pictures from the conference here on Instagram, if you'd like to take a look.
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Practice TIP of the week:
Here are the most recent practice tips I have covered:
🎵 June 29: Practice Performing for an Imaginary Audience
🎵 July 6: Keep Your Eyes Moving Forward
🎵 July 13: Recognizing Landmarks and Patterns
🎵 July 20: Don't Fix Mistakes
Each month, I focus on a specific theme for practice tips. This month’s theme is Confident Sight Reading.
Today's Practice Tip: Sight-Reading As a Daily Habit
Sight reading is one of those “slow-burn” piano skills. It requires regular, consistent attention that’s easy to skip over in daily practice.
Sight reading asks us to turn what we see into what we do: to take the notes on the page and translate them directly into coordinated physical motions at the piano.
Like reading or language fluency, it takes time and consistent effort to build skill and start to see results.
That's why I recommend sight reading as part of your daily practice; the best way to improve is through frequent, low-stakes encounters with unfamiliar music.
You don't need to dedicate long practice blocks to sight reading. In fact, short and consistent sight reading sessions are more effective than marathon sessions. Even sight reading one line a day can lead to meaningful improvement.
When you sight read, choose a short excerpt that you've never played before. Ideally, it should be well within your technical comfort zone. I recommend choosing music to sight read that is two to three levels below the level of repertoire that you're currently playing.
Scan your music before you play it, identifying key signature, rhythmic patterns, note patterns, and any accidentals printed in the music. Many people find it helpful to tap the rhythm in both hands before playing.
Choose your tempo before you start and commit to playing it one time through, without stopping or correcting yourself. Your goal is continuous, rhythmic, forward motion, despite any errors you might make.
This kind of sight reading helps train your eyes to move steadily forward across the page. It teaches you to keep going, to scan ahead, and to get better at processing music in real time.
Practicing like this can be surprisingly hard at first. Many people instinctively stop to fix mistakes or try to backtrack, especially if their regular practice habits are centered around repetition and refinement.
Practicing sight-reading without stopping, as part of your daily practice, will usually lead to noticeable improvement after six to eight weeks.
The improvement won’t happen overnight, but it will happen, not because of any one breakthrough or concentrated effort, but because you kept at it, every day.
I've put together a resource page specifically focused on sight reading materials: books, tools, and apps that I’ve used in my own teaching and practice, and that I often recommend to students. Whether you're a teacher looking for new materials to use in lessons, or a pianist trying to build a more consistent sight reading habit, you'll find a mix of options here for different levels and learning styles. You can check it out here.
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Quote of the Week
"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."
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🎥 YouTube Update
My most recent video – Fix Your TECHNIQUE! Staccato, Legato, Scale Fingering, and Alignment – is the third video in my series of Q&A videos that I made celebrating passing the 25,000 subscriber milestone on the channel.
In this video, I answer six viewer questions related to technique.
- Different types of staccato (and when to use them!)
- The difference between finger legato and pedal legato
- Reinforcing correct scale fingering (so important!)
- Thoughts on alternate fingerings for scales
- What to focus on in aligning your fingers, hand, and arm
Click here to watch it!
Want to be notified when a new video comes out? Click here and I will send you a quick email the day I publish a new video.
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💜 Some of My Favorite Things
- 🎹 Performance: Ernst von Dohnányi – Variations on a Nursery Song, Op. 25. Today (July 27) marks the birthday of Ernst von Dohnányi (1877–1960), one of Hungary’s great musical voices. If you haven’t heard Dohnányi’s Variations on a Nursery Song, you’re in for a treat!
This playful work is a set of playful variations for piano and orchestra on the familiar tune “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Dohnányi’s imaginative orchestration, humor, and pianistic sparkle turn this childhood tune into a dazzling showcase. It’s a favorite with audiences for good reason, and a perfect way to celebrate Dohnányi’s birthday. You can listen to it here.
- 🎥 Historical Interview: Ernst von Dohnányi Interview & Performance (1957). In this rare video, an 80‑year‑old Dohnányi speaks candidly with Edward Kilényi and Colin Stern, and plays excerpts from his early works. Watch it here.
- 🎵Technique: Pischna – Technical Studies (Alfred Masterwork Edition). Pischna’s Technical Studies have long been a go-to resource for pianists looking to improve their technique at the keyboard. This collection of 60 exercises is designed to systematically develop technique, targeting finger independence and control through daily practice. If you’re aiming to refine your technical foundation and take your playing to the next level, Pischna’s Technical Studies are worth checking out. Buy it here.
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🎹 Stay Connected:
- 🎓 Reply to this email to learn about applying to study with me at Butler University at the undergraduate or master's level. Go Dawgs! 🐾
- 📚 Check out my Amazon page, where I share my recommended books, technical exercises, gear and more!
- 🎥 Subscribe to my YouTube channel!
- 📱Follow me on Instagram!
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Some links in this email are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. |
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🎹 Pianist | Educator | Creator
Dr. Kate Boyd
Professor of Piano, Butler University
YouTube • Instagram • Website
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