This Memo includes

• Feature Article: Music Engagement - Food For The Brain

• Student Hall of Fame

• Practice Tip

• Piano Party - July 9

• Parents Ask Pam - We would like to get a piano/keyboard for our child to practice on at home. What do you suggest?

Feature Article: Music Engagement - Food For The Brain

You’ve heard of the “Mozart Effect”? The idea that listening to Mozart’s music can boost your intelligence? This study came out in 1993, was a big sensation at the time, and has since been debunked. Turns out listening to classical music does increase your spatial reasoning abilities for a short time, but what really makes the difference is engaging with music, you know, like playing an instrument.

“‘ . . . making music matters’ because it is only through the active generation and manipulation of sound that music can rewire the brain.” . . .

. . .But what does this mean to you and your children? Are you able to help your child practice an hour every day so they can be more intelligent? Do you even have the time? And if you don’t, have you failed?

This Memo includes

• Feature Article: Is An Acoustic Piano Necessary?

• Student Hall of Fame

• Practice Tip

• Piano Party - June 3

• Parents Ask Pam - Your classes at the community center are full. What other options do you offer?

Feature Article: Is An Acoustic Piano Necessary?

Do you really need a piano or is a keyboard good enough? . . . .

Vladimir Horowitz, a famous Russian-American classical pianist, once said “the piano is the easiest instrument to play . . . and the hardest to master . . .” The “easiest to play” part is why I love to teach children. Children get immediate satisfaction from creating and imitating music that is beautiful. But what is Horowitz talking about when he says, “hardest to master”?

This Memo includes

• Feature Article: Music and YouTube

• Student Hall of Fame

• Practice Tip

• Sign up link for our 2023 Spring Recital

• Parents Ask Pam - Will there be a dress rehearsal for the Spring Recital?

Feature Article - Music and YouTube

The internet has done much to transform the experience of music, and not just in the sense of being easy to find - those wanting to make music have more options than ever before. While you could (and still can) always just play something and see what the others think about it, the lifestyle of a traveling musician in today's day and age is not easy, if it ever was. And while the record player did much to bring music to the masses, it brought with it a great horror - record companies. Well, that's probably an exaggeration, but it is no great secret that they can be a pain to work for. And while in today’s day and age, a contract with a record company is still usually needed if you want worldwide success, it is no longer the only option for those who want their music to be heard by thousands.

That option is YouTube. A website that has had a massive impact upon culture worldwide and in no way has it failed to have that impact upon music.

With YouTube people have access to music on a scale never before seen and it has provided . . .

This Memo includes

• Feature Article: How Tonara Makes Practice Fun

• Student Hall of Fame

• Practice Tip

• Sign up link for our 2023 Spring Recital

• Parents Ask Pam - For the Spring Recital, which times will be in person and which times will be online?

Feature Article - How Tonara Makes Practice Fun

What makes a strong piano student? It is all about the practice time! You’ve heard the expression, 10% talent, 90% perspiration? That is so true with musicians as well! It really doesn’t matter how musically inclined your child is, what matters is how motivated and excited they are to play the piano. With Move Over Mozart, we are fortunate to have a practice app, Tonara, that helps motivate and inspire our students to practice. While this app is optional, those that use it practice an average of 30% more than those that do not use it! This is a claim I read before purchasing the app and was pretty skeptical about its actual effectiveness. However, after tracking my own private students’ practice that first week, I was pleasantly surprised to find that 30% was a conservative increase! So what is it that draws students to play more while using the Tonara app? Today’s article will explain and hopefully motivate you to fall in love with this app as much as I have.

There are several features within Tonara that children love. One is the points. . . .