Preparation and Presentation  Context: Pieces that are helpful to have experienced or played before approaching this one Lynn Freeman Olson – Beginning SonatinasNancy Faber - Classic Sonatina in C MajorDennis Alexander - Simply SonatinasTheodore Latour - Sonatina No. 1 in C MajorThomas Attwood - Sonatina in G Major Get Ready: Creative act...

Preparation and Presentation  Pieces that are helpful to have experienced or played before approaching this one: Lynn Freeman Olson – Beginning SonatinasNancy Faber - Classic Sonatina in C MajorDennis Alexander - Simply SonatinasTheodore Latour - Sonatina No. 1 in C MajorThomas Attwood - Sonatina in G Major Creative activities to explore befor...

 Many teachers are absolute sticklers for proper fingering in triads and inversions. I am one of these teachers. Witnessing an incorrect fingering creates an unreasonable anxiety, quite possibly out of proportion with the fingering infraction. Knowing this about myself, and less selfishly, knowing the importance of establishing "friendly habit...

 "Motivating students to practice and developing students who know how to use their practice time wisely is our biggest single challenge as teachers." – Frances Clark It seems quite simple: We teachers give our students excellent practice guidelines, our students practice in precisely the way we have painstakingly communicated via assignment s...

"Teaching is a growth, a natural process. It's the way children grow. No one tells them to be an inch higher, they BECOME an inch higher."– Frances Clark When I was the Admissions Director at the New School for Music Study, I would always let parents know that Frances Clark incorporated principles of educational philosophy into the art of teaching ...

Dear friend and pastor Nina Peck Reeder spoke once about an experience she had as a child: she was very unhappy about needing to wear glasses…they were pink and, in her view, horrible-looking. But then she put the glasses on and was astonished to really see. How beautiful each blade of grass! You might guess that her sermon would go on to explore s...

"We need to have a vision of our student as an accomplished learner. Great performance begins with clear vision. Teaching is just the same. We have to have the same vision of our students." – Sam Holland  Ah, the pressure! It is daunting enough to deconstruct quotes by the great Frances Clark… but the also great, living, breathing, Sam Holland...

"Never send students home with a piece without capturing their interest and excitement in the piece, and giving them a sense that they can master it easily."– Frances Clark One part of this quote particularly permeated Frances Clark's lectures: "A sense that they can master it easily." If the students feel they "can" and they are also are excited a...

It feels like school has just begun, but we have already completed our Parents Observation Week here at The New School for Music Study. Parents Observation Week is always held the last week of October. While we do have some parents who regularly sit in on lessons, this is not expected or practiced for most of our students. Our lessons are designed ...

"The art of teaching: Creating an environment in which a student wants nothing more than to learn, and having the right materials for the situation." – Frances Clark What comes to mind when you read this quote? Do you begin to form a list of ways that you, as a teacher, can create this environment? Do you feel uncertain as to whether or not you are...

"As teachers, what we want is a student who owns the rhythm. He owns it, he doesn't have to borrow it from the teacher. He can use it whenever needed, in any piece in the whole wide world. He's got it for life! " – Frances Clark After my year as an intern at the New School for Music Study, I was teaching at a school with thin walls. Without meaning...

"We must rid ourselves of the notion that in each day of practice, we make fewer mistakes than the day before." – Frances Clark I believe that this idea is directly related to Frances' knowledge of the importance of habit. From William James: "We are copiers of our past selves." Frances often spoke of the first performance of any new piece. If the ...

This is one of Frances Clark's more "catchy" quotes. It shows off her feisty personality and sense of humor. What did she exactly mean? I believe one scenario might be illuminating: A teacher to the student: "But I told you that last week!" (The student has made that error over several weeks). The teacher might have told the student, but did not te...