Piano Teacher Academy is offering individual courses taught by Marvin Blickenstaff. What a better way to train with a highly respected pedagogue right in the comfort of your very own home.

Warm-Ups? Who Me? Technical Routines for All Ages 

Marvin provides you with a video session you may access on-demand at this website, complete with a downloadable PDF handout for note-taking.

In “Warm-Ups? Who, Me? Technical Routines for All Ages”….. Marvin takes you on a deep dive into what constitutes a “warm-up” and how warm-ups can be very beneficial to all piano students, young beginners to advanced level. It’s not just one fast scale and we’re ready to go! Physiologists would take exception to that. Athletes, dancers, and orchestral musicians have extensive warm-up routines and piano students can learn much from these professionals about the concept of warming up and how to apply those concepts to their own practice, regardless of level of development.

Marvin covers a gamut of routines for all ages and levels including:

• essential gestures and stretches
• elementary to intermediate warm-ups
• advanced routines
• scale routines
• arpeggio routines
• keyboard harmony drills including chord and cadence routines
• sight reading routines and much more….

Performance Practice Made Easy: Rules of Thumb for the Student 

Marvin provides you with a video session you may access on-demand at this website, complete with 3 downloadable PDF handouts for note-taking.

In “Performance Practice Made Easy: Rules of Thumb for the Student”….. Marvin delves into the world of style and interpretation for each musical era, Baroque through Modern. It is a big job to bring our students to an accurate performance of notes and rhythms, but classical composers, in particular, indicated precise details for intended sounds through slurs, phrase markings, and a wide variety of articulations. Just how exactly should we approach these details with our students in an understandable way without overwhelming them, or us?

Marvin guides you step-by-step through several “rules of thumb” that govern the interpretation of sound. He examines the roles of:

• dynamics
• phrasing
• rhythm
• harmony
• texture
• form
• intervallic structure
• breathing

PLUS the special considerations to take into account for each musical era.

You’ll also receive Marvin’s:

“Guidelines to Stylistic Interpretation” (a PDF list of what to emphasize for each era)

“Shaping the Sound: Rules of Thumb for the Student” (a single-page PDF list of guidelines for students to follow when making decisions about sound)

He’ll arm you so you can arm your students for more expressive, communicative interpretations!

The End is in the Beginning: Coaching a Piece to Performance 

Marvin provides you with a video session you may access on-demand at this website, complete with a downloadable PDF handout for note-taking.

In “The End is in the Beginning: Coaching a Piece to Performance”….. Marvin examines our role as teachers in guiding the development of a piece to performance.

• How do we introduce new materials to incite curiosity and a desire to learn?
• What are the pertinent practice steps?
• What are the clues to an effective, satisfying performance? Some answers are in the score, yet some must come from our wealth of experience and musicianship.

This workshop will sharpen your skills as you lead students to effective performance. Marvin also discusses memorization techniques.

The Marvelous Marvin Bundle 

Best deal- Includes all of the above at 30% off! You can enroll in all 3 courses (the BUNDLE) for BIG savings with LIFETIME ACCESS! No downloading of anything required.

*affiliate links included