Piano Expressions with Corey
549 Castle Avenue R2L 1C4 Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Hi everyone! I was inspired listening to a colleague perform this piece earlier this week, and it’s one I’ve always wanted to learn but never looked at the sheet music. I gave myself a little challenge this afternoon: Learn and record Meditation in under an hour (considering I begin teaching at 2:30pm) and this was the result!!! ... Does anyone else adore this piece as much as I do?

Came across this dark little piece Elegy for the Arctic written by Ludovico Einaudi... and was moved to learn it this afternoon. He wrote it as a musical statement for the importance of climate change. I actually have a whole book of his music, let me know if you would like me to learn more of his repertoire in the comments below!

Having a great first day back to teaching so far even with the online lessons!!! Although... I needed to move the kitchen table into the living room so I could more easily access my dozens of Christmas books for students! I found a great scanning app this afternoon too so it scans the page, converts it into a PDF and lets me email it directly to parents! So fast and easy compared to trying to scan page by page one at a time with my printer!

Online Lessons Begin - November 16th I’ve had a lovely week off, which gave me time for recording all of my Christmas music (22 pieces 95 minutes), doing lesson planning for the next 5 weeks of lessons, creating a new Minecraft-Themed Studio Challenge, sending an email newsletter to parents, updating my social media/website, answering family questions about online lessons, and organizing a list of my Top 10 Music Apps for students. Looking forward to seeing my students this week over my laptop screen and beginning to pick out Christmas music selections!

Just sent an email out to families in preparation for our Online Lessons which begin tomorrow, November 16th! I've also outlined my Top 10 Favourite Music Apps in the photos below that help will help students with practicing at home, keep them engaged during our online lessons these next 4 weeks, and assist them in their overall growth and musicianship! A few of these do cost a little bit of money ($1-$6 range) and many are free... but I have personally bought these, tested ...them out, and made sure I approve of them! We will begin using a variety of these apps in lessons starting this week, so please take a few minutes to get these set up on a device for your child before their lesson this week! Thanks everyone!!!

With the promise of my help in making cookies this afternoon, I convinced Chris to play a little duet with me: Feliz Navidad, arranged by Glenda Austin! Pretty great, considering I only gave Chris his part today at noon!!! Bringing a little fun and Christmas Cheer from our home to yours! P.S. Show Chris a little love if you’d like to hear more of him performing!

Finished up the last of my Christmas Recordings today! I’ve posted them on YouTube, updated the Portfolio page on my website, and posted the full playlist on my personal social media. I will post 1/day on our page here closer to Christmas. There’s a total of 22 pieces to share with everyone (95 minutes). Hope you’ve all had a great week!

Good morning parents! With the current restrictions in place, it's difficult to imagine what Christmas will be like this year, and students must be taking it pretty hard. To help spread some Christmas Cheer, I've taken some time to organize a PDF "Christmas Count-Down Activity Sheet" for beginner students up to Level 1 of Royal Conservatory of Music (10 different sheets, each increasing in difficulty).... We will also be starting our "12 Days of Christmas" Studio Challenge at your child's lesson this week! Parents will have received an email with the following PDF links: 1) "Christmas Count-Down Activity Sheet" (pick correct one) 2) "12 Days of Christmas Studio Challenge" (wait to begin it) 3) "Daily Practice & Lesson-Ready Checklist" (read to child) 4) "Grand Staff Cheat Sheet" (print only if necessary) Please ensure you have these 4 pages printed off prior to your child's next piano lesson, and take 5-10 minutes to go through them together - ESPECIALLY the "Daily Practice & Lesson-Ready Checklist"! Thank you, and keep up the great work!!!

With the excitement of teaching online lessons this week, tonight I had the realization that I can’t physically spend time with my friends and family this weekend... and won’t be able to for a few weeks now. And it made me sad. So I came upstairs and looked through more of Daniel Light’s music online. I found his exquisite arrangement of Chestnuts Roasting with huge, complex harmonies, and was inspired to learn it! ... It made me feel just a little bit better.

Good morning everyone! Here’s a funny little music joke to show to all students who have completed Page 49 in the Primer B book... Haydn’s Surprise Symphony! Let me know if your child gets the humour as soon as they look at it, or after they look at their music to remember that we play the last chord super loud and that is the surprise.