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Online Music Theory Lessons: Turn Sound Into Skill

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pianolessons

August 1, 2022 By Aron Bernstein Leave a Comment

A Farewell to Mary Kogen

There are teachers who genuinely make a difference in your life, and I was proud to have been a student and friend of Portland’s own Mary Kogen. In a career more than five decades long, she taught piano and pedagogy at Eastern Illinois University and spent 26 years on the faculty at Portland State, striving always for the humanity and self-enhancement in music. And as for Breaking Barlines, I can confidently attribute a good deal of my own teaching methods to her influence. I was one of countless music teachers whose lives were touched by Mary’s warmth, unmatched humor, and her commitment to bringing music into people’s lives and souls. Though her time is ended, the light she left belongs to us all, and it will not go out. Thank you, Mary.

To read Mary Kogen’s obituary in OregonLive, please CLICK HERE.

Filed Under: Breaking Barlines Tagged With: breakingbarlines, classicalmusic, harmony, music, musiceducation, musiclessons, musicpedagogy, musicteacher, musictheory, musicvideo, pianolessons, popmusic, rhythm

February 18, 2020 By Aron Bernstein Leave a Comment

Not Every Good Boy Does Fine

If you’ve had piano lessons before, there’s a good chance your teacher taught you to read music with “Every Good Boy Does Fine” for line notes, and “F-A-C-E” for space notes.  I used these mnemonic tools for a long time as a teacher, and with surprisingly limited success.  The reality is, students who stop to consider the name of every note end up being very slow sight-readers.  I should know––that’s how I read music for years!  Here are some reasons why it doesn’t work well.

[Read more…] about Not Every Good Boy Does Fine

Filed Under: Learn music theory Tagged With: aronbernstein, breakingbarlines, lessons, music, musiclessons, musictheory, piano, pianolessons, reading, sight, sightreading, theory

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