Piano

Michelle is our lead piano instructor at Liberty Park Music. She started learning piano at six years old! Her two older sisters were already learning and helped inspire her to want to learn and get better. And can you guess who Michelle’s first piano teacher was? Watch Michelle’s Meet the Teachers video to hear what silly thing her teacher would do to make sure she was playing the correct notes! Michelle has performed piano throughout the U.S., the Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, and Taiwan, and taught classes and workshops in the Southeast United States and Taiwan. When she’s not traveling … Read more

At a glance… 1. Warm up exercises 2. Velocity exercises 3. Finger/hand independence exercises You might ask, why should I do finger exercises? Like athletes, musicians need good control of their muscles, and strong muscles can prevent injury. Playing the piano uses more than just the fingers; instead, the whole arms are required. To learn to use the arms, hands, fingers, and wrists correctly, finger exercises are more effective than actual pieces, since exercises are often designed to target one technique and their simple structure is less distracting. Moreover, finger exercises, similar to strength training for athletes, can improve finger … Read more

At a glance… 1. Importance 2. Essential scales and arpeggios 3. Techniques 4. Articulations and rhythms 5. Practice routines The movie Julie and Julia is a highly entertaining and yet inspiring movie. Frustrated with her work, Julie decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and write about her experience in her blog, a task not insignificant. At the same time, the movie shows how Julia works her way up to a famous cook. One scene demonstrates her perseverance in becoming a good cook. She keeps practicing cutting onions. She cuts so many … Read more