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How tough practice physically changes your brain
Have you ever forced yourself to do something you really, really didn’t want to do? Maybe practicing a piece you hated, pushing through a brutal technique exercise, or dragging yourself… Read more
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Can Playing the Piano Ruin Your Hearing?
Drummers. A rock guitarist. These are the kinds of musicians you’d expect to worry about hearing loss. But pianists? For over 15 years, I played on an upright acoustic piano,… Read more
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Can Background Piano Music Distract Pianists?
Like a lot of musicians, I’ve always assumed that background music helps with focus. I love classical playlists for studying, lo-fi beats for cleaning, soft jazz while writing emails—instrumental music… Read more
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How 6 months of Piano Lessons Transform Elderly Mental Health
It feels like we’re finally talking more openly about mental health these days. We know now how much anxiety and depression overlap with issues like chronic pain, neurodegeneration, and addiction.… Read more
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Why Your Students Aren’t Practicing (and what you can do about it)
As piano teachers, we’ve all been there. A student walks into their lesson, fumbles through the same passage they struggled with last week, and the week before, and sheepishly says,… Read more
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Learning Piano After a Stroke
(Image credit: Alex Dolce, Florida Atlantic University) Learning piano is challenging enough as it is. But relearning piano after a stroke or neuromuscular disorder can be absolutely defeating. These conditions… Read more
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How to Strengthen Your Connection with Piano Students for Better Results
I’ve been loving the Hidden Brain podcast, hosted by Shankar Vedantam. This podcast dives into the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior using science. One episode particularly resonated with me… Read more
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How Piano Lessons Help Build Language Skills
As piano teachers, many of us know that playing piano encourages cognitive development, but a new study shows that it also aids in linguistic development (pitch processing and speech perception).… Read more
The Scientific Pianist 