Judy's Keys

I will be performing on solo piano to benefit CHUM on Saturday, May 3rd! Details in the poster, as well as a qr code to donate.

Happy Musical Monday!
My 3 fav musical artists:
Rezz (Current dj artist)
Rachmaninoff (Romantic era)
Bach (Baroque era)
Comment your favorite musical artist of any kind, from any time frame or genre!

STOP SCROLLING if you're an aspiring piano student!
Hey aspiring piano students who are distanced from Duluth, I've got something for you! I'm officially offering virtual and affordable lessons with Judy's Keys! I currently have a small range of open hours for virtual lessons! Please reach out via [email protected] for more information.

Happy musical Monday! Comment what genre of music helps you work or study. It doesn't have to be classical!

Today I am sharing an anecdote about a time I made mistakes as a musician, but picked myself up and kept going. I was asked a few years ago to perform as a piano accompanist for a church choir doing a Christmas production, playing primarily jazz music. As a classically trained pianist, I struggle with jazz, and had to do private sessions with the music director to reach my goals of playing with a real sense of "groove". The very first performance, I made the mistake of missing a cue at the very beginning, and since I thought everyone else had missed it, I kept playing the same section over and over while I waited for the choir to come in. I sounded like a broken record and eventually we had to stop the performance to figure out my mistake and start over again. It was so embarrassing! But we started over, and the rest of the performance was great.
My point is, mistakes are what make us human, and we learn from them and keep trying! But the one thing we don't do is let those mistakes stop us. If we did, we'd never learn or make progress! That's why I think negativity in teaching the piano is so toxic and can cause harm by forcing the student to believe they are not good enough, when in reality they just have work to do to reach their goals! And like me, they will still make mistakes even then! The ultimate lesson is, if we are humble enough, there is always more to learn.

Here's my take on the concept of mistakes: I took lessons from some amazing music teachers and mentors growing up, and I made a lot of mistakes, both in lessons and on stage! A LOT. While it is good to be prepared for a performance, competition, or test, mistakes are an essential part of learning and they happen to the best of us. Music teachers who push their students to unrealistic perfectionism and shame them for slipups, will not make much progress with them. I encourage my students to practice and be prepared for recitals, however if they don't have time to practice or if they make mistakes, I remind them that mistakes are important to the learning process, just like in life, and I always build them up and work with them to improve in a positive way. This is why my mission as Teacher Judy is to meet my students where THEY are at, versus asking them to meet MY expectations that I would set for myself.

A friendly reminder that being trained classically in piano DOES and should mean structured and methodical learning with an emphasis on theory, scales and arpeggios, and of course practice. However, it does NOT and should not mean stress and negativity in regards to the student, with an emphasis on shaming for mistakes or for not practicing. Frank A Clark said, "Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots".
Pushing yourself a little bit is a good thing, just like in school! And it is absolutely possible to encourage effort without negativity (on the part of the student and teacher alike) at every little mistake. Mistakes are what help us to learn, and teachers are there for that.
In short, classical training isn't about perfectionism, it's about your best effort, and a structured style of learning! If you do make a mistake, pick yourself up and keep trying, don't give up. You're doing great!

Thank you to Katherine Schnell for allowing me and Sarah Meints to take the majority these photos in your beautiful space!