Music Trebles Piano Studio

06/26/2026

For the past several months, Truly has been doing the same chord warm-ups every week.

I never explained much about why. We just did them.

This week, she was working on a song, and I wanted to help her unlock the song faster. So I stepped back and told her to find the chords by feel, using the instinct we had developed from the warm-ups, instead of reading them.

Her hands quickly went right where they needed to go. She didn't overthink it, and she surprised herself.

That is the moment I am always building toward with every student. When the work stops being exercise and starts being music.

06/19/2026

Three months into piano lessons, one of my students heard me play a few measures of Chopin and asked, "Is that Chopin?"
He was not sure. He asked it as a question, not a statement. He was right.

It started in class. A student asked why fi*****ng matters, why we actually have to follow it. I reached for a Chopin piece on my desk to show where it becomes critical. At the end of class I offered to play a few measures, without naming the composer.
Maverick spoke up. I confirmed it and asked how he knew. He said Chopin is one of his favorite composers.

So I played him a few more pieces to see how far his ear went. He did not recognize Debussy by name, but he knew Clair de Lune the moment he heard it. When I played Fur Elise he told me he was already working on it at home. Then I played a Chopin Nocturne he had never heard before and told him to go with his gut.

He guessed Chopin. He was right again.

His ear is picking up the character of a composer he loves. A student this tuned in, this early, is headed somewhere.

Curious whether your child has that kind of spark? A free trial class at Music Trebles Studio in Ooltewah is a great way to find out:

Book a free trial piano lesson at Music Trebles in Ooltewah, TN. Pick a time that works for your family.

06/11/2026

Here is a moment from the studio this spring. One of my students spent more than 200 days working through his first piano book. His second book? He finished it in 49 days. When I asked what changed, he said it himself: "I applied myself." Then he set a new goal, to finish the next book in 70 days or less.

That is what I love to watch happen at Music Trebles Studio. A kid finds his footing, then takes off, and starts setting goals I never gave him.

Curious whether the piano could click like that for your student? A free trial class is the easiest way to find out: https://musictrebles.com/booking

05/29/2026

One of my favorite moments from teaching this week had nothing to do with talent.

It had to do with perseverance.

One of my students came into class determined to earn one star on a song she’d been working on. After several tries, frustration started setting in hard. We paused for a minute and talked about something important:

It’s okay to feel frustrated when you’re learning something difficult. What matters is learning how to work through it instead of shutting down.

So we reset. The goal became simple:
Keep going. Find the next note. Don’t quit because of one mistake.

And something clicked.

By the end of class, she didn’t just earn one star… she earned two.

Moments like that are why I love teaching piano. Music lessons aren’t just about learning songs. They’re about learning patience, discipline, confidence, and resilience too. 🎹

05/22/2026

One of the things I love most about teaching is watching a student achieve something they didn't know they could do.

One of my students has been in the studio for almost two years now, and this spring, something really special happened. We were wrapping up one of the Andrew & Trevor Dow arrangements, and there's this section with big open chords and octaves in both hands that he just loved. He lit up every time he got to that part. So he asked me if there was more music like that.

I looked through what I had. Nothing really fit the way he was imagining. So I said, on a bit of a whim, "What if we just write your own piece with that idea built into it?"

The look on his face was basically: " Can we actually do that?"

We could. And we did. Because of where he was, two years of building real musical instincts, a strong ear, and the patience to see a project through. We spent the last couple of months developing it together, built around the sounds and structures that excited him in the first place. This week, he came in with the first printed copy. A real, physical draft of a piece that didn't exist before he was ready to make it.

There's really nothing like the reward of playing an open octave section that you made yourself. 🎹

05/19/2026

If your child is going to learn piano, the most important skill they'll develop isn't technique or music theory. It's the ability to sit down and start, even when they don't feel like it.

That's what makes everything else possible.

One of the first things I build with new families is a simple habit: five minutes at the piano, every day. The student doesn't have to play anything perfectly. They just sit down and start. Most of them keep going long after the timer goes.

Here's what I've learned after doing this a while: I can give a student every shortcut, every technique, every tool we use in the studio. If they can't show up to practice consistently, none of it sticks. The showing up is the skill. Once that's in place, everything else follows.

What parents usually tell me later is that the habit doesn't stay at the piano. It shows up in homework, in sports, in anything that asks them to push through.

At Music Trebles, we use piano to build the habit of showing up. Students who learn to show up become musicians who can go anywhere.

If you're curious what that looks like, trial lessons are open. Send me a message or visit https://trial-class.musictrebles.com/