High Point Music Studio has been in existence since 1991. Many students have come and grown in their love for music on my bench. They have worked their way through lesson books and grown to love the melodies on the pages.
If you are interested in starting lessons, this may be a good time. I offer a free introductory lesson to any student considering joining my studio. Register her on the website and feel free to call or message me with any questions you may have.
HPM Studio is located in my home in Valley Center, KS.
MORE INFO:
Kiddy keys is our Preschool Program. This curriculum is for 3-5 year olds. They learn musical concepts. We sing, dance play percussion instruments and play on the keyboards together.
We offer fun lessons for 5-6 year olds with the Wunderkeys Curriculum or Road Trip. These lessons are full of lots of activities and learning a song or two each week. Our goal is to introduce students to the keyboard and have a positive fun experience. We are preparing them to enter our Piano Express when they are ready.
Older students are using a new program that was introduced in our studio September 2021. Piano Express. We were the first of of a handful of studios in the Country that was licensed to offer this amazing program. This program has students from age 7-70 participating right now.
So what is Piano Express?
The Piano Express uses several tools that work together to create a learning environment that is both unique and powerful. The tools were created with both the student and the teacher in mind. The Process at a glance: Students attend a weekly, one-hour learning experience. The learning experience is in a small-group setting. The one hour experience is divided into two halves. The first half is focused on assessment, and the second half is focused on discovery.
ASSESSMENT - In the first half of the hour, the student attempts to get as many passing scores as possible from their song books. The student is at a digital piano connected with a laptop computer and headphones. The student has an account with The Piano Express software, with access to MIDI files for every song in The Piano Express curriculum. Once logged in, the student is able to play along with a backing track as the software assesses accuracy in pitch and rhythm. When the song is done, the student receives a score based on their accuracy. The goal is to score over 80 points to “pass” the song. The teacher is always roaming, making sure the students are helped as much as possible. Side note: The Piano Express account is available to the students at home as well. The benefits of gamified, goal-oriented practice, tutorial videos and aural playback can be accessed throughout the week.
DISCOVERY - In the second half of the hour, the student is with the teacher. The teacher follows the lesson plans from The Piano Express Teacher Guide. The students follow along with their copy of The Piano Express Discovery Book. The lessons focus on theory, technique, sight-reading, ear-training, and improvisation.
This program offers many benefits to the student:
1 - A gamified, goal-oriented experience: Students can make progress without feeling the typical "performance anxiety" of always playing in front of a teacher for assessment. Instead, the process of passing songs is played like a video game. While the teacher is always there to help in class, students can work out the correct notes and rhythm semi-independently, which is likely to result in less stress, more risk-taking, and faster overall progress. The scoring system provides a goal for the child to work toward, and because this experience is available to the student at home as well, the at-home practice experience is more focused, efficient and purposeful.
2 - Social Interaction With Peers: Learning to play the piano does not need to be a solitary experience for children. The Piano Express brings the piano student into a positive and encouraging social environment. Every piano student needs to learn that good results come only from diligent work. Every student needs to see that occasional frustration is normal and temporary. Most young students will not learn these personal/emotional realities by simply being told. It is far more effective for young students to learn these personal/emotional realities reflexively - by seeing it happen in others. Our social environment invites this accelerated personal growth that then directly feeds into the student’s musical success.
3 - Effective and motivating at-home practice tools: Students are set up for success at home with The Piano Express App. The grading system, song files, and tutorial videos have been created with care to help the student practice with purpose, focus and fun