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Valentina Jotovic: Apr 17, 2011
I don’t necessarily believe in going through mindless repetitions when practicing music (see my last blog, Stop Practicing, Start Playing!), but sometimes I just cannot execute a certain passage successfully. The thought of practicing the passage...
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Valentina Jotovic: Mar 25, 2011
Dynamics. We all know the markings: pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff. As young musicians we are taught that pp means to play at the softest level while ff means...
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Valentina Jotovic: Mar 23, 2011
Many beginning students of music may wonder what learning theory has anything to do with learning to play the piano, and still others wonder how it...
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Valentina Jotovic: Mar 20, 2011
So, you want to make Regions?
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Valentina Jotovic: Mar 7, 2011
I spend a lot of time awake late into the night, as my jobs as a drum teacher and professional musician usually don’t require me to wake up too early...
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Valentina Jotovic: Feb 27, 2011
“Frank Sinatra! Pavarotti! Lady Gaga! Kristin Chenoweth! Justin Beiber!” When I meet new students, I always make a point of asking who their favorite...
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Valentina Jotovic: Feb 23, 2011
What was I influenced by? I have no idea – sure, my father took violin lessons with John Krauss as a junior or senior in high school only because...
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Valentina Jotovic: Feb 20, 2011
According to my parents, I began to express interest in the violin at age six. In those days there were no "Suzuki" type programs to send me to, nor...
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Valentina Jotovic: Feb 16, 2011
It has been hard for me to believe that my first baby is actually in Kindergarten, let alone half way through her first year of elementary school....
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Valentina Jotovic: Feb 13, 2011
Piano teachers have long recognized the potential of teaching in groups. Group teaching began in Dublin, Ireland around 1815. The German musician...