Why Use a Piano Cushion and Footstool?
From the very beginning of your piano training, building healthy habits means doing the right things – yet it also means not doing the wrong things! Using a piano cushion and footstool provides several benefits to young or small statured…
Five Recitalists Graduate
How do you develop ability? By continuing to play and refine the pieces you already have learned. Most music students move on to a new piece once they think they have mastered the former one – yet never play it…
All Instruments Welcome at CYM Spring Recital
The spacious First Unitarian Church in Shadyside will be the site of CYM’s April Recital, scheduled for Saturday the 29th at 12:30 pm. Back in the recital rotation by popular demand, this location provides amazing acoustics, room for extended family…
Music as Medicine
CYM Students and Vietnam and Korean War Veterans connected in late January, enjoying an hour long musical visit that started off with “My Country Tis Of Thee”. One former brass playing Vet chuckled that, as a child, he was able…
CYM Students Perform in Grand Lobby
Fill spaces with beautiful sounds – that’s what musicians do after they practice well for years and years. When those people are kids who have learned a common set of songs by heart and perform regularly, theirs is music that…
February’s Recital
Have you been working on a new piece of music for a while now and really want to share it with your music friends? Maria Constantine will host the February Recital at CYM Sewickley where the school’s historic Steinway will…
February Practice Challenge 2023
Your CYM mentors dynamically provide what is needed to make practice time hold your focus. They show you how to break down tricky technical transitions into bite sized, repeatable “pre-view bits”. They model how to sustain the physical strength and…
Veterans Understand First Hand
The brain is “wired” for music as we know, and so it is the perfect tool for promoting and accomplishing non-musical goals. Seldom do we meet a person who is not moved by music, even if we speak different verbal…
Stronger Fingers for Pianists
You sit down at the piano bench to practice. You listen to recordings of the music you are studying to practice. You follow the directions of your individual teacher closely, as you practice. Have you ever considered a mini piano…
Happy New Year from Your Friends at CYM
Few CYM students learn to play their chosen instrument well and leave it at that. They use weekly private lessons as a springboard for all of the other wonderful things they decide to do with their talent. For example, one…
Perform Monthly, Music Becomes You
It feels good to find a new song, figure out how it goes, and play it over and over until it’s learned by heart. It is a truly satisfying process. In the time between physically hashing out tricky parts to…
Practice Makes Permanent
Congrats to Caroline, Ruby, Sofi, Emilie, Liam, Thomas, RJ, Eli, Violet, and Sonia – and their home teams! Your CYM violin, viola, guitar, and piano teachers are really proud of you! The Practice Challenge Winners stayed focused at for least…