075: Empowering Creative Students with Elaina Burns

Elaina Burns, founder of Resonance: Mind-Body-Music, blends yoga and piano to help students build awareness and overcome performance anxiety. With a focus on mindfulness and body alignment, she shares how she empowers students to become independent learners while fostering a love for music. Elaina’s approach goes beyond technique, encouraging creativity and emotional expression in every lesson, creating a supportive and dynamic environment for growth.

1. Elaina shared her diverse career as a pianist, organist, and music educator.
2. How yoga has influenced her approach to teaching piano, focusing on mindfulness and alignment.
3. Integrating yoga exercises with piano lessons, helping students to develop awareness.
4. The importance of mindfulness in teaching, especially when preparing students for performance.
5. Strategies for helping students overcome performance anxiety.
6. Her practice of using a metronome to gradually increase tempo.
7. Elaina recommended using listening lessons, where students listen to recordings and analyze different elements of music.
8. Using vision boards to help students visualize long-term goals and map out their musical journey.
9. Her innovative methods for engaging students.
10. How she uses fun tools like lollipop drums and large music staffs to make lessons exciting.

Links Mentioned

1. Elaina's website: ElainaBurns.com

Today's Guest

Elaina Burns is an active pianist, chamber musician, and nationally certified teacher based in Pearl River, New York. Burns is a pianist for Parlando, a professional chamber orchestra in New York City, and she performs regularly with Spanish dancer and teaching artist, Anna de la Paz. Burns is founder and director of Resonance: Mind-Body-Music, a piano studio dedicated to the creative and healing arts, where she encourages students to develop mind-body awareness in order to improve their artistry, musicianship, and overall well being. She is always eager to discuss pedagogy, wellness, and all aspects of music. Burns holds a doctoral degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma. Notable performances include Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Please visit www.elainaburns.com to learn more.

About Rachel Ehring

Dr. Rachel Ehring is a pianist, teacher, music administrator, and lover of piano teaching gadgets. She holds a DMA in Collaborative Piano from the University of Colorado Boulder and a MM in Accompanying from the University of Kansas. She currently serves as Director at St. John’s Conservatory of the Arts in Orange County, CA. Previously, she held positions at Concordia University Irvine and Henderson State University. Rachel is passionate about empowering music teachers to create engaging and exciting lessons for students of all ages. When she isn’t playing the piano, you might find Rachel reading books with her son or walking her beagle Frieda.

1. Visit her website at RachelEhring.com
2. Visit her Instagram page: @rachelehring
3. Visit her YouTube channel: @dreamlavendermusic6694
4. Visit her Etsy shop at Dream Lavender Music

Thank you for tuning in!

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