Yuliya Borshchova - Oclef Blog

May 22, 2025

🎹 Jazzing It Up and Breaking Free From Traditional Song Learning In today’s online piano lesson, I had the joy of working with one of my Oclef students on the exciting piano duet Cool Walking Bass from the Piano Adventures Method Book 3A. This piece is more than just fun—it’s a great introduction to blues and jazz styles, offering students a first taste of swing rhythm, walking bass lines, mordents and syncopation. To deepen the learning experience, we took the lesson a step further by com...

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May 20, 2025

Unlocking Expression: Online Piano Lesson Spotlight – 'Sword Dance' from Piano Adventure Level 2A

Today I would like to showcase one of my Oclef students as we are practicing on “Sword Dance” from the Piano Adventures Method Book 2A. This piece introduces important musical concepts such as allegro tempo, fermata, and expressive dynamics including crescendo and diminuendo. This blog post also highlights the value of listening a full music score to enhance students' ear training, sense of mood, and overall musicality.

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May 08, 2025

How to Understand and Speak Music Theory Language - Teaching Chords

Ever feel like music theory is a confusing puzzle that never quite fits the song you're learning? What if the key to mastering your next piece isn't just more practice—but actually understanding the chords behind the notes? In this post, I’ll show you how starting with one simple theory concept—primary chords in a key (I-IV-V7)—can completely transform the way piano students learn and play music. Before diving into any new piece, I always make it a point to start with music theory. Why? Be...