Welcome to the Millner Studio Website!
The fact that
children can make beautiful music
is less significant than the fact that
music can make beautiful children!
The Studio Calendar has been updated for the 2022-2023 academic year, complete with group lesson, recital and vacation dates.
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The Millner Piano Studio is located in St. Louis Park, MN and is for students who are serious about their piano study. I am very passionate about sharing my love and appreciation of music with students! With students from all around the Twin Cities (including Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie, Plymouth, Golden Valley and Bloomington) the studio works in tandem with local organizations to offer a wide variety of performance opportunities that will develop and hone performing skills as well as challenge the intellectual and artistic side of young musicians. In addition to three studio recitals each year, students participate in MMTA Piano and Theory Exams, MMTA Contest, MMTF Critiqued Recitals and the WSMTA Musical Events.
Introducing the Teacher!
Mary Beth Millner
Earning my degree in music education gave me a foundation for developing my teaching program. As an active participant and assuming leadership roles over the years in the Minnesota Music Teachers Association (MMTA) , the Minneapolis Music Teachers Forum (MMTF) and the West Suburban Music Teachers Association (WSMTA), my curriculum has been evolved to offer a wide variety of valuable experiences to my students. I am also a Permanent Professional Certified Teacher of Music at the national level.
However, the strength of my program lies in forty six years of teaching experience, including my own three children who are now all professional musicians. Beyond that is my belief that music education goes beyond simply learning to ‘read’ music. Students learn so much more – awakening and developing additional areas of the brain, discipline, confidence (that consistent hard work brings results), appreciation for the arts, poise, a sense of achievement and the ability to express themselves. Budget cuts in the schools require us to step forward to challenge today’s children in these areas. And I value what I can bring to each student’s life. It is my pleasure to develop a nurturing relationship with each of my students. Contact information: [email protected] |
Below is an essay written recently (May of 2019) by a student who has been in the studio for six years. Transfer students are always a bit challenging and James was no different, but as he matured, his assessment is quite mature - and entertaining : ) It is definitely a worthwhile read!
8th Grade Speech - James Every Tuesday morning, before school, at an ungodly hour, I have a piano lesson. I stumble down my piano teacher’s stairs into her basement studio, my eyes dull, my heart heavy, my feet dragging, as a creeping sense of dread overcomes me. I sit down upon the cold, hard, bench, the stuffy basement air filling the room like carbon monoxide from a broken furnace. I start to play Bach’s Invention Number 8. Suddenly, I hear a loud voice. She screams, James, you have got to sit up straight, your hand position is collapsing and dampening your integrity of tone! Your fingers are flat! Do I need to bring out the tool of torture? YOU CANNOT PLAY BACH IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE CORRECT HAND POSITION FOR THE BAROQUE STYLE OF MUSICALITY! These excruciating piano lessons, starting in 2nd grade, were with Mary Beth Millner, my piano teacher, a traditional piano teacher, with thousands of piano books in her studio, happy musical pictures on her wall, and a board with nails sticking through it to put behind our back to keep us from slouching at the piano bench. Mary Beth, I soon realized, had a penchant for making us work extremely hard and she was a stickler for technique too Unfortunately, I soon learned that she wasn’t messing around. This lady meant business. ORIGINAL COMPOSITION, the piano contest, duet festival, the second round of contest, the december concert, the original composition recital, recitals at the Ridgedale mall, sunday recitals, sight reading, keyboard skills, the popular recital, the comprehensive piano exam, and the dreaded theory exam were all part of her strenuous curriculum. I came from doing a lot of nothing to doing a whole lot of something. Throughout the first few years it was an excruciating time, for her and for me. I was so upset about having to do so much, but She kept pushing me to do more. I hated doing all of this piano preparation and, one day after a particularly stressful lesson, I exclaimed to my mom, “This piano stuff is ridiculous! Why does she have to give us all of this stupid piano … junk!” to that my mom replied “Because if you don’t do this … junk… you’re not going to get any better. Now let me drive! We’ll be late to school”. Huh… I’d never really thought of that before then. It made me realize that I had cut myself off to what Mary Beth’s piano studio was all about. She wasn’t going to give me a Jolly Rancher and say, “Good Job Buddy.” She was going to work every single little detail of every piece, scale, and theory exercise that I did until I could do it perfectly every time. Because of that, if she ever gave me a compliment, I knew it was sincere, because she never gave me a compliment unless I earned it. She is a tough teacher but she is fair and she really does care about me. Until I met Mary Beth, I couldn’t ever have gotten to the phase where I’m at with my music. I never really cared about piano or the value of hard work.Yeah, she’s been really tough on me, but it has paid off with a new perspective on life and love for music. Did that drive to work hard come from within, or did it from Mary Beth who embodied these values and made me live my life in a different way? Without that bed of nails or her tool of torture, I never would have come to where I am now with my music. It shows how people who push you really do have a huge effect on you. That can cause their passion to become your own and show you what you want to be. My grandparents live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They recently had to leave their old home to move to an assisted living facility. It’s always really fun to visit my grandparents because the thing that my grandparents like the most is when my sister and I play the piano for them. When I play my songs in the large, but comforting gathering room, I feel a little nervous, but still somewhat buoyant as my fingers drift over the smooth, fake, ivory keys. As I look over the piano, I see, from the smiles on my grandparents faces, that my grandparents are so happy to hear me play. Once I begin to play, my pride-filled grandmother will invite some other wandering resident to walk on in and sit down to listen. It always feels great to be brightening someone's day with my piano playing. It’s in moments like these when I realize how the gifts that have been given from my mentors become part of me. Mary Beth’s gifts of perseverance, work ethic, and confidence come through to me, and I am able to pass off these gifts through music to my grandparents and their elderly friend in old age. I would never be able to bring my grandparents that happiness, if I had never had music lessons with Mary Beth. Without all of that I wouldn’t have been able to receive these gifts and pass them off for my grandparents. All the hard work paid off in the end. With the help from others, I became better. I became more of who I am today. Maybe, we are not made entirely by ourselves, but with the care, and the guiding hand of others. Through other people, you can receive a new passion and then can pass it on to others. And all you have to do is be open to it. INSIGHT: What message do you hope to convey to your peers? |