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Yesterday I had THREE Purple Angels softball players come to their piano lessons all dressed in their uniforms, ready for a game! These young ladies are AWESOME!!! They're getting ready for their next recital, so they don't skip piano, even on game day! We worked on their solos and duets, and off they went to play their softball game! I'm Jodine Bandlow, and I offer music lessons on piano, voice, guitar, and drums, plus organ, ukulele, and general music for little ones at my

This is part of the Homeschool Group I teach at Fox River Lutheran Church. We've got about a dozen kids coming who are learning to play the guitar. The kids are from first grade through 8th grade, all learning together. We started the school year using a kids' guitar method book, and now we are moving on to learning chord shapes and strumming patterns to familiar songs. This is a skill that will lead to a lifetime of enjoyment! When these kids play together, it's powerful, an

This beautiful lady is an adult beginner, and she's been with me since summer of 2025. She sings at her church, so her goals are to learn to read music and play her favorite Christian artists. Are you wondering what to expect in lessons as an adult beginner? I will tailor the lessons to YOU. We will use a method book to start, but we will go beyond the books, as well, pulling in songs from my library or searching the Internet for what you want to learn. Sometimes I even arran

Football and piano DO go together! This young man proves it! He gives his best at everything he does!

This is Annie, and I'm so proud of her! Annie started lessons last summer in June. She performed Carol of the Bells in our Christmas Recital! In her lesson this week while playing her next Recital piece, she said, "This feels EASY!!!" It was almost like the song was too easy for her, but it's not. I said, "It's because YOU are LEARNING! You're getting better!" When Annie started she already knew how to read her treble clef and right hand because of her past experience on acco

Last summer about half of my students were adults, and I love them! This is Annie, and she is doing great! I even write her custom arrangements if there's a hymn she wants to play but I don't have a solo version of it. Annie is delightful, and she's making progress every week! My lessons are not just for kids! Give me a call, and we will get started on your musical journey!

Check out this current student who shows that piano and sports DO go together! He works hard at both, and he’s making great progress!

We are getting ready for the next studio recital in March. The girls are working on solos with a teacher duet, and a big trio piece, too! The solos have a melody shared across the two hands, and lots of accidentals and surprising harmonies in the teacher part. They are meant to be piano duets, but just for fun, the girls tried their solos on the organ with me playing the teacher part on the piano. It takes a lot of listening and counting to get it right! One song is called Un

It feels like summer outside, and it looks like fall, but in piano lessons this week we are starting Christmas! 'Tis the season!

Welcome to my newest student this week! She's also my youngest student, so I have her learning in My First Piano Adventure, Pre-Reading, by Nancy & Randall Faber. There are colorful characters and stories with musical games and pre-reading, so it's perfect! This book also has cute audio recordings online to supplement the lesson. This little sweetie did great!!! I offer lessons at my home north of Ottawa, IL on piano, organ, voice, guitar, ukulele, and drums. Please call or t

This young man is one of my former school kids, and today was his first drum lesson with me! His mom called YESTERDAY, and she brought him to start lessons TODAY!!! His dad is a local pastor, and his mom is the pianist, so of course he wants to play drums in church! I knew from school that he is a natural on drums, but today in his first lesson, he truly exceeded expectations! After practicing how to hold the sticks and some simple beat patterns, I had him play some church so

It was January 20th, 2026. We went to Randee's Music in Rockford, IL to get new strings on a guitar for my Homeschool Group I teach, and I had a broken string on my U-Bass, and I'd rather let Randee's guys do it than wrestle with it myself. I was on the piano side of the store, rummaging through the bargain bins of old music on sale cheap, when I noticed a dusty Hammond right next to me. I asked Joel if the Hammond works. You never know. It might be a fixer-upper. He walked q

I love taking pictures of my students at their first lessons because someday we will look back and marvel at how little they were! These sweet girls started piano lessons (1st grade) and "General Music" (kindergarten) today, and they both did great! The 1st grader did everything I asked of her, and she played like the music has been inside her all along, just waiting to get out! The littler girl is interested in music, but not ready to commit to what that path will be, so her

This just happened today! At this young lady's piano lesson her mom asked, "Can she play pep band tunes on the organ?" So we did! I sang one and played a thrilling air trombone complete with all the moves! Her mom said, "YES!!!" So before we finished the actual piano lesson, I taught her "LHS" for Leland, and she got it! Then we moved the short tune over to the organ, complete with both hands and pedals, and we got the Leslie spinning! I'm on a mission to make the organ cool

Prairie Center Music & More has exciting news! Last week we bought a gorgeous 1958 Hammond B-3 organ, and it's ready for students to play! What is a Hammond B-3, you may ask? It is the most iconic vintage organ still being played today! The Hammond is the potatoes and gravy in the mix of Rock & Roll, Jazz, Blues, and Country, AND it is the main dish for black gospel music! The secret sauce is the big Leslie speaker that spins two horns and a drum to acoustically chop the soun

These two students started only a couple weeks apart, and the little girl on the right had her very first lesson last Saturday! It turns out their dads are best friends, and so are the girls! They hang out at each other's houses all the time! I told the newest girl, you can play together when either of you come over to the other friend's house! I'm going to give them duets so they can play together for fun and in recitals! I offer lessons on piano, voice, guitar, ukulele, and

My first ukulele student came to her lesson yesterday at Prairie Center Music & More! She is AWESOME!!! We did 14 pages in the method book to start, and I gave her a Ukulele magazine to read, and we played The Hokey Pokey, strumming F and C7 chords! My journey into ukulele started in 2010 when I got hired to teach elementary music in Michigan. My school had a set of old hand-me-down ukuleles from Kalamazoo Public Schools. I got a library book and took one home for Christmas v