Busy B's Piano Studio

Dr. Seuss App for Ipad

2012-03-06T10:33:00.001-08:00

Pianoanne cued me in to a new music app for i-phone and i-pad. It is still free with upgrades coming and I think it is a hit in my studio. Certainly, I don't have time for it every week, but, I have some students staying longer for computer lab and this is a great rhythm teacher.

The colored ribbons must be played on time and on the beat in order to get the most points. Tempos change from song to song and they have three levels of difficulty. Some require quicker fingers than mine and the most difficult levels are fun to play over and over again to get a higher score. Check it out1

New Faber Supplement Books

2012-03-02T08:32:00.000-08:00

I just looked at a great little page about the new Faber Pre-Time- Fun Time books. They have some videos with Randall explaining aspects of the pieces. It was worthwhile for me and I wanted to share. Have any of you used these books and what is your favorite?

http://pianoadventures.com/video/

There is also a feature on this site which allows you to see the whole Faber catalog and check off any you wish to purchase. Then the site routes you to your favorite internet music retail site and places your selections in their check-out page. Wow!! I spend a lot of time trying to find just the right book online because the search engines on the music sites seem to be limited.

Dad Saves The Day

2012-02-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I almost lost a student as we both dug our heels into the ground and refused to budge. He did not like his current pieces and announced that he was not playing them anymore. And further more, he wanted to play better songs in some other book. I countered with the importance of putting some finishing touches on his last piece and looking forward to some really great pieces coming up. He opted to skip his lesson for the day. We both went to our corners. It was awkward; he is my grandson.

Previously in a post I wrote about "teaching my own" and I recounted the ups and downs of taking on your family as students. There are so many joys associated with giving the gift of music to children you will love forever. My wise son saved the day. In the evening I answered the phone to hear a cacophony of piano notes on the other end. As I listened "The Tambourine Party" emerged and I recognized that my grandson was playing a duet with his father. They were obviously having fun together and they called back again later to play the next song. I suspect our lessons will go on because his father brought value and attention to a discouraged student. That is what parents can do when the going gets tough.

The Tambourine Party Results

2012-02-24T08:24:00.001-08:00

I really like making strong connections to the pieces My First Piano Adventures students learn. For weeks we talked about the piece "Tambourine Party" and how we would have our own party soon. My idea was that one student would play the piece while the others would sound their percussion instrument at just the right time during the song.

It worked very well when we had a "Pumpkin Party" and we sang along while each student took a turn accompanying. I thought we were well prepared but the piece "Tambourine Party" changes hands on the second measure. It takes forward thinking to prepare the brain to change and in an ensemble this must happen on the beat. Everyone stumbled and I learned how important it is to remind my students to use CLAP in their practice. Count, Look Ahead, Attention to notes coming up, and Play; that is what I hope to reinforce in the next weeks.

I am always learning what to focus on in private lessons when I work with the group lessons. It is a good thing!

A Chord Company

2012-02-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!! A company of students came to learn about chords yesterday and more will come today because it is group lessons week. Yesterday they were my Piano Adventures 2B students and we all needed to review the keys of C,G,D,F; their scales, their tonic, dominant and sub dominant chords, the concept of inverting chords and how these chord sound.
We started with a treble simple staff and Hershey's kisses to make triads. We used black disks under the chocolate kiss if the chord had a black note.
Then we used a worksheet from colorinmypiano.com to write out scales and I,IV,V7 chords. Going over the visual pattern of a triad and moving it to a V7 chord seemed to fill some holes in these student's knowledge base.

Lastly we used my Eggspert game to drill aural sounds of chords using Music Learning Community on my laptop. In "Wheel of Fortune" mode one person's egg would light up and they would listen to a pattern of I and V7 chords and find the matching written pattern.

Eggspert was such a great hit that we played it in "Jeopardy" mode. I called out a chord name, they had to build it on the staff with their Kisses and then they could push the Eggspert button to get 5 points. Because of the heightened emotions some of these facts will stick better than if I explain them in a private lesson. Stay tuned for a report of my Tambourine Party, tomorrow.

More Pattern Recognition

2012-01-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

My First Piano Adventures students need pattern recognition drill and it is helping them immensely. I thought about this process before and lately I have been hiding little slips of paper around the room with note patterns on them.

For the first three minutes of the lesson I play a pattern on the piano, they look at me playing it and I ask them to tell me the notes. Then they look around the room and find that pattern on a paper.

When they bring it back to the piano we play it to check if they have the right one. It works well and this starts us out on a the right path to playing their assigned pieces.

I have a small box with patterns on the piano, ready to go when I meet their smiling faces. Hurray for chunking music patterns.

Tambourine Party

2012-01-23T08:20:00.000-08:00

Group Lessons are around the corner in February. I am having a Tambourine Party for my First Piano Adventures students.

All the students have played this song and could accompany us as we sing it. So here is the agenda.

Title: Tambourine Party

M.C:Tap, who loves rhythm

Goal: Explore 3/4 and 4/4 Time Signature
Use rhythm instruments to keep a steady beat
Review the patterns we have been highlighting
Let everyone play a piece for each other
Share cheese sticks bread sticks for a snack

Agenda:
Sing Tambourine Party with student accompaniment
Bring out the instrument Box

Substitute instrument sounds for the words of the instruments within the song
Assign places on the floor to make a line of music
Give each student an envelop with paper notes
You can find these rhythm blocks here.
Make four measures in 3/4 time then everyone taps that measure with sticks

Do the same with four measures of 4/4 time

Take out the "chunks" of notes we have been reviewing and play "Guess the Pattern"

(One student plays one of these patterns on the piano and the other students look, listen, and guess.)

Invited: 7 students who are in My First Piano Adventures

It should be fun!!!

One Arrow At a Time

2012-01-19T07:30:00.000-08:00

No lessons again for the third day due to extreme weather. I predict some of us will lose power sometime in the next 24 hours. That acoustic piano may be the only music we hear for a while.

School closures give you some extra time to play your instrument.
When you find yourself at the piano with your child, you as a parent can see ways they could improve.
"Suzy, you must sit up straight. And remember to curve your hand, so that the thumb is in position. Now, play it again and even out your rhythm. Oh,oh, you missed a note."
Too much. Your child can only pay attention to one thing at a time. They will get frustrated and soon your practice relationship is in crisis mode. So, "only shoot one arrow at a time". Take a few minutes and listen, find something that is working well, comment on that and then take aim carefully. Shoot your arrow and keep your eyes on that target.

If you do not see exactly what direction to give, it is a good idea to buy yourself some time. Go to the thing which you observed and ask to see that again because it was well done. The second time through you may hear some issues resolve themselves. That is your child learning by practice. Be sure to point out the corrections she made so that she hears about how she is learning. Learning to be tactful and patient are the best arrows in your quiver.
I hope for better weather next week. See you back then.

The In and Out Game

2012-01-17T06:48:00.000-08:00

This is the first post in a series entitled "Why Should I Play It Again?" As teachers we all know that children, and adults for that matter, don't always want to play a piece again. They know we are going to try to fix something and it will mean re-learning. I have a game which I suggest before I say anything else.
"Let's play the in-out game. You play the first line and then you jump out of playing and I come in right where you left off. On the third line you jump back in and play. We will continue this way through the whole piece. The object of the game is to make the piece sound like only one person is playing. Follow the music carefully and prepare to jump in."

This game often fixes irregular rhythm, wrong notes, and incorrect phrasing. I am spared the explanation of what is going wrong and we both have fun playing. I always play it again so that we play the alternative lines as well. Do you do any games with the object of playing the piece again?

How To Be As a Parent at the Piano

2012-01-10T12:43:00.000-08:00

There is no more important asset to your child's success at the piano then you. But how should you be with them? Let me draw on my experience as a child, as a parent, and as a teacher.
My mother really wanted me to learn to play the piano. We were immigrants from Germany and buying a used piano was a real sacrifice. She was strict and relentless in her pursuit of my practicing time. One of the best things she offered me is her sincere interest in the music I was playing. I swear she could hum all the tunes. In fact, she started learning to play herself from my beginning books. The music I played was appreciated and heard.
Lesson No.1- Become a good audience for your child. Don't send them into the trenches alone. You don't have to talk, just listen.

I made some mistakes as a parent helping my daughter take violin lessons. She was just so slow at getting out her violin, putting rosin on her bow, tuning up, I showed my exasperation by rushing her. My goal was getting 30 minutes of practice in and I couldn't see just how reluctant she was to get into the mode of playing.
Lesson No. 2- See the getting ready to practice as important and appreciate the change of mental attitude that accompanies the process.
"Now focus your attention!", is a phrase I have thrown in the trash. Children don't get that statement. Does it mean look really hard? Does it mean tense up my neck? I look at my students and observe what they look like when they are fully engaged. It is marvelous to see a relaxed and intent child playing and listening. What do they sound like when they are in that mode? Watch and listen to find uplifting comments to gift to them.
"When you sit up so tall and regal you look like a king at the piano." "That first line sounds so smooth and relaxed." "I like how your eyes look ahead at the music just like a detective." "Your pinky finger is resting so lightly on the white keys. It must be getting stronger."
Lesson No. 3- If you expect to give your child direction, give honey first. Watch and listen to them to discover what they do well.
More tips for parents to come, stay tuned please and boy, I would love some comments.

The "Land of Easier"

2012-01-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

I just finished the best piano lesson for D. in his whole life. "That was so fun and it was easy!"

We were in the Land of Easier for the whole 30 minutes. What happened to make it so good?
1) He let me into his heart today
2) We prepared the patterns for his new songs by reviewing songs he loved and played well.
3) The new songs had a great physical feeling with repeating thirds on C and E

As you practice with your child these same components can bring you into the Land of Easier.
1) Bring an open heart to the task and invite your child to open up with that same good vibe.
2) Don't jump in with "the task at hand", but allow your child to shine in your eyes by playing pieces he knows and feels good about.
3) Talk about his new piece and get feedback about what he remembers from the lesson. A new piece is daunting. Most of the time lack of confidence sets in just before they look to see how to start. Let them think about the first note for each hand. Give them time to look ahead in the music to see what happens in the first line. Take it SLOW. Marvel at how they decode and move ahead. Did they only play 1 line? Celebrate!
Leave the task just before it gets frustrating.
I will give more tips in upcoming posts. Do you have a comment? Leave some feedback below.

What Is Your Child Practicing This Week?

2012-01-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

For a while in these posts I want to pursue the "Land of Easier". Making practice time easier at home would make piano so much more productive and pleasant. In the last post I covered three ideas which seem worthwhile for all parents. Let's look at the third idea and start on the ground level. Prepare yourself to try new ways to infuse your practice time with your child with more calm and help them enter the "Land of Easier". Wouldn't it be great if you, as a parent, had a magic wand to make hard things easy? It is time you told your child that you really don't have a magic wand. But, you can make things easier.

If your child is under eight they need you to be there when they practice. You, as the parent, need to know what their assignment is for the week. That means if you weren't there at the lesson it would be really important to sit down the evening of the lesson and talk about what is expected for the week. If you wait more than 24 hours your child will remember very little of what happened at the lesson. That will make practicing hard. The parent knowing the assignment for the week is important for all ages. This allows you to listen from afar and know if progress is happening. Look at the assignment book together. Ask questions which allow your child to recall. You don't need to be pushy, this experience is for recall. This will work even if you were at the lesson. You can learn what your child remembers and compare it to your memory, mentally. You have heard this before, it is not new, but it doesn't always happen and trust me, if you start with this step again, practicing will be easier.
Stay tuned for more steps to making practice easier.

Making Practicing Easier

2011-12-30T10:52:00.000-08:00

Many parents feel frustrated with practice sessions at home. They often feel the conflict that arises about practice indicates they are bad parents. Children can behave in strange and bizarre ways when it is time to practice. It is not unusual for children to resist being told what to do. As a teacher, parents often appeal to me to tell their children to practice because they feel their child will not listen to them. So, what is going on if this is a universal problem?

Edmund Sprunger has some important ideas on this subject in a book called, "Helping Parents Practice". There are three ideas in the beginning of the book that make sense to me.

1) Children are vulnerable and want to look good in the eyes of their parents. They crave attention as a sign that they are loved. If their actions get attention, good or bad, they feel safer. Keep in mind that your child feels insecure when she is not able play perfectly. When practicing gets hard, behavior can become trying for the parent.

2) When dealing with your child's vulnerability, notice if what you are doing is improving the situation or making it worse. Pay attention to outcome of your suggestions to your child.

3) Prepare yourself to try new ways to infuse your practice time with your child with more calm and help them enter the "Land of Easier". Wouldn't it be great if you, as a parent, had a magic wand to make hard things easy? It is time you told you child that you really don't have a magic wand. But, you can make things easier.

"This book contains specific strategies for working in ways that are easier- and more effective in the long run- than fixing and correcting bad things."

I will be revisiting this topic and ideas to make practice easier in subsequent posts.

Why Are You Giving Your Child Piano Lessons?

2011-12-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Parents,

Why are you giving your child piano lessons? You may be asking yourself that as the winter holidays come to a close and no one has touched the piano. Let me remind you of some of the reasons you are doing this very good thing.
1)You come from a musical family and the joy of music has is permanently in your DNA. No? How about these reasons:

2) You always wanted your child to be bi-lingual and music is one of the most beautiful languages.
3) Your child showed signs of musicality from the beginning.
4) Playing and reading music is related to achieving intellectually.
5) Musicians have skills in self-discipline
6) You want a well rounded child and the piano is a stepping stone to other artistic endeavors.
7) Playing the piano is a life skill which benefits others.
8) You know your teenager will need an outlet for their fluctuating hormones.
9) Your child needs to learn how others feel and playing music by different composers is a doorway into the soul of another human being.
10) You don't want to hear your child say,"I wish you had made me practice and learn the piano."

I cannot begin to count how many adults have said to me that they wish they had kept taking piano lessons. But, to date, no pianist has told me that they wished they had spent their time on something else.
So, chin up, lets go forward and listen to another semester of beautiful music.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T08:51:00.000-08:00

The holidays are a favorite time of year for me and for my family. No lessons until next year and some time to evaluate and ponder.
Happy Holidays to all of you whether you are waiting for him....

or Him.............................

Piano Accompanying: Not Just Performance but Service

2011-12-06T08:15:00.001-08:00

Several weeks ago my student played a duet with me during a church service. She is a beginner musician but plays with feeling and thoughtfulness. She had the melody in both hands and I played a accompaniment. Her gift of service was well received and fortified her confidence in playing the piano. My daughter-in-law felt I had taken her advice to heart. "Children need to know why playing the piano is useful." Her words ring true and make it worth the effort to find opportunities to use my student's emerging skills.

In my church this month the congregation is singing Christmas carols fifteen minutes prior to the service beginning. Two of my students, who attend the same church, are playing carols with me as accompanists. They are new to this skill and I have been singing with them to help them learn to follow another musician. Will they play perfectly? Probally not, but the leaders of this church understand the need to groom the next generation of church musicians. Abiding a few mistakes is a small price to pay for the huge reward of having volunteer, amateur pianists ready to assist a group and to provide music.
You may have other musical venues to train your students, but I see the most consistent place, for those students who are in my church, is the prelude and postlude times in church meetings. They are not in the spotlight and I "break them in" as duet accompanists with me. Then later I can assign them a time to prepare music for the entire prelude or postlude period.
I am a volunteer organist and am very vocal about music. Those leaders who organize music see the wisdom in my requests and I have support from them and from their parents.
I can give credit to my responsibility as a church musician for my staying active in piano lessons for ten years. These opportunities to use my skill made me practice.

Teaching Piano Over the Internet

2011-12-01T07:03:00.001-08:00

We have heard that it is possible and thought how it might work in our studio and now I want to report I have had my first lesson over the internet. My student is my granddaughter who lives a half hour away. I see her often during the month but not every week. She is my guinea pig, and a cute one, if I can say so myself.

Here are some thoughts on my first experience. There must be some learning curve time. My son and I both had to investigate the best service to use and practice calling each other. I had some issues with Skype on my PC so I was looking for another option. We settled on Google Video Chat because many people have a Gmail account which is what this service requires. Google has a plug-in to download and I had to solve an issue with my Apple Laptop working with Google but I prevailed and we found it very easy to call once the set-up was in place. The easiest service would be for Apple users as their FaceTime feature is already installed. This must happen from Apple to Apple devices.
My laptop was the best solution to placing the camera at a good angle so that my student could see me and my piano keyboard. I slowed my teaching pace down so that I could show her more on the camera. and her mother was essential in the process as she could correct what did not seem to make sense to my granddaughter.
Way back in olden times, we dreamed of this but who "wouldda thunk" it would happen.

Recital Memories

2011-11-20T18:04:00.001-08:00

I am reflecting on the success of the fall recital. It was not perfection but there was perfection in the overall feeling of warmth and comfort we receive from music.

We did a few new and daring things. " Davy Jones Plays the Organ" was actually played on the organ. "Firework" was arranged by a student and played with a new style, while in the second recital the same piece was played as a duet on two pianos. Two students played and sang, which added fun and pizazz to some old favorites. Three students played their own compositions.

My son, the Piano Man, played a fantastic Brahms "Capriccio" and introduced the half steps which undergird the whole composition. I got the whole audience singing "Beethoven's Door" while I played his Bagatelle Opus 33 No.1

Thank-you to all the parents who encourage and uplift their children in this life long pursuit of acquiring skill on a musical instrument. My aim is to train independent musicians who find joy in playing and sharing their music.

As I post these pictures I feel sad that I did not get a shot of each of my students. Please understand that I was uebermaxed out with things to remember.

"My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.'
Edward Elgar

The Bagatelle

2011-11-13T16:28:00.001-08:00

Every recital an idea emerges among the many pieces my students play which needs to be explored. This time it is the genre of the Bagatelle. The name bagatelle literally means a "trifle", as a reference to the innocent character of the piece. It all started when one of MFPA students played Beethoven's Door, a piece in Book 2.

It was snippet of music from Beethoven's Opus 33 No. 1.

I recognized it and turned on the old I-Pod to Alfred Brendel's recording of the Bagatelles. My student listened with interest as the knock, knock part repeated three times.
"Why does it repeat so many times?" I had an opportunity to explain variation on a theme. Each time the Knock, Knock part appeared it was preceded by a more complex variation. This Bagatelle is challenging with triplets followed by sixteenths and the cascade of sound is a merry wash of color. The best-known bagatelles are probably those by Ludwig van Beethoven, who published three sets, Op. 33, 119 and 126, and wrote a number of similar works that were unpublished in his lifetime including the piece that is popularly known as Für Elise.
Several students are playing a Bagatelle, not of Beethoven's, and so I am working the No.1 up myself.

It is great fun to play and I hope I can increase my tempo before the week is over.

Recital Time

2011-11-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

It's late fall and I always schedule a recital the Saturday before Thanksgiving. With two weeks left I have some serious questions to ask my student. These questions are conversations starters that help us think honestly about our performance pieces. (Click on resources and scroll down to Recital Time)
I have hosted close to 50 recitals in my teaching career and the anxious feelings never change. Some students don't get lessons started until late September and 8 weeks is a short time to prepare a challenging piece. Two weeks prior I wonder if they will be ready. But, they always pull it off and life goes on. Next week I will teach lessons at the recital venue and that is the real testing ground. We rehearse our piece, talk about the stiffer grand piano keys, and practice standing on the stage and announcing our name and the piece we are playing. Looking at the audience and talking is very hard for some. I feel pleased when these students overcome their fears.

Performance is an opportunity to share and show gratitude for those who sacrifice to provide us lessons. Those are the words I say when a student asks, "Why do I have to perform?" These words can sound lame to an anxious child but they are true to me. Thanks, Mom, for guiding me to the bench each day!

Fun With Measures

2011-11-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Explaining time signature is hit and miss with my 5-6 year-olds. I was struggling with the concept of the measure line with my first student of the day and failed miserably. Even when we worked in the writing book and drew the measure lines I felt I was not connecting. The next student was the same age and we were doing the same lesson. I remembered copying learning tools from Susan Paradis called rhythm blocks. This seemed to do the trick.

We lined up the cards into 4 count units using my colored pencils as measure lines. This allowed D. to find out what combinations make up four beats. Then we changed the time signature and only put three beats between fences.

Fences, measures, sometimes words make such a difference in communication. On some days I feel tongue tied and unable to say things that make sense and other days I am right on.

How Do Our Brains Learn Best?

2011-10-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

I have been very curious about how our brains work when we learn to play the piano and read music.

Of note in the blogging world is Tara Gaertner's blog about how the brain learns music. In my opinion, the world is learning much about how our brain works but our habits do not reflect what we know. Take for instance the truth we know about the brain's need to recall new information within a short timespan. In my teaching experience I have proven to myself that if a student practices a short time on the day of the piano lesson the recall of the lesson improves dramatically all week long. If this truth were to be implemented then the parent would have to make a consistent effort to make time that evening to allow the lesson learning to be reviewed and processed. Even talking with your child about the lesson and asking questions would expedite recall.
I look forward to reading Tara's posts and finding ways to use my own brain better and encourage anyone I might influence.
"Welcome to “Training the Musical Brain”, a blog combining my interests in neuroscience and music pedagogy. I believe that neuroscience, psychology and related areas of research have a lot to tell us about the affects of music on the brain, and about the best ways to optimize our musical training."

http://trainingthemusicalbrain.blogspot.com/

Dancing at the Pumpkin Party

2011-10-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Dances are a huge portion of the repertoire in piano pieces. I often ask my students which they think came first, dancing or music When I taught Kindermusik Young Child the curriculum called for learning circle dances. I had a small space to work in but I found my 4-7 year-old children loved dancing My MFPA Lesson Book B has a cluster of dance music right around Tucker's Secret Life. There is a boogie, a bop, and a folk dance. My goal at this younger Pumpkin Party was to prepare my students to accompany these dances. I taught them to start with an introduction to ready the dancers.Then the challenge was playing smooth enough for us to sing and dance with the accompanist. This is not easy for these 5 and 6's. It required weeks of practice on these songs. But it worked and it was the best activity of the hour.

We danced around a big gathering drum which represented a birch tree to the piece "Russian Sailor Dance". We moved right, then left, and finally stopped and beat the drum through the second line of the song. Tucker was all over the boogie dance. He had some smooth moves.

I brought back the game Mr. Music which everyone loves and introduced the quarter rest. In the game asking for a rest or being told to rest meant you could not move from your spot. Ah, to have a bit of power is so stimulating.Thanks to T. who was my student helper for one if the parties.

Pumpkin Party Success

2011-10-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

Group lessons have a big role in my studio. I have them 3 times a year and my students, on the whole, participate with joy. I work with small groups,4-5 students of similar age or ability, and I have them for one hour. I limit my agenda to three concepts, one always is playing a song for each other. My students want to perform at these lessons and I have come to place that at top priority because of their insistence.
Here is what I planned and here is how it played out.

Our Layers Art Project was front and center. I found their definitions of dynamics, articulation, and expression most interesting. Their ideas are vague but they are more familiar than before.I tried giving them a more specific definition with my hands and humming; no words.

The Halloween composing game was really fun and revelatory. Thank-you again Wendy Chan.It was helpful to mentally review the C minor 5 finger scale first. Those were the notes for their composition. Then we clapped the rhythm cards one by one. The Halloween theme words were tools to solidify the pattern

Then came the test. Could they start with the note they landed on and make a tune in the C minor scale using the correct rhythm? The first student, overcome with nerves, played the rhythm all on one note.

Okay! What could we try next? The next girl, learning from the first try, went up the scale and back halfway with her pattern. Each player was more creative.

(There is the little rhythm card on the music stand)
What I did not expect was the light dawning on each of them that 5 notes and a catchy rhythm was the beginning of a really cool song.
Each student then played their piece. A tempo word was chosen by another student and they played it again with this new tempo. I was smart, I am not always that smart, to provide a glossary in the back of MFPA Book 3A so that they had to look up the definition if they could not remember it.

We ended with layering gooey, sweet toppings on a pumpkin cookies.

Sorry, parents:(

Another chance to review the layers of musicality.

Pumpkin Party for My Older Students

2011-10-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

MFPA students should not have all the fun, so I am having Pumpkin Parties for the older students as well. This will be the first time I have a group together to talk about My Layers of Musicality theme.

We need to discuss if these layers can be more prevalent in our performances. So here is the agenda.
Goals:
Learn or review tempo words
Learn or review articulation terms
Play for each other and listen for layers of musicality
Agenda:
1.Learn one phrase of Joy To The World with added layers. See worksheet. Click on Resources and look for Layers of Musicality worksheet.
2.Take turns choosing tempo words out of a pumpkin. Play a small section at that tempo.
3. Play Halloween Composing Game, made by Wendy Chan.
4. Each student plays a current piece and we all listen for layers of musicality.
5. Share a cookie time.
Invited: 4-5 students on similar skill levels. I do one group lesson a week right into Nov. This replaces their regular lesson.

Pumpkin Party Group Lessons

2011-10-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

I am taking all the songs around "Pumpkin Party" to the bank in two weeks time as this becomes the theme for group lessons.

I hope this is entertaining for you as I review my plans.. I value all my blogger piano friends who give me their great ideas.
Title: Pumpkin Party
MC: Tucker
Goal: Review patterns from A-G
Let everyone play a piece
Expose the students to accompanying
Share some pumpkin cookies
Agenda:
Sing Pumpkin Party with one child playing
Have Tucker greet each child and give each of them a ticket for the A train
bound for Piano Adventure Land.
Get on the "A Train" with one child playing- circle dance
Find the missing patterns around the room
Each child plays their pattern on the piano, the keyboard, or the I-Pad Piano
Tucker shares his secret life
Sing while one child plays
What are the dogs dancing?
A-B Bop- circle dance with one child playing
Russian Sailor Dance- with one child playing
Match the notes- Call out a note name and everyone tries to touch the
note card in the middle with their mini spatulas
Have a pumpkin cookie

Invited: Five MFPA students

Tucker, you are an inspiration!

Teaching My Own

2011-10-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

Teaching has become as natural as swimmingfor me. Now I have to explain that I swim seasonally, with great anticipation,and with some anxiety. I have to convince myself that my appearance isacceptable and get over the "what will people think" syndrome. Oncethat is under control I just jump right in and glide through the water, knowingthat I was meant to be there and pulling in all the sensory information I can.Teaching is exactly like that. I love diving into the depths of what I teach,but more satisfying is watching the faces of my students, looking for signs ofcuriosity, engagement, and delight. From thrashingthrough waves of "what should they know" has come the stillness of"what will they be".

My own children have been the tadpoles for developing my teaching style. Oh, I went to college and learned the theorybut that did not make me a good teacher. Sitting tall on my own piano benchwith The Fidgeter, The Swooner, and The Sponge, was the real forge of my teachingability. The Fidgeter went on to dance lessons, the Swooner to the I-Pod, andThe Sponge learned all I had to offer and culled knowledge from several other competentteachers.

Can a parent be a good piano teacher? Well, I thought the word parentand teacher were synonyms. If you have children, you must teach. But often aparent and child collide with differing agendas. Here is what I learned fromteaching my own.

From The Sponge I learned to beconsistent, to listen to his heart, and to make him learn his notes. Beingconsistent was a difficult challenge. Habits were hard to make in my day to dayliving. In other words, I rarely did the same things day after day. My firsthurdle was finding a regular time for him to practice. I saw the power of holdingtime aside for piano every day. In that hour of the day nothing else was asimportant. The second hurdle was teaching him on a consistent day and treatinghim as a paid piano student with a scheduled lesson time. This young boy, TheSponge, was very quiet and mostly compliant. That sounds ideal, doesn't it?Actually, because he was not as vocal as my other children I found I had to paymore attention to his non-verbal signals. Learning to see into his heart becamepossible as I asked more open-ended questions and listened patiently. He had avery willing ear and wonderful short-term memory. Reading notes was too tediousso he memorized everything which served him well until he wanted to learnBeethoven. By this time we hired a piano teacher who gave him an ultimatum;learn to read notes or don't come back. I felt I had failed him. He told me hewas quitting on the ride home in the car. She had wounded his pride and I feltremorse for not being more dogmatic about drilling with those flash cards. Theharshness of her tactics did the trick. He proceeded to practice note-readingvia computer with a vengeance. After two weeks his musical life took a newpath. The code was broken and so he started sight-reading everything in hisgrasp. When he quickly proved that he did not need reminding to play, I facedthe challenge of biting my tongue and not telling him to stop practicing. Therecame the point when silence was more than golden; after hoursof teaching it was essential. We cleaned out a shed for The Sponge and put in a second piano. He became a wonderful pianist and a willing father as well.

Now on Mondays I pack up my I-Pad, mystickers, some small candies for bribes, and colored pencils and go off toteach my grandchildren.

I have three students in one family. It takes aboutthree hours because they like me to stay for lunch. I am applying the samelessons I learned with my own child. Teach them on the same consistent day,listen to their different needs, and drill those notes. I am more of a noveltyas a grandmother because I don't hound them all day long but it would be easyto get relaxed about the routine. I find that I must be stern about followingthrough with practice goals and I challenge myself to do the unexpected to keepthem interested. A puppet comes to visit now and then makes lessons playful andfull of promise. I see good follow-through on their parent’s part and I knowpiano lessons are valued in their home. In the future I'm sure I won't besaying,"Gee, I wish I had not spent so much time teaching my own".

Jumping right in and gliding through the challenges of being a mother and ateacher has made me a better instructor.I do care about what all my students should know, but I have a lot investedinto what my children and grandchildren should be. I hope music is a pathway toexpression for them and I hope music teaches them to have eyes to see, ears tohear, and hearts that are open to beauty.

Bass Clef Patterns

2011-09-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

Some of my off the bench activities include my kitchen floor, not far from my studio. I have been using my black ropes again as I teach the bass clef notes to MFPA Book 2 students. They need to experience the staff in many ways to understand the concept of the staff and the clef signs.'Learning a concept must be reinforced bu using the concept in varied contexts." Marienne Uszler

Sometimes figuring it out is exciting.
October will bring group lessons back and I know the MFPA students will be having a Pumpkin Party where Tucker the Dog will want to hear every ones rendition of Tucker's Secret Life. This is such an engaging title and I have taken this about as far as I can go.Yeh Tucker!

His song is making my practice incentive art project into a real art display. We are adding sparkly paper shapes as we log into the 300-400 minutes of practice.

It started out blank and then grew to this. Artistically this is pretty cool. My students are thinking about where to place their color and what shape they want to use. It should be very interesting to see it at the recital in November.

Firework

2011-09-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

This song is a big hit in my studio right now. I decided to promote it because the tune was pianistic and the words were uplifting. It is a Katy Perry hit which was used on Glee. I found it on musicnotes.com and the arrangement was just right for three middle-school girls of mine.

Musicnotes com syncs to my I-Pad so I have many pieces right there.

I found a gifted pianist playing a more elaborate arrangement which I like.

Big Dog Boogie

2011-09-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

My First Piano Adventures Book B students are all playing, or have played, Tucker's Secret Life.This big dog boogie is a big hit in my studio.

What a great way to introduce the next rhythm pattern I want to highlight. CBAGFE will get much attention as we find different ways to drill this group of notes.Using the white board on my I-Pad, we locate and draw the CBA. The stylus makes drawing so much easier. Thanks Pianoanne for the heads up.

Next we drill with Note Goal Pro on the I-Pad which has added a new tutor option of showing notes in sequence.

Then with some weeks on seeing these notes as steps we will practice them on Note Squish.

The great sequential lesson book and my added enrichment is making better progress than ever before.

Progress On Practicing Incentive

2011-09-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

About 60% of my students are on board with my fall practicing incentive. On board means they are aware of how long they are playing each day, they want to report their minutes, and they have placed their first color shape on the board because they practice 100 minutes or more.

On Board

This studio wide art project will symbolize the many layers of musicality. It allows me to talk about this concept over and over again.

This fall incentive dovetails perfectly with my quest to ask better questions as many of my questions will be about adding more layers of musicality.

I am noticing the difference in participation and awareness as I expect my students to listen and evaluate their playing.

Asking Good Questions

2011-09-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

I am exploring and improving my ability to ask questions during my piano lessons. A passive role is safer for a student but I want my students to be able to think for themselves while they are practicing. Asking good questions is an art form. I find I often ask close ended questions where yes or no is the simple answer. These questions give some assessment but they reveal very little to the student. The best question invites revelation. The open ended question might ask the student to make an opinion or an evaluation. An example might be; how could you make this line sound more mysterious? What would the song sound like if we added a sharp here?

Questions can be asked before a student plays and after she finishes. Before the student starts to play

the questions can point to specific places in the music. These questions can give confidence that the task is understood and comprehended. The more difficult questions come after the piece has been played. Here the traditional role of the teacher is to assess the performance. But how can a student learn to evaluate his practice when he is alone if he is never asked to do so at the lesson. The best questions I asked last week were; if you were the teacher what would you say to help yourself play this song? She answered; you need to practice more. Which part needs the most practice? The middle section. Why is that difficult? My fingers get all confused. What fingering should you use in this section?

I find that I cannot ask questions in the same way to every student. Some seem to be on the same "wavelength" and others struggle with every question I ask. Those that struggle are often students who are "followers". They like to have the right answer and get wary if they are asked to have an opinion. I am seeing good results with a few of these students. They are trusting me more now and I see more observations skills developing. Does asking all these questions take up too much time? It can, especially if I still do too much explaining. I am trying to cut down on too much "teacher talk". They don't listen. If, however, I engage them with questions they are doing at least half of the talking. What do you think?

I mindmapped my ideas to help me see the principles quickly. You can see them here. Enlarge the PDF to 75% and scroll down.

"That's a Good Question" by Marienne Uszler is a great read.

Twin Spirits- Robert and Clara Schumann

2011-09-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

"One of the most moving love stories in the world of music is the relationship between Robert and Clara Schumann. In 2007, the British producer David Caird put together a music theater piece called Twin Spirits at London's Covent Garden in which Derek Jacoby narrated the romantic and tragic story, with Sting and his wife Trudie Styler reading passages from Robert and Clara's letters and the remarkable diary they kept together in the first years of their marriage. Some excellent chamber musicians and singers punctuate the readings with excerpts from the works of both Robert and Clara."
This is a lovely DVD, a bit schmaltzy, but lovely. I was enchanted by the marriage diary Robert and Clara wrote together. The words written to each other are as beautiful as their music. Some of the details of their private life reveal their music preferences. Clara found the Don Giovanna score fascinating to play on the piano and of course, the music by Robert.
They had 8 children in 13 years. When did Clara have time to compose, or for that matter, have time to play? And imagine the overwhelming mental condition of her husband which drove him to insanity. When she was alone she put her efforts into supporting her children, and mentally keeping Robert alive, with concert tours and composition.
The Schuman's music is performed by superb pianists and vocalists. I found my copy of Traumeri and played with a different feeling after watching this production.

2011-09-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

My First Piano Adventures

My life as a piano teacher is always more exciting when I get new students.

I have 5 students in my First Piano Adventures Book B and one new student in Book A this year.Here are three of them pouring over their new books.Oh, my, they look a little bored. Not to worry, they are studying what numbers are assigned to what fingers.

Fingering for piano playing is different from other instruments.

Thumbs are No. 1.

We spend time learning steady beat with the drums. Some children come with an internal steady beat but some of us build the ability to feel a beat and connect it to our bodies.The CD accompanying the book, is great for modeling the steady beat. It takes a long time to be ready to play along with the recording.

This week's lesson centered on finding A quickly on the keyboard. The three black keys are like The Three Black Bears." A" comes after the black key Mama Bear. A simple song to go with the bears idea is, "Three Blacks Bears, go upstairs" repeated as we play each octave of black keys

"We've set aside our seriousness and inhibitions to join the child's world in a playful exploration of music and the keyboard. Through imagery, metaphor, and a diverse world of sound, we seek to develop a foundation of aural perception, eye tracking, and physical coordination. There is special opportunity to develop perceptual ability at a young age. Skills unfold while we engage the child's inherent love of music." Randall and Nancy Faber. A sincerely want to build a love of music in these and in all my students. We will build from the floor up.

Piano Parade

2011-09-09T07:12:00.000-07:00

Going into a piano store is like walking on the red carpet with yourunderwear on. The gleaming models pose in black and white, their price tagsfluttering back and forth so you only see the dollar sign and miss the fivedigit number. There you are with your longing exposed but unworthy to be alegitimate customer. That is exactly how I felt the day I went into the store,at the mall, with my beloved aunt. Coming from a very conservative background,she often showed an adventuresome, reckless side. She beckoned me to flirt withthe Steinway. I sat ever so lightly upon the black cushioned bench and strokedthe keys. The sound cascaded out of the belly answering my touch, beckoning formore questions.

"I am going to own a grand piano one day!" I declared boldly.

"What are you waiting for?" She propped her round elbows onthe lid and smiling, rested her chin in her hands.

"I don't have any money set aside for that luxury." I stood upand dismissed the idea. She surprised me by opening her purse and handing me aone hundred dollar bill. The revealed cash was not unnoticed by the salesmanwho made his way over to us to render his assistance.

"Here is the down payment." She laid the bill in my hand andpointed me in the direction of other pianos. "Go find the one you want."

I did not buy a piano that day. I had five children at home, a badlyrunning station wagon, and only a handfull of piano students. This idea wouldfind no support at home. I kept the hundred in my sock drawer as a down paymenton a wish.

My husband did not respond the way I thought he would when I told of myventure. He sat down with me to make a business plan. How many students would Ineed to add to make the monthly payment? The harder question was how would wefit a baby grand in the living room? We lived in an old, four bedroom, onebathroom home, with five growing children, two of them just emerging asteenagers.

Still feeling ridiculous, the two of us visited another showroom. Iplayed a fifty thousand Chickering and thought Chopin was whispering to me.

Ithink I danced with every piano in the store and finally a shiny, black Yamahayielded to my need. It was bright without being brassy, resonant withoutmuddiness, and just firm enough to make me decisive. There were others thatlooked the same but this one sang with my voice.

I needed five additional students to make the payment; I got ten. Mychildren resented giving up the lounging area in front of the television; oneof them learned to play like an angel.

The piano was paid off in five years andsixteen years later all my students have played on an instrument that respondsto the novice and the master.

Some risks in life just look like a raging river to cross, but end upbeing a puny puddle viewed from the other side.

Ongoing Assessment- What do they really know?

2011-09-06T06:42:00.000-07:00

Student-Centered learning encompasses being aware of what the student actually knows. We can’t assume that just because we taught it, the student has learned it. Students need multiple explanations, repetition, and reminders. I often have a student say to me, "I played it perfectly at home". I usually smile and say, "It must be me." I know that real learning takes a long time to be stable and predictable.
I discussed the process of learning with my brother recently. He is a professor of physics, who focuses his research on the human voice. He is currently writing a book for voice practitioners and he shared a chapter with me on motor-learning which I felt helped me in my piano teaching.

"Motor learning isa process, inferred rather than directly observed, which leads to relativelypermanent changes in the general capacity for motor performance, as a result ofpractice or exposure."

New action patternsare not incremental and they do not accumulate some place in the head in an ordered way. They are dynamic, they fluctuate, but real, permanent learning means that various mental processes will occur consistently as a result of practice. Temporary performance shifts that may occur during lessons do notimply learning. Learning involves relatively stable changes and improvements in averageperformance over time. I had a student who has since moved away who would try to wing it at his lesson. As he played his piece for me I knew, and he knew I knew, that he had not practiced enough. "Wait," he would say, "Let me do that again and maybe this time I will be lucky."

Improvement over ashort period of time, such as during a lesson or a week long practice session,does not mean real motor learning is permanent. Distractions can impactlearning. The best measure of how well something is learned is demonstrated bythe first try with multiple distractions.

Most studies holdto the principle that spaced practice tends to produce greater learning thanmassed practice. If a student is attentive and working on a problem he will bemore productive if he works on it 10 minutes and then rests and comes backlater in the day, than if he practices 60 minutes and does not go back forseveral days. The brain will work on the problem when the student is away from the piano. I felt a little discouraged when I read that because my student's lives are so full. Would they ever go back to practice on the same day?

Verbal instructionsfrom a teacher are not as effective as curiosity, from the student, to trydifferent approaches and find the answer themselves. Attention to theexperience the student is having is more effective than telling the studentwhat to pay attention to. Asking questions such as "did that feelbetter" "was that easier", or "did it sound better"are more effective than "was your hand curved". Paying attention to the experience is better for processing than paying attention to the physical action.

Watching othershas been shown to be very motivational. Self goal-setting works better than having a goal assigned. Givingfeedback while the student is playing interferes with his own processing ofinformation. Waiting until after they are done, works better and asking them toevaluate their own playing first, helps them even more.

Provide somevariability in the lesson setting. Playing with different conditions enhanceslearning. I think we all know that when a student is practicing for a recital it is wise to practice in different situations; in front of family, on a different piano, or while someone is speaking.

Random practice, or playing pieces and exercises in a differentorder, is effective because it forces the learner to "reboot" and reconstruct his learning which he may not have to do if he has a rote practiceagenda.

Part-whole practiceis effective for learning. Dividing a piece into sections and starting on adifferent section helps long term learning.

These are just ideas researchers are working on. My brother is summarizing those that have had the most consistent results. He is hoping to help vocal coaches and vocologists who have students and clients who need to learn new motor skills having to do with their vocal mechanisms.

I find these ideas most interesting and it explains many occurrences in my experience. One, for example, is the way note-reading seems to come and go, in a beginning student. They seem to be able to do it at our lesson, but then it falls apart at home. So, real learning did not take place at the lesson. The test of stability, getting it right on the first try, even with distractions, is the ultimate measuring tool.

Pattern Recognition

2011-09-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't it be great to take the Magic School Bus into our student's mind and view music on the page they way that they do? Would we see that the lines and spaces move around and merge? Would we be surprised to see that they do not even notice the crescendo sign and ritardando sign we pointed to? The complexities of notation keep some of my students playing vertically one note at a time. I have a desire that they come to the point where they play horizontally, seeing, what Dr. Faber calls, "chunks" of notes. And so, one of the keys to student-centered teaching is Pattern Recognition.
Pattern Recognition is seeing notes in larger and larger chunks. If seeing notes in groups is the desired outcome, why, I ask myself, am I drilling single notes? Why not do more sight-reading with groups of notes so that they become more easily recognizable in the pieces my student's play? This may seem obvious at first but as I analyze the emphasis I place on this endeavor I see I may be short-changing my students. I know I need to repeat and repeat and then assess if my students are actually seeing the chunks I am drilling.
Dr. Faber made an interesting statement. Perception cannot be forced, it must be invited. I have been pondering why that is so. I think one reason is because music is symbolic language and symbols have many layers to be explored. I could place flashcards in front of my students but that does not guarantee that they see the relationship to these notes. I can talk to them and play it for them but really I need to invite them to be curious about how these symbols interrelate. As the student begins to explore these symbols I, as teacher, could invite them to see variations which keep the basic foundation but introduce a new element which changes their meanings.

For example a 5 finger scale as a chunk, shows how notes step, like a ladder

Add a bar line and introduce beats and rests, which makes the time signature become important.

Change the value of notes and see how the measure must extend. Behind this simple notation, are layers of more meanings; half-steps and whole steps, ascending tones needing dynamic interpretation and on and on. These layers of meaning take a while to perceive but my teaching should invite curiosity to widen perceptions. That is what I am after this new year. One book I am adding to my list for my beginning student "Piano Adventures, Primer Level Sight-Reading Book".

I hope it assists me in being more aware of my student progress and perceptions.How do you facilitate note-reading in chunks?

Practicing Incentive This Fall

2011-08-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

Layers-

Just like an onion has different layers of skin so a piece of music has different layers of elements to learn and perfect. This fall my students are going to practice with the intent of adding more layers to their musical artistry.

Although tracking practice time is not an end in and of itself, I am going to keep the incentive to record the minutes we practice which we started this summer, every 100 minutes earns a chance to glue a shape, design. or sticker to a piece of posterboard. The poster will become a collage of shapes and colors; a work of art representing the layers of musicality we add as we learn a piece of music. At the fall recital we will display our project and hopefully our music will show what we have learned..
The purpose of this incentive is to:
1- Make student and parent aware of the length of their child's practice time
2- To use assignment books routinely for reviewing assignments and recording practice times
3.- To participate in a studio wide experience
Incentives to practice work for me if they take less than a minute to record and if they are inexpensive.

We will start with the first 100 minutes being shapes and basic colors. This layer is likened to playing correct notes and correct rhythm.

As the minutes add up the shapes will be textured as dynamics add texture to the music.

Patterns on the paper will be like articulation.

Shiny foil shapes will allow me to talk about phrasing and voicing.

Lastly, stickers will add personality as interpretation of the music is unique and individual.

I see it happening and I hope my students come on board and enjoy the art we create together.

Ice- Cream Group Lessons Coda

2011-08-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

The time for summer group lessons has past.

I am very happy with the experiences we had and everyone loved the ice-cream. The ensemble piece was the most fun for my students. We started out by studying the short score and identifying the different staves of music. I am glad I kept the instrument parts simple and I will be able to increase the difficulty the next time.

It also worked very well to have everyone take a turn with the instruments. Playing the drums on the I-Pad Garage Band app was the coveted part.

The harder parts were the melody line and the accompaniment, harmony line. Even though the music was easy, the need to play on beat with the other instruments made everyone tentative.

I felt what a middle-school band teacher must feel as he brings beginning students together.

The reward to see everyone engaged in a musical experience and enjoying each other was well worth the effort.

More Teaching Across the Disciplines

2011-08-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

I like to liken learning to play musically to peeling an onion. The first layer might be recognising notes; second rhythm; third dynamics; fourth articulation and on. I found a u-tube video of an artist I admire, who shows how he lays down layers of paint. I feel like we do the same thing when we learn a piece of music.

Engagement- Keeping the Student's Attention

2011-08-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

Dr. Randall Faber talks a lot about child-centered teaching. I have been thinking about what that means to me. I want to be centered on my student. I want to take my ques from the messages they are sending me. If I were not child-centered what would be at the center of my teaching? My lesson plan? My goals for what I want them to learn?

A key to child-centered learning is engagement, according to Dr. Faber.
"Are we operating on the student’s 90% attention capacity, or 6%? Just like perception, attention can’t be forced. It must be invited."
What tools do we, as piano teachers have to invite attention?
- Our open- hearted personality
- Our own love of music
- learning games
- asking questions that invite curiosity
- our ability to pace activities

" When a student tries to contribute and direct learning, do we inwardly swat them away and stick to our lesson plan? Harnessed attention is a gift, and yet we so often forego perfect opportunities for learning when the student shows interest."
I know I have the teacher voice in my head saying, "We have to learn two new songs today. You are pulling me in the wrong direction."
Last week I had double booked accidentally and I had two boys here together. One was in the second half of his hour lesson and we were about to work on the notation to his own composition. The other, who showed up, was a student who had been waning in interest. I went with my gut intuition and invited the older boy to teach the younger boy his song. I marveled how inspiring the teacher was and how attentive the learner had become. My agenda was not completed but something better happened.
According to Dr. Faber, "One secret to engagement is the idea of curiosity. Curiosity is a wonderfully useful state of mind! It engages attention, and is a prerequisite to learning. Not only should we let the student lead learning with curiosity, but the teacher must also model curiosity."
"What if" are words which lead to interesting reasons to repeat a song or a phrase. My student's "What ifs" are always more adventuresome than mine. What if we play this phrase higher, or on the black keys, or backwards? I try to have three attention grabbers ready at every lesson because I know I will have to recapture their interest about every ten minutes.
You may want to read Joy's notes on Dr. Faber's talk at NCKP 2011

Teaching Across the Disciplines

2011-08-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

His short, stubby fingers dusted the keys. I felt his wrists lock and his shoulders tighten. Each note sounded unattached to the other. In agony he managed a weak smile.
"This is just like being in a flight simulator."

I was teaching an airline pilot to play the piano and he had just given me the key to student-centered learning. I asked him to tell me how these two experiences were similar.
"There is so much to think about. The notes, the rhythm, and the dynamics, all have to fire at the same time."
"And how do you manage to relax in a cockpit, flying 150 people over the Atlantic ocean?"
Whether I am teaching an artist, a dancer, a pilot, or a writer I try to use experiences and language in that discipline. It opens the door to teaching technique, artistry, and theory. If the student does dance, I have been known to dance with them from my living room into the kitchen using the words, monster, fairy, fairy; words used by their dance teacher to teach the waltz step.

Playing for the local dance studio for a couple of years opened my eyes to the marriage of movement and music. The teacher would ask me to play something in 6/8 time and I would turn to a piece in my folder. After an introduction the dance would begin. At times she would stop and indicate to me that the piece wasn't working. I would then be forced to do something with which I was unfamiliar. I set my gaze on the dancers and improvised as they moved through their steps. This was a heightened experience as all my senses combined to anticipate the movement. From these classes I came to see how music and dancing are one.

When I was sitting on the bench with an artist I tried the same technique. She was an accomplished artist fulfilling a desire to learn to play the piano. We came across a dissonant chord and she pulled away her hand.
"That's ugly!"
"It is providing some tension in the phrase", I said.
"We could use this chord".
"That one is lacking texture. Just like when you leave a build up of paint on the canvas to add depth. The texture of the paint reflects light differently and the tension in this chord pushes the sound to a new place."
Lucy, an eight year old, was telling me about her composition writing and she surprised me with her vocabulary. Plot and climax were her favorite words that day.

"So you like storytelling," I said. "This song tells a story. What do you think it is about?"
This conversation developed into more detail about the climax of the song. I noticed that her playing improved. There were more dynamic changes as she moved to the forte measures. Her ability to express herself had increased.
These experiences have made me more aware of the importance of knowing my students and drawing upon the knowledge and interests they already have. It is a way to engage the student's interest and engagement is a principle in student-centered teaching.

Ice- Cream Group Lessons

2011-08-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

Today was the kick-off for my ice-cream group lessons. I will have four different lessons with 4-6 kids in each group. I ended up with only two girls, the other student had a conflict. These two girls were jazzed because they had earned so many scoops in my practicing incentive. The students earned one scoop of ice-cream for every 100 minutes they logged.

Besides having ice-cream we did some note-reading. We made up some words using only the musical alphabet. You can find the work sheet here.

And we learned a simple piece which I had written for 6 instruments. I like giving my students different musical experiences and this one was about reading a score and learning parts for both pitched instruments and percussion. I did not know how this would play out, pardon the pun, but it was just right for the time factor and for my students.You can find the music here.

I will write about how it is with more students next week.

A Scheduled Practice Time

2011-08-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

I read a good post by Laura Lowe, a fellow piano teacher, and it made me want to add my own words to this subject.
Setting a certain time aside to practice may be the key to progress for your child and for yourself. For the child making piano practice into a routine communicates the importance you place on this endeavor. It also gives your child the security to know that what happens today on the piano bench can be improved and enlarged tomorrow.

As the parent having and staying with a practice routine will give you confidence that your child will learn to play. Let's face it, parents carry much of the guilt for failed improvement at the piano. I know when I took my daughter to her lessons I felt very bad about the days that disappeared without a thought to her playing. Realistically it may have been her fault for not going to the piano, but I know it wasn't until our routine was set that I could expect her to be responsible.
This summer I had a incentive to keep practice happening. I rewarded every 100 minutes with a scoop of ice-cream on a cone. For some students this was ridiculously easy, and I think it was because they already had a very set routine of daily practice. Except for the very earliest beginners, every child should practice at least 20 minutes a day. And it needs to happen most every day. Research shows that the brain needs the repetition every day and it shows that cramming for a longer period once in a while does not prove the best results.
I tell my students the story of what I learned from my third grade teacher. She applied this to learning spelling words but it works exactly the same way in piano practice. She told us to go over our spelling list in our heads before falling to sleep on the very day we received the new words. I experimented with her advise and found it to work. So, if you ask your child to go through all the music he learned at the lesson before bedtime, the remembering will place the information in longer term storage. This need not be a long intensive practice. It is more a remembering and it would be ideal to sit with your child and ask questions about his new pieces. Your child may want to skip practice on the day of their lesson, but this is the very day that practice is the most beneficial.
"A great deal of research shows that thinking or talking about an event immediately after it has occurred enhances memory for that event." This is written about in Brain Rules by John Medina.

Think about how confident your child will be the next day when she goes to practice and her assignment is familiar. Children have an "I can do it " attitude naturally and when they find they can't they sometimes assume they have failed. They are much harder to motivate in failure mode than if they feel they are successful. So, when is practice time at your house?

Who Knows Where Your Music Goes?

2011-08-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

I had a remarkable thing happen in my piano studio. My student Christopher, a composer, has written seven pieces, two of which we have notated in Finale. Composition #7 is really fun to play. I introduced it to Julian who started it and had to wait until we finished the ending. During the weeks that Julian was learning it, another younger student, Olivia, was sitting through Julian's lesson, waiting for her time. I did not realize how intently she was listening. One week later at her lesson she announced, "I can play Christopher's song!" And that is just what she did. Wow, how we influence each other.
If you would like to see the music you can find it on the resource page at this, my studio webpage.

5th And Last Most Used I-Pad App

2011-08-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

I said I would share with you the five most used I-Pad Apps and this is the fifth. I think by now I have made clear that my I-Pad is a valuable teaching tool and I do not regret purchasing it. I must include my I-Phone in this next tool review. Sometimes in the lesson time allotted time flies and there I am introducing a new piece with 5 minutes left. I know we won't have time to play this piece more than once. This is fine for those students who are independent players but there are a few who will invariably come the next week saying "I forgot the song".
"Well", I say, "You don't need to remember the song, you can use the tools I have taught you to read the notes and rhythm."
For these students I have come to video taping them playing the piece. I do it with my I-Phone and then I send this to their parent with instructions to play this video for them if they have trouble.

I try to video over their head so that their hands show. My picture does not illustrate that very well. But isn't my granddaughter cute? Okay, I would have to smooth back the blond hair. I also keep the video for next week when I enjoy letting them review the last week's progress to what they have done a week later. The video opens so nicely on my I-Pad and it is a great learning tool.

I know there will be more great apps coming along in the future but I do see that any learning tool takes up valuable lesson time. Thirty minutes is hard to stretch if I have too many activities. I have also challenged myself to be consistent in using a tool so that I can see it's value over time.

4th Most Used I-Pad Application

2011-08-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Music Teacher's Helper is an online software package to help run your teaching business. It is the largest expense I have. I use it many times a day on my I-Pad Internet. Sometimes I get frustrated with it but it has made many aspects of teaching easier. It manages my student information, e-mails automatically, keeps track of billing, runs my teaching calendar, and allows me to design a website for my students.
At the onset I found I needed to review the video tutorials many times. This helped me get through some mistakes I made in setting things up. The support is very timely and new upgrades keep the software user friendly.
Not all my parents use e-mail, not everyone checks their e-mail regularly, but after two years I have found that this software has helped communication between parents and myself greatly.
This summer I started encouraging online access for each parent. I assigned Usernames and Passwords and allowed them to register for open slots. As Fall approaches, my schedule will be set but I will have a few open slots that can be used if they must cancel a lesson.
You can see my website here.

Ice-Cream Practice Incentive

2011-08-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

I am brain-storming ideas for my end of summer ice-cream group lessons. This is a lesson to celebrate my students summer practicing. I will have at least two sessions if I keep them to 6 students. I got the idea from Sarah and made it adapt to my circumstances. Many families go out of town and so I don't see much of them but when they come they write down how many minutes they have practiced. For every 100 minutes they put a scoop on my ice-cream chart.

I want to do some learning before we have our ice-cream and so I have written a very simple ensemble piece. It is called My Favorite Treat and it is for 6 instruments. Two piano keyboards, xylophone,finger cymbals, triangle, and drum. Ensembles are fun with different age groups if the piece is easy and it teaches so much about counting and listening. My students love to trade instruments and we play it over and over again.
I also did a little worksheet for a warm-up. These are available to look at and copy here.
Any other ideas? What do you think?

3rd Most Used I-Pad App- U-Tube

2011-07-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a student who needed to be inspired by a really exciting performance of a piece they were learning. Even more exciting than you, yourself, playing for them? I have had many of those moments and for that reason having my I-Pad ready to use U-Tube is fantastic. It just takes moments to type a search for the piece or even a certain performer. Even better, I search before the lesson and the video is ready to go when they arrive in my studio, right on the piano music stand.
Perhaps I need my student to see a minuet being danced for them to feel the music they are playing. Or, as I needed recently, a video showing the art of the time period. I found a video entitled "The Loves of Emma Bardac" which is a docudrama of the life of Emma who had a relationship with Gabriel Faure and who later married Claude Debussy. Both of these composers wrote music for her daughters. The music was played by Katia and Marielle Labeque, concert pianists who are sisters, from France.

They were dressed as impressionist paintings and the beauty of their playing was something I needed my student to see. She and I have learned two of the pieces from the Dolly Suite, by Gabriel Faure. I did not show the whole video to my student, but the few minutes of enrichment helped us both feel excited to learn one more piece from the suite.

In case you would like to know more about this story, here is a brief summary.

Emma Bardac (1862–1934), née Moyse, was the mutual love interest of both Gabriel Fauré andClaude Debussy. Of Jewish descent, Emma married, aged 17, Parisian banker Sigismond Bardac, by whom she had two children, Raoul, and Hélène (later Madame Gaston de Tinan (1892–1985)). Emma was an accomplished singer and brilliant conversationalist. Fauré wrote his Dolly Suite in the 1890s for Hélène and La bonne chanson for Emma herself.

After her affair with Fauré, Emma was introduced to Debussy in late 1903 by her son Raoul, one of his students.^[1] Emma and Sigismond were divorced on 4 May 1905, and she eventually married Debussy in 1908. Bardac had a child by Debussy, a daughter, Claude-Emma, nicknamed 'Chou-Chou' (born 30 October 1905), and dedicatee of his Children's Corner Suite composed in 1909. Claude-Emma died of diphtheria in 1919, the year after her father's death. Emma Bardac died in 1934 and, like Claude-Emma, was laid to rest in Debussy's grave in the Cimetière de Passy in Paris.

In a documentary film called The Loves of Emma Bardac directed by Thomas Mowrey, the accomplished duo-pianists Katia and Marielle Labeque perform a selection of pieces by composers Bizet, Fauré and Debussy.

2nd Most Used I-Pad App

2011-07-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

My second favorite I-Pad app is called Note Squish. It is a note reading tool and it is unique because of it uses groundhogs to interact with.

Letter names appear over animals who come out of the their holes. They must touch the right letter to match the note on the staff above. The groundhogs come and go and at times the correct letter is not on the screen so the student cannot guess by touching them all. The background music is fun and if it is annoying it can be muted.

I like the versatility in that I can choose which notes to drill and how many notes to drill,

This is the set-up page. Notice the speed can also be adjusted.

My students love it and it is small finger friendly.

Providing Inservice

2011-07-25T07:36:00.000-07:00

I recall being given opportunities to be in-service. Adults in my church gave me chances to accompany at about age 12. They encouraged me enough that I developed a desire to be better and that kept me practicing. They also taught me about worship music, the place it has in church services, and about how to choose music music to set different moods. I have been providing inservice training to a few students who I think will want to participate as accompanists and even organists in their churches as they get older. I start with teaching simplified hymns. As soon as they have learned three of them, I have them play prelude with me. I provide an accompaniment on the organ which helps them feel safer and I modulate between the different keys in the hymns. We practice together at the church the night before and this gives me opportunity to instruct and give them some insight into the organ as an instrument.This Sunday, Miss M. was able to play for 10 minutes with me. I know she felt pleased with her playing and the adults gave her kudos for serving others in church.

Speaking of organ playing Laura Lowe has some great things to say about the need for organists. Do you see a need to provide this kind of inservice?

My First Piano Adventures

2011-07-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

I have been blogging about using My First Piano Adventures. I started teaching from this series last summer.

My first student to use this series was 5 and I needed something before Primer Level Piano Adventures. I am very pleased with the results. J.,who started last August, is halfway through Book B.

I feel like he has a much deeper grasp of note reading because we have approached it slowly, with incremental steps. One tool I value is the CLAP practice reminder. This week J. and I used it for each song we played. To firmly implant this tool into a child's mind it must be repeated every week. The A in the word CLAP stands for attention. It reminds the student to pay attention to what comes after the first notes. Looking ahead is such an important skill in sight reading.
J. used these skills to perfection this week on the piece called "The Tambourine Party". I was so pleased and to add to the fun I pulled out the precise rhythm instruments mentioned in the song.

I used the triangle as he played which made this piece feel really finished and synthesized into his heart. That is what I am looking for. Music well played and felt deeply within.

Top Five I-Pad Apps For Piano Students

2011-07-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

So many of you piano teacher bloggers use an I-Pad these days. I purchased mine last September and have used it everyday since then. I bought it for my piano lessons and have thoroughly enjoyed it's functionality. My favorite note reading application is called Note Goal Pro.
I have looked at many different apps but this one has a lot of options I love. It does cost a little bit but it is updated often and improves each time.
First feature, you can have your students log in and it tracks their highest scores.

I believe they have capacity for a least 20 students or more now. My students like finding their own name.

This feature lists their highest scores and give me a look at what we have done before. This is a list of keys they have drilled..

Second feature; the screen has more than one note at a time. This strengthens intervalic note reading. You can adjust how many lines of music they do.

Third feature; you have choices of helps to give even your youngest student a chance to read notes.

You can turn on colored notes to match the background of the note to play. Some students don't notice this help and others catch on right away and then I turn it off.

A blue dot can tutor them for awhile. Did you notice that you can change the keyboard size. This helps kids who don't use a touch screen much. It keeps them from leaning on other keys.

Fourth feature; You decide what notes to drill. You can do a small range of notes or the whole staff.

You can do only notes of a certain key. This allows older students to review scales and includes sharps and flats.

In review, I-Pad is a thumbs up in my studio and Note Goal Pro is usually on the screen during some part of the lesson,

See it here on the Internet.

Piano Lessons Are a Life Skill, Not an Extracurricular Activity

2011-07-19T09:10:00.000-07:00

Recently at a concert where I sang with my brother and other family members, several students of his Vocology Institute asked me if our parents were musicians. I had to say that neither my mother or my father played an instrument but that singing was a life skill we learned like cooking or repairing a flat tire. Every family gathering consisted of singing and those that played an instrument became essential to the overall success of togetherness.

I saw my niece go to the piano and start to play familiar songs during a lag time at our recent family reunion. The children gathered around her and quieted down. They were pulled together in the magic web of music.

When you give a child piano lessons you are offering them a life long skill. It is not just an activity to stimulate their intellect or keep them out of trouble.

But, it is essential that you, as parent, show the value of that skill My mother showed me, by sitting in the living room and listening , that she enjoyed my playing. Not to say that I was an easy child. I would have quit playing many times during my first ten years of lessons.. But she was convinced that I would thank her for her tenacity. And I have thanked her and I owe any success I have had as a pianist and piano teacher to her vision.