New Composer Bucks Incentive

I restructured how my "composer bucks" incentive works a week ago. I borrowed an idea from another teacher and called them "Diligence Dollars" and put the categories right on the students' assignment sheets. Students can now earn $1 if all materials are brought to the lesson, $1 if all practice is recorded and signed, $1 for each completed assignment, $1 for practicing 5 days, $4 for practicing 7 days, $3 for learning a new piece on your own, and $5 for participating in a piano event.

The change seems to be going over well, judging by how diligent students were last week. It's so great that students are sightreading new pieces and going ahead in assignments and really thinking through them correctly. The best thing I've noticed this week is those converts to practicing at least 5 days and some 7 days. Love the change and improvement in their lessons because of it!

If you would like to see the new assignment sheet, go to my website mvpianostudio.com to the resources page and find the assingment sheets there for the past few years. Happy practicing!

pianomorning.com

Found a new website that has piqued my interest: http://blog.pianomorning.com/

Pianomorning was created by composer Ann Buys and there are tons of theory worksheets and piano pieces free to download if you are a member. Coming up soon are original arrangements you can use in your studio for Christmas. Really worth checking out! There's a great giveaway for a free membership going on right now. To learn more, go to http://blog.pianomorning.com/

Happy teaching!

Fred Plays Today

I came across this on the Piano Teachers Forum today (a Yahoo discussion group). Helen, from the UK, found this while cleaning out her studio.:

About Fred by Linda Fox

After getting a definition, from a pupil, of "unconscious" (ranging from the perfect "not aware" to "it's when you're lying in the street"), I ask the pupil if she knows that she has an unconscious of her own.

We quickly christen the unconscious "Fred" (except for one little girl whose Grandad is called Fred and who insists on calling her unconscious "Bob")

I explain that Fred can do a lot of things like breathing and walking, even though you can take charge of these yourself if you want to; Fred can even guide your footsteps. How often have you arrived at school (or wherever) without ever thinking of how to get there?

And Fred can play the piano. He learns very quickly. He learns even when you've only done it once, which means he may very likely learn it wrong. The trouble is, too many people let Fred do the playing when he hasn't really learnt it properly yet, and somehow they don't seem able to wrest the control back from him. Any mistake which keeps happening even though you know about it, is the result of Fred playing. When Lousie (my first Fred owner) plays the phrase instead, in other words when Louise is concentrating and controlling the playing, it will probably be right.

I can't teach Fred. Only Louise can do that. And you can't really play a piece without Fred's contribution at all, or it would be like sight reading every time. The problem is, many children teach the whole thing to Fred and then sit back and let him play every time from the on. It's like pressing "start" and having no further input. You can always recognise this:

They can't easily play hands separately
They're totally unable to start anywhere except back at the beginning.
Often they don't even recognise the beginning of, say, the ninth bar.
Any mistakes will ALWAYS be there and cannot be eradicated.

The mistakes are not only wrong notes. Rushing, dragging, playing wrong rhythms, playing through rests, wrong dynamics or articulation. These are all programmed into Fred's rendition.

Once the pupil has recognised this, and realises her power to discipline and control Fred, she can develop a very healthy working partnership with him, letting him cope with the straightforward left hand while she concentrates on the more wayward right, for instance.

Louise tends to blame Fred too easily, actually, but her exasperated cry of "oh Fred!!" when the mistake has happened yet again, is usually met with "well, sort him out then" or even "well, don't let Fred play that bit for a while".

She took grade 1 last term. "How was Fred?" I asked when she came out, much to the mystification of the other waiting candidates and teachers. "Oh, he popped up once or twice", she said cheerfully, "but I played most of it myself today".

====

I reckon most of us can recognise Fred's playing in our students. I thought it was such a good way to helping them to understand what's going on.

Helen (UK)

"UP NORTH"

Doesn't every Minnesotan take a vacation "Up North?" We've been going to a resort near Hackensack, MN, for well over 50 years. I'm including a few photos taken this year at Sunset Bay Resort on Baby Lake.

Maple Grove Days

We spent time last Saturday at the Maple Grove Arts Fair that's part of the summer celebration in Maple Grove. Two blocks of Main Street are blocked off and filled with white tents where merchants exhibit their artistic endeavors for sale. This year I saw a great picture to go in my studio, but couldn't afford the price - $395, so went away empty-handed.

My husband, on the other hand, found an ancient Chinese instrument that he can actually play, called a bawu. He's been fascinated with the various instruments that Ying Zhang makes by hand for several year. Zhang was apprenticed to a master in China at age 12 and learned to be a master musician himself. Several years ago we bought my son a Hulusi, an instrument that is basically a wood flut with 2 drones on either side of the main flute. Since then we've seen Zhang at the Renaissance Festival as well, and have bought several other instruments. Pictured below is my husband, Jeff, with his new instrument.

Memories and Fireworks

We had a great 4th of July, spending it with my husband's brother, who lives in Iowa, and sister and family who lives in Owatonna. I was driving and just exiting onto 35W South when the memory of a horrible car accident came flooding in. My kids were age 5 and 2 and we were heading to the Minnesota Zoo to celebrate our 5 yr. old's birthday. Just as we were rounding the corner and ready to exit onto 35W a driver in the far left lane was distracted by some fencing that fell off a truck in front of her, lost control of her car and came heading straight across 3 lanes to hit our car on the left front fender. The impact sent our car spinning 360 degrees to the right; at the same time the impact sent her car flying in the air over our car. It must have been a sight to see for the onlookers! All of us walked away from the accident without a scratch. The worst thing for us was that my husband and I bumped heads in the front seat and ended up with headaches for a day or so. The only thing my kids remember from the accident is state troopers giving them teddy bears to hug. Our car was totaled, and we had just paid the final payment several months previous, so the settlement enabled us to buy a brand new car with a good down payment. It took me a day or so for everything to "sink in." It was the one time in my life that I felt the hand of God so securely in my life, so protected and loved. One inch could have made the difference between life and death for all of us. I came out of the experience knowing God had a purpose for our lives and would guide us all along the right path. What a glorious moment that was!

After dinner we stayed for a fireworks display in Owatonna, put on by the Lions. It was just magnificent and i snapped some pictures with my cell phone camera. I thought this one was pretty cool.

Fireworks . . . and dogs!

My dog really doesn't handle any little pop from 4th of July fireworks very well. She'd rather sleep on the couch or my lap . . .


But sometimes she wakes up . . . and is gone like a flash if she hears fireworks go off in the street. I call her my "scarey cat."

Road Trip

Looked at this truck for far too long! My driver: daughter, Alison.

Drove through Darwin, famous for the "Big Ball of Twine"

Music teachers gathered in Willmar for a seminar on
business plan (Monica Allen), marketing and professional
image (Jon Iverson), and building your first studio website
(my topic).

India's National Anthem

My student Ruchika came in May with a request - to learn the national anthem of her country, India. At first only her mom could sing it and we had no music, so I began notating by hand and after many revisions came up with my own version on Sibelius. I think I can play this now from memory. I found a site that had sheet music for each of the national anthems, so I was able to understand it better, and transposed it to a key my student could easily sight read. She played it, along with a sonatina and a waltz, for a talent show they had at the Hindu temple in Maple Grove. Here's a link to a youtube video of her performance of the national anthem. Mom says the performance went great. Go Ruchika!

Curtain Rod

Who knew that a shower tension curtain rod could be so useful? I've got to give credit for this idea to a Suzuki teacher in Baltimore, Maryland. She posted pictures of her students using the tension rod here but I just noticed a few days ago that the picture links aren't working, so I've included a before and after picture of my own. My 6 year old student, who has had about 8 lessons is really excited every week about what she can play, but finds holding her hands in the proper position difficult. Notice the 'before' and 'after' - a complete transformation! My student is playing out of the Phonics 4 Piano - Pianimals series, learning how to coordinate finger number with letter name. The series is published by Marie Price and Flo Arnold and sold through their website.

AFTER

So Thankful for Hard Working Students

I just love it when my students grab onto an incentive idea and run with it. My last student of the day came to her lesson SO excited today! She had finished all the games in her current level of MusicLearningCommunity.com. Our agreement was that she would earn $100 composer bucks when she finished a level, and this totally inspired her to finish in 1 week. All of a sudden I saw a huge leap in her understanding and ability to sightread. How fun is it to teach a really motivated student?! I'm so grateful for this spurt in growth.

This year shines as one of my most successful teaching years. After 30+ years I'm finally doing something right! Back row from left: Ben, who is a senior next year and doing PSEO, Ellen, who is homeschooled and performed an almost perfect Level 6 Piano Exam (first piano exam she's done), Mary, who has a scholarship as a piano major at Northwestern College, studying with Dr. Barbara Rogers, and Jackie, who has done an incredible job of progressing in piano while taking many AP courses in high school; Middle Row: Jessica, who was a finalist in the State Piano Contest and plays with great enthusiasm, Hannah, who loves the arts and surprises me with her progress at every lesson, Hailey, who did a great job on 2 recital pieces, Bryce, who practices 7 days a week most weeks and has incredible fun and personality in his playing, Devin, who has come a long way in a short time as a beginner, Marah, who was so excited at her lesson today; Front Row: 6 yr. old twins Sydney and Alexis, who played our own arrangement of Twinkle, Twinkle after only 6 lessons. Wow! I love teaching these students and consider myself so blessed to have them in my life.

Minnesota State Honors Concert

What do you think of the next President of MMTA, Sue Krebsbach, and President Elect, Kirsten Levorson? Are they jailed? Actually they are just selling tickets at the state Honors Concert at Northrop Auditorium, which took place Saturday, May 30.

Minnesota Music Teachers Association was organized on June 27, 1901 under the auspices of the Professional League of St. Paul, and is affiliated with the Music Teachers National Association. It was organized to "promote the true culture of music by the interchange of ideas, to advance the interest of musical art, and to foster professional fraternity." Active members were professional teachers of voice, musical instruments, or "any subject pertaining to the theory of music." In the season of 1928-1929 MMTA began sponsoring a concert by student winners chosen in a statewide competition. In 1936 the MMTA developed a program of ten-piano concerts, given by winners of regional piano tryouts. The Ten-Piano Concert evolved into twelve, then twenty pianos, and later became the State Honor Student Concert or Honors Concert.

Below: Views of Northrop Auditorium; 3 of my students who performed: Paige, Junior A; Emily, Junior B; Mary, Senior Young Artist. Not pictured: Matthew and Katie, both Intermediate A

Spring Recitals

Last Monday and Tuesday my students performed in two studio recitals at Schmitt Music in Minnetonka. To the right is a photo of Bryce receiving his well-earned Piano Performance trophy for 2009. He raised his trophy in victory (and mom says he took it to school to show his class!) I love it that he's proud of his achievement. He's one of the hardest workers in the studio.

Below: 6 year old twins Alexis and Sydney play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star together at their first piano recital. More pictures to come!

Rules of Interpretation for Students (and Teachers!)

One of my favorite pedagogical speakers is Marvin Blickenstaff. A few yearsago I attended a week long class at St. Thomas University in St. Paul and heard him speak many times. My favorite notes are these:

SHAPINGTHE SOUND - Rules of Thumb for the Student.

RHYTHM

Shorts go to long (crescendo)

Downbeats are magnetic -- the sound is drawn to them ?but ?

No two successive downbeats should be alike.

Upbeat figures are interesting and have great musical energy.

HARMONY

Stress the unusual; de-emphasize (relax) the predictable.

I6/4 chords are magnetic. (Think what a downbeat 1 6/4 must be!)

Harmonic considerations are more powerful than either rhythmic or melodic ones.

Look to harmony first when determining the sound.

MELODY

The last note of the group is the quietest.

High notes must be supported from below. Theimportant notes are the low ones -- they have energy and push.

Composers often place their musical goals on long notes. Go to the long notes, make them project.

Upbeat figures are interesting and unpredictable -- downbeats are the predictable result.

When in doubt, . . . swell (crescendo).

TEXTURE

Piano sound is most interesting when the hands are never the same volume.

When playing two or more notes within a hand simultaneously, make the volume different for each note.

PHRASING

Place the focus of your phrase as late as possible. ("The later, the better.")

Tradition says:

Out of 4, go for 3

In a two-measure phrase, focus on the downbeat of the second measure

The Question is more interesting than the Answer

Two-note phrases or relationships favor the first note.

GENERAL Variety is the spice of musical life. Vary the sound. Do not repeat a phrase exactly the same way.

Sad News

Many in the Twin Cities area have heard about the disappearance and death of a young man named Jelani Brinson. Jelani, his brother Jamari and his sister Kai were all students at Fourth Baptist Christian School when I taught classroom music, choir, band, and German there between 1975 and 1985. My thoughts and prayers are with the family as they face this terrible loss. Kai was my piano student for several years during elementary school and I think that she and Jelani had their sunny personality in common. The most notable thing about Jelani was his "ear to ear" smile, and so many people will remember him for this. When I think about the tragedy of his death, I try to picture how safe and loved he is in the arms of his Savior. So many loved you, Jelani, and we all will truly miss the light you brought to our world.

My Newest (and youngest!) students

I was so glad I could accommodate these little angels for lessons. Alexis and Sydney are joining the studio in March 2009. They're 6, and in kindergarten at Heritage Christian Academy. They will be my first kindergarten students in a long time and I'm super excited to use "My First Piano Adventure" to teach them. I look forward to many fun times together.

Recording CD's for Students

Sooooo . . . I've started a huge project. Over Christmas vacation I found a great deal on a recorder I've been looking at for a while on Amazon.com, the H2 Zoom. This week I've finally got it figured out, and I spent time in every lesson today recording performances and saving them to a folder for each student. At the end of the year I'll burn all files a student has recorded onto a CD for a record of their year. I'm very happy with the quality of the sound we're getting with this recorder. It's very noticeable that students are much more serious about "doing it right" knowing that we are putting their performances on a cd. It's a miracle!

Practicing in Sections

In 2 weeks, 20 of my students will be performing in our state piano contest. It's my hope they all pay attention to how they are practicing the last few weeks before contest. I've been recording them and trying to iron out those last few problems, writing post its and reviewing their challenges with them every week.

In this post I'm going to review the main points I seem to be going over and over, hoping they will sink in. When you approach a difficult piece the only way to do it is - Divide and Conquer!

Stopping mistakes before they start. When you practice in easily digestible sections from the very start, you are cutting your learning time in half by not making huge mistakes from the beginning.

Setting Daily Goals. Make a goal to focus on one problem section a day and get it down really well. Be reasonable with yourself and limit your focus to 1, 2, or 4 measures at a time. Play as many repetitions, slowly, with your best concentration, as the section needs to improve. Mindless repetition just for repetition's sake won't help you improve. Review what you've done the next day of practice and then move on to fix the next section that needs attention.

Three Times in a Row Perfectly. You will know each section well if you will make it a rule to play it 3 times in a row perfectly (including no pauses!). Remember, a pause is a mistake! Fix it right away, otherwise you will keep pausing at the same spot. Keep it smooth!

Sectional practice gives you safety spots, or good starting points. A safety spot will be your salvation in a performance if you somehow lose your way. Practice starting at the beginning of every main section. These are your "safety spots." The more difficult the piece, the more safety spots you need, even every 4 to 6 measures. If you can do this you know the piece very thoroughly.

Don't skip hands separately! If you can't play the piece or section hands separately, you don't know the piece well enough to perform it in a contest. Even up to the day of the performance, practice hands separately, LH first. It is common to think you know the piece, only to have the memory fade during a performance because you didn't know the LH well enough. Then practice hands together.

Start slowly, then build tempo. When learning, the perfect tempo for you is the tempo at which you can play with NO pauses or mistakes. Above all, get the fingering first, along with playing the notes and rhythms correctly. You are not playing correctly if you have a sloppy fingering that doesn't work well. You will pay for sloppy fingering in time you'll have to spend later to unlearn it and then relearn the correct way. Your teacher coaches you on fingering; her advice simply is the best way for your hands to move fluently around the keyboard.

Gifts for Your Musical Child

Ideas for musical gifts for your budding musician:

A metronome
Music Note Flash Cards
Music Theory or History workbooks (great to do in the car), Music puzzle books
Pocket Music Dictionary
Tickets to a concert
Fun Sheet Music
CDs of their favorite composer or style
An itunes gift card
A new Steinway (haha!)

Gifts your musical child can give:

A CD of the student performing
A coupon to a free concert where the student is performing (maybe your living room!)
Student can donate a performance to a nursing home
Perform Christmas music at a holiday party or at school
Create a youtube performance
A coupon for a free lesson from the student to another family member

More on Music Advocacy

I've been researching a lot about how music adds to the quality of my life and the lives of my students. Here's a list of some fabulous websites that say it far better than I ever could. I hope you have time to check some of these out. If you're a parent, you can take satisfaction on what you are providing for your child, if you are a student you can be so proud of what music is bringing to your life, now and in the future, and if you are a teacher, you can take away inspiration and excitement for the coming teaching year and knowledge of the nobility of our profession:

http://www.music-for-all.org/blog/index.html

http://www.music-for-all.org/

http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/advocacy/

http://www.supportmusic.com/

http://www.amc-music.com/

http://nsbma.org/NSBAnew/Pages/Advocacy.html

http://www.kingmusic1.com/artspres.htm

http://www.schoolmusictoday.com/advocacy/topteneveryone.html

http://www.flmusiced.org/fmeafsma/advocacy/index.html

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/articles/music+advocacy+what+counts+is+the+seed