Scarlatti and Pickles and Peppers

I just love when it nears MMTA Contest time and students are almost fully prepared. I can sit back and just enjoy their music! Thanks for all your hard work. Here are Ellen, performing Scarlatti Sonata in D Minor and Katie, performing Pickles and Peppers by Adaline Shepard.

 

 

Best (and WORST!) Ways of Practicing

I'm indebted to Louise Mann for the following contributions, which I agree with wholeheartedly! Which camp are you in?

The Top 10 Best Ways to Practice
1. Play at a speed (tempo) that allows for accuracy and no fumbles, frustration, or stops and starts.
2. Step 1.
3. Continue to repeat Step 1.
4. Gradually increase tempo.
5. Note where, when and why mistakes occur and analyze for solution.
6. Cut out hard spots and work ‘em to death, then back up a bit and paste them back in.
7. Remember: 3 times in a row without a mistake. This can be done on a small section, larger section, or the whole piece.
8. Patience - practice right no matter what. Take plenty of patience pills (breathe!).
9. Start today, don’t delay! And plan fingerings early!
10. Engage the ear and brain!

The Top 10 Worst Ways to Practice
1. Start from the beginning and fumble through to the end.
2. Repeat Step 1.
3. Continue to repeat Step 1 while growing tired of making the same mistakes in the same places over and over again.
4. Make mistakes and correct/continue without making mental post-its of where or why they occurred.
5. Repeat Step 4, probably while repeating Steps 1, 2 and 3.
6. Practice the parts you can already play, and neglect the ones you can’t.
7. Repeat Step 6, probably while repeating Steps 1-5.
8. Too fast—too soon—too often. Get pulled over for speeding.
9. Ignore all those numbers above and below the notes.
10. Last minute cram-sessions.

Is your student practicing enough? See this Table of Practice Times:

1 60-minute Practice per Week = 2 Months Progress in 12 Months
1 30-minute Practice per Day = 6 Months Progress in 12 Months
1 45-minute Practice per Day = 12 Months Progress in 12 Months
1 60-minute Practice per Day = 15 Months Progress in 12 Months
1 90-minute Practice per Day = 24 Months Progress in 12 Months
2 Hours Practice per Day = 36 Months Progress in 12 Months

7 Deadly Practice Sins

I was reading some other blogs and came across this great article. What are the 7 deadly practice sins? 

1. No routine

2. Too isolated

3. Inadequate instrument

4. No Availability

5. No Structure

6. No goals

7. No support 

Read the whole article here

By author Samantha Coates, of http://blitzbooks.com 

How do you plan to practice this year?

I've been lurking on the How To Practice website for a long time. Now Mike Saville has announced: It's here! The Complete Beginners Guide To Practice! 

 

 Go to the website link to find out how you can download a free copy. This guide is for anyone who plays (and practices!) the piano; students, parents, and teachers. I'm loving what I see here. More updates after I read the guide a little more.I've already talked to a few parents who are concerned that their students start practicing right this year. So I'm resurrecting a handout I did about 5 years ago and will post about this handout How To Begin A New Piece and How To Practice Every Day! in the near future. Stay tuned. Happy Practicing!

5000 Fingers Of Dr. T

You really must see this!

Bart has only one enemy in the world: his piano teacher Dr. Terwilliker. Dr. T has a mad plan to force 500 young boys to practice at his magnificent piano 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bart is the only hope to save these boys from being enslaved. Fantastic sets, screenplay, and even song lyrics were provided by Dr. Seuss. Features the only piano academy ever known to be equipped with cells and surrounded by an electric fence.

No electric fences in MY studio!

Music Ace Maestro

Teachers, click on this link for a chance to win a FREE copy of Music Ace Maestro http://musicmattersblog.com/2010/08/05/win-a-free-copy-of-music-ace-maestro-worth-127-95/  Leave a comment over at Natalie Wickham's blog http://musicmattersblog.com for a chance to win. Thank you for your generosity, Harmonic Vision!

Practice Chains are Here!

Students are well on their way to filling their practice chains. It took me a while to figure out how to hang them in the studio, but an over-the-door set of hooks did the trick. One bead on the practice chain equals one full day of practice. Either the repertoire or the fact they get to see their practice accumulate is really motivating students to practice during the summer. Yay, on both accounts.

. . . and more than a month later . . .

Here we are, and it's post Honors Concert and post MMTA convention. I'm busily teaching summer students and we have only 3 weeks left in the teaching year of 2009-2010. I'm amazed that time just slips through my fingers like water through a sieve. I'm constantly confronted with the limits that time puts upon me. I'd just love to sit at the piano and sight read through every book in my studio, but that will never happen without the rest of my household falling down around me.

I've spent a lot of summer days with Camille, Narissa, Susan, and Merrily, deciding the pieces for the 2012 State Contest List. We've found some gems that we hope will go over well. Each year on the list I find so many pieces that are new to me. This year (2011 contest List) I've been enamored with Amy Beach's 'Barcarolle' and Moszkowski's 'Pantomime.' Up until I damaged my right wrist and thumb, that is . . . one day it just appeared. My small hands have always been a frustration for me. Since fracturing my right wrist a couple of years ago, I've had trouble reaching even an octave. After spending one evening playing pieces with a lot of RH octaves, this little pain in my thumb showed up, so I've got to let it rest for a while so it can heal.

Nothing profound, here, just enjoying summer and life with my family.

Celebrating My Students!

Minnesota State Piano Contest Finalists 2010

Back Row: Katie, INB; Ellen, INA; Paige, JRB; Jackie, INB; Matthew, INB
From Row: Bryce, JRA; Megan, PRI; Nolan, JRA; Caroline, PRI; Jessie, JRB

MMTA Theory Certificates Earned

Matthew, Level 3
Emily, Level 1
Megan, Level 1
Jackie, Level 1

Piano Performance Trophy Winners 2010

These are students who proved they are developing into well rounded musicians by completing 10 items out of a list of 20. Front Row: Anna, Nolan, Bryce, Caroline, Megan, Ruchika Back Row: Justin, Ellen, Hannah, Matthew

Congratulations to all of you!

Rialto Ripples

It has been a good, long time since I last blogged. Good reasons, though. I was finishing my last 6 months of a 4 year term as VP of Piano Contests for MMTA, AND working on a new website for MMTA AND working on the marketing committee for MMTA. Didn't leave much time to even breathe . . . All those projects are coming to a conclusion, and our studio recital was last night. Students played really well and I was so pleased. I ended the concert with "Rialto Ripples" by Gershwin.

George Gershwin was born Jacob Gershowitz. His parents emigrated from Russia to the U.S.A in 1891. He first discovered music at age 10 at a friend's violin recital in a school auditorium in the lower East Side of Manhattan. George’s early interests were not in music, but street sports. When a piano was brought into the Gershowitz home for brother Ira, George (age 12) was the one whose interest was sparked. After playing from memory a song he had heard on a neighbor's player piano, George’s parents invested in lessons. By age 15 Gershwin had quit school and landed a job as pianist and "song plugger" for a Tin Pan Alley music-publishing firm, Jerome H. Remick & Company, at a salary of $15 a week. To increase his income, Gershwin recorded piano rolls under various pen names. For his efforts he received $35 for six rolls. He was interested in both ‘serious’ and popular music, and composed in both styles. He was one of the first composers to combine jazz and classical music styles. "Rialto Ripples" is George Gershwin's first published instrumental, at age 19, and his only piano rag. Ripples follows a typical rag style, alternating the main melody with contrasting melodies. It's fun, it's delightful, it's a toe-tapper, and a smile-maker.

I have never had so much fun playing at one of my recitals!

Do You Ever Wonder?

Do you ever wonder if your students are practicing over the break? That's my state of mind right now. One the one hand, I'm glad that my students are forming good habits, partially due to the incentives in place in the studio that I blogged about in October. I'm grateful for the beginning students who have finished a level of method books and always come prepared to their lesson. Additionally some beginners are almost ready to participate in the MMTA State Piano Contest in January, along with many middle school and high school students. JRB and above students have an opportunity for extra coaching on their contest piece on January 8 and I hope they all sign up for a time. Also coming up on January 22 and 23 is the Ribbon Festival, a recital for students at Wayzata Bay Mall, an opportunity to hone performance skills.

Still, I'm thinking of how to inspire them further - maybe some kind of practicing contest? I'm open to any ideas. If you're a teacher, what do you do to inspire students to greater growth in the months between January to May?

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!