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".

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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.