The Teaching Studio

Book Review: A Century of Wisdom

2012-02-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

Every once in awhile we get little reminders of why we as music teachers do what we do, and why music is so important in this world that we live in. One of those reminders came to me this week in the form of a book. I had the opportunity to read an excellent book, "A Century of Wisdom: Lessons from the Life of Alice Herz-Sommer, the World's Oldest Living Holocaust Survivor." After I picked it up I could hardly put it down!

The book chronicles through vignettes and personal accounts the amazing life of Alice Herz-Sommer, a Czechoslavakian pianist and piano teacher who survived the concentration camp Theresienstadt during the Holocaust. She went on to live and teach in Israel for many years, and now at the age of 108 she lives in London and still practices the piano for at least three hours daily - playing the works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Schubert.

Theresienstadt was a place where many "privileged" or educated Jews were sent during the Holocaust, before being shipped to Auschwitz. Notably, there were many musicians sent there, including Alice and her family. At one point there were at least four concert orchestras made up of Theresienstadt prisoners. Alice was allowed to practice for one hour each day (all by memory), and she gave many, many recitals and concerts. Hers is a story of how music literally helped to save her life. Music allowed her and others in the camp a reprieve from the horrible realities taking place. It is ironic that the Nazi guards ordered them to perform more frequently, and in allowing them their music they actually helped save them. It allowed them to escape their horrible reality and to be uplifted by the meaning in the music. The music was their "sustaining power," their way of "remembering [their] inner selves, [their] values." The music provided comfort and hope to not only the musicians performing, but to those listening.

Alice has lived her life, despite her horrible experiences, with optimism, energy and gusto. This book is an inspiration and a breath of fresh air. Despite its serious topic, it is uplifting and optimistic (just like Alice!). It talks about her experiences during the Holocaust, but also her fascinating childhood where she got associate with people such as Gustav Mahler, Franz Kafka, and Sigmund Freud; her happy post-war years in Israel as a pianist and teacher; and of course her most recent years and the music and good friends who continue to sustain her and bring her joy.

As a pianist and teacher myself, I quite enjoyed the sections that talked about Alice the piano teacher, the outstanding influence she has had on her students, and the importance of music in her life. As Alice said, "I am richer than the world's richest people, because I am a musician."

The book will be released March 20. I highly recommend it to any piano teacher, musician or music-lover!

Enjoy this video clip of Alice Herz-Sommer talking about the power of music to help keep them alive in the concentration camp. "Music was our food," she says.

Wow!

2012-01-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

I just saw this video and had to share. What an amazing and inspirational story. A great reminder to look for the potential in each of our students!

My favorite first lesson, and a sweet flannel board staff tutorial

2012-01-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

My four-year-old son has recently been very interested in my piano lessons. He will quietly wander into the room while I am teaching and say that he just wants to watch. He has actually had quite a bit of music instruction over the past year and a half, as he has attended all of my preschool piano classes and has been sort of my "guinea pig" while coming up with fun music games. But my husband and I have never pushed him to learn, we want him to want to on his own!

In the past when I have mentioned to him that if he wants to learn I can teach him, he has said, "but I already know how to play the piano!"

So last week I mentioned to him that whenever he wants to learn to play the piano I would be happy to teach him, and to just let me know when he wants to have lessons. He thought for a second, and then said, "how about tomorrow?"

Music to my ears!

We had his first lesson last week and it was a success. We are keeping it very low-key and not requiring a lot, as far as practicing goes - at his age I do not want to force him to practice. I want this to be a fun, positive experience to give him a great introduction to music - and we'll see where it leads!

We traced his hands and wrote in the finger numbers (which he already knew from our piano class) and played some finger number games. We used drips and rainbows to make a song with short and long notes (thanks to Anne Crosby Gaudet and her excellent blog post and Music Discoveries workbook) and then clapped the rhythm and played it on the piano. We then learned a short song in his Celebrate Piano!book and then he got a turn playing the MiDisaurusgame on my studio computer.

Here is my buddy boy at his first lesson!

Now I'd like to share with you my FAVORITE teaching aid from the past few months - my flannel board staff! I had the idea for this baby after getting a new sewing machine. Ok, so that's not entirely true - I was wanting to make some kind of music staff for teaching, and had a few ideas, but then my HUSBAND actually had the idea to sew the lines on! What a guy.

This has proven to be such a helpful teaching aid. I have used it in many preschool piano classes, as well as in numerous private lessons. It's been a wonderful way to get students off the bench and thinking about music theory in a fun and hands-on way.

So you want to make one? Simple.

Take a big piece of cardboard. I cut mine from a big cardboard box. Mine is about 24" by 32".

Get a piece of white flannel large enough to cover the cardboard and wrap around to the back (so you'll want it a bit bigger than your cardboard).

Measure off and mark where you want your lines to be. Mine are 1 1/2 inches apart, with about 4 1/2 inches between the two staves. I used a washable marker to mark a few dots where the lines should be, and then was able to wash it out after sewing the lines.

Load some black thread onto your sewing machine and then sew a wide and short zigzag stitch (hope that makes sense...I'm not up on my sewing terminology!) for each staff line.

Once all of the lines are done, carefully line the fabric up with the cardboard so the lines are straight. Fold it over the cardboard (sort of like wrapping a present) and slap some duct tape on the back to hold it in place.

Voila! You've got yourself a flannel board staff.

You can then use felt or flannel to make all sorts of notes and clefs and things to put on your staff to use in teaching. Maybe sometime I'll share more of the ways I have used mine.

Have fun!

Making Music Musical: Playing Beautiful Phrases

2012-01-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the wonderful comments about Finding the Balance! Let's discuss another technique for making music musical...

One of the most important elements of beautiful, musical piano playing is something that is usually introduced very early on, but is a concept that I feel many piano students never fully understand or are taught well. Enter the SLUR...

Slurs, of course, are those fun curvy lines we often see in our music connecting two or more notes together and forming a phrase, or in other words a musical sentence.These slurs are often ignored while the focus is placed on more "important" matters, such as correct notes, rhythm, fingering, etc. (Which, don't get me wrong, are super important as well!) It is relatively easy to achieve correct notes and rhythm, but isn't our goal to actually make some beautiful music?

When slurs are learned, often the student learns to play them legato, or smooth and connected, and then they stop there...when really there is so much more to a slur or a phrase that can add so much musicality to a piece. Before we begin, let me just add that mastering the technique of phrasing is hugely important in making beautiful music, and while it takes some time and a lot of practice to master, it is something that can be introduced to the young beginner.

So let's talk slurs. We'll use a simple Bach Minuet for our example...(thanks 8notes.com for this image!)

Great, so we've got a lot of slurs here. What do we need to do first? That's right...play the slurred notes smooth and connected. We do lots of walking around the room in my studio to discover that you can't lift one foot up until your other one is touching the floor (unless of course you hop, but that would be staccato now, wouldn't it?) So first we...

1.) Play smooth & connected

But is that all there is to playing slurs? No-sir. We've got to somehow differentiate between each slur, or else it is going to sound like one big musical run-on sentence. (If you have a student who loves to read, they will definitely get this analogy.) There needs to be some kind of period or exclamation mark or question mark in between each "sentence" for it to make sense, right? So in music, we've got to have some kind of a break between each slur. I use lots of arrows in my students' pieces to remind them to gracefully lift their wrist up and bring their hand off of the keys to create a nice little break or "breath" between each phrase.

2) Lift your wrist up and take your hand off the keys to create a break between slurs

What, there's more? Yes! How about what to do within each slur to make each phrase as beautiful and musical as possible? Remember that a general rule in music is that when the melody line goes UP, the notes should get LOUDER. When it goes DOWN, they should get SOFTER. Help students find the peak or the high point of each phrase, and learn to crescendo up to it and diminuendo down from it. It's subtle but it's effective!

3) Use graded dynamics to follow the melodic line within each phrase

Another concept that is related to number three but is important enough to restate, is that a lot of the time phrases should taper off and get a little bit softer on the last note. The main reason for this is that you usually do not want the last note of a phrase accented, that would just sound and feel not musical. (Of course there are definitely situations where you should crescendo until the end of the phrase - like for example maybe the first phrase of this song!)

I had a piano teacher who taught me this principle by explaining that you wouldn't say my name "Jen-NY" with the second syllable accented. Try it - it just sounds weird, and not natural. Phrases in music should sound natural as well! When you taper off and say the second syllable softer, it sounds much nicer, and even more "musical" if you will - "JEN-ny." (Be careful before using this analogy, your student's name may have an accented last syllable and it'll kill your analogy! That happened with me and my student Nichole. Oops!)

4) Taper off (get softer) on the last note of a phrase (unless otherwise indicated)

And finally, you need to decide how each phrase should function (dynamically and otherwise) in relation to the phrases around it. We'll go more into this concept later, but it is important to notice if a phrase should be generally louder or softer than the previous phrase and the following phrase. In the Minuet, for example, the dynamic level is marked as piano, but you can tell that the second phrase should be a little louder (the notes go higher, and a crescendo is marked), and then the three phrases on the second line sort of gradually get softer, to create an overall crescendo/diminuendo effect that peaks at the end of the first line.

5) Decide how each phrase should function, dynamically and otherwise, within the context of other phrases

Well, that's all I've got for now...what are some ways you have come up with to teach your own students beautiful phrasing? Do you make sure they learn correct techniques for playing slurs right from the beginning, or is it something you find you need to focus on with your intermediate or advanced students?

Have a nice weekend!

Making Music Musical: Techniques of Musicality

2012-01-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

Good morning readers! I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend.

Something that I love about my piano studio right now is the variety of students I am able to teach. I have a great mix of ages and levels in my studio, from preschoolers to adults and beginners to more advanced students. It keeps me on my toes and helps keep things interesting.

This week I'd like to focus on some techniques for the intermediate to more advanced students (although these techniques could be applied on a simpler, smaller scale to students of any level, and a teacher would be wise to begin teaching these techniques right from the beginning!). I'd like to talk about ways to make music musical, and how to teach our students to play with artistry and beauty.

It is relatively easy to teach our students how to play the correct notes, rhythms, fingerings, and even basic dynamics. But what about making real music out of that combination of notes and rhythms? Let's talk about some specific techniques that can be applied to really make some music! Ready, go -

1) Finding the Balance

One of the most important techniques that a pianist can learn and master is the ability to achieve a good balance between hands, fingers, and musical lines. For example, let's take Romance, Op. 24 No. 9 by Sibelius - a great piano piece for working on musicality.

image source

Notice the repeated staccato D-flat major chords in the right hand (marked at piano) and the legato melody in the left hand (marked at mezzo-piano). In order to bring out the melody, the right hand chords must be played as quietly as possible to allow the listener to hear the left hand notes.

This technique of independence of hands (playing different dynamics or articulations with each hand at the same time) is easier said than done. I often have my students play small sections like this very slowly, with a lot of exaggeration to emphasize the difference between the two hands (playing the right hand super, super soft and as close to the keys as possible, while playing the left hand very loud and even staccato to really hone in on those contrasting dynamics. (Of course, in this example, you will eventually want to make the left hand smooth and legato and put a little bounce into the right hand - but at least that technique will help master the dynamics!) A good way to improve this technique is to take a scale or other simple exercise (Hanon works great) and practice playing one hand soft and the other hand loud, or one hand staccato and the other hand legato. It is good to switch off so each hand gets a chance to practice each technique.

Sometimes independence of fingers within the same hand is needed in order to bring out the top note of a chord, or the top line of the music (when the melody is played in the top notes of the right hand, for example). In the Sibelius example above, perhaps you'd like the top note of each chord in measure 6 to be a bit louder than the other notes. I find it helpful to visualize the top part of my hand (finger number five) as being heavier, or to lean into that side of the hand and use more weight on those top notes.

What are some ways that you teach independence of hands to your students? I'd love to hear your ideas! Stay tuned for more tips on making music musical!

Finger Numbers Treat

2012-01-13T20:16:00.000-07:00

Just a little something for fun.....

A few months ago I picked up a hand print cookie cutter at Hobby Lobby, and it came in handy during my preschool music class when we talked about piano finger numbers!

Happy weekend!

Thanks for the "rest!"

2012-01-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

After quite the long hiatus, I have decided that I need to return to the Teaching Studio! I am not sure how often I will be posting, but I have so many piano-related things on my mind that I probably need to write them down anyway. Plus, I miss it! I have been lurking around the music blog-o-sphere for awhile and thought it was time to show my face again! Thanks for the rest, readers o' mine!

I have been quite busy for the past few months - of course, having a baby will do that to you!

Aside from taking care of my little family and adjusting to life with two little ones, I have been teaching a lot! My students had a great recital in December - I even ambitiously decided (a week before the recital) to play Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu after not playing it for quite some time, and it went pretty well! My studio is just about as full as I want it, and I am just loving it.

I have also been SUPER busy planning, preparing for and teaching an amazingly fun preschool music class with a good friend and colleague of mine. We spent hours coming up with ideas, cutting lots of little things out (which our husbands teased us relentlessly about), making little crafts, writing lyrics to classical songs by Vivaldi, Smetana and others - and the class was a huge success. I loved it. My son loved it. We're probably going to be planning a level two course pretty soon. And I probably will be sharing some fun ideas - so stay tuned!

In the meantime, here is a fun little tidbit....we needed something for the kids to sit on to help keep things orderly and manageable in the class. We came up with these fun musical rest mats...(iron-on transfers are my new favorite thing!!)

Happy (belated) New Year...and welcome back to The Teaching Studio!

Practice Abacus

2011-09-19T08:30:00.001-06:00

Hi, I'm Jedda from This Little Project. I'm excited to be here and share a {little project} idea with you while Jenny is snuggling her baby--isn't she a darling!

This Practice Abacus is something we've enjoyed using in our home. {This Little Project} is perfect for back-to-school music practicing too.

It's magic! really!I call it the Abracadabra Practice Abacus.

You remember what an abacus is, right? It's kind of an old-school calculator--with the beads you move around to count things.

Well...Sometimes when I'm trying to encourage my kids with their music practice, we need a little magic to make it all happen--otherwise practicing is no {little project}. That's where the Abracadabra Practice Abacus comes in.

Each string has a number of beads or beads that spell a word. Want to know why?

Because: repetition is magic.

Kids like to do things once. But things don't improve much with one try. But give it a few consecutive tries and you'll get some nice progress! It's kind of like magic.

So, on the Abracadabra Practice Abacus you will find places to count 5 repetitions (see above), 4 repetitions, 3 repetitions, and 2 repetitions (rh/lh). That way there is a fun way to keep track of those repetition and make the magic happen!

Need some magic a your house? {This Little Project} might be your magic wand!

To make {This Little Project} you need:

a cereal box

a frame (matches the size of your mounting paper)

1/8 inch ribbon

beads (I used the same ones from {this little project}

Scissors

Brads

a piece of paper to mount it on (that fits your frame)

glue stick

binder clips

optional: overhead projector sheet (plastic)

Directions to make {This Little Project}:(hint: read all the directions before you start--I'm hoping this makes sense!)

First- cut your cereal box to the size of the paper you are mounting. Glue the paper to the cardboard.

Then decide where your lines of beads will go and mark the paper where the brads will go in.

If you think your Practice Abacus will get a lot of use you may want to put a overhead projector sheet over the top of the paper to mount the beads and brads on. It's kind of like laminating it. Use the binder clips to hold it on while you punch the holes.

I punched the holes with my scissors, but a different tool might be nice.

Cut your ribbon lengths at least 2 inches longer than they need to be to go across the paper because you will wrap the brads. You can trim the extra at the end.

The brad will hold the ribbon in place on the abacus. First thread it through the middle of the brad like this:

Then wrap it around the brad once like this, before putting it through the hole you created on the left side of the paper. Spread the brad open on the back of the cardboard to secure it.

Now just decide how many beads you want on that line of your abacus. Next thread your beads on the ribbon.

If you have room, you can put a brad in the middle of the paper (not just on the sides) so that you can have two different counters that move on the same ribbon line, like this one.

The RH/LH line we use for when Jay needs to do 2 repetitions of something on each hand.

The reason I did 2 different counters of 4 each like the one below is so that Jay can either count the word out or count with the numbers. He can also use it for doing 4 on one hand and 4 on the other hand. It's nice to be able to track how many and it's fun too!

Continue putting brads into the holes you marked until you have the number of counters you would like.

For my Practice Abacus I put the "3's" at the top, then the "4's", then the "5's", followed by the 2 (RH/LH) at the end.

Abracadabra, it's done!

Now watch the musical magic happen at your house as you use your Practice Abacus!

Thanks again Jenny for letting me stop by and share {this little project} on your fantastic blog!

Come on over to This Little Project for more music ideas with "music at my house" and other {little projects}!

Guest Contributor: Jedda Newton

2011-09-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

Well, I start teaching again this week and am excited to get back into piano and back to this fun blog! I am super excited to introduce a guest contributor today - Jedda Newton. Jedda has the cutest blog and has such fun music teaching ideas that can be used in your studio or in your home with young children. I am so excited about her guest post today! Let's get to know Jedda a little.

name:
Jedda Newton

from:
midwest

she is:
a wife, mother, piano teacher, violin teacher, blogger

she graduated from:
Brigham Young University in Piano Performance and Pedagogy

she recently:
My students performed an ensemble recital last week for residents of a care center. It was the the perfect way to celebrate all that the students learned this past summer!

currently:
Picking out fun Christmas tunes and new repertoire for students-so fun!

her studio:
Consists of 11 piano students and 2 violin students. Just enough to enjoy all the music making fun and keep the chaos of 3 little ones age 5 and under in check :)

she loves:
time with family, church, learning new things, reading, creating, making music, and seeing others succeed.

her website:
thislittleproject.blogspot.com
and she is the Movement and Music writer at: abcand123learning.com

Introducing...

2011-08-15T12:39:00.000-06:00

I'd like to introduce you all to my beautiful new daughter, Ella! She was born on Sunday afternoon, July 31 and she is just perfect. She is such a wonderful baby and we are just in love. I am so enjoying a little break from teaching and all things piano, and being able to focus on my sweet kids. I will be back though, so don't go too far! I hope you are all having a wonderful summer!

fun with short and long notes!

2011-06-22T13:11:00.000-06:00

At our piano camp today we talked about how some notes are short and others are LONG. We had some fun playing some short-sounding rhythm instruments (like drums and rhythm sticks) and some LONG instrument sounds (like a rain stick!), and also playing short and long on the piano.

I love the little song in Faber's My First Piano Adventures Lesson Book 1 called "Will You Play?" - students get to sit down at the piano and improvise a super fun duet with the teacher, following directions such as "will you play some white keys softly please?", "will you play some long sounds now with me?" and "will you play some short sounds now with me?" The kids loved playing this fun song, and did so well playing long sounds and short sounds!

And because there is not much that is more fun for kids than a bottle of Elmer's glue and a whole bunch of craft supplies (seriously, they were in heaven!) we then moved to the table where we learned about Beethoven's Symphony #5, and the kids got to pick short things and long things to "notate" the theme of the symphony! Pom poms, marshmallows, and googly eyes are perfect for short notes, while popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners and pasta are great long notes! We sang along as we listened to the music - "short-short-short-LOOOONG...." and I think the kids enjoyed learning that Beethoven started piano lessons when he was four years old - just like many of them!

You'll have to excuse me...

2011-06-14T12:41:00.000-06:00

...if my posts get fewer and further between over the next little while! My summer is getting a bit crazy with preparations for baby, family medical things, teaching piano, recruiting new students for fall, finishing up planning/teaching a preschool piano camp, and life in general. But hopefully I'll still be around every so often to share some things...we shall see! Happy summer teaching!

Introducing Classical Music to Children

2011-05-30T06:00:00.029-06:00

A friend recently emailed a wonderful NPR article to me about introducing classical music to kids. I think it makes an excellent point that children really are so open to experiencing great music, and that we should give them opportunities to listen to and experience the classics. I know that my own son loves music, and especially seems to react wonderfully to the classics - singing classical tunes over and over during playtime, dancing around the room to a Beethoven sonata, listening so intently (and seeming to be so almost moved) by beautiful orchestra works.

I love this paragraph from the article:

The music belongs to children just as much it belongs to "us" — the ones with the years of listening experience, who have already absorbed current conventions of concert-going practice (don't applaud between movements, obey the dress code, etc.), and who might well have had years of formal training. Classical music isn't a museum piece to be looked at and not touched, as it were.

From the video included at the end of the article, I also discovered some fun videos for youngsters about classical music. Take a look!

Let's play!

2011-05-25T06:00:00.021-06:00

I was recently told by a family member about a music program for children called Let's Play Music. I was perusing their website and just had to share this video about the program...it not only looks like a fabulous program for young children (and so much fun!), but made me SO excited about teaching music to youngsters! I love their philosophy that music is learned best through play; I think that it is so important to help young children experience the fun and joy in music. I feel so motivated and inspired to make my own preschool program tons of fun as well!

Preschool Music: Methods & Schools of Thought

2011-05-23T06:00:00.141-06:00

So, my mind has been on early childhood music education a lot lately (remember my preschool piano camp?).

my darling son!

I think it's probably in large part because I have a three-year-old son who loves music. I loved what Heather Wilson said in her guest post about the seasons of our lives. I feel like in my life and the season I am in right now (being a young mom to a preschooler), my son's age and development seem to be guiding my musical activities a bit....and I love it! I want him to have access to a great music education, if he so desires, and I love teaching these preschool classes that he can attend with me and we can learn and play together!

We have visited the topic of preschool music a lot here lately, but this week I'd like to delve a little deeper (honestly, because I am so interested in this topic right now - hopefully some of you are as well!). I'd like to talk about the different "schools of thought" of early childhood music education this week, and learn a little more about the people who greatly influenced this movement. I also am so interested in all of the different preschool music methods and programs out there, so we might mention some of those as well.

Digging through my old college notes, I have found so many interesting things to re-read and to research a bit. Here are a few quick tidbits, including a little research on musicality in children, and some basic information on the great influences on preschool music (and please click on the links to learn more if you so desire!).

A little research and some facts about musicality in children, by age

Ages 2 1/2-3: recognition and imitation of folk tunes, often in the form of multiple repetitions of learned fragments and variations; by the end of the third year of life a rhythmic structure is learned

Ages 3-4: capable of reproducing an entire song, as far as overall contour goes (accurate pitch is not always possible)

Age 5: able to keep a steady beat, sing an entire song in the same key with an increasing awareness of pitch

"Critical to musical development in the earliest years is the home environment. Opportunities, not just to hear music, but to interact in musical games and activities is critical to emotional and psychological development....It is becoming increasingly apparent that all human beings are biologically predisposed to be musical and that this inborn predisposition for musicality has important consequences for us not only artistically, but emotionally and socially, as well."

from "Musicality from Birth to Five" by Donald A. Hodges

Influences on Early Childhood Music

Emile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950)

Basics of his philosophy: full body movement (eurythmic practices), solfege and aural training, keyboard improvisation. Sound can be translated into motion and motion can be translated into sound.

Learn more: here

Carl Orff (1895-1982)

Basics of his philosophy: teaching rhythm and melody with speech, singing, movement and percussion instruments; instrument performance and personal expression
Learn more: here

Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967)
Basics of his philosophy: Music literacy through native folk songs; melodic and rhythmic perception come from use of patterns in singing games and folk songs; solfege
Learn more: here

Now, I would love to hear what specific preschool music programs you teach, have taught, have enrolled your children in or that you have heard about - leave a comment telling us what the program is (whether it be Kindermusik, Musikgarten, Let's Play Music, etc.) and what you like about it!

Weekend Repertoire: La fille aux cheveux de lin

2011-05-21T06:00:00.096-06:00

Today's piece: La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Hair), by Debussy

Level: Early Advanced

Teaches: sound, color, impressionism, attention to rhythm, playing big, interesting chords

Listen: to this video of Michelangeli performing this piece (such a beautiful recording!); or, how about a gorgeous violin version?

Find the music: in this great collection of Debussy's Preludes, Book 1

This gorgeous piece is one that is close to my heart, as it is in my mind the first "real" difficult classical piano piece I learned.

I began piano lessons while in the first grade, and took for about six and a half years from a wonderful woman in my neighborhood who taught me to love the piano. I loved piano lessons, but as I progressed quickly I soon outgrew her experience and training. I played through ALL of the levels of the Schaum and Eckstein method books while taking lessons from her, and then near the end of my time taking lessons from her she found me a book of piano classics.

I am ever grateful for my Dad, who always listened to classical music at home and even played a little by ear on the piano. He had a "favorite song" that he encouraged me to learn on my own - Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin. Really it was far above the level of the pieces I was learning at the time, but I was ready and loved the challenge. I learned it quickly and memorized it on my own. When I auditioned to study with my new teacher while I was in the seventh grade, I played this piece for her. I remember her smiling after I played it and saying something like, "How fitting - the girl with the flaxen hair is playing The Girl with the Flaxen Hair!"

So, I count this piece as the piece I have known the longest. I absolutely love it and it means a lot to me! Its beautiful harmonies are gorgeous and so fun to play.

When teaching this piece, it is so important to help our students learn how to produce a beautiful sound. Concepts such as tone and color can be introduced or developed using this piece. It is a great piece to use to teach impressionism. I think it is helpful to listen to versions of this piece played on different instruments (such as the violin version linked to above) and to have them listen specifically for tone colors and sound that they can strive to produce on the piano.

Aside from all of these important sound qualities of this piece, I think that RHYTHM is very important when learning this prelude. If we are not careful, it is easy to get lazy with the rhythms and not hold notes at the end of phrases long enough. In fact, I have the tendency to shortchange some of these rhythms myself, having learned it a bit incorrectly in certain places. I like to have my students learn this piece with the metronome, paying strict attention to the rhythms and counting out loud. Try it out - you may be surprised at some of the rhythms! After the rhythms are learned correctly and solidified, the student can then add in their rubato and expression on top of the framework of the correct rhythm.

I just love this piece! What piece is near and dear to your heart?

Summer Teaching Ideas

2011-05-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

Summer is a great time for piano lessons. Unfortunately, many students (and parents) think that summer is a time for taking a break from piano lessons! This is so sad to me, because not only do students lose ground (and have to spend the first month or two of the fall making it up), they also lose the extra opportunities that the summer provides. Make sure your students know that you will continue teaching through the summer, and talk to them about the fun things you will be doing in their lessons.

(On a scheduling note, what I do is ask parents to tell me up front the dates of any family vacations, summer camps, and other conflicts. Usually these types of things are scheduled well in advance. I then look at where the holes in my schedule will be, and put students in those holes when they are in town—which means they will sometimes come twice in a week or for a double lesson (more about those later)—to make up for when they will be out of town. This way my income stays fairly consistent, and I don't have a huge list of makeup lessons to do at the end of the summer.)

Here are some of the things I do with my students during the summer that we don't always have time for during the school year:

Composing: We have a composition recital at the end of each summer, and we also put together a book of everyone's compositions as a keepsake. Having the students learn to notate their own compositions is also a valuable theory lesson.
Playing by ear: Make a list of well-known tunes and send your students home each week with a melody to figure out by ear. If this is easy for them, have them add LH chords and try different keys. If they master that, have them experiment with different arrangements—break up the LH chords, add harmonic notes in the RH under the melody, move the melody to the LH, etc.
Improvising: This is related to playing by ear, but more on-the-spot, and could use a familiar melody or a composed one. Teach about chord progressions and melodic construction. For beginners, have the student improvise the melody while you play the chords. Try having the student use only black keys while you play a repeating chord progression in the key of F#.
Jazz: Okay, I don't really teach a lot of this, since I am not well-trained in jazz techniques myself, but I thought I'd include it since it's a good idea. And you might have some extra time to take a class yourself and learn some techniques to pass on to your students.
Transposing: Start with simple folk tunes and move on to more complicated pieces. Students have to read completely by intervals which is great for their sight-reading as well.
Theory: Ha! Of course your students do their theory diligently throughout the school year, so why have I included this? Because even the best students occasionally get out of the habit of completing those weekly theory assignments, and the summer is a great time to set some new goals and re-commit. Theory is also an essential part of all of the things I have listed so far, so if you are teaching composition, improv, etc. your students need to understand the theory behind what they are doing.
Duets/Trios/Quartets: We have an ensemble recital every summer, which is a great opportunity for students to make new friends and experience the pleasure of making music in groups—something which the solitary pianist rarely gets to do.
Accompanying: For another type of ensemble experience, find a voice or instrumental teacher that you can do a combined recital with, and match up your students with soloists or groups that need an accompanist. The skills they develop will be among the most valuable they can gain in their time with you.
Sight-Reading: This is another skill that is extremely valuable, and will be the determining factor in whether or not your students continue to play the piano after they stop lessons (which 99% of students eventually do, even those of us who study it in college). Use the more relaxed pace of summer lessons to spend extra time on sight-reading skills.
Basic Skills: flashcard quizzes, review of intervals, counting, etc. If these skills are not completely mastered, what better way could you use your time? Use the summer to conquer them once and for all.

Regarding double lessons/multiple lessons in a week: there are so many valuable things to fill this time with! Use the extra time to practice with the student and teach practice skills in more depth than you usually have time for. Or spend the extra time working on a new composition, learning to improvise, doing flashcards, or working on sight-reading skills. These double lessons can be some of your best lessons if you use the time well and take advantage of the momentum you can maintain in a longer lesson.

I hope these ideas are helpful as you are looking forward to summer this year. Please share more ideas in the comments!

Summer Teaching Survey Results

2011-05-18T09:08:00.000-06:00

Thanks to all who responded to our survey! I loved reading your great ideas for summer lessons. Anyone have other ideas to add?

Tell us about summertime in your music studio - what do you do differently? What fun camps or activities do you have planned? What does your summer look like this year?

This summer I am doing a 6 week course called "A Classical Summer". Each student will be assigned a classical composer to learn about. 1-2 songs from that composer will be learned. Our weekly 30 minute lesson will be less formal as we work on compiling information on the composer & how to put the "report" together. We'll be doing more hands on activities as well. On week 6, a group lesson will be held for each student to give a creative "report" on their assigned composer & then play their learned pieces. I have talked with my Piano Technician & scheduled a group lesson for week 4 to have him come & talk to the students about the piano, how it works, what "tuning" is, & also general information for the parents on what to look for when searching for a used piano to buy. I am excited to start summer lessons already!

I give students the option of four to eight lessons, paying four lessons in advance. We schedule on an individual basis, and we only do fun pieces of their choice and popular repertoire. If they are beginners, we continue in the lesson books. I always look forward to the break from every day teaching, and I enjoy looking for new music, attending workshops at my local music stores, and organizing my studio.

I require each student to pay for eight lessons. That gives me a few off, them a few off, but keeps them fairly consistent in lessons. I also try to be more flexible with scheduling. Students who want more than eight lessons can pay for the extra lessons one at a time. I tend to do more games in lessons and work on fun songs to keep summer exciting!

I offer "packages"of either 4, 6, or 8 lessons where families choose to take that many lessons during the summer. Once upon a time when I made my packages larger (8 or 10 lessons), I had so many families that didn't take lessons because they didn't want that many. I figure I would rather see students (and get paid for) 4 lessons than nothing. Generally all my students take lessons, with the exception of those that are out of town all summer. Families choose which days they come and request times that work best (mornings, late afternoons or evenings). I don't promise them the same time each week they come like I would during the school year. I also offer a summer piano session where students without a piano come and take 6 lessons, usually 1 lesson each week. This is like a merger between standard private lessons and a piano camp. Obviously students aren't excepted to practice on a piano between lessons (I encourage them to practice finger numbers, note names, etc) and if they wish to buy a piano and keep taking lesson in the fall, I essentially start from the beginning again. Currently about half the students that do the trial session continue with lessons so it's a great way to acquire new students. (it's essentially a 6 week interview, so I know what to expect come fall!)

My summer is the same as usual. In my part of the world, Canada, kids go to school from Labour day until the end of June, so we break for the summer and come back refreshed and ready to go when school starts in September.

Summer Piano Movie Night!

2011-05-16T06:00:00.078-06:00

There are lots of great flicks out there about the piano and music, or that feature some great piano performances - many of which might be great for showing clips of at a studio class of some sort, or for curling up and having your very own summer piano movie night!

They Came to Play
This is a film about the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation. An inspiring film for any pianist - even for those who may take a few years off for some reason or other (which I love because as a young mother it is hard to find the time to practice!). I know that this film is available for instant streaming on Netflix!

The Music Instinct: Science & Song (PBS)
This is a fascinating documentary about the relationship between music and the brain. Also available on Netflix instant streaming, for those of you who do Netflix.

The Art of Piano: Great Pianists of the 20th Century

I have yet to watch this whole film, but recently discovered it on YouTube and I am so excited to watch it and learn more about famous pianists!

Note By Note: The Making of Steinway L1037
I just barely started watching this a couple of days ago and still need to finish it, but find it so interesting! I think it's wonderful to learn about the process of making a great piano. This is also available on Netflix!

Any Victor Borge special!
Who doesn't love Victor Borge? I think I may need to add this to my wishlist!

How about some Marx Brothers?
I was introduced to the Marx Brothers by my husband and in-laws, and these are so fun to watch! These guys are really so talented. You gotta love their technique, especially their glissandos!

What other movies would you add to the list?

Weekend Repertoire: Album Leaf by Gliere

2011-05-14T06:00:00.054-06:00

Today's piece: Album Leaf, Op. 31, No. 11, from 12 Children's Pieces, by Reinhold Gliere (who, by the way, taught Prokofiev at the Moscow Conservatory)
Level: Late intermediate
Teaches: Artistry, including beautiful phrasing, graded dynamics, sound production, playing with expression, rubato - you name it, this piece is very Romantic with a slightly modern twist!
Listen: I wish I could find a recording, but I can't!
Find the music: I found it in this great Repertoire book by Lynn Freeman Olson. I have also seen it online here and here.

So I found this great little piece while playing through some music I have. It is perfect for the late intermediate student to work on artistry. It is the subtle nuance, the slight change of color and sound, and the careful phrasing that will make this short little Romantic piece, or break it. If you can help your student to achieve a truly beautiful performance of this piece, the audience will be on the edge of their seats, enchanted by the beautiful harmonies and use of dynamics. I think the thing I love about this piece are the beautiful dissonant harmonies that resolve so subtly and beautifully. It makes me want to watch some old classic romance, like An Affair to Remember. sigh....

Planning a Piano Camp

2011-05-11T06:00:00.129-06:00

Today I wanted to talk about planning a piano camp! I'm going to share a few ideas and suggestions, and I hope that many of you readers (who have planned many more camps than I have!) will share your suggestions and wisdom as well.

Things to consider when planning a piano camp:

What age group/level will your camp be available to? - the camps I have planned have been for preschoolers age 3-5 :)

Who is your target audience in advertising for your camp? Is it current students who are already in your studio? Or are you using this as a tool to find new students in the community? Are you advertising to the community at large? To friends and neighbors? To people who attend your church?

How many days/how long will your camp run? We decided on five 50-minute sessions during one week's time. The last day is a Parents' Day where the parents come and join in, see what their children have been learning and hear a little "recital," then we give out certificates and present the children with their binders of camp activities to take home.

What do you want the focus of your camp to be? Music theory? Performance? Music appreciation? Duets/ensemble playing? Piano fundamentals? - the purpose of my camp is to introduce preschoolers to music and to the piano, and we teach piano fundamentals, music & movement, basic music theory, etc.

Are you going to use an already-prepared curriculum, or write your own? I wrote my own curriculum, and started out by jotting down all sorts of game/activity ideas and brainstorming with the other instructor. We decided on a few main concepts that we wanted to teach, and went from there.

Scheduling activities/planning the curriculum: we found it helpful to have a similar schedule/routine each day of the camp - this helped in planning and is nice to have a predictable routine for the kids to count on. We broke the activities into different categories, such as instruction/story time (we taught a lot of keyboard concepts in the form of a story of some sort - it really captured their attention!), music & movement activities (which usually got them up and moving around while learning different concepts), table time (where we would either do some kind of craft or review/learning activity while sitting at a table), time at the piano, etc. We found that it was important to have a variety of activities, and to break up the high-energy games with some lower-energy, sit-down activities.

What materials will you need? How much will the materials cost? What preparations need to be done beforehand? - this was a big consideration for us because we wanted to send each student home with a binder of camp games and activities so they could review what we learned at home; this turned into a BIG job of making binders, but we loved the end result! We have learned to look for good deals on the materials we need, and to think of ways to streamline the preparation of the materials to save time. We also sent each student home with a camp t-shirt!

How much will you charge? Will you charge a materials fee and then a tuition fee, or just have it all in one? How much do you need to charge to cover all material costs and have enough left over to cover your time? How much can you charge and still make it affordable to your target audience? This is the topic that we probably debated on the most - we wanted to make our camp affordable (many of the people we advertised to are families with young children who live in our area with a parent attending medical or some other school), but of course we still wanted to make some money. This is a topic that can be discussed a lot, but I think in general if you make it comparable to a month's worth of piano lessons, that is a pretty good guide to go by.

What ideas and suggestions do you have for planning piano camps? What kind of piano camps do YOU have planned for this summer?

Summer in My Studio

2011-05-10T06:00:00.002-06:00

Ah, summer! For a piano teacher, summer can mean different things - maybe it's a not-as-busy time with students taking a little time off; maybe it is busier than ever (but also more fun than ever!) with summer camps and programs! Although we have visited this topic before, I thought that with the summer fast approaching it would be a good topic to revisit!

What kinds of things do you like to do in your studio in the summer?

My summer (as far as piano teaching goes) will be like this:

*teaching as normal, except that I am more flexible with scheduling due to family vacations and the like; students still pay in advance at the beginning of the month, but we sit down and pull out the calendar in advance to decide how many lessons each student will receive.

*a friend and I will be holding the second session of our Early Expressions Piano Preschool Camp! We are super excited. More on planning a summer camp later...

*my baby will arrive at the end of July, so I will be taking off all of August and half of September for a maternity leave of sorts. Before that happens, I plan to come up with plenty of things for each student to work on/practice for that month and a half while I am not teaching! I am thinking memorizing pieces, doing some listening assignments to become more familiar with some great piano literature, theory and ear training practice online, and "checking in" with me periodically via email.

So, tell me, what does your summer look like this year?

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Weekend Repertoire: Fairy Pieces from Prokofiev's Cinderella Suite

2011-05-07T06:00:00.062-06:00

Since we've been discussing ways to motivate ourselves to practice, I thought for Weekend Repertoire this week I'd share a piece I am working on a bit!

Actually, it is four pieces - they come from Prokofiev's Cinderella Suite, op. 97, which is his piano arrangement of music from his ballet Cinderella. I first discovered this work in college, and immediately loved it! The four pieces that caught my attention from this collection are the four fairy pieces - Spring Fairy, Summer Fairy, Autumn Fairy and Winter Fairy.

These are short pieces which are so fun and imaginative, and I love how they really evoke distinct feelings about each of the different seasons. For example, Spring Fairy is fast and full of life, while Summer Fairy totally sounds to me like a hot, sunny, lazy summer day (speaking of which, I am about to experience my first San Antonio summer, and I'm getting a bit nervous with April temperatures already being consistently in the 90's....and I am just about to enter my third trimester of pregnancy....wish me luck!!).

If you are not familiar with these pieces, they are so fun to discover! You can listen to some mp3 samples by pianist Frederic Chiu here.

The sheet music seems a bit hard to come by - amazon.com says it is currently unavailable, but it looks like you may be able to purchase it from sheetmusicplus.com.

View the orchestral/ballet version of Summer Fairy here:

Survey Results: Motivating Ourselves to Practice

2011-05-06T06:00:00.034-06:00

Thank you to all who participated in our survey! We had some wonderful feedback and I really loved reading your comments. I think there is so much we can all learn from each other, so thanks for participating!

Question #1: Are you able to practice consistently?

Question #2: What inspires or motivates you to practice?

Performance assignments
Leaving a piece I really want to learn or love on the piano where I can see it. It somehow makes me feel guilty that it's just sitting there.
When I imagine myself with my goal completed. (I am working on my ARCT in piano pedagogy).
When I see myself making progress through practicing. -It's kind of a good cycle if I can just keep it going!!
When I hear other pianists, or even my students, how can I tell them to have meaningful practice time if I don't do it myself?
I am a graduate student in music performance. Also, it's my favorite part of the day!
I just started taking lessons again as an adult. I am enjoying it but find it can hard to practice as much as I would like.
Singing or playing songs for my children
Needing to know a piece by a certain time; Feeling like I've actually improved or learned something better
A piece I enjoy
Setting "Performance Dates" for Church, talent shows, and also playing for the elderly in the Assisted Living Homes around town.
I love the effect it has on my children.. when I practice they seem to want to follow my example. Its also fun to watch my little ones move rhythmically or dance to the music I'm playing. But having deadlines - like performing for a group lesson helps too.

Question #3: Do you use any specific tools to help you practice -

like a practice chart, a list, an iPod app, a planner, etc.?

Sometimes a list
Stickers, pencils and pens, jotting down practice time
Nope! But I probably should!
Nope. Just rely on the guilt & the over whelming feeling that time is running out before the "date" is here!

Question #4: What have you learned in your own practicing that has made you a better

teacher, or that has helped teach your own students how to practice?

how to listen and evaluate
It finally occurred to me that I should be taking notes about how I practice. I haven't yet shared it but it has just made me more conscious of WHAT I am doing and the rationale behind it.
Practicing again makes me realize how much discipline it takes. Just because I'm playing advanced repertoire doesn't mean it gets any easier to practice. It helps remind me to keep motivating my students and to help them realize that it is not always fun, but it is so worth the work. I love seeing the same pleasure in their eyes that I have when I learn a piece well.
that practicing takes effort and attention, it is more productive to identify the areas of concern and break the song into smaller sections than to mindlessly play the whole thing from beginning to end over and over.
I find that half the time what gets told to me by my teacher when I get frustrated, is usually something I'VE said to one of MY students! :o)
Fingering is so important - do that first and the memorization will be much easier.
Don't practice the entire piece every time; don't practice mistakes over and over - isolate and fix them; don't "over-practice" a song and become bored with it - let it rest a few days
Practice makes perfect. It affirms how much practice is essential to progress.
To teach my students how to do everything that I DON'T! I'm definitely a work in progress:)
Practicing small sections slowly and plenty of repetition are imperative... even though I still find it tempting to just want to play through a song w/ the stumbles some times. I still love that feeling of accomplishment that comes after putting in the time and patience to conquer a challenge spot. Its always nice to reward yourself when you reach your goal.............. for me that might mean some chocolate or a bowl of ice cream!

Famous Pianists: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

2011-05-04T06:00:00.005-06:00

I am excited to feature another famous pianist on The Teaching Studio today! I am so enjoying learning a little more about the great pianists, and so grateful for YouTube and all of the wonderful historical recordings there that are available to watch. :) My sources for this post include Schonberg's The Great Pianists: From Mozart to the Present, and http://www.arturobenedettimichelangeli.com/.

"It is not a profession to be a pianist and musician. It is a philosophy, a conception of life that cannot be based on good intentions or natural talent. First and foremost there must be a spirit of sacrifice."

-Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Today's pianist: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Born: January 5, 1920 in Brescia, Italy

Died: June 12, 1995 in Lugano, Italy

About the man: Michelangeli began his musical training at the age of four, and at fourteen he launched his concert career. At age 19 he won the first prize of the prestigious Geneva International Competition. His importance as a towering figure among 20th-century pianists was coined by pianist Cortot's saying "Here is a new Liszt." Along with performing, Michelangeli dedicated himself "with great enthusiasm" to his teaching activities. He is the only Italian pianist of his century (until Pollini) to achieve an international reputation.

Characteristics of his playing: Schonberg puts Michelangeli in the same class as Horowitz and Richter as "one of the great colorists." He is a legend as a "playing machine," and some of his colleagues put him in the Horowitz class as a "super-virtuoso." (Schonberg, p. 461). Schonberg says, "Some of his playing is startling in its sheer pianistic polish and perfection. His fingers can no more hit a wrong note or smudge a passage than a bullet can be veered off course once it has been fired...[He is a] complete master of tonal application, as evidenced in his performance of Gaspard de la nuit...The puzzling part about him [is that] in many pieces of the romantic repertoire he seems unsure of himself emotionally, and his otherwise direct playing is then laden with expressive devices that disturb the musical flow."

Repertoire: Debussy, Ravel, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt

Videos

I am unable to embed this video of Michelangeli's performance of Debussy's La fille aux cheveux de lin

I wish this were a video, but I couldn't pass up posting this incredible recording of Michelangeli performing Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit.

sweet deals on piano music at amazon.com

2011-05-02T21:39:00.000-06:00

A few months ago as I was purchasing music for some students, I discovered that amazon.com had a great 4-for-3 deal on many items, including a lot of piano books (and if you know me, you know I love a great deal)! I'm not sure how long this promotion will be going on, but it is still going on and I thought I'd share it with you!

This is a great opportunity to build up your teaching library at a discounted rate, or to simply get some great deals to save your students some money. Or, if you need 3 books for students, you can buy those (still saving a little money for them because you don't pay sales tax on amazon.com) and then get a free book to build up your own library. The way it works is that when you purchase 3 qualifying items, you get a 4th (of equal or lesser value) for free! Look for "Special Offers Available" on the product page (as seen below), then scroll down to make sure it qualifies for the 4-for-3 promotion.

I have gone through and found a whole bunch of method and repertoire books that qualify, but I know there are many, many more!

Music for Little Mozarts

Faber's My First Piano Adventures

Faber's Piano Adventures

Succeeding with the Masters

Bastien Piano Literature

Discovering Piano Literature (Alfred Masterworks Editions)

Principles of Efficient Practicing

2011-05-02T06:00:00.043-06:00

In light of our current topic, today I'd like to talk about principles of efficient practicing. This topic will especially apply to busy moms with clambering children, working adults with limited time, teenagers pulled in all directions by extra-curricular activities, young piano students just learning how to practice...ok, so basically, this is for EVERYONE!!

When practicing time is limited, how can we accomplish more in a short amount of time? Even if practicing time is not as limited, what are some ways we can get much more out of our practicing? Here are some ideas:

Have a goal - if you don't have a specific goal in mind during a practice session, you won't accomplish as much! A great goal is to learn a specific, short section of a piece.
Pick your fingering - Decide on a fingering from the get-go and stick with it! I like to write in a lot of my fingerings to make sure I play it the same way each time, which helps me to learn a piece much faster.
Make it musical as you go - Learn articulations, phrasing, and dynamics as you learn the notes. Don't learn notes and rhythms for the entire piece and THEN add in musical elements. Why not learn it right the first time?
Small sections - Learn a piece in SMALL sections, right hand alone, left hand alone, together
Memorize from day 1 - Ideally, if you are learning a piece that you love and you really want to learn it well, it is much easier to memorize it as you learn it! When I do this it helps me to learn the notes much better and more efficiently.
Analyze as you learn the piece! Notice and write down chord progressions, scales used in melodic material, bass notes, etc. This is also a great memory tool. It also ensures you are not learning it purely by muscle memory
Work on a different section at each practice session. Don't always just start at the beginning.
Stay focused! You will be surprised how much you can accomplished in just 10 or 15 minutes.

What are some principles of efficient practicing that you have learned and that work well for you?

Weekend Repertoire: Teaching Fugues

2011-04-30T06:00:00.145-06:00

For this week's Weekend Repertoire feature I'd like to discuss teaching (and learning!) fugues! Fugues can be some of the most beautiful and rewarding pieces to learn as a pianist, but are also some of the most challenging to learn and to perform well. A pianist who is able to learn a fugue well is a pianist who is a careful and efficient practicer and a musician who has trained their ears well to listen to the sounds and dynamics coming out of the piano. One must possess good independence of hands and fingers to play a fugue well. All of these more advanced skills are difficult to learn, but are so important to the development of a fine pianist. I'd like to share a few tips on how to teach (and to learn!) fugues; hopefully some of them will come in handy, and hopefully others will have tips of their own to share!

First of all, what are some good, easier fugues to start out with? Although not necessarily fugues, the Bach Two-Part Inventions and Three-Part Inventions are excellent to start with! Because many fugues have four or five parts, it is great to begin with only two parts to keep track of. I started learning inventions in junior high - I'd say they are probably late-intermediate (depending on the invention!). Some collections of Bach's Inventions:

Listen: Bach's Two-Part Invention No. 1, performed by Glenn Gould

Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier is an excellent collection of preludes and fugues that every pianist should be familiar with. I would say that a good one to begin with would be either Fugue No. 2 in C minor (Book 1) or Fugue No. 21 in B-flat Major (Book 1). Of course there are many other fugues out there by Bach and other composers.

Tips for Learning a Fugue

Analyze - find the theme and mark it whenever it appears in any voice with a colored pencil or highlighter. You may also want to mark any thematic material that is similar to the theme, but not the theme exactly. Since there are so many different voices going on at once, it is imperative that you know which voice to bring out at any time. You want to be able to hear the theme whenever it appears, not just the top voice in the right hand.
Listen to recordings - I always find this helpful when just starting out learning a fugue. I like to listen to a good recording while following along in the music and marking different voices and statements of the theme.
Write in the fingerings! - I like to go through the piece and decide from the very beginning which fingerings to use. There will be so much going on during the piece that you want to have solid fingerings right from the beginning. This will help you to learn the fugue so much faster and more efficiently. Always use the same fingerings, each time you practice!
Start learning the fugue! - Oh yes, did I mention that it is good to have all of these things done and written in before you actually start to practice the piece? With a fugue especially, it's good to have a solid plan before getting started.
Learn in very small sections - this will help you to learn correct notes, fingerings, rhythms, and phrasing as you go. A fugue can be a little daunting to learn, but if you take it in very small bites it is very doable!

Analyzing a Fugue

So, for the purpose of this post, I made a copy of Bach's Fugue No. 2 in C minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1) and pretended like I was about to learn it (I actually learned it years ago...). Here is what I might do if I were to start learning this today. Here are the first two pages for your enjoyment :) Oh and my analysis is, of course, very technical (not!) - but I basically just wanted to give you some ideas.

First, I have highlighted the theme, every time it occurs in its full form, in yellow. I want to bring that out so you can hear it in each voice.

Next, I bracketed or highlighted other thematic material in blue. Sorry it's a little hard to see - there is some on the last line of page 1, some on line 2 of page 2, and other random bits of it scattered throughout. These are sections that are very close to the theme, but that vary a bit.

Then I discovered this little secondary theme made up of eighth notes in a pattern of three notes slurred and one note staccato (know that this articulation will vary a LOT depending on your edition or on the pianist who made the recording you listen to!), and marked it with a purple star whenever that occurred. Although secondary to the main theme, this stuff is also important and should come out a bit, especially if there is no theme going on as well.

And lastly, there is a bunch of other stuff going on, such as long sections of sixteenth note material, which I marked with a brown bracket. At a lot of these sections, I would probably bring these sixteenth note phrases out with some graded dynamics and nice phrasing of some sort.

Anyway, you get the general idea! I would listen to several recordings of this to hear different interpretations, because they will vary so much depending on the pianist.

What fugue-learning-tips-o-awesomeness do you have to add to the list? :)

Squeezing In Piano Practicing

2011-04-28T08:21:00.000-06:00

guest post by Heather Husted Wilson

The Seasons come and go...

We see the flowers bud – we know it is Spring.

We feel the sun shine fiercely on our backs – we know it is Summer.

We see the leaves turn shades of yellow, orange and red- we know it is Fall.

We see the clean white snow fall from the heavens and coat the Earth – we know it is Winter.

Then the snow melts and the rotation begins again.

The Seasons of our lives are the same…

There are seasons of learning and growth, pain and joy, stress and relaxation, work and play.

They come and go…and then come and go all over again.

How does this relate to Practicing?

I’m sure if you look back on your life you can see that with each season of YOUR life…

your practicing habits and schedule has changed right along with each change in life’s seasons.

So where are you now?

Are you a student? Are you married? Do you work full time? Do you have one or more children?

Are you in a season of 4-8 hours, 1-4 hours, 30 minutes, or 15 minutes of practicing?

How does your practicing correlate with the specific season of life YOU are experiencing right now?

Each one of us have different schedules and responsibilities, but one thing remains the same…

we ALL wish we could squeeze in a few more hours in each day to accomplish more!

Please tell me you are nodding your head right now…

So is it possible to create more time in your day to accomplish all the things you desire?

I believe it is.

It isn’t easy. It won’t be perfect. It will require YOU to make some decisions and work out the kinks.

But it’s possible…and YOU CAN DO IT!

First let’s figure out the things your heart most desires.

Go grab a piece of paper and a pen.

Yes, I mean right now…I’ll wait.

You back already? Wow…you're fast! Okay, here we go…

What do you love to do? What do you do that makes you feel alive…makes you feel like YOU?

Now make a list answering these questions.

You have your list? Okay…good.

I’m assuming since you are reading this blog you love creating, performing and/or teaching music.

Is that on your list? That MUST be on your list!

Well, we all know that those three things require practice.

So how can you find time to squeeze in practicing?

You must MAKE time.

1. Break out your calendar.

If your schedule doesn’t permit practicing everyday…figure out which days you CAN practice and write them down.

I have one or two specific things each day of the week that MUST be done that day!

i.e. Monday is “cleaning house” and “laundry” day, Tuesday is a “teaching” day, etc.

I then, work my schedule from there. That way, the BIG things get done each day and I feel accomplished even if some of the smaller things get left for another day.

So go make some of those days in your week “practicing” days.

Decide what is going to work for you and write it down!

Seriously…go grab your calendar – NOW!

2. Set a specific time aside.

Don’t just wait for the perfect moment to smack you in the forehead. It isn’t going to happen. I haven’t ever found my life to work out that way…I always seem to find something else to use up my time.

Go back to that calendar and write down what TIME you are going to sit down with your music. Treat it like a doctor’s appointment – if you don’t show you will have to pay a $25 ‘no show’ fee and you are NOT going to throw away $25!!!

Don’t allow anything else to get in the way of your appointment with your instrument.

For example, a while ago I really wanted to try a new workout routine. With my schedule I just couldn’t figure out how to squeeze in an extra hour each day so I woke up early to get my work out done before my boys woke up.

Now, if you know me well, you know that waking up…especially early…is NOT something I do especially well. It’s a HUGE sacrifice!

But my desire to try the new routine overrode my inability to wake up and I did it…every single day at 6am for several months in a row!

Squeezing in something you LOVE to do will make you feel like a million bucks and it will change the way you live the rest of that day… for the better!

3. Make sure your conditions promote concentration (for YOU)

Some people can concentrate in any situation by ‘simply’ blocking out all that is going on around them. Personally, I have a hard time concentrating when there is much noise at all so I have to juggle people and responsibilities around to create an atmosphere where my time and work will be productive. That seems next to impossible with two small boys, but it is doable.

I usually plan my practicing around nap time, bedtime or when my babes are with a babysitter to create an atmosphere that will work for me. The last thing I need is to spend time at the piano only to feel it was wasted by lack of concentration.

4. Start small and use your time wisely

Don’t plan too much for yourself…it will only result in frustration. Choose a piece you are going to work on and then start with the most difficult sections during your practice session. You probably don’t have time for anything else until you master those technical obstacles…then you can think bigger.

There are days when my practice session consists only of tiny sections of continuous repetitions. Then after 10-15 minutes of concentration I have a little one tugging at my leg. At this moment I have a choice…do I get frustrated and send my babes away? Or do I stop my practice session and feel I accomplished something by mastering that one particular section, even if it only lasted a short while?

What do you do?

Feeling accomplishment and hearing the beauty of the pieces as you slowly gain control make practicing motivating.

With the kind of busy schedules we have these days the accomplishment and beauty come in small moments…small sections…so start small and you will feel BIG!

5. What KIND of practicing works for YOU?

“It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice.”

-Eric Lindros, Canadian ice hockey player

Do you work best with a timer at your practice session?

Do you use an ipod application similar to the one Jenny mentioned this week?

What kind of practice works for YOU?

I’m a goal oriented teacher and that’s how I practice as well.

I set small goals for myself…knowing that if I master each individual goal it will not only help me learn quickly and more efficiently, it will all add up to mastering the whole…which is the ultimate goal.

If sitting with your instrument and practicing will make you feel fulfilled, successful, accomplished and motivated to do even more…then you NEED to DO IT!

No matter how long or short that time may be.

REMEMEBER: seasons come and go…

There once was a season in my life when I practiced 4-8 hours every day, but that season has gone for now…I know it will return one day.

For now, I know what season I am in and that is alright with me.

Figure out what season YOU are in and set up your practicing accordingly.

You CAN continue to practice…

it will just be different than it once was.

Accept that. Move on.

BE MOTIVATED. BE INSPIRED.

Think small to accomplish BIG things.

You CAN DO IT…don’t let anything get in the way of what your soul was made to do. Your students, your loved ones and all who hear you perform will thank you for taking the time to nurture yourself from the inside out.

Thank you, Heather, for your motivating and inspiring words!

Be sure to check out Heather's wonderful blog, Squeezing It All In

Guest Contributor: Heather Husted Wilson

2011-04-27T06:00:00.029-06:00

I am pleased to introduce a fabulous guest contributor this week, Heather Husted Wilson! Heather is an amazing pianist and teacher, as well as a mother of two little boys and the writer of a wonderful blog about how to squeeze in all of the important things in life. I could sure use some inspiration in that department, particularly in how to squeeze in my piano practicing! I look forward to her guest post later this week. In the meantime, here is a little bit about her!

name:
Heather Husted Wilson

from:
Cincinnati, Ohio

she is:
a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, cook, teacher, composer, writer, performer, creator, and dreamer

she attended:
Brigham Young University where she studied with Dr. Irene Perry-Fox and fell in love with Mr.Wilson

currently:
kissing owies, wiping tears, cooking up some delicious meals, always cherishing the little things is life, making music, and trying to "squeeze it all in"

her studio:
includes some pretty wonderful students! One of which is preparing to audition for the BYU School of Music next year!

she loves:
kissing the cheeks of her miracle boys, spending time with her Mr.Wilson, working out, and creating anything beautiful with her hands!

she recently:
entered an original piece of music into an LDS songwriter's competition...we'll see come July!

her website:
squeezing it all in

Giant Floor Piano - the specifics!

2011-04-25T14:08:00.000-06:00

I have had so many nice emails and requests to know more about how I made my giant floor piano - so I thought I'd share a post on the specifics for any interested in having a similar one made (and I know that summer is swiftly approaching, and many readers are working on summer camp plans!). In fact, I have done all the work for you, if you want to easily order an exact one for your studio, read on!

My floor piano is a 3' by 8' vinyl banner. It is super sturdy (which is perfect, considering all the running and jumping-on it gets!) and I was so pleased with how it turned out.

I first designed my own piano keyboard graphic on the computer to use for the banner. If you would like, you may purchase and download my graphic for $2 and save yourself the time and energy! I was very pleased with how the graphic turned out on the finished product. Visit my new "Printables & Downloads" page (by clicking on the link at the top of the blog), or just use the link in this post to purchase and download the graphic.

Giant Floor Piano graphic
$2.00

I then searched around for the best rates on vinyl banners. I came across the website www.bannersonthecheap.com, went ahead and designed my banner, then crossed my fingers while clicking "order," hoping it was a legit, good company who would do a good job! I was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of their product, and with the fast delivery time! The vinyl is very thick and sturdy and rolls up really nicely for storage.

The banner itself is 3 feet by 8 feet, which costs under $30 from Banners on the Cheap (shipping costs are also reasonable, and I have noticed they have even better deals from time to time). When you visit their website, near the bottom you want to select the "Have your own design?" option. Choose 3x8 and click "Start Now!" In the next window select "Upload an Image" and upload your own image or mine that you downloaded. Enlarge the graphic on the preview screen to fit the banner, then center it using the center tool. When you go to the order screen, make sure you un-check option #4 (because you don't need grommets for hanging the banner). Add to cart and you are done! My banner arrived so quickly and I am super pleased with it.

I hope this helps some of you! I'd love to know if any of you use this in your summer camps and studios, and hear your brilliant, fun ideas on how to use it. Enjoy!

Now I am toying with the idea of a giant staff banner for learning notes... :)

Getting Motivated

2011-04-25T06:00:00.094-06:00

This week I would like to revisit a topic we have discussed before, because it is something that I, personally, (and I am guessing a lot of you, as well, particularly if you are a parent with young children at home!) need constant work on, and is something that is so important to our success as teachers. I'd like to talk about Motivating OURSELVES to Practice.

This is something I struggle with a lot. I really do miss those days of long, uninterrupted practice hours. My current priority as a stay-at-home mom prevents me from achieving anywhere near that much practice time. In fact, there are so many days when my head hits the pillow at night that I haven't even touched the piano.

Ahh, the college days of practicing ALL THE TIME - I do admit that I miss it!

Lately I have been really wanting to change this! I love the piano, I love to practice, and I wanted to find some way to motivate myself and practice consistently (even if that meant only 30 minutes a day!). So, I am kind of a nerd but I ended up finding just the motivation needed for a dollar - I bought a new box of colored pencils, and downloaded a free iPod app, and apparently that was all that I needed! Let me explain:

1 - the colored pencils: In order to really sit down and practice and make some progress and find the joy in playing, for me at least, I really have to practice well. As I am learning a new piece, I write in all the fingerings, mark phrases and important voices, circle dynamic markings, etc. Hence the colored pencils :) This approach works great for me and I love it because I see so much progress, and I am truly able to make some measurable progress in a short amount of time (even if a small child is yelling for Mommy in the background!).

2 - the iPod app: I am so grateful to Anne Crosby Gaudet's post about this amazing free iPod app called Just Practice! It really helped me to organize my practicing and motivate myself to get it done daily. Granted, I am still not perfect and do miss some days, but there is just something about a calendar that says "Today's progress: 0%" that really makes me want to sit down and get it done. I try to practice at night after my son goes to bed, or I find him a fun activity he can do in the room with me for half an hour or so. If I was really good with technology I would share a sound clip with you (which I recorded on Just Practice! - there is a place where you can record yourself playing different pieces and then listen back to them later) of me practicing Chopin's Scherzo No. 2, with my son's little voice in the background, begging me to "turn around and LOOK!!" at something. It kind of makes me smile, and realize the difference between my practicing now and back in college :)

Now tell me.....What inspires you to practice? What tools help you? Are you motivated by a practice chart? By a list? By a timer? By a desire to instill the value of hard work in your students? In your children? In your unborn child (who, in my case, is listening to me practice every day!)? What can you take from your own practicing to use in the lessons you teach your students? What do you learn about practicing that helps teach your students to practice?

Stay tuned for more on this topic this week...including a wonderful guest contributor!

Feel free to take this short survey, or leave a comment below. I'd love to hear your input!

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://2077662.polldaddy.com/s/getting-motivated-to-practice"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;View Survey&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Weekend Repertoire: Schumann's Arabeske

2011-04-23T06:00:00.036-06:00

As my son went up to bed tonight (at the time of writing this post...yes I write a lot of these in advance - as a mama you've got to take the time when it's available!), he called down the stairs, "Mommy, play me some music!" Which really warmed my heart because he doesn't often say things like that. He usually tries to pull me away from the piano instead of requesting it. I played through a few pieces, and then picked up Schumann's Arabeske, a piece I have loved ever since hearing it for the very first time, and one that I performed at my sophomore recital in college. As I played the familiar notes it was almost like seeing an old friend after many years. There really is something so beautiful and transcendent about this piece, the harmonies and the colors that simply rekindles my love of music and the piano.

If you are not familiar with this amazing piece, please take a few minutes and watch this amazing video of Horowitz's performance of it in Carnegie Hall. Pay close attention at 5:58 - this little "benediction" is just heavenly. Who else is just amazingly grateful for music after hearing this piece?

We have a winner!

2011-04-22T08:25:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone who entered our Ear Training Pro giveaway! I am excited to announce our winner!

Congratulations to:

Shauna Leavitt from Keys to Notes

Shauna Leavitt said...

I took your ear training survey the other day and it was quite revealing of how little time I spend teaching my student about ear training. This would be an excellent tool for students and teachers to ensure that this skill isn't being neglected.

13/4/11 8:57 AM

Shauna, please contact me with your email address, so the Ear Training Pro people can get your account all set up. Congratulations!

Last day to enter giveaway!

2011-04-21T06:00:00.003-06:00

Our EarTrainingPro giveaway ends tonight at 11:59 PM (CST). If you have not already entered to win a FREE account on EarTrainingPro.com, hurry over here and enter! This is a fabulous resource for any music studio that you do not want to miss out on! The winner will be announced tomorrow.

Famous Pianists: Emil Gilels

2011-04-20T06:00:00.102-06:00

I am excited to introduce a new feature, Famous Pianists, on The Teaching Studio!

In college, during a master class one evening, our professor asked us each to take a piece of paper and write down all of the famous pianists we could think of. He gave us probably five minutes or so, and in those five minutes I came up with {embarrassingly} hardly anything. I don't think that I was the only one who {sadly} was not familiar with many famous pianists, but I was the lucky one chosen to read my list aloud :)

That experience definitely made me think, and gave me the desire to really get to know the great pianists out there. While I have definitely learned about and become familiar with many great and legendary pianists since that day, I still feel that my knowledge is greatly lacking in that area (is there anyone who feels this same way?). As pianists and teachers, we must be familiar with the legendary pianists and the great pianists of our own day, for there is so much to learn from their performances and technique. We need to familiarize our students with these famous pianists as well - in fact, there is a great article in the Clavier Companion about using DVD's and YouTube videos of historical performances in our teaching.

So, with that said, I will be posting a feature about a famous pianist every couple of weeks or so, in the hopes that I (and my readers, as well!) will become much more familiar with these important pianists! I am so excited! I will be getting a lot of my information from the wonderful book by Harold Schonberg, The Great Pianists: From Mozart to the Present, and will also be sharing some great videos of performances. I hope you enjoy!

Today's pianist: Emil Gilels

Born: October 19, 1916 in Odessa, Ukraine (which may be why I chose to begin with him, as we share the same birthday!)

Died: October 14, 1985 in Moscow, Russia

About the man: Gilels won the first All-Union Contest of Musicians and Performers in 1933 at the age of 17, and then attended the Moscow Conservatory. Known as "The Little Giant," he was hailed as a "master pianist" after his first appearance in the West in 1955.

Characteristics of his playing: His playing was strong, clear, objective, steady, logical, unaffected. Schonberg calls him "a thinking man's pianist." He, as well as other Russian pianists of his time, concentrated on "tone, on phrase, on the cantabile quality of the instrument." (Schonberg, 464.) His technique was brilliant.

Repertoire: Gilels played a "steady diet" of Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin and Brahms. I love his recordings of Rachminoff; Schonberg mentions his "incredible octaves" in Liszt's Spanish Rhapsody.

Videos

Musical Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-19T11:19:00.002-06:00

I am so glad to be a part of this wonderful online network of piano teaching bloggers, because I am so grateful for all of the wonderful ideas you all share!

This morning I was reading this post on Heidi's Piano Studio, and decided to use her great idea and adapt it for my preschool student who came later this morning. (Thanks, Heidi!!)

I got out my stash of colorful craft foam (seriously, it is the best stuff!), some paper, a pen, some tape, and an egg-shaped cookie cutter...

...and made these fun Easter egg preschool flashcards!

I included things that we have learned during lessons in the past little while, including things such as:

rhythms to clap, including rests
line notes vs. space notes
steps and skips
treble clef and bass clef
the staff
finger numbers
high notes & low notes on the staff
Presto and Adagio

I hid them around the room, and my student had lots of fun hunting for eggs and then identifying the things on the back! My three-year-old son got his turn after my student left, and he loved it as well!

After we found all of the eggs, we lined up the rhythm eggs and tried clapping them in different orders, and playing notes on the piano in the correct rhythm.

I love that with a little creativity, you can turn a boring old flashcard exercise into a fun, memorable learning activity!

Ear Training Survey Results

2011-04-18T08:17:00.000-06:00

Thanks to all who took our survey last week about ear training and piano lessons. It looks like many agree that ear training skills are pretty important for piano students to have. I hope that the results will at least get you thinking about ways to improve ear training in your own studio (because it has definitely helped me to think about it more as well!). Here are the results! I especially love the input given on question #4.

Now, don't forget to enter our GIVEAWAY to win a free account on EarTrainingPro.com! You definitely do not want to miss out on this opportunity - this is a wonderful way to easily incorporate ear training into your studio. You have four days left to enter!

Weekend Repertoire: Ravel's Prelude

2011-04-16T06:00:00.081-06:00

I am excited to re-introduce my Weekend Repertoire feature here on the Teaching Studio! As pianists and teachers, shouldn't we always be discovering and re-discovering repertoire to teach our students and to broaden our knowledge of the piano works of great composers?

Today's piece: Prelude by Ravel, written in 1913
Level: Early Advanced
Teaches: expression, advanced phrasing techniques, crossing of hands
Listen: there are three recordings of this piece available to download or listen to at pianosociety.com

This week's piece I discovered just yesterday while sight reading through some wonderful pieces by Ravel. In fact, I would highly recommend this great collection of Ravel's piano pieces (which includes the Prelude as well as eleven other piano masterpieces). According to Hinson, they "represent some of Ravel's finest contributions to the pianist's art." I had never heard this short, simple prelude before but I immediately loved its simplicity, its beautiful haunting harmonies, and the interplay between the right and left hand lines.

Preview of music from everynote.com

Although very simple and relatively easy to learn, this 27-measure piece requires much use of expression, as well as great attention to detail in shaping the phrases and bringing out the melody, particularly when the hands cross over one another.

According to the notes by Hinson in my book, this piece was composed in 1913 as a sight-reading piece for the Paris Conservatory to use in their piano competitions. Hinson says this about the piece, "The Prelude involves some interlocking of the hands and contains a few unexpected harmonies. Its gentle lyricism, relaxed tempo and interesting inner voices affirm Ravel's gifts as a superb miniaturist."

In my studio I put a lot of emphasis on musicality and artistry, and I am so excited to use this piece with some of my more advanced students to teach advanced phrasing and expression. I hope you enjoy discovering this wonderful little piece!

Other online ear training resources...

2011-04-15T06:00:00.003-06:00

In researching about ear training, I found a bunch of free online trainers and other resources, and thought I'd share what I came up with! Let me know if you know of others to add to the list.

http://good-ear.com/
http://www.ossmann.com/bigears/
http://www.trainear.com/
http://www.musictheory.net/
http://www.musicalmind.org/
http://www.learn2hear.org/
http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory43.htm

If you have not already taken our short ear training survey, head on over here to take it!
If you haven't yet entered our GIVEAWAY this week, make sure you don't miss that as well!

Review & Giveaway!: Ear Training Pro

2011-04-13T06:00:00.100-06:00

Today I am excited to review a new online ear training resource - EarTrainingPro.com. This new website is an excellent resource for any music studio (and has been a great asset in my own studio over the past few weeks!) It contains over fifty different ear training exercises that students can practice on your studio computer, or at home (depending on which plan you sign up for).

The exercises on this website are in six different categories: Intervals, Pitch Perception, Chords, Relative Pitch, Scales, and Transcription. Exercises are also each categorized as Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced Level.

When beginning each exercise, there is a brief instruction page explaining what the exercise is. Many of these instruction pages include a brief listening example. For example, on the Major Chords Second Inversion exercise, students can listen to the difference between a root position chord, a first inversion chord and a second inversion chord, as well as a comparison between three different chords which all have C as their bottom note before they begin the exercise (see below).

I love this feature, and actually wish that ALL of the exercise instruction pages were as thorough as this one (although many of them are!). Some of the exercises will give a listening example of just one type of interval, and then quiz you on all of the major scale intervals.

The exercises consist of usually ten examples to listen to and identify. After the ten are complete, you are able to see how many you got correct, as well as which ones you got wrong. It will also tell you what your answer was and what the correct answer should have been, and you can listen to the example again.

I love the variety of the exercises and of their difficulty levels. I can assign beginning exercises to some of my younger students, while still being able to challenge my most advanced students (and myself as well!) with the advanced levels. Here is a list of all of the available exercises:

Intervals
Major Thirds and Fifths	Beginner
Intervals - Major Scale	Beginner
Intervals - Minor Scale	Beginner
Major Intervals Up to a Perfect Fifth	Beginner
Intervals in Semitones	Intermediate
Intervals - Chromatic Scale	Intermediate
Intervals - Major Scale with Intervals Up and Down	Intermediate
Intervals - Minor Scale with Intervals Up and Down	Intermediate
Intervals - Chromatic Scale with Intervals Up and Down	Intermediate
Intervals - Minor Scale, played together	Advanced
Intervals - Major Scale, played together	Advanced
Intervals - Chromatic Scale, played together	Advanced
Pitch Perception
Higher or Lower	Beginner
Notes on a Keyboard	Beginner
Perfect Pitch Test	Advanced
Chords
Major and Minor Chords	Beginner
Chord Progressions with Triads (Major Keys)	Beginner
Chord Progressions with Triads (Minor Keys)	Beginner
Major Chords First Inversion	Intermediate
Major Chords Second Inversion	Intermediate
Suspended Second and Fourth Chords	Intermediate
Chord Progressions with First Inversion	Intermediate
Major and Minor Ninth Chords	Intermediate
Augmented and Dominant Ninth Chords	Intermediate
Chord Progressions in C Major	Intermediate
Major Broken Chords First Inversion	Intermediate
Triads - Major, Minor, Augmented and Diminished	Advanced
Chord Identification	Advanced
Ninth Chords	Advanced
Major and Minor Seventh Chords	Advanced
Diminished and Half-Diminished Seventh Chords	Advanced
Augmented and Dominant Seventh Chords	Advanced
Major and Augmented Major Seventh Chords	Advanced
Seventh Chords	Advanced
Chord Progressions with Inversions	Advanced
Relative Pitch
Relative Pitch on C Major	Beginner
Relative Pitch on C Minor	Beginner
Relative Pitch Introduction	Beginner
Relative Pitch on C Major with Intervals Up and Down	Intermediate
Relative Pitch on C Minor with Intervals Up and Down	Intermediate
Relative Pitch on the Chromatic Scale	Intermediate
Relative Pitch on Chromatic Scale with Intervals Up and Down	Advanced
Relative Pitch	Advanced
Scales
Scales - Major and Minor	Beginner
Types of Minor Scales	Intermediate
Transcription
Transcribing a Few Notes From C Major	Beginner
Transcribing notes in C Major or C Minor	Beginner
Transcribing notes in A Minor	Beginner
Transcribing Chords - Triads	Beginner
Transcribing notes in C Major or C Minor - Intermediate	Intermediate
Transcribing Chords - Seventh Chords	Intermediate
Transcribing notes in any key	Advanced
Transcribing Chords - Ninth Chords	Advanced

When signing up for this website, there are four different plan options. I LOVE that you can choose a studio plan that includes a teacher account and up to 40 attached student accounts for your studio. The students each have their own log-in information and are able to access the website from any computer. The teacher is then able to assign specific homework exercises to individual students, see which exercises they have attempted, how many times they have attempted them and what their high score is on each.

Overall, I love this website and feel that it is much easier to use and much better than other online ear trainers I have tried. I love that it keeps track of how well you have done in each exercise and how well each of your students has done (anything to help keep my studio organized and on-track curriculum-wise is a definite plus for me!). I highly recommend this website to other music teachers for use in their studios.

And here's the exciting news - Anthony from Ear Training Pro has offered to give away a free account on EarTrainingPro.com to one lucky reader!! To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment below! For one extra entry, share a link to this giveaway via facebook, your blog, twitter, or some other website and leave me one extra comment letting me know that you did. Make sure you enter by 11:59 pm (CST) on Thursday, April 21st. Winner will be announced on Friday the 22nd! Happy ear training!

Why Ear Training?

2011-04-11T06:00:00.070-06:00

Lately as I have been teaching, I have found myself pondering the question, "What is so important about ear training, anyway?" I mean, I know it is important. I have done all sorts of sight singing courses, learned Solfege, taken crazy dictation tests where you have to write down all of the notes of a whole chord progression, learned to recognize how an interval sounds by whether it sounds like "Here comes the bride" or "Bali Hai" from South Pacific...but as I have had students working on ear training over the past couple of months I have found myself wondering...why is it so important?

When a piano student asks why in the world they need to know how a minor sixth or a major seventh sounds, what is your answer? Do you have a good answer for them? Is there a good answer?

This is what I have been thinking about lately. And the main conclusion I have come to is this: in order to become good pianists and musicians, we need to train our ears to recognize the music we play. I think that, too often, pianists especially are much too detached from the SOUND that is actually coming out of the instrument. I find that when I tell my student to play a piece or a section again, but this time to really listen to the sound, so many things are immediately ten times better. Phrases are more musical, dynamics are more contrasting, staccatos are shorter - there is so much more music in the music! Our ears need to be trained just as our fingers do! They need to be trained to have relative pitch, to notice notes and harmonies and sounds and colors in the music. When our ears are trained to be actively involved in the music-making process, that is when we are truly able to become great musicians.

Tell me what you think! Take a minute and take this brief survey about ear training:

<a href="http://2077662.polldaddy.com/s/ear-training">View Survey</a>

Lines & Spaces and Steps & Skips

2011-03-31T19:49:00.000-06:00

I love it when last-minute ideas turn out to be the funnest activities for students! To teach about lines and spaces and steps and skips, I got out the ol' trusty masking tape and slapped it on the rug to make a quick musical staff. I cut out notes out of sheets of craft foam (LOVE that stuff!) and voila - a fun musical staff game!

Here is my giant musical staff. Please excuse the graininess/yellowness of the photo, and the fact that I can't seem to get it to rotate!

I used this fun game for preschoolers. We had already introduced the staff, and how notes can be high or low. We first practiced walking up the staff in steps - line, space, line, space, line space (this was fun to tip-toe!) - and in skips - line, line, line or space, space, space (hopping works well)! We also played each on the piano - steps by playing every single note going up or down, and skips by playing every other note. We then practiced putting notes on the staff in steps or skips. The kids loved walking on their notes after they placed them on the staff, as I played the steps or skips on the piano. We then played a game where I would hand them a note and call out "step!" or "skip!" and they would have to place the next note on the correct line or space. It was fun with two kids at a time - they started on a note at the bottom of the staff, and I would hand each a note and call out "step" or "skip" and they would use their notes to try and get across the staff (wouldn't it be fun to pretend the staff was a river to cross?).

As I was playing this game with a student who loves to get stickers as rewards, I had a sudden stroke of genius as I drew a staff on her assignment sheet and had her put her little circle stickers on the staff on lines or spaces, as if they were musical notes. So fun!

Themed Classical Music for Kids

2011-03-29T08:24:00.000-06:00

Image source

In brainstorming for some upcoming preschool piano camps, I started thinking about fun classical pieces to share with young children. What fun it would be to have a theme for a piano camp, and to use classical works related to that theme to teach the children. Here are some that I came up with - I know there are so many more!! In fact, here is a great website with an even better list with more themes, including themes such as Fairy Tales, Transportation and Halloween, and lists of pieces that are Fast or Slow.

Weather
Clouds by Griffes
Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven
Clair de Lune by Debussy
Morning Mood from Peer Gynt Suite by Grieg
In the Mist by Janacek
Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain) by Debussy
To Spring by Grieg
Rustles of Spring by Sinding
Prelude Op. 28 No. 15 (Raindrop Prelude) by Chopin
see a more extensive list of pieces about weather & seasons here

The Night Sky
The Planets by Holst
Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven
Clair de Lune by Debussy
Variations on Twinkle Twinkle (Ah, vous dirai-je, maman) by Mozart

Water

Jardins sous la pluie (Gardens in the Rain) by Debussy

Jeux d'Eau (Water Games or Fountains) by Ravel

Reflets dans l'eau (Reflections on the Water) by Debussy
The Moldau by Smetana (love this piece!!)
La Mer by Decaux (so fun to find this youtube video - I played this piece for my senior recital and it is hard to find!)

Animals
The Cat and the Mouse by Copland
Carnival of the Animals by Saint Saens (with movements about many different animals, such as: Royal March of the Lion, Hens and Roosters, Tortoises, The Elephant, Kangaroos, Aquarium, Characters with Long Ears, Aviary, The Swan)

Bugs
Grasshoppers and Dragonflies from Cinderella, Op. 95 by Prokofiev
Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov
Papillons (Butterflies) by Schumann

Farm
Excursion No. 4 by Barber
The Happy Farmer by Schumann
I Bought Me a Cat by Copland (after I watched this video my 3-year-old started singing the song - he LOVED it!)

What pieces would you add to the list? What themes would you add?

Introducing Curved Fingers to Young Children

2011-03-24T14:55:00.000-06:00

At our preschool piano camp we wanted to teach the kids about curved fingers - but how can you make that a fun and understandable concept for 3- and 4-year-olds? I decided to take my usual bird's nest analogy and add in a fun little visual to help them understand the concept. I found the idea for these cute little fuzzy birds on this blog (which actually is written by a fellow-piano major of mine from BYU) and decided they would be perfect for teaching about curved fingers!

The kids LOVED holding their little birds (which are made with the really BIG pom poms, so they fit perfectly in a little hand) in their curved-finger birds nest. They could easily see that if they flattened their fingers, their poor little bird would fall right out of the nest! We had a lot of fun with these little birds.

In what ways have you taught important piano concepts to young children in fun and creative ways?

Giant floor piano!

2011-03-23T06:30:00.000-06:00

One of the highlights of our preschool piano camp was the giant keyboard we used to learn some music theory and keyboard topography. I had seen some wonderful ideas on other blogs using big floor pianos, and decided that we needed one! We ended up having one made as a vinyl banner (because I wanted it to look nice and professional and to last awhile), and it turned out awesome! The kids absolutely loved running and jumping on it and learning things using this huge piano!

A few things we used it for:

Learning HIGH and LOW on the piano - we did a BIG version of my high/low game where we picked a picture of something and the kids had to decide if it was something high or low, and then run to that end of the keyboard. They had fun jumping down the keyboard to represent raindrops, stepping up and running back down to represent a slide, etc.
Learning about the 2 black keys and 3 black keys, and we taught them a little song by rote using the 3 black keys, and they loved walking on the keys and hopping up to the next set of 3 black keys while singing the song!
Learning all of the white key names! My friend made the cutest beanbags and we ironed on pictures of Doggie D, Grandma G, etc. so the kids could practice putting them on the correct keys. The kids were so smart and learned them all so quickly!

Preschool Piano Camp

2011-03-22T08:42:00.001-06:00

Well hello - I am alive and well and am finally jumping back into the blogging world! Last week a piano-teaching colleague and I taught our first ever preschool piano camp. We had so much fun and it was an overall success! Over the next little while I would like to share with you some of the fun games and activities we used to teach these great kids. First, a few things that I learned (or things that I already knew but that got reinforced during this week):

Preschool-aged children LOVE music - to them it is a magical, wonderful thing. If taught creatively using a fun, hands-on approach, you will be amazed at how smart they are and how much they can really learn at such a young age!

Young children can pick up on musical concepts before needing the full-out explanation. For example, they can learn to clap eighth and sixteenth notes without necessarily knowing that a sixteenth note gets 1/4 of a count!

Get out a bunch of fun instruments and a young child will stay busy for a long time - children love exploring different sounds on drums, rhythm instruments, bells, the piano, etc.

Never take a late flight (especially when you are pregnant and traveling with a 3-year-old) arriving home at 1:00 am on the day that you lose an hour through daylight savings time, the night before you teach a 9:00 piano camp. :)

In planning our curriculum for our camp, my friend and I drew our inspiration from many sources - including some great method books for young beginners, ideas from fellow-bloggers and our own personal teaching experience. Here are some wonderful books that I would highly recommend for young students:

Music for Little Mozarts - I LOVE the story format of this book and the way that the characters of Beethoven Bear and Mozart Mouse are used. We found that the children at our camp LOVED anything in a story format, and that they learned concepts so well when taught this way.

Celebrate Piano - This is a wonderful method book for children. I love that it gets them playing in many different keys/hand positions right from the get-go, and it also emphasizes things like transposition a lot. There are some cute pre-reading songs in this book that we used.

My First Piano Adventures - I recently purchased this book and I love, love, LOVE it! One of its major strengths is that it teaches good, solid piano technique in really fun and creative ways.

Stay tuned for some fun preschool piano activities!

Life is busy!

2011-02-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

Hello, dear readers! I apologize for the lack of posts lately! This has been due to a couple of factors:

#1. I am expecting! So I have been sick and tired and all extra energy has gone toward either sleeping or eating. (I sort of love how pregnancy can be a blanket excuse for so many things....but really, I have been really tired....)

#2. I am working on preparing for a Preschool Piano Camp with a friend and fellow teacher of mine here in San Antonio. We have a lot of great things planned and I am so excited! I will definitely be sharing some of the things we've got planned with you all. In order to advertise and make registering easy, we created a little blog with all of the information and used this great website to create an online registration form. Take a look at our little website - http://earlyexpressionspiano.blogspot.com/. We are planning to teach some basic pre-piano skills (these are 3-5 year olds), and some basic music theory, and will also be doing some fun music appreciation and music & movement activities. Should be a lot of fun! Who else has fun camps and classes in the works??

Piano Teaching Q&A: Group Classes

2011-01-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

I have a small studio and would like to start doing group classes for my students. How many of these classes are good in a given 'semester'? One or two? Also, I would love to see some discussion or input on what good activities for group classes would be for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students. Thanks!

Thanks for the question! I thought since we have just spent a lot of time on group teaching this would be a perfect topic to discuss!

I think that having periodic group classes in your studio can be so invaluable to your students. There are so many things you can accomplish in a group class that you cannot in a private lesson. Having said this, I actually have personally never had regular studio classes in my own studio, but definitely plan on it as I am finally going to be staying put in one location for more than a year (hehe) and will have time to build up my studio more :) So please, readers, I'd love your comments and thoughts as well!

A few things that would be absolutely perfect to teach in a group setting:

Music Theory - every teacher knows that it is practically impossible to take as much time as you really need/want to during private lessons to really cover all of the necessary music theory concepts. Music theory is also perfect for teaching (or reviewing and reinforcing) in a group setting, as you can use so many fun games and activities to learn the concepts (hint hint readers....*discuss game ideas* ready go!)

Performance - this is the hugely important one for me that I really would like to have a group class devoted to. Performance is so important and cannot be learned unless the student has real opportunities to perform (go figure). Performing is so so different than practicing, or even just playing for your teacher. Having the opportunity to perform in front of your peers on a regular basis will work wonders for your students' performance skills and confidence. I loved going to studio class as a teenager and being able to perform for my peers. As we listened to each performance, my teacher had us each write "love notes" (yes that is what she called them - love it!) to each other, telling some things that we liked about their piece and maybe a suggestion or two. I think that really helped me learn how to listen to a performance and critique it, and in turn to be able to critique my own playing better.

Music History & Music Appreciation - what a great opportunity to teach your studio about a specific composer and have them listen to some great music.

Duets! - group class is a perfect time to learn about and practice ensemble playing, accompanying, etc.

As far as how many classes to hold during a semester, I think it depends on your goals and the needs of your studio. I know some teachers who hold class monthly and some who hold class once or twice during the whole semester. As a teenager I went to group class about once or twice a semester, usually in the month or two before a recital. The main goal of that class was to practice performing our recital pieces. If your goal is to supplement the private lessons with a theory class, perhaps once a month might be better.

Something else not so important (but worth mentioning) is that treats are always appreciated at such events :) There was never a studio class that went by in my teenage years without receipt of a Creamie at the end.

So readers, now it is your turn! I'd love your input about specific game/activity ideas for group classes, and any other suggestions on this topic.

If you have a question about piano teaching that you'd like to ask us, please leave it in a comment or submit it here! Thanks!

Group Teaching: Recitals & Summer Classes

2011-01-17T06:00:00.025-07:00

The final post of the Group Teaching series written by guest contributor Marissa Erekson

Recitals

I held two recitals each year – one before Thanksgiving and one in the early Spring. My students also participated in the Piano Festival in March.

As I had several students, I would schedule several short recitals within the time frame at the recital hall. This gave them a larger performance audience in comparison to the group at the weekly lessons (which often included parents and siblings when I scheduled them to perform at the end of the lessons), but not so large that they were stressed or bored with playing in front of super large audiences or in long recitals.

In the fall recital, group students typically played songs from the lesson and supplemental books that they had been working on already in lessons. This included playing the songs as solos or as “monster” duets where they all simply played the same thing at the same time. In the Spring Recital the students had 2 solos and one ensemble with their group class in which there were 2 or 4 different parts (depending on if it was a 1-piano-duet on 2 pianos or an actual quartet). The Spring Recital allowed the students the opportunity to play two additional solos in front of a judge and others of compatible levels who studied with other teachers. They played one Classical piece and one buy a living American composer.

Summer Classes

Group Classes for Continuing Students
During the summer I offered group classes in specific musical areas (theory, composition, pop chords, history, jazz, ensemble, etc) in which students would come to class a few times the same week. This worked best in regard to working around vacation schedules. This created opportunities for students to expand their knowledge and skills in a specific area. I worked to include each of these areas in lessons during the school year, but time was always short and there were so many things to cover already. The students loved having the extra time to focus just on these specific skills.

I also had students who continued private lessons.

Group Camps for Beginner Students
I held beginner group piano camps during the summer. The camps lasted for 50 minutes a day for 5 days. I found that it greatly aided the students to have concentrated time with me for one week. We were able to cover many of the basics of piano education. There are many concepts that take a lot of lesson time, but don’t necessarily take a lot of practice time during the week in the beginning. Because of this, we were able to progress through the fundamentals quickly. We would typically cover in the one-week what would have been covered in the first couple of weeks of regular lessons. I used the lesson book that they would be using if they
continued during the school year.

This also gave both the parents and myself the opportunity to see if their kids were ready to begin lessons. I had a mix of over eager parents whose kids weren’t ready but typically came back a year later, and parents whose kids progressed more quickly then they imagined and enrolled for that school year. Parents liked to have the opportunity to expose their kids to music in a concentrated setting to see if their kids were interested and ready to sign up for regular lessons. Many of my students came from families where they did not have a lot of exposure to classical music or musical training on any instrument.

Marissa - thank you, thank you for sharing your thorough and organized approach to teaching group lessons! I am sure that many of us will benefit from your wonderful suggestions.

Group Lessons: Lesson Structure & The First Week of Lessons

2011-01-15T06:00:00.023-07:00

Part 4 of the Group Teaching series written by guest contributor Marissa Erekson

Lesson Structure

As a classical musician with a firm background in piano pedagogy, I understood the need to include technique, theory, sight-reading, performing, etc. and I wanted to include all of these areas. The basic lesson structure included technique (5-finger patterns, Hanon Jr., chords, and then building to scales, etudes, etc), lesson books (ensemble style and performance style), and different games each week (theory, etc).

Since most of my students began the group lessons as their very first form of lessons, they were accustomed to how we would play together part of the time. The songs and technique exercises were short and allowed time for the kids to play together and separately as desired.

At the end of each lesson we had “parent time.” This was an opportunity for the students to review what they learned and I could demonstrate to the parents the new techniques or explain difficult concepts we learned in class. With group classes I also had papers printed with the week’s assignment. I carefully prepared the assignment sheet to include practice notes for the parents as well. There are different beliefs about parents attending lessons. In the case of group lessons I found that my kids performed better in the lesson without the parents, but that meant my time was limited for interaction and explanation with the parents. (I would have required parents to attend the whole lesson in the case of young private beginner students.) Between the parent time and the assignment papers the parents were able to understand what they were supposed to

do during the week. I was also very open towards allowing parents to contact me through email or phone calls for further explanation.

I had binders for each student. In the binder I had dividers for their lesson assignment sheet, technique (some of my technique did not come from books or I had different papers I had created explaining the activities) theory, sight-reading music, and other things I needed for lessons. The binders served as a reference for the weekly assignment as well as for me to include papers for my own personal teaching method as I didn’t directly follow any specific method books already published.

During the time in between lessons I made notes about the students’ progress during lessons and any insight about what was needed for the following week. Then at the end of my lessons for the evening I would prepare the lesson sheets for the following week and sketch out the time frame for the lesson the next week (ie – games to play, new music needed, how many minutes for each activity).

First Week of Lessons

The first week of school I held “Parent Nights” where I taught the parents about my teaching philosophy and style and also helped them to learn how they could help their child at home with practicing. I held classes for all group piano student parents, but had separate classes for new parents and for continuing parents. Information covered included the lesson binder layout, practicing tips, the basic lesson schedule for what would typically be included in a lesson, and the general syllabus for the school year.

During the first week all students attended large group classes (groups of around 8 students) to review concepts from the summer for the beginner students or review concepts from the previous year for continuing students. This provided a “teaser” for lessons without the full practicing assignment, and typically led to them reviewing a lot of other music before their regular lessons the following week.

Group Teaching: Scheduling & Music Selection

2011-01-14T06:00:00.041-07:00

Part 3 of the Group Teaching series written by guest contributor Marissa Erekson

Scheduling

Each group lesson was 45 minutes plus a 5+ minute “parent time.” I scheduled group classes into 1 hour time slots to allow for extra parent time as needed and to allow time for the four kids (and parents and younger siblings who showed up for the parent time as well) to leave before the next set of students arrived.

Scheduling for group classes was difficult in regard to placing people at similar levels together. My very first year was difficult as I did not fully know all of the students. The second year was much easier to place students appropriately with compatible students. I also began teaching the summer “Beginner camps” after the first year. From then on, all beginner students attended a summer-intro camp in which I gained a basic idea of their potential for their learning style.

Because of the cooperative group setting, my students were diligent with their practicing (students and parents liked to shine in front of their musical peers). Thus they all typically progressed at the same general pace as each other, same as they do in academic settings.

At the beginning of each school year I would ask all parents for a list of times that worked for their schedules. I didn’t have set numbers of each group level so I couldn’t simply say that level 1 students were Tuesday at 3, Level 2 at 4, etc. Instead, once I had the list of times available to each parent I created a spreadsheet showing when each child was available. I then organized groups according to compatible age/levels/schedules. I also kept in mind trying to link up siblings in order (though often parents weren’t as concerned because with the longer lesson times they found it easier to have the 50 minute time slot for each child on different days). I also

had students who were friends prior to lessons or became friends in the previous year of lessons who wanted to stay together. It sounds complicated, but it always worked out somehow!

Music Selection

There is a lot of ensemble music for different sizes of ensembles, but I also needed music appropriate for lessons on a weekly basis.

I chose to use the “Celebrate Piano” lesson books (which I supplemented with a variety of books from other composers and publishers). The songs were interesting and we all enjoyed the accompaniments on the CD. There are many different approaches to teaching beginner students. CP taught by intervals using five-finger patterns and moved into all of the different keys in level 2. (The teacher who inspired me to proceed with the group lessons used the Faber Piano Adventures, so you can use any series for group lessons.) Last year I switched to actually teach from the first book in the Alfred Premier Piano Course and then switching to the 1b
Celebrate Piano book afterwards, as I liked having the students start with a stronger note reading approach and then switch to the intervals.

As the songs and technique exercises were short (5-finger patterns and chords), we would often play the song or exercise a few times if needed. Each time we would focus on a different aspect as needed (FERN practicing style) which further helped them to understand that practicing required playing multiple times and having a different (and specific) focus each time.

I encouraged the use of the accompaniment CD’s. I have met teachers who don’t like to have their students hear the music repeatedly because they feared the kids would learn the music by ear and neglect their reading. However, I feel as Suzuki that kids need to learn music by example (same as you would learn a language by hearing it and not simply be reading it – which is why I can read Spanish but can’t speak it). Plus we did so many theory and note reading activities in the group setting that I was confident in the kids reading level as well.

In regards to ensemble music, each of the online music order websites (Prima, FJH, etc) has lists of ensemble music listed by the type of ensemble (trio, 1 piano duet, 2 piano duet). The NFMC music handbook has ensemble categories with appropriate music listed.

Group Teaching: Studio Set Up & Billing

2011-01-13T06:00:00.044-07:00

Part 2 of the Group Teaching series written by guest contributor Marissa Erekson

Studio Set Up

I had learned about group piano lessons from workshops I had attended while in school. I had heard lectures detailing how the purchase of the digital pianos was a big expense upfront, but would then be made up for with the additional income. So, when I moved to set up my studio I purchased a grand piano and four digital pianos. It was a huge purchase, but with the additional students, I had the pianos all paid off seven months later (the bulk of that expense was for the grand piano, otherwise it would have been paid off much sooner).

I had the four pianos in a rectangle: two pianos side by side with the students facing in to each other. Then I could walk around the four pianos to help and correct them as needed. The students also were able to work well with counting, etc as they were looking at each other.

I had a large open area for the kids to sit on the floor for the games.

Billing

Students were charged the same rate for the 50-minute group class as more advanced students were billed for a 30-minute private lesson. If you charge less than this, then you have simply created an organized babysitting service. Also, if you charge less, then you are setting yourself up saying that group lessons aren’t as valuable as private lessons. I had an incredible amount of success with the group lessons, both in the development of the students’ skills and in the number of years that students remained in lessons. I never had a parent complain about tuition prices due to the time factor. You will need to find out what the general tuition rate for a 30-minute lesson in your area.

Books were included in the tuition for group class students. I created a “music book account” for private students and then deducted the amount of any music I purchased for them. I purchased the music online through various different websites where I received a discount and watched for sales for even higher discounts.

All students also paid a registration fee at the beginning of the semester for recital fees, etc.

Another note for billing – I strongly recommend using a billing service. I had a lot of students, but even if I only had 5-10 (like now) I would still use a billing service. I used MuBuS (Music Business Solutions) and was very happy with their service (very low user fees and very good service). I know of other teachers who said that they didn’t think it was necessary to hire somebody else to do what they could do for free. But then when I asked how much time they spent on billing issues I was appalled by the length of time spent sending email reminders and the number of times they had to bill late fees. I wanted lesson time to be spent strictly on teaching and all of the out-of-lesson work time to be spent on lesson planning – not on billing. It took minimal time to set each student/family up with a music account the beginning of their study time with me. Then if their credit card expired MuBuS would contact parents for the updated info. I only dealt with financial matters the beginning of the year when I set up new students and programmed the new rates.

I can’t even remember how many parents told me how much they loved that I used an automatic billing service and how many of them had even recommend MuBuS to the teachers who taught their other kids other musical instruments.

Why Group Lessons?

2011-01-12T10:00:00.027-07:00

Part 1 of the Group Teaching series written by guest contributor Marissa Erekson

I moved to Virginia where most parents had never heard of group piano lessons before. In the beginning I spent a lot of time speaking with parents about all of the benefits of group piano lessons, but soon the benefits were apparent and were spread by word of mouth by happy parents. Initially I gave several reasons of why kids would benefit from a group setting including:

• Ensemble opportunities each week
• Performance opportunities each week
• A comfortable setting where they could practice rhythm games and counting (most parents who had studied piano as a kid remembered that they did not enjoy counting)
• A setting where they could play theory games that weren’t possible in a private setting (continuing to emphasize a child’s love of games and how so many more games are possible in the group setting)
• Longer lesson time each week
• Opportunities to learn to critique music in a comfortable setting
• All other activities are linked with a child’s innate love of making friends and being social (sports, etc) in which most kids would create memories and continue longer term.
• A cooperative learning environment.

In the end, one of the greatest reasons for group lessons related to the parents’ competitiveness. In a private lesson setting where parents see their child compared to other students only at the recitals, they would make excuses if their child wasn’t as good as others. But every single week parents would see their child compared to others who began lessons at the same time and would realize that every child could succeed in music. Parents began to see that all children could be successful in music if they put in the practice time (same as with academics). This promoted great parental assistance with the practicing and student adherence to practice schedules. Students were also very excited about lessons because they created “musical friendships,” many of which I learned expanded outside of lessons.

Most parents had never heard of group piano lessons, and if they had it was always cast in light of being second best and for students who weren’t as talented. (I only ever had one student who was “too talented” to be in group lessons. But that was because she began practicing 1 hour a day or more her first year of lessons. Most 6 year olds don’t practice 1-2 hours a day.) In the beginning I had to explain a lot about how great it was for students to be able to work in a cooperative atmosphere where they could work together to develop their skills. Once lessons began, parents did all of the advertising and I seldom had to explain to a new
parent the benefits of a group setting.

Guest Contributor: Marissa Erekson

2011-01-12T06:00:00.023-07:00

We have an awesome guest contributor with us this week who is going to be discussing group teaching. We are so excited to welcome Marissa Erekson, a wonderful pianist and piano teacher with a lot of experience in teaching group lessons. Let's get to know her a little!

name:
Marissa Erekson

she is from:
Bel Air, MD

she is:
a scheduler who is always looking for new adventures

she attended:
BYU: BM 2003 (studied with Jeff Shumway)
MM 2006 (studied with Scott Holden)

currently:
Pursuing a 2nd BSN in Nursing at Georgetown U

her studio:
Worked full time teaching group and private lessons to many hard working and fun loving
children and adults in group and private lessons! She began teaching in 1995, but has
temporarily cut back with teaching to pursue her nursing studies.

she loves:
Traveling, learning how to bake (especially if it involves chocolate), good movies, and a hard
workout!

Piano Teaching Q&A: Maternity Leave

2011-01-11T06:55:00.000-07:00

I am due with my 3rd child in about a month and currently have 8 piano students ages 7-11. They are all in the Primer Bastien book, except 2, who are in level 1. As important as my piano students and their success is to me, my family comes first, so I have been thinking of taking a break for about a month to adjust to the new baby. I'm due January 26th, so I was going to just teach through January until the baby comes and then start up again in March. I would love to get your input and advice on how to make this break time not hinder the progress of my students and what kinds of things to give my students to work on while I’m out. I welcome any suggestions and thank you in advance for your help.
Sincerely,
Haley Castillo

Hi, I just had my second baby a few months ago, so this is fresh on my mind. I'm exhausted! Good luck with your third! I hope I can answer this in a way that will apply to other teachers as well. There are a couple of different ways to handle a maternity leave. One is to find a substitute teacher to teach your students while you are gone, and the other is to just give your students a break for a while.

Substitute

If at all possible, I recommend finding a substitute teacher to take your students while you are recovering and adjusting to life with a new baby. Brainstorm possibilities for someone who might be able to do this: do you have a younger sibling who would like to learn to teach? Do you have any nearby relatives or friends with teaching experience or a good piano background? What about piano teachers in your neighborhood? Maybe an older person who used to teach and might enjoy a short-term return to the trade? Consider that someone who is less experienced than you will appreciate the opportunity and training, but may not push your students as hard as you would. On the other hand, someone with more experience than you should be able to keep your students challenged, but might be more expensive, and honestly, you could lose some students who may decide to transfer to the substitute's studio permanently. There are bound to be drawbacks with anyone you choose, but it will usually still be better than losing the momentum by giving your students a month or two off of lessons entirely.

Once you have a list of a few possibilities, contact each one of them to gauge their interest and availability. Let them know how many weeks you are planning to take off, what your current teaching schedule is, and what tuition your students are currently paying. Ideally, it would be great to find someone who can maintain the same schedule and tuition your students are used to, but minor adjustments may have to be made.

Once you have arranged with someone to be your substitute, contact each of your students to let them know what you have set up. Tell them when and where their lessons will be, who they should make payment to (if you already have a good payment system in place, it might work best for them to continue to pay you, and you can just write one check to the substitute), and any other details you have worked out with the substitute. The smoother you can make this transition for your students, the less likely you are to lose any of them in the process.

Write some notes about each student for the substitute teacher. Let them know how long the student has been playing, what pieces they are working on, what skills they need to focus on, what your practice expectations are, what your reward systems are, etc. If your students will be ready to start any new literature during your absence, select that literature ahead of time and let the substitute know when to assign it. The more info you can give the substitute about your students and your systems, the smoother the transition will be for everyone involved. But keep in mind that every teacher does things differently, and the substitute will probably do some things with your students that you wouldn't have done. And that's okay; you might even learn something!

No substitute

If you can't find anyone that you feel good about teaching your students while you are gone, then it can work to give your students a break for a while. You run the risk of losing some who might decide not to come back once they get out of the habit of lessons, and you will absolutely have to do a little backtracking to re-teach lost skills, but there are a few things you can do to minimize the negative impact of this time off.

Let parents know exactly when lessons will start up again. If you give them a date to put on their calendars, they are more likely to view this as a break instead of a stopping point with an optional restart.
Give students weekly assignments to complete while you are gone. Maybe they can pass off a song to a parent each week, master a new technique exercise, or complete a theory game or coloring page during their regular lesson time.
Don't treat your time off like a break for the students. If they get out of the habit of practicing while you are on leave, they might not get back in. It's likely they won't practice as well as usual, but expect them to, and they might. Especially if they have weekly goals they know they need to complete.
It might help to make a calendar showing the weeks you will be gone, and to write assignments and goals directly on the calendar. Maybe younger students would enjoy crossing off the days on the calendar, or putting a sticker on each day that they practice.
Enlist the parents' help in keeping the practicing consistent and in meeting weekly goals.
See if you can think of a fun and different assignment for the students to do while you are gone—maybe have them write a composition, do a research project about a composer, or write a story about two music notes named Fred and Harry (yeah...I'm sure you can come up with something better than that...)
Depending on what you think you are up for, you might consider making a phone call to each family once or twice during your time off, just to check in and see how practicing and other assignments are going. This can help parents and students recommit if they have slacked a bit.
Send a birth announcement to each family so they will be thinking about you! (I'm mostly kidding about this one...who has time to send birth announcements after their 3rd child?)

I hope this helps a little. Obviously there are lots of details that could be handled differently, and you will need to think carefully about each of your students and what will be best for them. I hope other teachers will add their ideas in the comments!

If you have a question you'd like to ask us, submit it here!

Advertising for New Students

2011-01-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

I just had to get that Merry Christmas post off of the top of the blog - onto a new year! :) I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break and are on to great new semesters of piano study. We have a lot of great things coming up on The Teaching Studio. For now, I thought it would be a great time to re-visit the topic of Finding New Students.

I have made many-a-flyer in my years of teaching piano lessons. I decided it was time for a new, more professional-looking one. I wanted one that I could email out to people (I have had people give my name to people who are interested in lessons, and wanted something professional-looking that could be forwarded on to others). I used Microsoft Publisher to make this one and I love how it turned out! I have never used this program before, but I loved all of the professional-looking templates you can choose from and customize to your heart's content. What do you think?

Now, tell me - what kind of information do you like to put on your flyers? If you use flyers to advertise, how do you make them? Where/how do you like to distribute them?

Happy Monday!

Merry Christmas from The Teaching Studio!

2010-12-23T12:48:00.001-07:00

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas! Please pardon the lack of posts lately due to the holidays. We look forward to lots of fun and exciting things coming up soon, including a great guest contributor and a fun giveaway! Stay tuned!

We hope you enjoy this video of Janina and I performing Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, arranged for one piano/four hands by Eduard Langer. We dusted off this piece that we had previously learned and performed it a few years ago at a duet recital given by our students.

Merry Christmas!