Dear Collegiate piano students and parents,
Our spring piano recitals will be Saturday, April 5th, in Rounds. The recitals will be at 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, and 12:00. Please email, call me, or send a note with your child to their lesson to let me know the time that works best for you. There will be a short reception after each recital, so you are invited to bring cookies or treats if you wish.
Thanks!
Nicole Dyson-Smith
email: nicvandyke@hotmail.com
phone: 250-1725
one of the things i love most about playing the harp is using my bare hands to pluck the strings, without any sort of mechanism or tool (like a bow or keyboard) between me and the strings themselves. as you watch the harpist below, take note of her hand movements, which fingers she uses, and how she uses the pedals. how do you think she produces the bell-like sounds (harmonics)? what do you think the pedals are for? why do you think some of the strings are red or black? click here to learn more about the harp.
“Tarantula” from Spiders, composed by Paul Patterson:
Click here to see my favorite solo harp piece of all time, Hindemith’s Sonata. (Don’t be alarmed by the strange non-English screen when it first pops up; the video will play after a few seconds.)
The theremin is the only instrument I can think of that is played without being touched! As you watch this video of Debussy’s Clair de lune, notice what the performer is doing with each hand. How do you think he is controlling the music? The answer, and more about the theremin is here.
i wish this guy lived in wichita.
judge yourself, lest you be judged! as we approach the upcoming recital and festival dates, test and score yourself in the areas below to track your progress. pianists are typically scored in these categories for competitions and festivals, so it looks very similar to an adjudicator’s sheet. if you were the adjudicator, how would you rate yourself in each of these areas? I have also included a few questions to get you thinking………..
Polishing your piece for performance–be your own judge
● Memorization
Is your piece securely memorized? Are you able to continue playing and finish your piece even if you have a memory slip? Have you practiced “slipping” and continuing? Have you tested your memory by performing for people multiple times?
● Accuracy
Are you playing the correct notes and observing all the written details of the score?
● Tempo, meter, and rhythm
Have you settled on an appropriate tempo? Is your piece “felt” in the correct meter? Is the rhythm precise?
● Interpretation- contrast, mood, phrasing, style, expression
Is your piece convincing in its mood, atmosphere, and contrasts? Are you successfully expressing something, or are you rushing through to get finished?
● Dynamics
Are you conveying the dynamics? Do your softs sound different than your fortes?
● Pedaling
Are you using the appropriate pedaling for your piece? Is the pedaling clear and clean, or mushy?
● Touch- legato, staccato, accents
Are you observing each of these details, and any others marked in the score?
● Continuity, flow
Does the piece sound like a total work, or like a bunch of different pieces strung together? Is the piece totally steady?
● Tone- beauty, control
Is your tone wimpy or strong?
● Other- stage presence, appearance
Have you practiced walking to the piano and taking a bow in front of a mirror? Have you practiced your piece in the shoes you plan to wear for the performance? These things may seem trivial, but at the performance you will need to be confident and solely focused on the music, rather than worrying about how dorky you feel when you bow or trying to remember how exactly to walk in heels.
● Saturday, March 15 at 1:30
● Saturday, March 29 at 1:30
We will meet in the Piano Lab in the Annex rather than in our regular room. Please plan to attend both days if possible. You will do a run-through of your piece to practice performing, identify weak spots and memory problems, and to set goals for polishing your piece. Your fellow piano students will be there to support and encourage you as we work as a team to prepare for the recital and ISAS festival. Don’t forget to bring your score!
Hello Piano Parents! I wanted to share some ideas about how to find and schedule practice sessions into your child’s everyday life. Luckily, I came across an excellent article that articulates it better than I could, here——-> “Build a Regular Practice Schedule.”
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