Archive for May 27, 2008

recital preparation worksheet

{ May 27, 2008 @ 4:22 pm } · { practicing piano, recital preparation }
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Here is a copy of a worksheet I go through with each student in the weeks leading up to a recital, as an overview of performing. 

Recital Ready!

Ideas to help you prepare for our upcoming recitals: 

1.  Preparation.  The key to having a great performance is to be confident with your music.  You can accomplish this through the practicing you do at home.

● When you are practicing, start at the tricky sections–not always at the beginning.

● Play your pieces for your family to test your memorization.  Keep going no matter what.

● Play through your pieces while imagining yourself at the recital.  Make yourself feel nervous; it will be good practice for the actual performance.

● Even after you have memorized your pieces, practice with the music in front of you sometimes to reinforce your visual memory.  

2.  Before you play.  It’s completely normal to feel nervous when you are waiting your turn to perform.  Try these ideas to keep your nerves under control.

● Remember to breathe!  Breathe slowly and deeply while you are sitting in the audience.  Breathing quickly will increase your heart rate and stress your body.           

● Relax your muscles.  Pretend you are a floppy rag doll with no tension.           

● Imagine yourself playing wonderfully.  Do not imagine yourself playing poorly.  

3.  While you perform.  This is the point where you get to share all the hard work you’ve done with your friends and family.

● When you sit at the bench, wait a few moments until you begin.  Make sure you are at the proper distance away from the piano.  Also, wait a little between pieces so the audience knows you are playing a different piece.

● Before you begin, imagine the mood or emotion you want to create with your music.

● If you have a memory mistake, jump ahead to a later point in the piece rather than going back to the beginning.  Do not be discouraged if you make a mistake.  Even professional concert pianists hit wrong notes and have memory lapses sometimes.  

4.  After you perform.  Congratulations–it is quite an accomplishment to perform in front of others.  I am proud of you.           

● Enjoy yourself.  You did it!           

● If you are disappointed in your performance, that’s okay.  What would you do differently next time?                                                                                  

● Talk to some of the other performers.  Encourage them by telling them what you enjoyed about their pieces.           

● Take a break from practicing.  But not too long of a break…………

Music periods—-20th century

{ May 27, 2008 @ 4:14 pm } · { classical music }
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20th Century/Contemporary Period

1900-present

     Keyboard instruments used:   piano

     Popular forms:  there are limitless forms, some of which borrow from the past, but in general forms of the 20th century are freer and more abstract.

     Harmony:  pieces may be atonal, 12-tone, use nonWestern scales, modal, or use traditional Western tonality.  Dissonance, tone clusters, and invented chords/scales are also used.

     Style:  There are many different movements representing different styles, such as:  Impressionism, Neoclassicism, Atonality, 12-tone, Expressionism, Minimalism, the Avant-garde, and Aleatoric or “chance” music.

     Composers:  Claude Debussy, Bela Bartok, Charles Ives, Sergei Prokofiev, John Cage, Emma Lou Diemer.

To learn more about–

Debussy:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/debussy.html

Bartok:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/bartok.html

Ives:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/ives.html

Prokofiev:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/prokofiev.html

Cage:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/cage.html

The following videos represent a range of styles and moods of twentieth-century piano music.  Press the play button in the middle of the video screen twice.

Debussy:  2 Preludes, Book II– “mists,” and “ondine”; performed by Elena Ulyanova:

Prokofiev:  Finale from Sonata no. 6; performed by Evgeny Kissin:

Henry Cowell:  “Aeolian Harp”; performed on the strings of the piano; pianist Lydia Aoki:

Music periods—-Romantic

{ May 27, 2008 @ 4:11 pm } · { classical music }
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Romantic Period Summary

1820-1900

     Keyboard instrument used:  the piano

     Popular forms:     character pieces, concertos, etudes, dances, and theme and variations.

     Harmony:     chromaticism, wild modulation, thick textures.

     Style:     Personal expression, use of the pedal, variety of dynamics, tempo, and accompaniment figuration, extreme virtuosity.

     Composers:     Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt

To learn more about Beethoven:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/beethoven.html

To learn more about Chopin:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/chopin.html

To learn more about Schumann:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/schumann.html

To learn more about Liszt:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/liszt.html

View the following videos to hear piano pieces of the Romantic Period.  Please press the play button in the middle of the video screen twice.

Beethoven’s Sonata No. 17 in D minor, op. 31 No. 2, third movement, performed by Wilhelm Kempff:

Chopin’s Scherzo no. 3, performed by Martha Argerich:

First half of Schumann’s “Scenes from Childhood”, performed by Cyprien Katsaris:

Liszt’s Transcendental Etude No. 4, “Mazeppa,” performed by Boris Berezovsky:

Music periods—-classical

{ May 27, 2008 @ 4:10 pm } · { classical music }
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Classical Period Summary

1750-1820

     Keyboard instruments used:   The pianoforte (predecessor to the modern-day piano)

     Popular forms:    Sonata-allegro, minuet and trio, rondo, sonatina, theme and variations, and concertos.

     Harmony:    Right-hand melody with left-hand accompaniment (Alberti bass, often).  Symmetry and beauty of melody were important.

    Style:    Limited modulation, a variety of dynamic contrasts, and articulation marks written in the score, such as staccato and slurs.

   Composers:  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and early works of Ludwig van Beethoven

To learn more about Mozart:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/mozart.html

To learn more about Haydn:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/haydn.html

To learn more about Beethoven:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/beethoven.html

Watch the following videos to hear keyboard pieces of the Classical Period.  Please press the play button in the middle of the video screen twice.

Mozart’s Sonata in C Major K. 330, third movement, performed by Vladimir Horowitz:

Beethoven’s Sonata in D major, Op. 10 No. 3, first movement, performed by Irena Koblar:

Music periods—–Baroque

{ May 27, 2008 @ 4:09 pm } · { classical music }
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 Baroque Period Summary

1600-1750

        Keyboard instruments used:     the clavichord, harpsichord, and organ (the piano was not invented yet!).

      Popular forms:    Binary and ternary form, dances, toccatas, preludes, fugues, suites, and theme and variations.

     Harmony:      Music was written in major and minor keys, sometimes with frequent modulation.  Counterpoint, two or more melodies played at the same time, was popular.

     Style:      A lot of ornamentation, imitation of themes, and terraced dynamics.

     Composers:  The most famous composers of this time period are J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti.

To learn more about Bach:   http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/bach.html

To learn more about Handel:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/education/handel.html

Watch the following videos to hear keyboard music of the Baroque Period;  please press the play button in the middle of the video screen twice. 

Here is Toccata in G Major, composed by Bach, played on the harpsichord by Ton Koopman:

Here is Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata in D Minor, k. 517, performed on the harpsichord by Elaine Comparone:

    

studio policy–Garten’s music location only

{ May 27, 2008 @ 3:51 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Piano Studio Policy

revised May 2008

Nicole Dyson-Smith

(316) 250-1725

nicvandyke@hotmail.com 

Tuition

Tuition may be paid monthly or per week; this payment reserves your lesson time.  Checks should be made out to Nicole Dyson-Smith.  Students with habitually late or incorrect payments put me in a bind because I am required to pay rent on studio space based on number of lessons given per week.  For this reason, I reserve the right to cancel a student’s lesson if they have outstanding balances. 

 Attendance

● Regular attendance of lessons is important in achieving success.  I have reserved a lesson time for the student and expect the student to arrive punctually and well prepared.

● If a student needs to cancel a lesson, please give me 24 hours notice.  In the case of sickness or emergency, just contact me as soon as possible.

             Make-up Lessons

            –If a lesson is cancelled by me, I will either reschedule the student’s lesson or subtract that lesson fee from the student’s next payment. 

            –I will do the same as above if a student cancels their lesson with at least 24 hours notice. 

–If a student does not show up for their lesson, and no notice has been given, I may or may not reschedule the lesson, depending on my schedule.  In this circumstance, I do not give a refund for the missed lesson.

● Please note that it is difficult for me to schedule make-up lessons during the schoolyear due to a very busy teaching schedule (over 50 students per semester).

● Students choosing to discontinue lessons must give me one month’s (30 day) notice, so that I have the opportunity to refill the vacant time slot.

   Inclement Weather     

☼ If Wichita Public Schools are closed due to inclement weather, piano lessons will also be cancelled.  I will also try to contact you so that you don’t make an unnecessary or unsafe trip.

 Required Materials

- Piano or Keyboard at home.  As the student becomes more advanced, it is essential that they have an instrument with the complete range of keys, especially weighted keys and pedals.  Full range digital pianos with all these features are very reasonably priced these days – more inexpensive than most other instruments. 

- Method or Repertoire books.  Bring all books you are currently working in to your lesson.  A spiral notebook is also helpful for keeping track of assignments. 

- Metronome.  Any adjustible metronome is fine; sometimes they are even built into digital pianos and keyboards. 

            All of the above materials are available at Garten’s Music.

 Practice

Learning an instrument requires more than just attending a lesson once a week.  I expect my students to spend time at the piano about 5 days a week.  Each student will be different, but here are some basic practice guidelines:

 Practice Ideals Per Day (5 days a week)

            –beginners: about 15 minutes (10 minutes for kindergarten/1st-graders).

            –levels one and two (red, blue, and orange Faber books):  about 20 minutes

            –levels three and four:  about 30 minutes

            –level five and above: 30- 60 minutes

            –advanced students should expect to practice at least 5 hours per week. 

● In general, students who exceed the above practicing ideals excel quicker and are able to master a larger repertoire of music in a shorter period of time.  Students who do not meet the above ideals may still make progress, but at a slower rate.  If students do not practice at all at home, progress is quite slow–it may take nearly a year to learn what a regularly-practicing student could learn in a few weeks. 

            I believe that a parent should require regular practice time as part of their child’s daily schedule, even if it is just 10 minutes a day.  Don’t waste your money by paying for lessons while neglecting to enforce practicing!

 Recitals and Learning Opportunities

Recitals are held at least twice a year.  I encourage but do not require my students to participate.  Most students play two pieces, one of which is memorized.  Typically, attire is dressy but not formal–students should wear something they are comfortable in. 

I encourage many different types of performance opportunities so that students become confident performers.  Masterclasses and workshops are scheduled throughout the year, most of which are free and open to all students.  Festivals and competitions require fees–I will notify you in advance of dates and cost.