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YouTube competition for amateur pianists

{ April 19, 2008 @ 3:14 am } · { classical music, piano, teaching piano }
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assignment for upper school students:

The Van Cliburn Foundation is holding a piano competition on YouTube for amateur pianists 35 and older, and you have the opportunity to help decide who will win. The winner of the YouTube competition will have their entry fee waived and will compete in the 2011 International Competition.

In order to vote, you will need to register on the Van Cliburn website, and you will be emailed an online ballot to vote for your favorite pianist. The voting will take place May 1-15.

You can view the competitors’ videos on their channel on YouTube here. Today when I checked, there were only 2 pianists who’ve submitted videos so far, but the deadline is April 30th, so hopefully there will be more soon.

You can hear more about the guidelines for the pianists here:

carving practice time into your child’s schedule

{ March 3, 2008 @ 2:34 pm } · { piano lessons, practicing piano, teaching piano }
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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.”

hand positions—the good and the grotesque

{ February 21, 2008 @ 7:53 pm } · { piano lessons, practicing piano, teaching piano }
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In an earlier post, “How to encourage your child to practice the piano,” I wrote about strategies parents can use to establish a routine of consistent practicing for their children.

There are many other things you can do to make sure your child gets the most out of their practice sessions, and I will share a bunch of these as I have time to type them out. I hope to explain these clearly and practically so that even if you have absolutely no musical background you will still have a good grasp on the concepts.

The first aspect we will look at is the student’s hand position. You can easily check this at home to make sure they are on the right track. Here is what to look for:

the happy, rounded hand

This is an example of a good hand position. Notice that the joints in the fingers are bent, and the hand has a rounded shape. The wrist should be up—at least level with the knuckles, not hanging down. Many students automatically raise their shoulders at the same time they raise their wrists, so check to make sure their shoulders are in a normal, relaxed position.

bad hand #1:

Check to make sure the fingers are not flat. This flat position results in the student exerting force from the wrong part of their fingers.

bad hand #2

Yuck! Notice how the joint is caved in—-it’s going in the opposite direction that joints were meant to go. Check to make sure your child’s finger joints are not pressing in or “caving” when they play a key.

bad hand #3

Rather than having the fingers splayed upward, the student should have a relaxed hand with the fingers resting on or very close to the keys. Sometimes the fingers will go up just a little when a different finger depresses a key, and that is fine.

bad hand #4

Don’t let the wrist slouch down low as in the above photo. Ouch!

It is important for piano students to have a good, healthy hand position for several reasons–to prevent injury and repetitive strain, to enable the hands and fingers to have a range of touch from soft to loud, to keep the fingers from tiring out, to have the most control over those tiny delicate muscles as possible, to have the ability to play fast without tension, etc. It may take time to correct bad habits, but it’s worth the effort!

jellybean note game

{ February 5, 2008 @ 3:13 am } · { fun, lessons, music theory, teaching piano }
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i play a note on the piano, and the student finds the corresponding placement on the grand staff using a jellybean of their choice to represent the notehead. if they are correct, they get to eat their note.

students love playing this game, however they’re not so excited when they accidentally eat a popcorn or jalapeno-flavored jellybean.

how to encourage your child to practice the piano

{ January 31, 2008 @ 2:36 pm } · { lessons, piano, piano lessons, practicing piano, teaching piano }
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As a parent, there are a number of things you can do:

Most importantly, the student’s practice time should be a required part of their daily schedule (5 days per week). Just as with homework or household chores, if parents do not enforce practice as part of the daily routine, the student will probably not do it on their own.
Practice charts keep track of the student’s efforts each week. Check your child’s practice chart often to see how much time they are investing. If they do not have one, or have lost it, contact me and I will send them home with a new one.
Reward your child for practicing consistently and with a good attitude. Praise and encourage them, give them a small gift that is meaningful to them, or allow them to do some special activity they enjoy.
Sometimes it is a good idea to set up a system of privileges that the child may gain or lose, depending on how faithfully they obey your requirements to practice consistently. The privilege should be something that the child really desires.
Attend your child’s recitals. Be positive; do not criticize them.
Let your child know that you are proud of their progress and enjoy listening to them play.

I also use a number of strategies to encourage my students to practice. I am constantly searching out new pieces and new music books to find music that appeals to individual students. When the student is studying a piece they actually enjoy, they are much more likely to practice. I have found this to be the most effective motivator with my students.

Sometimes I arrange for students to play duets with friends or in ensembles. Students are always free to bring in music outside of their assigned pieces, such as pieces from movies, popular songs, or musicals. Most students excel greatly when they are assigned a “special”, exciting, difficult-sounding piece that is not in their method books.

I use incentives with some students–stickers (for younger ones), candy when certain goals have been reached, and more personalized incentives for older students. For example, I recently arranged to buy a high-school student the CD of his choice, if he completes 95-100% of his practicing goals.

Performances are also motivating to piano students, because none of them want to be embarrassed or unprepared in front of their fellow students and peers. For this reason, I notice a dramatic increase in students’ practice time in the weeks leading up to a recital or some other performance. This is a good thing!

Many piano students are also inspired by hearing the performances of more advanced students. I remember being awed by my teacher’s playing when I was a student, so I try to perform myself for my students at least once a year on a big recital.

Here is a helpful page from the Piano Education website with links to articles like “Being a Supportive Parent of a Piano Student,” “Taking an Active Role in Your Child’s Piano Training,” and “My Kid Wants to Quit Piano?!?!?”:

http://pianoeducation.org/pnotchld.html#Parent

If anyone has additional ideas, I would love to hear them!

music theory treasure hunt

{ January 23, 2008 @ 3:07 am } · { fun, lessons, music theory, teaching piano }
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at Collegiate school this week, we are doing some theory challenges that lead to hidden clues, and the clues lead to a treasure map, and the map leads to a treasure! the challenges include naming notes, clapping rhythms precisely, and determining note values.

nathan

sarah

… continue reading this entry.

Christmas Recital

{ December 8, 2007 @ 10:15 pm } · { fun, teaching piano }
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me and some of my students from the garten’s location at our christmas recital, held at newman university:

clockwise from back left:

dustin, me (in red dress), megan (in yellow stripes), margaret, autumn, deanna, james (tall guy), julie (pink), maggie (middle row in red), rachel, jessica, sarah, lindsay (blue), duncan, johnny (blue/yellow stripes)