“Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inner places of the soul.”

– Plato

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

Related Posts:

• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

I’m excited to think about starting up these classes someday.  Here’s some things I’m been thinking about…

Things to consider:

1. Location/space – large, open room.
2. Parents’ presence – required or not?
3. Materials – songbooks, musical instruments, colored scarves, rugs, cd player, etc.
4. Class size – six to ten, perhaps?
5. Ages – 0-18 mo., 18 mo.-3 yrs, 3-5 yrs.
6. Class duration – 30, 45, 50, or 55 minutes.
7. Sessions – 7- or 14-week sessions.
8. Goals – music literacy; musical experience; aural development; building the parents’ & children’s repertoire of music to share in the home; music as expression; building of pre-piano skills; etc.

Types of Activities:

• Songs with motions
• Listening & responding with movement (classical, folk, jazz, pop, etc.)
• Fingerplays
• Chants
• Musical games
• Other activities

I think these classes will be fun!  And I’m hoping that introducing  such classes will give my beginner piano students a head start once they begin private lessons.  Has anyone offered similar classes in their piano studios before?  I’d love to hear about it.

Related Posts:

• Free Board Game for Music Students
• 30 Theme Ideas for the Music Studio Events
• Upcoming Poster Session @ Mich. Music Conference
• Organizing your Music Books
• Make Business Cards for Your Music Studio

“The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air.”

– Kenneth Miller

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

Related Posts:

• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

Some people memorize effortlessly, without even trying.  These are practical tips for the rest of us.  :)

12 Tips for Memorizing Piano Music:

1. From Day 1, practice your music with the intent of internalizing and memorizing it. Don’t wait until you’d got the piece learned to begin memorizing it.
2. Use good fingering and use it consistently. It will take a lot longer to learn the piece if you are using different fingerings every time.  Writing your fingerings in the score will help (especially if you decide to use fingering other than what is indicate in the score).
3. Always memorize the dynamics, articulations, and other markings on the page along with the notes. Don’t wait until you have the notes mastered!  It’s difficult to go back and fix things later.  It’s better — although perhaps more tedious initially — to learn it right the first time.
4. Try to play without the music in front of you – see how far you get. Rather than leaving the music on the music stand, put the sheet music on the floor so you’re not easily tempted to look.  Sometimes I even put my music book on the floor on the other side of the room!  Only peek if you have to.
5. Watch your hands as you play. Closing your eyes all of the time isn’t a good idea: when performing, you might look at your hands and suddenly everything looks foreign.  Get used to watching your hands.  Look for patterns on the keyboard as you play.
6. Practice slowly. If you play with a fast tempo as you are trying to memorize, you are strengthening mostly your muscle memory (which is not enough, on its own).  Practicing slowly is harder, and forces you to strengthen other memories, like your visual, tactile, and intellectual memories.
7. Memorize in small sections, usually just four measures at a time — but sometimes two measures at a time may be necessary (as is often the case with Bach).  Once you’ve gone through the entire piece in this manner, try doubling the number of measures and going through the whole process again.
8. Memorize hands separately, especially the left hand.  The left hand is often negelected and left to chance that it will follow the right hand.  But then if a memory slip occurs, it’s often difficult to get the LH back on track.  I also believe that understanding the LH bass line is crucial to internalizing the music in a secure way, both aurally and analytically.
9. Analyze the music.  This should be done in a number of ways.  First, analyze the form (e.g., AB, ABA, rondo, or sonata form).  Label the sections in your score and try to form a mental road map of the piece in your head.  Also analyze the piece harmonically: using Roman Numeral analysis (e.g., I, V7) or lead sheet symbols (e.g., CM, G7, Em).  Both systems have their advantages, so I usually do both.
10. Designate a number of starting places throughout the piece where you can start the piece at any time, should a memory slip occur. These starting places should be marked in your score.  You can mark them using A, B, C, etc., or 1, 2, 3, etc.  Try numbering the piece backwards, from the end to the beginning, so you are counting down the end rather than up.  Another system I learned from an excellent pianist is to mark the starting places using circled S’s (to stand for “starting place”).  In his method, you are creating a hierarchy of starting places.  Use “sss” (super, super starting place) to designate a very strong starting place; for example, the beginning of the piece, or the beginning of the Recapitulation.  Use “ss” (super starting place) to designate a fairly strong starting place; for example, at the beginning of a set of four phrases.  Use “s” (starting place) to designate other starting places; for example, the beginnings of most phrases throughout the piece where you can easily start from.
11. Practice mentally, away from the piano. Sit on the couch with a chocolate bar or some popcorn and see if you can mentally play through the entire piece.  Try to visualize the score and/or the keyboard.  Being able to successfully play through the entire piece mentally is a strong indication that you have the piece solidly memorized!
12. Repetition, repetition, repetition! Don’t be discouraged if you return to the piece the next day and find that everything you worked on memorizing yesterday seems to be gone from your memory.  It’s part of the process.  Re-memorize those sections.  Each time you return to a section, it will become more solid in your memory.

Do you have your own memorization tips to share?  Please comment below!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifrigginan/5278076/

Related Posts:

• 30 Theme Ideas for the Music Studio Events
• Free New Age Piano mp3s
• Practicing for juries…
• Best Free Sheet Music Sites
• Just Added! Lesson Plans: Analyzing & Composing Music in the Romantic Style

I hope write my own post with my own tips for memorizing music as well, but specific to piano music.  Watch for it coming soon!

Related Posts:

• No Related Posts

“Pianos are such noble instruments – they’re either upright or grand.”

– Author Unknown

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

Related Posts:

• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
• Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

As always, feel free to leave comments — let us know which printables available now are your favorite!

Related Posts:

• “Printables” page has been updated
• Free Sheet Music @ pianostreet.com

In addition, now when you leave comments on posts at colorinmypiano.com, you can leave them using your facebook account.  Colorinmypiano.com will even display your current facebook avatar (photo) beside your comment.  What fun!

Related Posts:

• Best of 2009 @ colorinmypiano.com
• 6 Ways for Teachers to Stay Current

My personal favorite:

IMSLP / The Petruccit Library

This site contains TONS of sheet music pdfs of the great classical works!  Just this week, for example, I was looking to round out one of my student’s “musical diet” by giving her a piece from the Romantic Era.  After browsing around on the IMSLP site, I came across the Burgmüller Etudes Op. 100, which includes some lovely little pieces which were among my favorite pieces to play when I was a kid.  Examples: “Arabesque,” “Grace,” “Progress,” “Innocence,” and “Ballade.”

Do you have a favorite site where you print free sheet music?  Please let us know and I’ll add it to the list!

Related Posts:

• Best Free Sheet Music Sites
• Resources @ musicmotivationblog.com
• 3 Benefits of Incorporating Improvisation | Part 6 of the series
• Things I Learned from a Yeol Eum Son Masterclass
• Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5d in the series

Here’s the lowdown:

• Designed for 2-4 players - Works well during the private lesson, played between teacher and student.  May also be played with a group of 3, 4, or maybe 5 students.
• Designed for Level 1 music students (equivalent to Level 1 in most method books).

Concepts covered:

• Identifying intervals unison through 5th.
• Identifying note values and rest values (e.g., quarter note).
• Identifying notes on the staff (within Middle C position), including sharps and flats.
• Identifying various music symbols (dynamics, articulations, etc.).

Materials needed:

• 1 or 2 dice – depending upon how quickly you’d like the game to progress.
• Several pawns or place markers – colored glass baubles from the dollar store work well.
• Instructions for play are located on the game board.

Printing instructions:

• I would advise printing on cardstock paper, and perhaps even laminating both the board and the playing cards.
• Page 1 should be printed normally.  This is the game board.
• Page 4 must be printed onto the backside of Page 2.  This page contains the first category of cards.
• Page 5 must be printed onto the backside of Page 3.  This page contains the second category of cards.
• Cut apart the playing cards.

***A special THANK YOU goes to Lilly at LillyArts.com, for allowing me to use her colorful music illustrations on the cards and game board.  Please check out her website to see more of her beautiful artwork.***

Click to view the game now! >  Board Game Adventures in Music

Please let me know your thoughts about the game!

Related Posts:

• 30 Theme Ideas for the Music Studio Events
• Early Childhood Music Classes
• Upcoming Poster Session @ Mich. Music Conference
• Organizing your Music Books
• Make Business Cards for Your Music Studio