Category: Practicing

improving as a teacher, Practicing, Teaching Piano

Highlights from Michigan Music Teachers Conference 2009

Joy Morin

This past weekend was the Michigan Music Teachers Association 124th State Conference, taking place in Bay City, Michigan.  A couple of my fellow college piano pedagogy majors and I drove over to Bay City on Monday, to hear the conferences of the day.  Conferences are so great because they give you all sorts of new ideas and get you re-inspired!  Here are some highlights:

  • We had the privilege of hearing Jane Magrath present two sessions about piano teaching.  I can’t even express how fabulous her presentations were.  But here’s the biggest thing I took away from her presentations: when introducing a new piece to a student (say, intermediate level), guide the student through some steps towards analyzing the piece.  Example: “Let’s find some ways that will make learning this piece a little easier. Do you see any patterns in this piece?”  By identifying and labeling various rhythmic and melodic themes, the student can understand the piece at a greater depth and play with more understanding.  In addition, the piece suddenly becomes much less daunting.
  • Derek Polischuk gave a presentation about utilizing “Audio and Video Technology in the Studio to Provide Student Feedback.”  He uses the webcam on his MacBook computer to record during student lessons and post them onto YouTube in such a way that the student can login to this private area and view the movies.  Doing so is a great teaching tool and greatly motivates students.  After all, this is a day and age where kids understand technology so much better.  You can find his blog here, where he regularly posts various student videos, including projects by his college-level piano pedagogy students.
  • David Abbott spoke to us about “Beethoven through the Romantics: Pedaling and Issues of Interpretation,” highlighting some examples of places where the composer’s pedal markings are frequently not followed by pianists (qualified by the fact that our pianos today are so much different than back then). Abbott made the argument that we should be more true to the composer’s markings, for they might be indicating exactly the aural effect they were seeking to create.

What fun!  I am already looking forward to next year.  =)

Motivation, Practicing

3 Ways to Motivate Busy Students

Joy Morin

I believe students today are busier than ever before.  They are involved in everything you can imagine — art, karate, gymnastics, swimming, sports teams, church activities, 4-H, and more.  And this is all on top of their regular homework assignments from school.  Sometimes the student gets stretched too thin, and something needs to go.  Other times, the student may just need a little extra incentive to motivate them to consider piano lessons to be just as important as everything else.

  1. Make a practice contract. A practice contract is basically an agreement between the teacher and the parent/student that they will complete a set amount of practice each week.  Most (young) students cannot remember to practice piano each day on their own.  They need a parent to remind them and keep track of their time spent practicing.  In most cases, both the parent and student (and the teacher) are much happier when consistent practice takes place, because the student can feel that they are progressing, and the parent feels they are getting their money’s worth.
  2. Teach the student how to practice. It’s not enough that the student is playing piano for 15 to 30 minutes each day.  They need to be using that practice time effectively.  To ensure this takes place, the teacher should essentially be teaching the student how to practice during the lesson.  Help the student troubleshoot problem spots and give them specific ways to fix the problems.  Guidelines for practice ought to be written down in an assignment notebook, so that the student can refer to it each time they sit down to practice.  It may be helpful to give young students a set of specific steps to follow.  For example, you might write in their notebook: 1) Point to the all the dynamics in this piece. Find the hand position change and draw a star by that measure.  2) Tap the rhythm of the whole piece on the wood of the piano, counting out loud. 3) Play the piece through as written.
  3. Create an incentive program. Some positive reinforcement (paired with the parents’ help in the consistent practice department) goes a long ways for some students.  Create ways for students to earn points for completing certain tasks, like passing their pieces, memorizing their assignments, completing theory assignments or extra credit worksheets, learning their scales/five-finger patterns, etc.  Get together some prizes to award once the student has earned a certain amount of points.  Click here for a description of the incentive program I have used for the last couple years.

These are just three ways to further motivate students and encourage increased progress.  There are many more.  Please share your ideas below!

Motivation, Performances, Practicing

Music + Imagination

Joy Morin

I often have students’ parents and grandparents tell me that they wish they had kept taking piano lessons.  I use this to encourage my current students, and tell them that it’s a gift to be able to sit down at an instrument and create music — a gift that can provide great pleasure to oneself and others.

Why do so many students quit?  I mean, I realize that it might not be feasible for everyone to take lessons for their whole life (although wouldn’t that be amazing?!), but still, why do so many people regret that they didn’t continue their lessons longer while they were young?   Continue reading “Music + Imagination” →
Performances, Practicing

Accuracy vs. Musicality

Joy Morin

There are many performers who I consider to have amazing accuracy of notes, but minimal musicality….others who hit many wrong notes, but have AMAZING musicality.  The greatest performers, I think, are those who manage to do both successfully.  But if I had to choose between one extreme or another, I would choose the musicality over the note accuracy, hands down.  

I tend to fall in the latter category.  I wish I could play more accurately more consistently…but to tell you the truth, I’m far more concerned with playing musically.   Continue reading “Accuracy vs. Musicality” →

Announcements, Performances, Practicing

Reflections upon Interpretation

Joy Morin

Yesterday at a piano lesson, my student kept saying how she wasn’t sure “what to do in this section.” Although I wasn’t completely sure what she was feeling, I think she was saying that she sometimes wonders how she can make decisions about how to play a particular piece / passage musically. We were working on a Chopin Nocturne, and the main concept I was trying to communicate to her was to allow the RH melody to dictate some push and pull of the tempo, rather than allowing the LH accompaniment to metronomically determine the tempo. Continue reading “Reflections upon Interpretation” →

Motivation, Practicing

Incentive Programs for Piano Students

Joy Morin

Do you use an incentive program in your piano studio?  Incentive programs can be a useful way to motivate and encourage students to be diligent and productive with their practicing. More importantly, an incentive program can help emphasize the behaviors or goals the teacher expects from the student. Below is information about how I designed an ongoing incentive program for my students.

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Growing up, I recall my piano teacher implementing a number of different programs while I was taking lessons — unfortunately, she never stuck with one long enough for me to earn a prize very often.  A good incentive program must be simple enough for the students to understand, and cannot be too time consuming as to take up a lot of the lesson time.  It needs to be easily attainable, otherwise students will give up on ever earning a prize.   Continue reading “Incentive Programs for Piano Students” →