“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.”
— Ludwig van Beethoven
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.
Developing a good sense of rhythm is one of the most challenging parts of being a piano teacher. It’s not something that arrives overnight, and it’s something that must be maintained as the student advances to music with more advanced rhythms and time signatures. It truly is something that must be developed.
I’d like to suggest that there are three components to having and developing what we so loosely refer to as a “good sense of rhythm”:
Just added to the page of free Printables:
Five-Finger Pattern Review (#’s) worksheet
This worksheet is intended as a review of all the major five-finger patterns (5FPs) with sharps; however, using the “WWHW” pattern template, students can easily figure out any 5FPs that they might not already be familiar with. This worksheet will help students become more familiar with the accidentals needed for each FFP and what each FFP looks like when played on the keyboard.
A worksheet such as this works well in group lessons, or as an extra theory assignment for the private lesson.
Look for corresponding the Five-Finger Pattern Review worksheet for FFPs with b’s coming soon!
The first look at a new piece is crucial. As accomplished pianists/teachers, we automatically know to scan the piece to check the time signature, key signature, texture, composer, title, etc. before playing through a piece. Of course, we were trained to go through those steps before sightreading through a piece.
Before having students sightread, what do you say/do with them to introduce a new piece? I’d love to hear your ideas.
Here’s some things I’ve tried: Continue reading “Introducing Students to New Pieces”
What happens when you have to give a performance but your mind is preoccupied with all sorts of crazy stuff going on in your life?
In working with a vocalist whom I accompany for this week, we had a conversation about the necessity of leaving life’s problems outside the performance hall. Of course, it’s easier said than done!
Preoccupation and the Piano Lesson
The same kind of issue can arise in the piano lesson too. Students sometimes come distracted to the lesson and have difficulty focusing on playing their pieces and learning what is being taught.
I’m not talking about when the student won’t sit still or is distracting by other objects in the room; I’m talking about when the student’s mind seems to be deeply preoccupied with other things. It’s tough as piano teacher: we often don’t know what is going on in the student’s life at school or at home. Continue reading “Leave It Behind and Just Play”
“It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception.”
— Albert Einstein, when asked about his theory of relativity
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.
Ever wonder about the difference between rallentando and ritardando? Well, I did….so I decided to look into it and add my two cents to the debate. =)
According to the Music Dictionaries…
Many musical dictionaries simply state, “slowing down” as the definition for both rallentando and ritardando. Some state that the two words are synonyms. However, I would still like to think there is some slight difference in meaning or emphasis between the two words. After all, they are two different words in the Italian language. And composers have been making use of both words in their compositions for centuries. So I decided to do a little more digging. Continue reading “Rallentando & Ritardando: What’s the Difference?”
“It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied.“
— W.A. Mozart
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.
When potential students’ parents call, do you struggle with figuring out what to say on the phone? What information are they looking for, anyway? This post offers some ideas and suggestions.
First, offer basic information about your studio.
The idea is to give them some details about how you run your studio, without overwhelming them. Some ideas:
Offer Sources for Further Information
Once you’ve given them general information about your studio, you can then:
Before hanging up, be sure to ask if they have any other questions. And always thank them for calling, whether or not they sound interested in taking lessons with you or not.
Tip: If you are like me and get a little shy/nervous on the phone, try making yourself a little list to keep by the phone. =)
What kinds of things do you make a note of telling potential students/parents?
Photo Credit: tylerdurden1 | CC 2.0
Just added to the Printables > Studio Business page:
Student Achievements Record
This printable is designed for the teacher to keep records of each students’ achievements, including the completion of music books, the completion of notable pieces of repertoire, the performance of a piece for an audience, and other achievements. Keeping such a record is helpful for the teacher to track and evaluate student progress and participation from year to year.
Suggested use: print a page for each student and keep the pages in alphabetical order in a 3-ring binder.
Enjoy!
What difference does it make how closely you follow the markings in the score?
Listen to these two recordings and see what you think!
This is a concert etude by Franz Liszt entitled, Waldesrauschen (meaning, Voices in the Woods).
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pENsficQ81k
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teFMIzxET3w
The first version is played by Josef Hofmann and the second is by Claudio Arrau.
While both versions are obviously incredibly virtuosic and impressive performances, I personally prefer the second version over the first. And not just because it’s a slower speed. But it strikes me as more expressive. There’s more rubato and Romanticism. I think I can actually hear the “voices in the woods.”
I would also like to point out however, how you can truly hear the markings in the score in the second interpretation. For example, the LH melody in the opening 15 seconds of the piece contains a couple of phrases that each contain a note with a tenuto. Can you guess which note of each phrase has the tenuto, without consulting the score?
Another example, during one of the tumultuous middle sections, there are two crescendos marked in two consecutive measures (2:35 in the first YouTube video; 2:30 in the second). Arrau truly takes the time to make these come out.
Occasionally, I will have a student who thinks they are doing the dynamics, but in actuality it all kind of sounds the same. I mean, you can sort of tell they are doing them, but not really enough to notice. And so I ask my students: “Do you think an audience member who has never seen the score would be able to tell you what the dynamic markings are, just based on what they are hearing? You have to really exaggerate the differences in order to make them noticeable.”
Anyway, I think it’s really fascinating to listen to various interpretations of the same piece – to get inspired to create my own personal interpretation!
Just recently, I’ve realized that when I play piano, I hold a “knot” of tension in my back, in the space between my shoulder blades. Upon this realization, I have begun making a conscious effort to release this tension while I am practicing – which I have to do constantly. It’s obviously a bad habit that I’ve been unaware for a long time!
Interestingly enough, it seems to be related to another issue which I’ve been aware of since my freshman year of college: I tend to raise my right shoulder when I play, especially in anticipation of difficult passages in a piece. Raising my shoulder, however, actually hinders my arms/fingers in those difficult passages rather than helping. I have to remind myself not to “freak out” in anticipation of those upcoming passages so that I keep my shoulder comfortably in place.
Now that I am focusing on releasing the newly-discovered tension in my back, however, I have found that the shoulder problem is occurring less. It seems that I may have found the root of the issue! My back feels better, which means my shoulders are feeling better, which in turn means my arms and wrists are feeling better. And difficult passages are going much better than ever before, which is amazing to me!
Do you deal with tension when you play? Have you been able to identify the root of the problem? I am very interested in hearing more about how to prevent/deal with tension!
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