Tag: NCKP

Conferences

NCKP 2013 (5) – The Technique Behind Intermediate Repertoire, by Nancy Bachus

Joy Morin

Wednesday – The Technique Behind Intermediate Repertoire: Laying the Groundwork, Nancy Bachus

Nancy Bachus covered a variety of technique concepts and how to teach them in her session.

Physical Aspects of Technique:
Position of the body – shoulders down and relaxed; Forearms level with the keyboard, Feet flat and planted.

Hands and fingers – natural curve, strong nail joint (Schnabel quote). Lay arm flat, bring the fingers back. Hang fingers on edge of wood before keyboard.

Hand needs an arch. It connects the fingers with the thumb.
Continue reading “NCKP 2013 (5) – The Technique Behind Intermediate Repertoire, by Nancy Bachus” →

Conferences

NCKP 2013 (4) – Developing a Curriculum for the Intermediate Transfer Student, by Jane Magrath

Joy Morin

Wednesday – Developing a Curriculum for the Intermediate Transfer Student by Jane Magrath

There is so much to choose from – How do we choose curriculum?

“Curriculum” comes from the Latin for “a course for racing.”

Objectives:
Teach what you know. If you don’t do jazz, let the student get a jazz teacher!
We can’t do everything at once. Start with what you teach well.
The idea of leveling is so important. The levels are just a frame of reference – not a definite order.

Finding a student level:
Step 1: Ask the student to sight read only one or two lines of three pieces from a leveled literature series. Help the student find the tempo and counting at the beginning. Test the student by switching books to other levels and evaluate. Find the student’s sight reading level.
Step 2: Assign literature for study that is about 2 levels higher than their reading level.
Continue reading “NCKP 2013 (4) – Developing a Curriculum for the Intermediate Transfer Student, by Jane Magrath” →

Conferences

NCKP 2013 (3) – Conducting the Transfer Student Interview

Joy Morin

Wednesday – Conducting the Transfer Student Interview
Panel discussion with Linda Fields, Immanuela Gruenberg, David Husser, Gail Lew, Elissa Milne, and Arlene Steffen

Could the interview be this simple as two questions: Whise idea was this, and will you practice every day?

Types of transfer students: Those who are moving geographically; becoming dissatisfied with the current teaching; the teacher retires or passes away; or student takes a break for a number of months/years and wishes to begin again.

An interview involves meeting the student and the parent, and for them to try things out with the teacher as well. The “interview” is an awfully formal term – an “exploration” is perhaps a better word. Observe the interaction between student and parent.

How do you use the time during the interview? Before the interview, try to collect the information you can. Try to talk to the student and parent. Have the student play and sight read. Evaluate in potential of younger students – such as their ears or senses of rhythm. With older students, you evaluate knowledge, motivation, and playing. Observe student’s body in interaction with the instrument. Teachers should also observe visual processing, aural processing, etc. Test reading skills and aural abilities.
Continue reading “NCKP 2013 (3) – Conducting the Transfer Student Interview” →

Conferences

NCKP 2013 (2) – The Beauty And The Beast In The Piano Studio, by Marvin Blickenstaff

Joy Morin

W July 24 @ 3pm – The Beauty And The Beast In The Piano Studio, by Marvin Blickenstaff

Mr. Blickenstaff began by playing the beautiful Schumann Romance. Then he stated that beautiful music has the power to change human beings.

Marvin was almost a piano dropout in the 7th grade. He was bored and his mother decided to have him take from Fern Davidson – great teacher in Idaho. At her 100th birthday, over 900 people showed up at her birthday concert! Fern gave all of them the gift of beautiful music. Notice the phrase is not fast fingers, theoretical analysis, etc.. Beautiful music makes beautiful souls. Piano study is about increasing a sensitivity to the beautiful. Our lives are momentarily changed by beautiful sounds. The human being needs beauty.

We are here in the name of teaching beauty. It is the longest lasting gift we can give our students. It should be our focus. Continue reading “NCKP 2013 (2) – The Beauty And The Beast In The Piano Studio, by Marvin Blickenstaff” →

Conferences

NCKP 2013 (1) – Keynote Address: Service by Dr. Scott Price

Joy Morin

I am excited to be here at the 2013 NCKP! I am going to try to live blog some of my notes through-out the week, Natalie Wickham style. ;). Check back soon for updates.

W July 24 @ 2pm – Keynote Address: Service by Dr. Scott Price

Dr. Price began by showing video of one of his special needs students, Margaret, singing and playing the folk song “Oh Susannah.” It was a heartwarming video!

Dr. Price then asked: Is Margaret going to win competitions, scholarships, piano camps? No. But she can play folk songs and sing with family and friends. This video shows what we do every day as teachers: we serve.
Continue reading “NCKP 2013 (1) – Keynote Address: Service by Dr. Scott Price” →

Conferences

NCKP 2013 Meet-Up with Wendy Stevens

Joy Morin

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The 2013 NCKP is only about 2 weeks away!  The sessions on the schedule look fantastic as usual, and I am looking forward to connecting with friends and colleagues.  Do you plan to attend the NCKP?

Wendy Stevens from the ComposeCreate blog is holding a dinner meet-up during the conference.  I’m sure many of you are already familiar with Wendy’s blog (I love her rhythm resource, Rhythm Menagerie!), but if you aren’t, you should go check it out!

I plan to attend Wendy’s meet-up, and Wendy has graciously agreed to allow me to invite additional guests to her event.  I would love to see you there!

Here are the details:

  • Wendy’s meet-up will be Thursday, July 25 at 6:15pm at the Brio Italian Restaurant.  Brio is located 1/2 mile from the conference hotel.  You can walk there or take the conference hotel’s shuttle.
  • The restaurant has kindly agreed to allow everyone to pay via separate checks (with gratuity included), but you must submit your dinner order in advance.  You can take a peek at the menu here.  Please email your dinner order to Wendy by July 20 at the latest.  It would be helpful if you could let her know you are coming as soon as possible.
  • Read more about Wendy’s meet-up here, and then send her an email here.

I hope to see you there!

Conferences

Are You Attending NCKP 2013?

Joy Morin

Are you planning to attend NCKP this summer?

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(Read why I love about attending conferences such as the NCKP here.)

Don’t forget that the deadline for early bird registration is Monday!  You’ll save at least $50 by registering early.

I’m all registered and am super excited about attending.  I’d love to meet up with any of you who are planning to attend NCKP this summer — let me know!  🙂

 

Conferences, improving as a teacher, Motivation

NCKP 2011 | (13) Student-Centered Teaching, by Randall Faber

Joy Morin

I don’t normally post on Saturdays, but I’m so close to having all my conference notes posted that I decided to finish up today with the last one rather than wait until Monday!  Whew, thanks for bearing with me through the long haul!  Lucky for us, the last one is a good one.  🙂

I’ve always wanted to hear Dr. Faber speak since I am a huge fan of the Faber Piano Adventures method, and I’ve heard such good things about their sessions.  At the NCKP, I had the privilege of attending their publisher showcase and this session on student-centered teaching, which provided a lot of insight into the Fabers’ research on human learning and their teaching philosophy in general.  It was fascinating!

Student Centered Teaching: The Process, by Randall Faber.  F @ 11:15am.

Dr. Faber began by talking about the teacher perspective.  He shared a wonderful photo of a child sitting on the piano bench, eager and excited to learn, looking up into the camera (or into the teacher’s eyes).  The next photo was of a stern looking teacher, looking over his reading glasses from his chair alongside the piano.  Everybody laughed when they saw this photo!  This is the student perspective!

Joking aside, though, sometimes we aren’t always doing the job we think.  Sometimes we simply tend to teach the way we were taught because that’s what we know.  Dr. Faber made an argument that in order to be the most effective as teachers, we need to be as student-centered as possible.  Continue reading “NCKP 2011 | (13) Student-Centered Teaching, by Randall Faber” →

Conferences, Technology

NCKP 2011 | (12) PEDxi sessions

Joy Morin

If you’ve never heard of the TED talks, please take a moment to check out this link!  According to the “About” page on their website…

“TED is a non-profit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.  Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Edinburgh, bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less).”

Many of the TED talks are available for free viewing on their website and on YouTube.  The one I linked to above was sent to me by one of my adult students — and it is quite an interesting one that talks about the value of classical music.

The NCKP’s “PEDxi” sessions are inspired by the TED talks.  They are short 25-minute talks that are focused on keyboard pedagogy and technology.

  1. Who Would’ve Thought It Was Possible?  | Lori Frazer gave an inspiring session on how technology has allowed her to bring music and music making to serve the medical and wellness community, including seniors and individuals with special needs.   Continue reading “NCKP 2011 | (12) PEDxi sessions” →
Conferences, Early Childhood Music, Group Classes, Music Camps, Resources

MiniMusic Kit for Early Childhood Music Classes

Joy Morin

In my last post, I mentioned the MiniMusic kit by Paula Manwaring (Kjos Publishing) that I purchased while I was at the NCKP conference. You might remember that I also briefly spoke about the first musical opera concert I attended, and how much that concert has helped me. The photos and description of this curriculum on the Kjos Publishing website do not do it justice!  So I decided to show you some photos I took myself.  I think many of the materials included in the kit are great resources for group lessons and games with students of ANY age.

Here’s a list of what is included:  Continue reading “MiniMusic Kit for Early Childhood Music Classes” →

Conferences

NCKP 2011 | (11) Publisher Showcases

Joy Morin

Each morning and afternoon at the NCKP, there are publisher showcases to choose from where you can learn about method books or supplementary materials.  Often, you will receive free books at these showcases, as you’ve already seen in my first NCKP post showing off my “loot!”

Below is more about four of the showcases I attended:

1. FJH Music Publishing Company: Succeeding at the Piano — a Method for Everyone!, by Helen Marlais.

Dr. Marlais is a professor at Grand Valley State University, a college near my hometown.  In fact, I auditioned to be a music major at GVSU after I completed my first two years at Grand Rapids Community College (but decided to go to Hope College instead)!  🙂  The two colleagues who accompanied me to the NCKP have had Dr. Marlais as their teachers at GVSU.  Small world.

Dr. Marlais has such a vibrant personality.  In this session, she led us through levels 2A and 2B of her new method called “Succeeding at the Piano.”  I just love the illustrations used in this method.  I also really like the “composer friends” characters who learn with the student throughout the books.  Continue reading “NCKP 2011 | (11) Publisher Showcases” →

Conferences

NCKP 2011 | (10) The Unknown Horowitz, by Sherrill Martin

Joy Morin

More conference notes!  This was a fascinating session about Horowitz.  During this session, we also had the privilege of hearing the World Premiere of a Ballade that Horowitz wrote, performed by Louis Nagel!

The Unknown Horowitz: New Insights into the Man & his Music, by Sherrill Martin.  Th @ 3:30pm.

Horowitz studied piano with his mother and then later at the Kiev Conservatory.  In 1914, he played for Scriabin (just a year before Scriabin died), and Scriabin’s advice to Horowitz’ father was to be sure he gets exposed to lots of music, and knows literature and art.  Horowitz was very introverted and terrified of performing at this point.  He wanted to be a composer and had no idea that he was a better-than-average pianist.  Continue reading “NCKP 2011 | (10) The Unknown Horowitz, by Sherrill Martin” →