Songbird Piano Lessons

A friend of mine shared this music video with me. It's not a style I normally listen to (I'm the kind who will usually listen to hymns with orchestral accompaniment or, of course, the classical masters), but the lyrics are so powerful that I thought I'd share it with you. It's something I want to keep in mind going into 2020 -- an eternal perspective bigger than myself. I also love the call-and-response format. Plus the people who shot it did an amazing job with the video.     Anyways, I'll let you listen to it, and let the words speak for themselves.  Recap on December    I realize I haven't written about how the student recital went. Well, I can sum it up in two sentences:    It was good. Everybody made mistakes.    *laughs* Did I make anybody do a double take there?     Yes, I really did write that, and yes, I am serious. Here's why: Everybody made mistakes, but not one of my students  let their mistakes derail their performance

Well, at this stage, all my piano parents and most of my students have been through the recital process before. You all know what I'm going to say. :) Still, do take the time to read this and go over it with your child, especially if you have a child who is having her first recital.  Teen students, please read the whole post yourself. For the parents:    Make sure you and your family arrive on time (a few minutes before 2:00 P.M.), and please bring along a plate of snack food or dessert. (If anyone wants to volunteer to bring folding chairs, please let me know.)       Coats can go in the closet in our entryway. The recital will be in the studio, so please head downstairs upon arrival.      Help your child feel relaxed before the recital. Many children get very nervous before a recital, which doesn't help them play their best! All your children are prepared for this. And, much as we'd like it if everything went perfectly, mistakes do happen and they're not a

And the big news you've all been waiting to hear!    Announcing the winner of Composer Month got delayed by a week due to unexpected circumstances.    You're all dying to know, right?    Take a guess. The Vivaldi/Scarlatti team had to pin facts to the room divider ... ...while the Handel team was working around a light switch and a door frame ... ...but the corner with the Bach poster was definitely the fullest! Students on the Bach team resorted to including my bookcase as part of their poster. ;) (With my permission, of course.)    Congratulations to the Bach team! They decidedly won at 131 facts and pictures. The Vivaldi/Scarlatti team came in second at 110 facts and pictures, and the Handel team collected 93 facts.     The most facts collected by an individual student racked up to a very impressive 63 facts! (She was on the Bach team. Anyone surprised?) 

A poco a poco Little by little

Vivace Lively and brisk

Tempo primo Return to your first speed

Simile Continue as before (OR: Continue in the same way as before. Whichever one's easier to remember!)

Ritardando Gradually slowing down

Prestissimo As fast as possible

Hello, everyone!    Last spring we had a lot of fun with Composer Month. But this time around, I decided it would be better to do Composer Month in November, and composing in spring. (More on that ... well, in spring. ;)    So, a quick run over the rules of the game: All students are on a specific composer team. Students gather facts about the composer whose team they're on. There's no limit on how many facts they can collect each week. (While the Internet is the go-to source for a lot of school research like this, don't discount the value of checking out your local library for books or non-fiction videos.) Facts are brought to me at the student's lesson and put up on the composer's poster. The team who gathers the most facts wins the prize -- chocolate! :) Also this year I am doing an "honorable mention" for the person who collects the most points, regardless of whether or not they're on the winning team. That person also gets chocolate. 

Mezzo forte Medium loud

Largo Broad and Slow

Chording. It's hard to teach.    Why? For one thing, it's not something usually included in the method books. For another, it's one area where I feel I didn't receive enough input in my years as a student.    I did have one teacher who placed an importance on my learning to play hymns from the hymnal and doing my own chording/left hand improvising. And I'm very glad she did, because that wasn't something I really touched with any of my last three teachers in the higher levels! Probably because we were always too busy preparing for exams.    However, I've realized that chording is a skill needed by all musicians, not just would-be church pianists. I remember expressing to one of my former teachers how I'd enjoyed listening to him play at his brother's wedding, and he told me that he'd been playing from a lead sheet. Lead sheets are, as I understand, also used frequently by jazz musicians and other bands. (I've never played any jazz perso

Fine (pronounced: FIN- ai) The end

Espressivo Expressively

Da Capo Repeat from the beginning

Crescendo Becoming Louder

Whew! After taking my practical ARCT exam, I thought I'd be able to catch my breath. Really? I should have known better. Now it's back into fall schedule -- which means teaching again. :) First Week of Lessons!    My students started their lessons this week. As a teacher, my first impulse was to get straight to work, reviewing and reviewing some more. But a blog post I read made me decide to make first lessons easier. So there were a couple of things we did that were definitely on the lighter side. This is the fourth wall in my piano studio -- two garish, screaming-80s-green Sunday school room dividers. (Hey, I got them for free!) In spite of their outdated and unappealing colour, I love these walls for two reasons: 1) They can be moved aside when hosting a recital or when my family needs the basement space for company, and 2) I can jab as many pins into them as I like without worrying about making holes in the drywall. One divider serves as my Brag Wall -- where studen

Allegro Quick & lively

This is something I saw pinned to the corkboard in the foyer of my teacher's studio. I like it, so I took a picture of it to share with you all.    Enjoy what remains of summer!

It was Sunday evening, and various members of  PMTA  were gathered at one member's home for the Annual General Meeting. Since I've only been a member for less than a year, this was the first time I'd been to one of their meetings. As we were setting up for supper, I asked the president, "So, what goes on in the meeting?"    She looked at me, and her face instantly displayed drama. With gusto, she replied, "You'll be thrilled, and chilled, and ... bored out of your mind!"    LOL!    That's the great thing about hanging around with other artistic minds. There's plenty of room for drama. :)    Seriously, though, I like getting together with other music teachers, because all of us can talk for hours about music. :) It was a lot of fun comparing notes back and forth and getting to know some of the other teachers. I pick up ideas from these exchanges, including other teachers' favourite methods and new things to include -- or new ways t

Note to readers:     You won't be hearing much from me over the next few months, as I will be preparing for my ARCT and History 3 exams in August. However, if you're a parent looking for a piano teacher, I will be resuming teaching in the fall. So I am still available to contact. :) Spring recital Last Saturday found my students and I at a seniours' home in Stony Plain, doing our annual spring recital.    I've mentioned before that that was something I grew up with -- the teacher that I stayed with the longest (about 5 or 6 years) always took us to a seniours' home every spring. It's a gift. It's a gift to the residents. It's also a gift to the student -- the chance to make music with a purpose,  to bring a moment of sunshine into someone else's life and to use music to benefit the community. Because music shouldn't be about who the spotlight is on. Sure, the spotlight feels great at the moment, but everyone will agree that kindness matter

Wow! I just realized that I haven't written a studio update all month! It's been busy, closing up another season end. It's hard to believe that our spring recital is tomorrow, and there's only one more week of lessons till summer break!    This last week, we focused on recital preparation. I like to have my students rehearse what they will do at a recital at their lesson before the actual thing. I know that, for myself, I am way more confident when I know exactly what's expected for me to do!    As usual, a TPT game made learning fun for beginners! Modelled after a Memory game, this game covers six things you should do before you play your piece, and gave us a good chance to talk over each step.    The week before, I used the recital pieces to teach a bit of theory -- subtly. :)    Beginners in Buddy Lessons had fun comparing ways that their pieces were different and ways they were the same. We found out that two pieces that are very different when you pl

Poco a poco Little by little

(Note to parents: Please go over this post with your child. We'll be covering many of the same things in class this coming week!)    Hello to all my students! Are you excited about the recital in just another week? Maybe a bit nervous? You'll do fine!    I'd like to give you all a few tips so you know what you should do at the recital. ·            Maybe you find that playing piano in front of people is a bit scary. If so, that's OK -- most students feel this way! You can prepare ahead of time for the recital by playing for a lot of people over the next few weeks. Not only does this earn you points, but it will also help you to feel less nervous at the recital. Don't forget to ask your friends and family to sign in pencil! ·           A recital is a special event -- dress nicely, please! (But for this recital specifically, don't feel like you have to wear your fanciest clothes. As long as it's nice, not the same clothes that you take care of your

Dolce Sweetly

Hello, everyone!    It's that time of year again, when the recital is coming up faster than we realize! This time around, I decided to write to you parents first. Many of you are familiar with what I'm about to say, but if you can take a few minutes to go over it again, we can all look forward to yet another great recital in two weeks!         Especially if this is your child's first recital, keep your eyes open for next week's post. (Or find previous recital tips  right here. ) Next week I will write to them about what they should expect and do. Believe me, they will be far less nervous about the recital if they know what's going on!      Make sure you and your family arrive on time (a few minutes before 2:00 P.M.). Because we are going to a seniours' home, there is no need to bring snacks or goodies along this time.       Ask the staff where they want us to put jackets. Also, if it's raining outside, please remember that in facilities like this o

Mano sinistra Left Hand    I apologize for last week! I was trying out the 'Schedule' feature on Blogger, thinking it would be automatic, and I guess it wasn't.    Last week's word was Mano destra: Right hand.

   ...the Beethoven team! Congratulations!    When I looked at the posters after my last student left yesterday, I had my suspicions. The Beethoven poster was, by far, the most crowded -- the only one where students had started taping facts and photos to the wall beside the poster! Sure enough, at 60 points, Beethoven seems to have proved himself the most popular composer. :) The Mozart team came in second at 49 points -- not bad, guys! (And you also have the tidiest poster. ;) Haydn has 44 points.     Facts ranged from the humorous (Haydn was expelled from the choir/school he attended in his teens for snipping off his fellow student's ponytail) to the serious (Beethoven did not get much schooling as a child) to inspirational quotes ("The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between." -- Mozart).     One thing that stood out to me as a teacher was the story of one of Haydn's music teachers, who was also his choir director at the St. Steph

Vivace Lively and brisk

Since it's Good Friday, I'm taking a break from my normal posts to share with you some verses from Psalm 22 and also a YouTube video I found a couple days ago that I really enjoyed. "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? All they that see Me laugh Me to scorn: They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,  'He trusted on the LORD that He would deliver him: Let Him deliver Him, seeing he delight in Him.' For dogs have compassed Me: The assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me: They pierced My hands and My feet. They part My garments among them, And cast lots upon My vesture.  I will declare Thy name unto My brethren:  In the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee. Ye that fear the LORD, praise Him: All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him; And fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel. For He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Neither hath He hid His face from him; But when he cried unto Him,

Una Corde Use the soft pedal

"She has talent," my piano teacher confided to Mom after I had finished my first year of piano lessons.    I spent the next seven years trying to figure out where my teacher had gotten that idea. I wasn't the worst student in her class. But, I did have a problem ....    I didn't put attention. At least, not enough.   I was the student who opened my book to the wrong sight-reading page. Who spent an entire week practicing the wrong exercise, even though the right one was written in my notes, and never realized till I got to class (even then, Mom had to show me when I -- loudly -- protested that "I never practiced that one!"). When we learned about eighth-notes, my teacher bluntly commented, "Yours look like lollipops." (I had put the stems right into the middle of the noteheads, rather than on the side.) When she gave us a mock-theory exam, I finished first -- due to the fact that it never occurred to me to check the other side of each page.

Tempo Primo Return to the first speed Anyone want to know which composer team is in the lead so far? Team Beethoven  leads at 27 points. But Team Haydn (at 25 points) and Team Mozart  (at 22 points) are not far behind. If you all keep it up, at this rate it will be a very close call by the end of the month. :)    Winners to be announced April 26th.

I am really excited about the month of April.    Not just because we are choosing recital repertoire (although that's pretty exciting too).  My main reason for excitement is ...    It's music history month in my studio!    OK, so I realize not everyone gets as thrilled about history as I do. But, as you all know, my goal is to make learning fun all around. So we've got a bit of friendly competition going to learn about three famous composers.    This week marked the launch of Team Haydn, Team Mozart, and Team Beethoven. These three classical composers are currently being displayed on large sheets of posterboard on the studio walls. Haydn's poster sits in comfortable view of the piano ...  ...while Mozart and Beethoven, though they may appear tucked away behind the eraseboard and keyboard, are actually nicely visible when you walk into the studio.     Each student collects facts and/or pictures of the composer whose team they're on. Those facts

Simile Continue in the same way

   As a teen just discovering the thrill of classical music, I remember eagerly picking up Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers  by P. Kavanaugh. Surely its contents would delight me. Surely it would reveal that these great artists were also men of God, a side of music history never taught.    (By the way, this was before I took the course on music history. Hence my naive expectations.)    I was sorely disappointed. In fact, to this day I still hold that book as the most discouraging book I've ever read.    All the composers had spiritual lives. Most were very strange about it! I found among the composers a good dose of fascination with the occult, inconsistent and immoral lifestyles, and other inconsistencies that were very confusing to my idealistic mind. These men were musical giants, yet they were not spiritual heroes.    It only gets worse when one actually starts studying their music and reading secular sources about them. The inconsistencies become more apparent;

Rubato A flexible tempo

Congratulations to this year's participants in Parkland Music Festival!    Parkland Music Festival, like other festivals throughout Alberta and Canada, is an opportunity for students to perform, compete, and receive feedback from a highly qualified musician. The Festival started off on the 11th, and ran till the 16th, with the Gala concert on Sunday the 17th.    On Wednesday the 13th, I cleared my calendar and headed to the church where Festival was being held to watch my students compete in their appropriate class.    They did really well! And I had a lot of fun listening to the adjudicator, Dr. Leanne Regher. Honestly, I could have sat there all day and listened to her teach. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible.   :( As it was, arriving 15 minutes early gave me the advantage of listening in to the class ahead of my students.    The next day, those same students came for their weekly lesson. Between one going out and one coming in, a very pleased piano parent tol