Songbird Piano Lessons

 And here is the student part! Parents, take a minute to go over this with young children who will be performing. Students, we've covered most of this in class before you get to the recital, but give it a read-through anyways, just to make sure I didn't forget to tell you something important. ;)  On Friday or Saturday before the recital, flag your books! Put a sticky note on the page with the song you are playing, so you can flip to it easily and quickly at the recital! If you have loose sheet music, make sure you have it with you (preferably in a binder and flagged, or glued to a piece of cardboard). If you're playing from a book, and you have a page turn and haven't memorized the second page, get your mom or dad to photocopy pages so you don't have to do a page turn. Unless, of course,  you've already talked with me about having me turn your pages for you. (This does not apply if you're playing from memory, though it won't hurt to bring your books alon...

  OK, everyone! Here is the students' part of the blog posts. Parents with young children, please go over this and explain it back to your children. Older students, don't skip anything!  On Friday or Saturday before the recital, flag your books! Put a sticky note on the page with the song you are playing, so you can flip to it easily and quickly at the recital! If you have loose sheet music, make sure you have it with you (preferably in a binder and flagged, or glued to a piece of cardboard). If you're playing from a book, and you have a page turn and haven't memorized the second page, get your mom or dad to photocopy pages so you don't have to do a page turn. Unless, of course, you've already talked with me about having me turn your pages for you. (This does not apply if you're playing from memory, though it won't hurt to bring your books along anyways even if you're not planning on using them.) Does it make you nervous to play in front of people? I...

    A couple months ago, I blogged about why  taking piano lessons is superior to using an app.  However, while there are six very good reasons in that post about why you should take piano lessons and not rely on an app to learn piano, there's also a flip side to that coin.    That flip side is that technology can be a genuine aid to learning.     Now, I'm not a high-tech teacher, comparatively. I do  offer online lessons , an option which can work really well for some, and that I'm quite comfortable using. But there are other teachers who are way more techy than me. I don't use a lot of music apps... except one.     As you might have guessed from the title, that would be YouTube.     So, let's explore the pro's and con's of YouTube piano tutorials! Con's The biggest one is this: YouTube tutorials, by their very nature, cannot possibly teach you correct technique.     And correct technique is ...

 Hello, everyone!    Yes, normally this is two posts, not one. But as it so happens, this year none of my students are doing a recital for the first time. I still think review is important, but I also think that it can be condensed a bit. ;)    So, without further ado! For parents     Make sure you and your family arrive at the church on time (a few minutes before 2:30 P.M.). Check the address ahead of time, so you know where you're going!       Also please sanitize your hands upon entering.       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 big deal. Remind them of these things. They will be fine!       Please clap for each student when they finish playing. All of them...

 These days, it seems like there's an app for everything.    I mean, I'm not even 30, and I distinctly remember the first time I saw a smartphone. It was my older sister's, and it was the absolute latest technology available. My older brother and my dad would continue using flip phones for several more years. (Actually, Dad clung to the flip phone for as long as he possibly could. He finally has a smartphone now.) My mom didn't even own a cell phone. My friend's dad, a computer programmer, had a Blackberry.     Now people depend on their smartphones.     And you can get an app for literally anything, from budgeting to cooking to... learning piano.     As you can imagine, we piano teachers are not crazy about the latter apps!     But why is this? Are we just anti-technology in this department because it takes away part of our income? Or is there a real, genuine reason for taking actual piano lessons above using an...

 I realized I had to blog today.     And I juggled my lack of inspiration against the stack of my harmony student's work that still needs to be marked and sent back.    And then I thought of my own journey through the harmony textbooks.     In Grade 9, while I was struggling to remember and follow all the rules, my Grade 9 teacher said, "Yeah, and then you get into studying music history, and you discover that all the famous composers ever did was break the rules anyways."    That discouraged me.    Why was I learning this stuff if it didn't matter? If no one regarded it? If the rules were only there for the exam and nothing more?    In Grade 10, I silently carried this attitude over to my new theory teacher. She didn't reprimand it. Maybe, because I was the silent and obliging type, she didn't even notice it. Instead she took me to her piano. She made me play the wrong harmonies, the rule-breakers. Then she had ...

  OK, everyone! I know this post came out earlier in the week than normal, but with recital day coming up fast, I wanted you to get a chance to go over this ahead of time!  On Friday or Saturday before the recital, flag your books! Put a sticky note on the page with the song you are playing, so you can flip to it easily and quickly at the recital! If you have loose sheet music, make sure you have it with you (preferably in a binder and flagged, or glued to a piece of cardboard). If you're playing from a book, and you have a page turn and haven't memorized the second page, get your mom or dad to photocopy pages so you don't have to do a page turn. Unless, of course, you've already talked with me about having me turn your pages for you. (This does not apply if you're playing from memory, though it won't hurt to bring your books along anyways even if you're not planning on using them.) Does it make you nervous to play in front of people? If so, that's OK --...

 More videos today! This time, we're taking a look at some of the music of Chopin, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky.    If those three were novelists, Chopin would be the romance novelist, Tchaikovsky would be writing tragedies, and Brahms would contribute the epics and swashbuckling adventures.     However, the piece of music I'm going to share by Chopin may feel contradictory to the above statement. It's not really typical of the lyrical, soothing melodies that mark most of his compositions. But the Revolutionary Etude is among my personal favourites.     This Brahms piece is one that I learned for my ARCT. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea (most people don't care for Brahms's music), but this was without a shadow of a doubt my absolute favourite piece to play on my ARCT list.  Finally, because it's more or less the Christmas season, who doesn't "The Russian Dance" from The Nutcracker? (Again, not a great illustration of Tchaikovsky's...

 Hello, everyone!    This month is Composer Month! Students will be competing in teams to see who can collect the most facts about Chopin, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky. The winning team at the end of the month gets chocolate. 🍫    That being said, you can expect to see a lot of composer-themed blog posts this month. I haven't got a schedule for what I'll be putting out this week, but this week it's YouTube videos with facts.  Here's a video about Brahms:  And one about Tchaikovsky: The creator of the above videos didn't have one on Chopin, unfortunately. So here's a video from a different channel that I pulled up. It's actually quite fun to watch, with the artist sketching and painting as the video's audio progresses. There you go, folks! Stay tuned next week. I might give some personal opinions on the composers, share videos of their music, or dig up more facts like these for next week's blog post!

 Hi, all    Today's post is more of a challenge than a tip. Think of it as a science experiment. You get to take a hypothesis running out there, and prove whether or not it works. (But it might take time to prove, so don't just try it tomorrow and go, "That didn't work." The idea is to try it long-term and see.)    Years ago,  my teacher (Mr. F)  gave me a couple of documents on different ideas for practicing. Actually, one was an entire article all by itself. The gist of the article was that, rather than always "fixing" our mistakes, it may be beneficial in some cases to repeat the mistake, on purpose. Then, after that, you aim to play it correctly. It used studies from long jumping to make its point.     Recently, I came across this idea again in  The Bulletproof Musician's  email newsletter. Which made me start to think about it more seriously -- especially since, in this case, the quoted study was not the same long jump stu...

 This is the post I've been looking forward to writing the most! Today we're going to talk about the music I'm most familiar with. While you might not think it's that exciting, for me, it is. Today we're going to take a look at classical and sacred music!     If you haven't read the other two posts in this series,  click here for technique and note-reading resources,  and  click here for soundtrack and jazz recommendations .     Again, all of the Sheet Music Plus links are affiliate.  Classical Music    A lot of classical music is not within the playing range of beginners -- with exception of a few famous themes, like the  Ode to Joy . (The site I just linked to has a lot of great, free sheet music for beginners -- some folk, some classical, some sacred, and some original compositions. I use it a lot and highly recommend it!) However, luckily for young pianists, there are a lot of classical tunes that have been abridg...

  In my last post,  I started a series about supplemental music. Well, actually, I mostly ranted about back-to-school supplies coming out mid-summer, and then talked about technique and note reading supplements.     Today I continue that series, and this post is the one that most students will probably perk their ears up at! Today we will talk about movie music (which is so much fun to teach!) and jazz. (Confession: I was going to talk about pop music too. Except I really am not into pop music, never know what's current, and have zero pop supplemental to recommend. You'll have to let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions.)    Again, as said before, all Sheet Music Plus links are affiliate... and please don't use them if you live in Canada. Not unless you order now and are OK with receiving your books in October.  Soundtracks: Disney and Otherwise    It was frustrating to me to see how much music was labelled "easy" and how ...

  Hello! I'm back!    I had a sad experience on Thursday . When I came into Wal-Mart, the seasonal display right at the front door was no longer carrying bubbles, pool floaties, and s'mores kits.    It now has back-to-school supplies.    *groans* It's not even August yet!     People complain about how the Christmas stuff starts coming out even before the  Halloween  décor is down. I don't mind that. I love seeing the Christmas stuff come out, love watching the light of hopeful, child-like anticipation chase away the darkness of night. Even if it's all secularized and very little of it actually has to do with  Baby Jesus or salvation.    But I do mind the back-to-school supplies coming out in July.     And now, I'm going to make matters worse in the world by reminding people that piano lessons are coming up, too, in a little over a month. (Actually, is that so bad? Because I've already got a cool Se...

 Recently I was accompanying an advanced level violinist, one I had heard play multiple times and knew to be highly skilled. She was working on a Mozart sonata, and as we worked, I discovered that she did not know what sonata form was. She didn't know when she was playing in the exposition, the development, or the recapitulation.     It didn't affect her playing.     Which got me thinking: Why does it matter? Why should students know whether they're playing a sonata form, a rondo, or a theme and variations? Isn't it enough that they just make music, play with expression, and give glory to God and pleasure to their audience (and themselves)?     I had to backtrack and think of my younger self.     Once upon a time, I played sonatas without actually knowing what a sonata was. I knew they generally had three movements. But for the most part, sonatas and rondos were simply boring names that Classical composers gave their piece...

All right, everybody! One week and two days till the recital! If your parents haven't read my last post, please remind them (nicely and respectfully)  to click here so they know what's going on, too.  But today, students, it's your turn! Read all the way to the end, even if you think you know this stuff and could do it in your sleep. Review never hurt anyone. ;)  On Friday or Saturday before the recital, flag your books! Put a sticky note on the page with the song you are playing, so you can flip to it easily and quickly at the recital! If you have loose sheet music, make sure you have it with you (preferably in a binder and flagged, or glued to a piece of cardboard). If you're playing from a book, and you have a page turn and haven't memorized the second page, get your mom or dad to photocopy pages so you don't have to do a page turn. Unless, of course, you've already talked with me about having me turn your pages for you. (This does not apply if you're...

  (If you haven't already done so, I suggest reading my other two posts on Festival preparation,  the one about memorizing music here  and  the one about nerves here .) Etiquette. It's such an old-fashioned word, but it's a word I like. The word itself has poise and grace to it.     It doesn't change the fact that it's not the most popular word out there today.     Nonetheless, we all know that there are formal events at which etiquette is, at the very least, expected. And music festivals, as competitive events, fall into that category!     Let's use more approachable terminology, shall we? We'll talk here about the do's and don'ts of performing at festivals.     (This is adapted from the Parkland Music Festival Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct is part of the Parkland Music Festival Syllabus,  which can be read here.  I strongly encourage all participants to read it for themselves.) Do put a st...

 If you didn't read last week's post about memorizing your music, you really should do so. And you can --  by clicking here!    That feeling. The one you probably get right before an important performance. Your heart races. Your hands are clammy. Meanwhile, your face might be hot, and your mouth dry. And it seems to take forever before they finally call your name. In the meantime, you hardly hear anything that's going on around you.     Almost everyone experiences it. It's called being nervous.     The big question is, what are you going to do about it?    Here's my thoughts on what you can do. Be prepared. There are two weeks left till Festival. Make the most of them. Be hard on yourself  during those two weeks. Practice for perfection.  Be actively listening while you practice.  But also be careful;  you don't want to strain your hands or wrists while practicing.  And, above all,  make sure your ...

 With  Parkland Music Festival  coming up, I'm going to spend the next three weeks focusing on preparing for Festival. This week I'll talk about memorizing. Next week I'll talk about nerves, and for Week 3, we'll cover Festival do's and don'ts.     I'll admit, as a child, I never gave a thought to how I memorized. And I'm not just talking about music. I was in  AWANA , I had to memorize Bible verses to get through the books and on to the next level, and with Mom there to help me, I wound up not only getting through the required books with flying colours, but also doing extra, optional work -- and subsequently getting extra rewards! But, lest you think, "Obviously she had an exceptional memory" -- Mom was also an AWANA leader. When I moved to the next level, she did too, so we could be together. When we moved up, a lot of the girls in my new class were really having a hard time just getting through Book 1. Mom didn't waste time. She began pe...