Monthly Archives: July 2010

Research Questionnaire about the use of Practice Incentives

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Amy Chaplin, a music teacher I met (and rode a hot air balloon with!) at the MTNA Conference this year is doing a final project for her Music Education Research class. It’s a questionnaire on the use of practice incentives to motivate students. Anyone who has been reading here very long knows that I’m a huge proponent of effectively designed practice incentives, so I found the questionnaire incredibly fascinating!

The project deadline is tomorrow, so that’s not a lot of time, but I thought I would post it here in case some of you would like to participate in the project. And of course, I’d love to hear what you think!

Monday Mailbag – Memorization Strategies

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I have been pondering how to teach memorization to students who have a different learning style from me.  I know exactly how I memorize, but if visualization is not working for one of my students what can I try?

This is a great topic that I hope others will weigh in on as well! Most of my childhood recital horror stories are related to being required to perform from memory and then going blank somewhere in the middle of the piece. Mostly this was because although I was required to perform from memory, no one ever taught me how to memorize. The most common memorization technique of playing a piece until your fingers remember how to play it even without having to read the music anymore (muscle memory) is also arguably the least effective.

In her book Thinking As You Play, Sylvia Coats outlines a strategy for memorization that works wonders! I know this because she is my teacher and the one who actually taught me how to memorize. I use the same approach – or various elements of it – with my students to help them develop this important skill as well. Ultimately, you want every relevant sense to be fully engaged in the process so that the memory is as secure as possible. On top of that, the brain has to understand what is going on and be able to communicate important information to the necessary body parts when the nerves hit in a performance situation. Here are a few tips I’ve learned when it comes to memorization:

  1. Start early! I want students to feel comfortable performing from memory when they get older, so the best thing is to start young so that they can learn the techniques and establish good habits in this area.
  2. Identify form and patterns. Starting as early as the primer level books, I discuss the form of new pieces with my students and have them label the sections and point out patterns that look the same and sections that look different. We also relate pieces back to the pentascales and chords as often as possible so that they are connecting with something that is already familiar to them. This aids in establishing mental pathways in the brain that are incredibly helpful for memorization!
  3. Verbalize intervallic relationships. A perfect example of a piece where I do this is Kaleidoscope Colors in the Piano Adventures Technique and Artistry Level 1 book. I would have the student identify the fifth that remains the same in the left hand throughout the first line and then point out the descending interval pattern in the right hand. Then I take the book away and ask if they can play that line from memory. Since they haven’t even played through it yet, this usually takes them by surprise! But after a minute of reflecting on the pattern they just described to me, they are usually able to pull it off. I, of course, make a big deal about memorizing an entire line of music in a matter of minutes and without ever having played it! We follow suit and memorize the rest of the piece at the lesson, then I assign them to play it by memory during the week.
  4. Establish key starting points throughout the piece. The student and I usually go through the piece and place numbers to indicate separate starting points. Often these align with the form of the piece, but there may be more or fewer starting points, just depending on the piece. I write the same numbers on little slips of paper and then draw a random one and have the student practice starting at that starting point. We continue until they’ve played through every section of the piece. This helps create a musical “road map” they can follow as they perform and gives them places to get back on track if they should happen to blank out or lose their place.
  5. Insist on consistent fingering. I believe this is critical to effective memorization! When students are memorizing, they must memorize the fingering along with everything else and then drill it in until it is second nature. Failure to memorize the fingering and play it consistently can ruin the flow and artistry of a piece of music that a student might otherwise play beautifully. This is especially hard for students like me who are very visual and tend to rely on seeing those fingerings written on the page to keep us on track.

Those are a few of my thoughts, but I’d love to collect some more memorization tips to use for myself and with my students, so please share away! :-)

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Exploring a Galaxy of Music Practice Incentive is Now Available! (And you could win all the studio decorations!)

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After doing some final work to tweak this and make it adaptable for any studio, I am happy to report that the Exploring a Galaxy of Music practice incentive program is now available! I know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath, right? :-) The downloadable package includes everything you need to successfully implement this year-long practice incentive in your studio. You can either use it exactly as-is by printing the .pdf files or you can tweak the .doc files to your heart’s content to make it fully customizable for your studio.

And, for the best news of the post…for everyone who purchases the Exploring a Galaxy of Music practice incentive this month, I’ll enter your name in a drawing to win the complete set of studio wall decorations that I used this year! That includes:

  • The banner verse
  • The theme title letters
  • Three black galaxies
  • Hundreds of planets and stars to put in the galaxies

All of these are cut and laminated and ready to put on the wall! You can see what it looks like in the picture below. Also, just for your reference, I printed and laminated an equal number of galaxy objects for each team and then placed them in an envelope. Then when the students had enough points to put an object up in their galaxy, I just gave them the envelope and let them pick out whatever they wanted.

Here are a few of the comments I’ve gotten from teachers who have been using some of these practice incentive programs in their studios:

“Just received and downloaded my Practice Incentive Program and am so anxious to use it. Thanks for taking the time and energy to share your creative ideas with all of us who sometimes need a little “boost” and a fresh approach to teaching piano.” ~N. S.

“I currently am using one of your incentive programs and LOVING it (Climbing the Ladder to Success). I’m already looking into the next theme for next year.” ~V.K.

“Your incentive program has made my life easier this year! I usually try to come up with a creative program myself.” ~ J.E.

“I recently ordered your “Climbing the Ladder to Success” practice incentive and I love it! I’m so excited to introduce it to my students this week. I’ve been dropping hints, but this week I think I’m going to kick it off.” ~K.S.

“Last year the students loved the Climbing the Ladder program so much that they keep asking what we are doing this year.” ~M.R.

Monday Mailbag – Teaching Hymn Improvisation

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I’d like to know how you teach students about hymn improvisation! Do you have any teaching ideas? Thanks a lot!

This is one of those things that I heard other pianists do growing up and always wanted to learn, but never could figure out how to do it. Gradually, through the years as I asked lots of people for tips and read ideas and took classes here and there, I began to pick up some helpful suggestions. Obviously, it’s not something that comes naturally for me, and I don’t have a very good ear either, so it’s been pretty challenging, but I’ve definitely made progress. And hopefully I have a better grasp of how to teach students who want to learn, but don’t come by it naturally!

First off, there’s a great website now that I wish had been around when I was trying to learn hymn improvisation: The Church Pianist. The site is run by Jennifer Cook, and there are tons of great tips and resources for aspiring church musicians. I recommend starting with this post – The Church Pianist: How to Improvise Hymns?

Jennifer has lots of systematic approaches for those who are at the level where they are ready to start playing hymns. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that there are lots of things that you can do much earlier on with a student so that they are already developing the skills they will need for improvisation – whether it’s playing from a hymnal or reading a lead sheet. Here are some of the things I do:

* Require students to learn scales, arpeggios, primary triads and inversions, 7th chords, etc. Applied theory and fluid technique are essential for improvising. You have to not only know the key and chord structure, but be so used to playing it that it comes pretty naturally when you’re incorporating it into an improvisation.

* Have students pick out familiar tunes by ear, then add blocked chords, then broken chords, then make their own arrangements, etc. This is helping train the student’s ear for melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic aspects of playing music. I almost always begin with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star because everyone knows it and it’s simple enough for anyone to learn.

* Encourage students to transpose early on. As soon as my students have learned their first several pentascales, I give them a challenge to transpose a particular assigned piece into another key. For the young students I describe this as moving a piece from the C-pentascale position and playing the same pattern of notes in, say, the G-pentascale pattern. For older students who have learned all their scales, I usually say, “Transpose to as many keys as possible” and then put little check boxes beside the name of each key. This is building muscle memory and good listening skills.

* Do a variety of improvisation activities with students to help them gain confidence in playing things that are printed on a page in front of them:
Quick and Easy Improvisation with Students
Black Key Improvisation
The Best Thing We’ve Done this Spring

* As far as actual hymn improv for younger students, I start them out with an early level hymn book. There are a number of different ones out there. Just keep in mind that you don’t want a book of arranged hymns for this; you want some pretty run-of-the-mill melody in the right hand, single note or chord in the left hand, for this purpose. Have them pick a favorite hymn and learn it as written. Then talk through the underlying theory with them – what key it’s in, what the primary triads are, etc. Help them come up with creative ideas to add in extras in the music that might sound good – full chords where there are single notes, fill-in notes when there is a skip in the melody, broken chords instead of blocked chords, etc.

* Have the student play hymn arrangements that are level-appropriate. This is a great way to learn as well! Try to help them be attuned to what they’re playing – point out chord patterns, scale passages, cool-sounding harmonies, etc. and then encourage them to transfer those same arrangement techniques to other hymns.

Hopefully these ideas are helpful! I’m sure there are tons of other ideas out there, so if you have a suggestion for helping students learn improvisation skills, please feel free to share!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

2010 ASMTA Conference – Bringing the Music to Life: Tips for Teaching Artistry in the Studio – Kristin Dauphinais

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Guest post by Jennifer Foxx

This was the last class of the conference I was able to attend and it ended with a bang.

Kristin began with asking what is more important: Craft vs. art? She concluded that both are needed to be successful.

First, we should gather information about the piece our student is playing. Ask them questions.

What do you know about the composer? What do you know about this song? For what purpose was it conceived (was it meant to be….?) What do you know about other performers of this song? What do you know about when it was written? Don’t be afraid to cross disciplines.

She then shared a few picture slides with us. The first one was two chairs. She told us to imagine you are studying a piece by Mozart. What is the difference between these two chairs? Which one is Mozart’s chair? The audience responded in kind to which one they thought was Mozart’s chair and why. Asking questions inspire creativity.

What can you find within the music? How does this inform your performance?

Dynamic markings, Key Signature, Articulation, Tempo, Rhythm, etc. What is implied by the music itself? How does this inform performance?

*Ascending or descending patterns

*Shifts of texture

*Increased number of accidentals

*Tessitura changes

*Where is it different/same?

*Look at your part and parts of any other performers

Make it interactive!

*Make a treasure hunt for interesting musical moments. Now, can you perform it and bring these things out?

*Create a chart for the music

*Write a short story about the piece

*Make an interactive “idea copy” (draw pictures, color sections in music, etc.)

*Paint your music (creating what’s in your minds ear)

*Make collage

Play with emotion cards. Emotion cards are simply cards that have emotion words on them. ie: excited, sad, elated, scared, etc. The students then take a card, or two, and apply these emotions. Don’t be afraid to add artistry into the warm-up patterns or technical work. In fact, start using these emotion cards in your warm-ups before going to the pieces.

Ex. Play scale 4 times with different emotions (jauntily, mysteriously, lustily, angrily)

(tenderly, mischievously, morbidly, arrogantly).

Side note: You can make a game out of these emotions by creating an emotion chart. Students can simply toss a coin onto the chart landing on one of the emotions for them to play.

Artistry is music’s reason for being; it is what fuels excitement and continued interest. Artistry must be cultivated and practiced. Be a part of the lineage. As a performer we are next in line for that lineage.

Thank you, Natalie, for giving me the opportunity to be a guest blogger on your Music Matters Blog. I enjoyed sharing a little bit of what I learned at the Arizona State Music Teachers Conference.

If you are interested, feel free to check out my blog where I share what I do with my students throughout the year.

Natalie’s Note: A huge thanks to Jennifer for sharing all these wonderful notes from the conference with us! Laura Lowe has already offered to take notes at their Georgia Music Teachers Association conference in November, so I’m really looking forward to that. If you are attending (or already have attended!) your state music teachers conference and want to share your notes here on Music Matters Blog, just send me an e-mail and let me know!

2010 ASMTA Conference – Practical Technology Tools in the Music Studio – Jennifer Foxx

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Guest post by Jennifer Foxx

I had the opportunity to do an encore presentation this year at the state conference on a topic that I enjoy. I think for some teachers, when they hear the word technology they panic, thinking it’s way too complicated or they just have no desire to be a part of it. My goal with this presentation was to show that technology does not have to be complicated. I first shared some of the simple technology tools that teachers can use in the studio and probably already use, whether in the studio or just at home.

Some basic technology tools would be: Computer (doesn’t matter if it’s a desktop or laptop), Audio tool (CD Player, iPod, MP3, etc.), Digital Recorder (this can also be your smartphone), Video Camera (I love my FLIP!), DVD Player/DVD’s (this can also just be the DVD drive from your computer), Midi Keyboards (at least 61 keys), and Printer (I recommend an all-in-one model).

Then I went into creating a music lab, but for those teachers that didn’t have a lab they could still apply some of these ideas in their studio.

Benefits of a Music Lab-

  • Allows students to drill and follow up with what they are learning in the lesson. Such basics as note names, intervals, chords, terms, symbols, key signatures, ear training, and much more.
  • A music lab is a good selling point to parents looking to give their children as well-rounded a musical education as possible.
  • Having a music lab can serve as additional income, if a lab fee is charged. I would recommend including your lab fee with your lesson tuition and not making it optional. Another idea is to have a yearly lab fee when students register.

Setting-Up (You do not need a separate lab room in order to set up a music lab.)

  • Possible setup – one computer, specific assignments, MIDI keyboard, network for Internet and simple technology tools listed previously.
  • Make sure the student at the piano can’t see the computer monitor, or they will be distracted.
  • Having a separate computer for the studio is ideal. However, you can set up a user just for your studio.
  • A good set of headphones is absolutely essential. I like the big headphones that cup over the students ears.
  • Remember, you do not need to go out and buy everything at once. Start small and build. Don’t have a computer you can use for your music lab and/or can’t afford to buy one yet? Start with the other simple technology tools.

Scheduling Options

  • Students come 15-30 min. before their lesson or stay 15-30 after their lesson. While you are teaching one student, another student is working in the lab.
  • Rotating – Students rotate every 20-30 min. within an hour/hour and a half. (ie: Student 1 works on computer, Student 2 works on keyboard or writing station, Student 3 works with Teacher, then rotate).

Music Lab Subject Ideas

  • Composer/Music History
  • Composition/Improvisation
  • Ear Training
  • Note Reading
  • Rhythm
  • Sight-Reading
  • Theory
  • Creativity and More!

Suggested Resource Materials

  • Studio Makeover Technology Addition (Michelle Gordon/Michelle Sisler- www.ImaginationisKey.com)
  • Electrify Your Studio (Sandra Bowen/FJH Music)
  • The Well-Tempered Lesson Plan (Renee Lacey/Trail Creek Systems- TrailCreekSystems.com- see other products)

In addition to tons and tons of internet resources that are out there you can use with your students, here are some sample ideas of books/workbooks to use during lab time:

Lab Log

Double Click Curriculum (see www.KeystoImagination.com – these are great student log books that have most of the prep work done for you for your computer lab!)

Theory Fun

TCW Theory books

Dot to Dot Note Speller (Bastien)

Color by…Interval, Note Monsters, etc. (Alfred)

Technique

Finger Builders (Pace)

Keys to Success (FJH)

Nate’s Piano Plates (Major, Minor, and Harmonic scales)

Improvisation

Discover Blues Improvisation (FJH)

Discover Beginning Improvisation (FJH)

Pattern Play (Frederick Harris Music)

Chords

Folk Songs and Fun Songs – Fake Book for the beginning student (Jane H. Calder)

Composition

Music by Me (FJH)

Young Composers Notebook (Frederick Harris Music)

Ear Training-

Ear Training Books with CD (Alfred)

*This is just a sample of books out there; there is soooo much out there that you can use during lab time!

2010 ASMTA Conference – Improvising-Fun! Not Scary – Professor Jay and Evan Rees

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Guest post by Jennifer Foxx

Professor Jay Rees who teaches at the U of A brought his son, Evan with him to help with this presentation, having Evan be the “student” in his examples. Evan is a professional jazz pianist at the age of 16.

Professor Rees starts off by explaining that we must play WITH music. It is not scary to use ear and imagination to make up things and we should encourage it in our lessons.

The best and easiest way to open the door to creativity is to start with the Blues. For example: Start with major scale (ex. Eb). From the pentascale-play around with these 5 notes. Now start on C and these are your 5 notes (C minor) (Relative minor=Blues you are in). There are certain notes to play and certain notes to avoid and students can usually figure out just with their ear what they are. Now do whatever you want!

You can have student mimic – watching your hands. Then have student mimic with eyes closed using those licks that you just did.

Some things to try:

  • Question and Answer format
  • Idea, Idea, and Answer. Later you can change a note or two
  • LH would play chord and then do RH scale

Listening is EVERYTHING!

“There’s only 12 notes, it’s gotta be 1 of them.”

On a personal note: There was a time where improvisation was a scary thing to me. It wasn’t until I started attending workshops and classes on improvisation that encouraged me to apply these principles in my own studio. So I would start off and do a summer workshop on the blues, improvisation, music and the imagination, etc. Over the years, because I have done this with my students, I myself as a teacher have enjoyed the ride along with my students and feel more confident in creating. One of my favorite showcases at the MTNA conference was the Pattern Play showcase (Frederick Harris Music is the publisher). I have used some of the pieces in these books with my students and plan to continue next year to use them more and more. They are a great resource for students to get started in this fun process of improvisation!

2010 ASMTA Conference – Emerging Technologies and Teaching Opportunities – Lori Frazer (Yamaha)

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Guest post by Jennifer Foxx

Lori Frazer talked about the teaching opportunities teachers have with technology and enabling those technologies in our lessons. I’ll just share my notes from her presentation.

Teaching opportunities with technology:

  • Enhancement in the private studio (software, team lessons, motivation, etc…)
  • Expansion to offer small group lessons and ensembles
  • Teaching RMM classes in medical centers, corporations, schools, retirement centers, community centers, etc.
  • Expanding your studio to teach RMM
  • Working with special need students
  • Teaching remote lessons over the internet

Enabling Technologies:

  • Keyboard styles for creating improvisation activities
  • Clavinova Follow lights or Starlights
  • Standard midi files
  • Keyboard percussion drum kits for rhythmic activities
  • Clavinova guide lamp feature which will wait for the student
  • Clavinova any key feature
  • High quality instruments for maximum musical enjoyment
  • Music finder and IDS features for ease of use