My question is regarding the CDs that are sometimes included in music books. Do you keep them and use them with the student at their lesson, or do you send it home with instructions and have them bring it to the lesson? I was listening yesterday to 3 new CDs and reviewing the books and wondered what the best way is to handle this. I have a student who is so gifted she could listen to the CD and “basically” have her practice done. I used to have my teachers play the music for me so I would know how it should go. I’d go home and play it as I heard it-which wasn’t the way I should have learned!

Oh, how well I know these kinds of students! I think most teachers have a mixture of students who are good sight-readers and those who play well by ear. One of the things I love about teaching is the challenge of identifying each student’s strengths and weaknesses and then capitalizing on their strengths while helping them overcome their weaknesses. For those who learn and play well by ear, I love to get them books that have CDs so that they can listen to the pieces, choose favorites, and work on songs that are appealing to them. Actually, even for the strong sight-readers, I love for them to listen to quality CD recordings when they are learning their pieces.

I also sometimes give the “Any Song” assignment, where they can prepare any song and then surprise me with it the next week. For those who need a little more direction, we choose a familiar tune at the lesson and then I walk them through the process of picking out the tune, adding chords, developing original arrangements, etc. However, in addition to these things, I am an absolute stickler for learning to read music. This takes the form of flashcards, note identification drills, assigning lots of easier level music and anything else that I think might help.

So, yes, I am a huge fan of utilizing the CDs that come with some books. Since it has become much more cost-effective to purchase the books that include CDs, I usually have the student keep the CD so they can listen to it on their own during the week. Some of the method books even come with accompaniment CDs that I’ve just started getting into a bit more. I don’t know why I haven’t made a point to use these more with students, but they are wonderful for helping them develop rhythmic accuracy and a consistent pulse.

That was a bit of a rambling answer today, but hopefully that answers the question! Feel free to jump in with your own thoughts on using CDs with students!

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!

Years ago I heard someone make a distinction by stating, “I don’t teach piano; I teach students to play the piano.” This has stuck with me ever since I heard it, and guides my perspective from week to week as I work with my students. One of the reasons I love teaching so much is because I really love my students! Every single one of them has a unique personality, God-given talents, varied interests, differing perspectives, etc. I love talking with them, sharing ideas, discussing life events, and getting input from them.

Numerous times, I have heard other teachers exclaim about how nice it is to have “adult interaction” in contrast with spending so much time each day with kids (a.k.a. their students). It’s also not uncommon to hear others advise new teachers to keep their personal life separate from their professional life. They caution them to keep their dealings with their studio families professional and not to get too personal with them. I couldn’t disagree more with either of these mindsets! For starters, when I’m working with my students, I speak to them on the same level that I would most adults. I don’t dumb down my vocabulary. If they don’t understand something, we discuss it in more detail, or I alter my explanation, but I don’t automatically assume that they won’t understand me if I explain it in the most precise terminology. And we discuss all sorts of things – philosophies of musical styles, historical elements of time periods, theory concepts…as well as many non-music topics.

Secondly, my studio operates with almost a full overlap between a professional and personal approach. I intentionally make efforts to get to know my students and families on a personal level. One of the ways I do this is by attending other events in which my students are involved – plays, concerts, sports games, community fairs, etc. Two weekends ago, several of my students were competing at a local 4-H event, so I went to watch and support them. When I arrived, I ran into a neighbor friend who asked what I was doing there. When I told her I was watching my students in the piano competition, she was in awe and said that in many years of her daughters competing in the event their piano teacher has never once attended.

Now I realize that there is not always the flexibility to be able to attend events and support our students in their various endeavors. But I strongly believe that one of the primary ways we can invest in our students as people, not just as musicians, is by getting to know them and their families on a personal level – caring about them and who they are outside of the piano lesson. This is why I look forward to lessons – not only do I have the opportunity to impart a love for music and the skills to play the piano, but I also get to see and spend time with some of my favorite people!

Each week, I try to think of some fun activity to start off each lesson. Hot on the heels of the previous week’s A Galaxy of Composers group class theme, I was inspired to do a composer-oriented listening activity with my students. I grabbed my favorite composer resource book (comes with a CD!) – Accent on Composers – and selected six famous works. The student was given a white board labeled as follows:

Piece:
Composer:
Time Period:

Then I played approximately one minute of each of the selections and instructed them to listen and see if they could correctly identify any or all of the above criteria for each piece. They were allowed to refer to the timeline, which contained almost all of the selected composers. Here are the works that I selected:

1. Hallelujah Chorus – George Frederic Handel – Baroque

2. The Entertainer – Scott Joplin – 20th Century

3. March from the Nutcracker – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Romantic

4. Symphony No. 5 in C Minor – Ludwig van Beethoven – Classical

5. Spring from the Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi – Baroque

6. Hoedown from Rodeo – Aaron Copland – 20th Century

All of my students loved this activity! Even the ones that were a little hesitant at first were surprised at how many of the pieces they recognized. If they were stuck on the name of the piece or the composer, I gave them hints or pointed out certain elements in the recording that might help them identify the time period or the ethnicity of the music.

One of the things that prompted me to do this activity was the realization of how much of our time and activities are focused on doing and playing and mastering skills, concepts, etc. Rarely do I devote much time to music appreciation – just listening to and pointing out elements in music, discussing the composers, the historical eras. We do this a lot as we learn new repertoire, but there’s something different about taking a few minutes to listen to these timeless masterpieces. This is an activity that I’ll definitely be repeating in the future (with different selections, of course!).

Yes, I know I’m a day late. Yesterday, March 1, was the 200th birthday of the renowned Frederic Chopin. 200 is a pretty big milestone, though, so I think it’s acceptable to prolong the celebration for a little longer. Thanks to Gerald Klickstein, of The Musician’s Way Blog, for putting together a great collection of resources Celebrating the Chopin Bicentennial.

For one of my more advanced students this year, I am using a different approach. Instead of having her work on repertoire representative of each historical era, we’re focusing on one composer at a time. She loves lyrical, Romantic music, so Chopin was the perfect start! While working through a variety of repertoire, I also had her complete a research assignment each week to learn more about Chopin and the time in which he lived. Here are the assignments I gave her:

1. Research and define each of these: Prelude, Etude, Waltz, Polonaise, Nocturne, and Mazurka.
2. Find video clips of performances of each style of piece; listen to and watch them to familiarize yourself with the various styles.
3. Research Chopin and write a brief biography.
4. Look up three great pianists who performed Chopin, then compare and contrast them using a circle diagram.
5. Look up three of Chopin’s contemporaries and write a short essay discussing their work and its similarities and differences with Chopin’s work.
6. Investigate what was going on in different parts of the world during Chopin’s lifetime.
7. Explore other fine arts and discuss the common threads and undergirding philosophies: art (sculpture, paint, architecture – find images), literature (authors, philosophers, theologians), and theatre/dance.
8. Collect some of Chopin’s writings to identify his worldview, philosophies, motivations, etc.
9. Research Poland and list: interesting facts, famous people, famous landmarks/places, and famous events that are associated with the country.

The whole process was quite interesting and informative for both my student and me, and this approach is working really well for this particular student. I will probably use it with several others in the future as well. Plus, putting this together for her has given me a good framework that we can use as we move on and study other composers.

Do you have any incentive ideas for a memorizing contest, or something of that nature to encourage memorizing pieces? Some of my students are very beginner, and some are older students who have transferred (or who have REALLY applied themselves). How do you make it equal for both types of students – the 6-year olds and the 16-year olds, working on very different material?

I’m hoping that some others will chime in on this one, because I’m not sure how helpful I will be! For one thing, I don’t make a very big deal about memorization in my studio and I don’t require it for my recitals. Some students are naturally gifted in this area and memorize almost simultaneously with learning to play the piece. Others are strongly note-reading oriented and feel extremely nervous and uncomfortable playing from memory. I fit into the latter category and have had too many disastrous memorization-related experiences to enforce memorization across the board.

That said, there are, of course, certain times when memorization is required – for our state evaluation programs and for competitions. And many times I’ll have students elect to memorize a piece for one of our group classes during the year. In these cases, I have certain strategies that I use with my students to help them learn to memorize effectively, but I haven’t done a strictly memorization-oriented practice incentive in any of my practice incentive themes.

Here are a few strategies that I like to use for memorization:

1. In the Faber Piano Adventures Level 1 Technique and Artistry Book there is a piece called Kaleidoscope Colors. I love to introduce this piece by having the student discuss the patterns they see in the first line. Then I take the book away and have them play it by memory. We do this with each subsequent line so that in a few short minutes they can play the entire piece by memory based upon an understanding of the patterns. We do this a little bit with earlier level pieces, but this is typically the point where I officially introduce the principle of cognitive memorization.

2. Label various sections in the piece with numbers or letters and then write the corresponding numbers/letters on slips of paper. Have the student randomly select one of the slips and then work on memorizing that section. Continue until all sections have been worked on. Then I drill them at the following lesson by randomly choosing sections to see if the student can play them as stand-alone sections.

If you have other suggestions for memorization strategies or contests, I’d love to hear about them! This is an area where I could definitely use some improvement!

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!

Last weekend I received the e-newsletter from the fabulous Music Educator’s Marketplace and saw this brilliant new product: Nate’s Scale Plates. They were developed by a 9-year old piano student, and they are exactly what several of my students need! It baffles me that scale fingerings are as difficult as they are for some students, but even some of my most diligent students struggle to master them. These scale plates seem like the perfect solution. According to the newsletter, Music Educator’s Marketplace will be at the MTNA Conference next month, so I’m putting this at the top of my list of things to buy. I can hardly wait to give it a try!

If you don’t already receive the free e-newsletter from Music Educator’s Marketplace, you can sign up for it at the bottom of their home page. I highly recommend it! In addition to product information it also contains some great teaching tips and other helpful links.

Do you have a favorite adult method series?

Honestly, no. I don’t really like any of the adult method books that I’ve used. For beginning adult students, I usually use the Faber Accelerated Piano Adventures. Many of the adult methods are more chord-based in their approach and I feel like that is a disservice to an older beginner who really needs to develop good technique and reading skills in both hands.

I also start adults almost immediately on scales, chords, and cross-hand arpeggios. They tend to have lots of questions and want to understand what they are playing, so I think learning applied theory is the best way to do that. In addition to the method book, I try to track down a supplemental book with a bit more challenging music along the lines of what they want to learn to play – hymns, praise songs, classical themes, folk music, etc. This is especially motivating and gives them a chance to learn big-sounding music or favorite tunes while still developing their reading and technique skills through the method books.

Well, that concludes our week of Mondays! That made a bit of a dent in the Monday Mailbag folder. It’s so much fun discussing these sorts of issues and getting input and different perspectives from other teachers. Thanks to those of you who have contributed to the discussion!

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!

At what point do you discontinue using method books with more advanced students? What does their curriculum consist of (i.e. what do you do for repertoire, technique, etc)?

Wow! Like my Introducing Baroque Music post, I’m afraid this will reveal my lack of structured lesson planning when it comes to the higher levels! Just don’t report me to the pedagogy police, ok?

If a particular student really thrives on sequence and structure, then I’ll keep them in the method books (Lesson and Technique and Artistry) through all the levels, but otherwise, usually after the second or third level of the Faber series, we transition into early classics and other supplemental music. I’ve used a whole variety of early level Classical repertoire books over the years. Usually when a student gets to that point, I spend some time at the music store pouring over the new releases and looking back through the previous series’ I’ve used, trying to pick the books that I think will be just right for that student.

I look for books that have representative repertoire from each of the time periods so that I can incorporate stylistic techniques and tidbits of music history along with the learning of the pieces. The Exploring Piano Classics series is my newest favorite! I’m not very good at remembering book titles, but here are a few others I really like that come to mind:

Essential Keyboard Repertoire edited by Lynn Freeman Olson

Masterwork Classics by Jane Magrath

Beautiful Etudes by Victoria McArthur

Expressive Etudes by Suzanne Guy

Succeeding with the Masters Festival Collection by Helen Marlais

I’m sure there are other great ones as well, so hopefully some others will chime in! What are your favorite repertoire and technique books for advancing students who are moving out of method books? Also, at what point do your students move out of the method books?

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!

Have you seen the Create Your Own Interval Examples page on the EarMaster website? What a fabulous resource! Our Music Progressions evaluations are in April each year, so I’ve been assigning several of my students to work on specific ear training exercises at different websites. This is with the hope that maybe they won’t all bomb the listening test like we do most years…aural skills is not one of my strengths and it’s an area I rarely devote time to in the lessons, other than having students pick songs out by ear and compose original arrangements, so unless they are naturally gifted in this area, they usually don’t fare so well.

Anyway…I’ll be passing along the link to this interval example page. I love that it has links to YouTube videos so that students can immediately listen to songs representing each interval! (Maybe I should spend some time there, too… ) Do you have any other good resources you’ve found for working on aural skills with students? Please do share – I can use all the help I can get in this area!

HT: Wendy

When you do an ensemble recital, with duets, how do you work with the students in their individual lessons?  Do they each practice their parts separately, then get together a few times to work together?  Do you play the other duet part with each of them so they know what it sounds like?  I would love to hear your thoughts!

I love doing ensemble playing in my studio, but it is a challenge to incorporate it regularly into lessons! This is how I approach it with each student: Typically my first step is to record one part onto my Clavinova and then play the other part along with it at the student’s lesson so that they can hear what it will sound like all put together. Then, I give them their part, go over it briefly, and they work on it on their own during the week.

When they come to their lesson, yes, I play along with them so that they get used to hearing the parts together. I also help them practice keeping a steady pulse by playing straight through the other part and not stopping or adjusting for their mistakes! Once each student has learned their part well, I often have one of them come to the other’s lesson so that we can rehearse together. Usually they also arrange other times to get together, either at my studio or at one of their homes to practice together. If they are planning to play it for a festival, I also try to make sure they have it ready in time to play it at a group class prior to the festival so that they get a little bit of performance experience with it.

Another thing that I do occasionally is record the duet part and e-mail it to the student as an mp3 so that they can download it and practice playing along with it during their individual practice sessions at home. This is especially helpful for the students who need extra reinforcement with keeping a consistent pulse!

Anyone else have any ideas for working on ensemble/duet repertoire with students?

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!