Singing off key...on purpose

Last week I had to purposefully sing off key. I learned a couple of things:

1. I HATE singing off key. 
2. It's hard to stay off key. I kept wanting to go to a harmony note.
3. I found myself wondering if that same frustration is felt by singers who struggle to stay ON pitch rather than me trying to stay OFF pitch...

It's that third point that really got me to thinking... People who are born with a certain talent (i.e. singing, drawing, spatial reasoning, or other certain "affinities"), often take these natural born talents for granted.  We say to ourselves, "why is it so hard for them to do that? All you have to do is ______". 

My goal is to try to put myself in the shoes of the person who was not born with a specific talent, but wants to work at that and learn how.  It's that "working hard and learning how" that is my job to teach!

Question and Answer Time!

Question and Answer time! Here are some recent ones:

           How old should my child be to start piano lessons?

The easy answer is kindergarten or 1st grade.  The reason that this answer is given so often is because by kindergarten/1st grade, children are expected to be able to sit for 20-30 minutes at a time and can follow simple instructions.
The more difficult answer is, it depends on the child, the parent, the desire, the ability, the amount of time to practice. To determine that, let's talk further...off the blog. :)

           I feel my children's piano teacher is rushing off to go to an appointment, so if the lessons are running behind and my kids' lessons are at the end of the day and they're still finishing on time, they aren't getting the 30 minute lesson that I'm paying for.  How would you approach this or bring it up without offending?

> A direct way would be to ask if the teacher could please begin the lesson closer to the starting time.
> A less direct approach would be to ask if the teacher thought the prescribed 30 minute block of time was enough for your child's lesson.  This might clue the teacher in to the fact that she's not actually spending 30 minutes with them teaching.  If he/she doesn't follow the clue, follow up by saying that when other lessons run over into your kids' time, then they aren't getting the full 30 minutes.  You can add that you feel like your child needs the full 30 minutes in order to grasp the new concepts each week.
> Another option would be to arrive promptly at your next scheduled lesson and stand somewhere visible to the teacher from the time that your child's lesson should begin.  When its finally time for your time slot, mention that the lessons seem to be right on top of each other and suggest that she builds a 5 minute window of time into her schedule between lessons for transition time.

                Is it ok to only own a keyboard and not a real piano?

Hmm... that's a tough one.  In fact, I wrote a whole post about it here.  Check it out!

                Are there any music game websites for kids? 

Why yes, yes there are!  Here are some of my favorites:
www.classicsforkids.com/games/
www.creatingmusic.com/
www.dsokids.com/2001/rooms/musicroom.asp
www.nyphilkids.org/main.phtml
www.flashmusicgames.com/
www.sfskids.org/templates/home.asp?pageid=1

         
If you have any music related questions, let me know! If I don't know the answer, I bet I can find someone who does!

Playing ahead in lesson books: When is it ok?

There have been so many times when my students (including my own children) have asked if they can play ahead in the lesson books. "I can play them, mom, I know I can" or, "they're so easy, can I play through the end of the book".  In fact, I heard that so much that I had to develop some "rules" about playing ahead. 

> If you look ahead in the book, you may only play through a song once or twice.  This is so they don't form a habit of playing it their way. 

> When we get to a song/lesson that you have played through once or twice, you have to be willing to listen to my explanation of the song/lesson AND understand that you might have played it incorrectly on your own.  I will help you play it correctly.

If a student keeps asking to look ahead, it might be a sign that the practice load is not enough to challenge them during the week.  This is a great time to bring in supplemental music.  Some of my favorite supplements are Dozen A Day--which is a great finger exercise book, and also the Piano Adventures Popular and Performance books that match the level the student is at.

Keeping students challenged but not overwhelmed is a delicate balance, but one that brings about great accomplishments!

Home Schooling....kind of

I'm often asked if I homeschool or not...the answer to that is two-fold. First, no because I send my kids to public school.  Second, yes because I homeschool them in piano.

When I started teaching my oldest piano, he was in first grade. Since he was the only one I was teaching at that moment, I taught him in the classic style...meaning a 30 minute lesson with us both sitting at the piano.  That went ok, but not spectacular.  But at that time, I was still a fairly new teacher, new mother and idealistic in my plans for teaching my child piano....not realistic.  Sadly there were many lessons that ended up w/ crying, screaming and gnashing of teeth!  So I actually took a hiatus from teaching him (its sad to think that  I actually thought it was my son that was the problem---nope--It was me!)  When I started teaching him again, I also began teaching my daughter so at this time, Nathan was in 3rd grade and Mandy was in 1st. Once again, I tried the classic method, and it went better.  (Probably because he was older, she was a gem to teach and I had some more piano teaching under my belt!)
By the time I was teaching 3 kids piano, I realized I didn't have an hour and a half slot of time available to sit and teach the kids---especially because I was teaching 25 other kids every week! So I came up with this method that has worked very well for us over the last year and I think it will continue to be successful now that I'm teaching all 4.

Here's the method. I teach for no more than 5 minutes at a time.   Each time the kids go to the piano, mostly on their own accord, I go to them and go over one page or one small concept at a time.  I never give more than 2 songs to work on at a time. I also treat each of their practices as a mini-lesson--meaning that I listen extra carefully while they practice and correct their form, hand position, incorrect notes, rhythm mistakes, etc while they are practicing.  (I will say that this is a time when it really helps that I know the songs as well as I do, I can be in the kitchen listening and still be able to tell them what they need to fix! :) 
I have noticed that since adopting this method, the kids are moving through the books very quickly and are very encouraged to go further! That is a wonderful thing to experience. :)

Now, will this method work for you and your gaggle of kids? Maybe, maybe not.  But I hope it encourages you to think outside the "box" of the 30 minute lesson.  If you have an idea, share it with me!  If you have a question, please ask!

How to Deal with Whining About Practicing

Let's be honest, all students whine sometimes.  The causes differ from not wanting to practice, to getting frustrated with a piece of music, to being frustrated with an instrument.  So what's a parent to do???

Here's some ideas.
First, try to get to the root of the whine.  Is it that they don't want to stop playing outside or with friends and have to come inside and practice? They are frustrated with the piece of music? Frustrated with the concept?  Frustrated with the instrument? Bored with the piece? Now address that root. 
Not wanting to stop playing: Change the time of practice.  If they want to play with their friends in the afternoon when they get home from school, change practice time to the morning after breakfast.  Or even give them the "treat" of being able to stay up a little bit later so that they can practice in the evening after dinner.

Frustration with piece of music: I have been teaching out of the same curriculum for quite a while and now know that some songs are just plain hard.  Students of varying degrees of natural talent will reach a certain song and no matter what, they will struggle.  That taught me that its ok to skip songs or to supplement with another piece that teaches the same concept.  That being said, as a parent talk to the teacher if the same song is being assigned for more than 2 weeks.  Ask what specifically the student needs to work on and what the teacher's plan is if the student continues to struggle in grasping the concept. One piece of music is not worth frustration.

Frustration with a concept: There are some students that really struggle with certain concepts.  I've had students who cannot seem to master the feeling of a 3/4 time signature or crescendo/decrescendo.  If your young musician is getting frustrated with a concept like one of these, during practice take the concept away from the piece and let the musician concentrate on the successful parts of the song, like correct notes, hand position, steady beat, etc.  Talk to the teacher at the next lesson and ask if there is another way to teach the same concept.  This is where the teacher's creativity can shine!  You as the parent see if you can apply the concept to the student in other non-musical ways. (Check out my other posts to see examples of these).

Boredom with the piece: 30 minutes goes by extremely fast.  If your young musician is getting bored with the pieces because they are mastering them quickly, ask the teacher for either a longer lesson (like 45 minutes) or even better, two 30 minute lessons per week. Some musicians are so very talented, that they really could master a concept and a piece of music in just a day or so.  Ask the teacher also for supplemental music outside of the lesson book.  The Faber curriculum that I use has many books that run parallel to the lesson book levels so that students can find matching music to their level of performance. 

Frustrated with the instrument: For some piano students, when they reach a level of performance but are still playing on a lower end keyboard, they can begin to get frustrated that their instrument is not making the sound that they think it should be making.  If that's the case, then its time to invest in a better quality keyboard. Also read my other post on practicing w/o a piano.  On the other end of the spectrum, I've had students whose parents own pianos that need to be repaired or tuned badly and that can cause frustration of the musician as well.  As parents, the ball's in your court for this one.

All in all, there is usually alot going on inside the musician's head when they start whining about practicing.  If you take the time to find out what's really going on, not only will you be able to beat the whining blues, but also your musician will be happy that you took the time to find out what they were thinking/feeling inside. Its a win/win situation!!

Say your ABC's....Backwards!

This is a simple, but important tip that will help all young musicians:  learn your ABC's backwards! 

The musical alphabet is only 7 letters: A B C D E F G.  As piano students learn to play the keys on the piano, it is often easy for them to figure out the letter names of the notes as they ascend.  Its easy because the music alphabet goes in order, but the tricky part is figuring the letter names as the notes descend.  Thinking about the music alphabet in reverse order, quickly, is often very challenging.

In order to help your young musician achieve success in this area, help them practice saying the letters backwards.  Start at G and work backwards to A, then ask what comes before the A....its G!  Then start at a different letter and work down, and so on and so forth.  This will help with the quick decision-making that they have to do when playing.

Happy Playing!

Get Motivated!

As a music teacher, I'm always trying to tap in to my student's intrinsic motivations.  But sometimes, those intrinsic motivators are not well developed...yet.  In those instances, I have to use extrinsic motivators (i.e. prizes, competitions, awards, certificates, grab bags, etc). 

For the majority of my students, I require a certain number of "good" practices per week. ("Good" practices are those that are conducted with a respectful attitude and appropriate amount of effort and time.  The parents must sign off that it was indeed a "good" practice.)  If the set number of practices is reached, then the students may pick a prize bag, and take it home with them.  Its amazing how excited the young musicians are when they go get to pick out their bag and take it home with them.

If your musician's teacher does not provide that form of extrinsic motivation, then you as the parent can definitely provide that.  In my house, with my own kids, I have a candy dish on the piano.  After the kids put forth a good practice, they may pick one piece of candy. They tried to practice all day long at first, trying to get many pieces of candy!  I did have to limit it to one piece of candy per day, but it has definitely been helpful in getting them going.

You know your child well, are they being adequately motivated? 

Piano Practice....Sans Keyboard

Wow, this one is a doozy.  There is nothing more frustrating for a piano teacher than to have a student not have access to a keyboard.  Now some would say that the student shouldn't be taking lessons if there isn't a keyboard readily available, but sometimes things happen.  In the military world, one occasion that pops up sometimes is that a family's household goods are packed out months in advance of a move, yet the parents still want the student to take lessons. Or a piano might have so many sticky keys that it is unplayable. Or a keyboard not working properly. So many reasons...so what to do?
1. Check out your local chapels, churches, etc.  Ask if they have a piano on which your student may practice.  Some churches, especially if given the back story, would allow practice on one of their pianos or keyboards. 
2. Check with a friend.  Do you have any friends with pianos or keyboards?  Ask if you could barter babysitting services or hot dinner in exchange for some time at their piano for your student.
3. Check your local hotels.  Some of the nicer ones have pianos or keyboards.  Ask if your student could play on it.
4. Check with a local university/college music department.  Ask if they have practice studios and if your student could practice there.
5. Lastly, make do at home.  Print out a paper keyboard, set it on the counter or table and have your musician work their fingers on the keys.  Have them press harder with their fingers to build finger strength.  Use a ball of socks on the floor for a pedal. 

There are times that we must get creative for practice opportunities.  A brainstorming session with the teacher, student and parents would be very helpful.  Try to work together and figure out the best avenue possible for the young musician.  Anything is possible!

Back to lesson time! Ideas from Blog-world

Its almost time for music lessons to start back! As you and your musician prepare for another year of lessons, or year of band/chorus, here are some ideas for getting organized.
The first idea comes from Char over at http://www.crapivemade.com/. She has put together an awesome tutorial for making bags to tote lesson books, flashcards, assignment books and more to and from lessons, always staying fashionable and organized!

Crap I've Made: Piano Bag Tutorial