Drills and Exercises

When a piano student is assigned a simple drill or exercise, she may be tempted to play it through quickly a couple of times and call it good since it looks so simple. Here's a better way to practice drills and exercises:

1. Practice them slowly and precisely.

2. Make sure to have good hand position--keep those fingers curved and try not to let that pinkie fly into the air.

3. Practice for perfection.

4. Use correct fingering.

Practicing drills and exercises effectively can help improve technique and control.

Introducing the Great Composers to Children

I discovered a great website for introducing children (and adults) to the great composers, including a short bio of the ones featured. They're broken down by musical era and links are even provided to listen to some of their works. Wonderful!

I'm going to use this resource when teaching students to play the piano. Instead of just learning a piece by Mozart, I'll use this to add meaning and music appreciation.

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

I've been studying a book by James W. Bastien called How to Teach Piano Successfully. Now I've been teaching piano a loooong time but I'm learning a lot.

One thing that I learned today that I will be incorporating into my teaching is the use of flashcards--not only for learning notes and musical symbols, but also for learning how to sight read.

I like the idea of showing a student a short musical phrase and having him identify the pattern/inversions/chords/fingering/etc. etc.

It seems like musical phrase flashcards are a great stepping stone to eventually sitting down a sight reading a complete piece of music.

Somebody smart said...

Don't practice until you get it right. Practice until you can't get it wrong.

Music for the Very Young Child

It's never to early to expose a young child to a variety of music forms. A love of music seems instinctive even to a baby. A newborn can be calmed by a mother's lullaby.

I remember visiting in the home of my son's family. Their young daughter was (and is) a very active child. She had trouble falling asleep because her mind would continue racing and imagining. Her wise mother would play peaceful music softly on the CD player. It set such a sweet, calm atmosphere.

I remember as a very young child dancing as my mother played the piano.

Expose your child to a variety of music styles. Play some Souza's marches and all march around the house waving flags. Hand everyone a rhythm instrument and enjoy playing Latin music. Tape a strip of crepe paper to a stick and twirl it around as you dance to Swan Lake.

Let your child see you enjoy many types of music.

What a marvelous smorgasbord of musical genres are out there to be enjoyed...by all ages.

Proper Hand Position

Study Jon Schmidt's hand position and posture. I love his music--and I love the Piano Guys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P9hAN-teOU

Get Smart—Music Lessons Can Increase IQ

Studies have been conducted showing that music lessons can increase a person's IQ. See the following for one source:

http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3psygs/MusicLessons.pdf

How can playing the piano increase a person's smartness?

For one thing, when you are playing the piano you are utilizing all the learning styles—auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Learning to play the piano can increase your focus and it can help develop discipline and follow-through.  These are skills that can easily be transferred to other learning—schoolwork, for example.

If a person is practicing correctly, by the end of the practice session she will be mentally tired.