Category: Charlotte NC Piano Lessons

That Was A Great Recital

Posted on by Heather Brunner

It’s been a few weeks since I managed to sit down and blog.  First there was the recital, then Thanksgiving, and a few days away with friends. 

Let’s start with the recital.  The students all did a great job.  Even the ones that I worried about all week.  Never let it be said that I don’t have faith that a kid can pull it together when it counts.  All the practice paid off. 

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We were missing a few student but everyone played 2 or 3 pieces so it was a very nice recital.

When I arrived at Miller Piano to make sure everything was set up a little something caught my eye.  The conversation with Steve went a little like this:

“Is that a Baldwin Artist Series Piano?”-  me

“Why yes it is.”- him

“Let me go call my husband.”- me

ring ring-  “Are you going to be upset if I buy a grand piano today?”-  me

“Go for it.”-  husband

to Steve  “I’ll take it.”-  me

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Say hello to my new piano.  It is a Baldwin Artist series built in 1975.  The sound is glorious.

Happy Birthday to me is all I can say.

The students are enjoying it and already commenting on how much better prepared they will be for festivals and recitals since they will have a chance to practice on a grand.  Lessons the first week with the piano were quite fun and I am having a wonderful time playing all my favorite Christmas tunes.

Recital Deadlines

Posted on by Heather Brunner

The studio Halloween/Fall/Christmas recital is on Nov. 17 this year.  Other than the anomaly of last week, the students are doing a good job of preparing well in advance.  I try to impress upon them that having a whole week of leeway in memorization or learning a piece for a performance is a good idea.  What if you get sick?  What if there is a big school project?  What if you go out of town?  There are so many scenarios that if a student plans on learning music until the last minute can create the recipe for a poor performance.  While some of the issues could be prevented sometimes things just come up. 

To a young student a month is like forever.  If you tell them they have a month you can guarantee procrastination.  However, if I am very specific about what we need to accomplish each week to meet the goal then they understand that a month really isn’t so long. 

Good luck to all those students and teachers out there preparing for a winter concert.  Plan ahead and keep practicing.

Holiday Mayhem

Posted on by Heather Brunner

I’ve been bragging on my students significantly the past few weeks.  It pretty much came back to haunt me last week.  Holiday weeks are always hard for most of my students.  They get so hyped up about whatever exciting is going on that they just can’t/don’t focus like they need to.  I’m pretty sure they all put in their practice time, but the lack of focus during that time and during their lessons was obvious.  With the recital so close this was a bad time to lose a week.  It’s rare that I end up saying that lesson was bad to the student or parent but it ended up repeated endlessly last week.

So as we head into the holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas how do other teachers keep the disruptions to a minimum?  Festival season is just around the corner and we don’t want to lose too much preparation time. 

I’ve found the most effective check point is to have the parents listen to the students practice more often during times of distraction.  Even if you don’t read music or play an instrument you can hear if progress is being made or if it sounds sloppy or even if there are wrong notes.  You don’t need to listen to the entire practice session but a quick drop in will keep them honest.  If you aren’t home when a student practices have them record their final run through of each piece at the end of their daily practice and then compare it to the previous day.  Does it sound better? 

Everyone has an unfocused lesson once in a while, but if that lesson is preceded by a week of unfocused practice then it goes from unfocused to ill-prepared.  Let’s try to keep ourselves in check during the upcoming mayhem of the holiday season and to continue to progress in our musical education.

October Competition and Prizes

Posted on by Heather Brunner

This month in the studio we have been having a competition of sorts.  With the recital coming up, the students needed a little added incentive to work extra hard.  So I purchased a few small prizes and then declared that the grand prize would be a hand knit scarf of the winner’s choosing.  Pretty much saying Harry Potter scarf did the trick.    Here were the ways to earn points:

1.  Meet Your Practice Goal- 5 points

2.  Exceed your practice goal by 30 minute increments – 15 points per 30 min. interval

3.  Perfect Technique- 5 points

4.  Pass Ear-Training Test- 20 points

5.  Complete a Piece- 5 points per page

6.  Theory Completed- 5 points

7.  Theory Completed with no mistakes- 5 points per page

8.  Memorization- 2 points per measure

9.  Memorize an entire piece in 1 week- 20 points

10.  Memorize a recital piece by Nov. 1- 50 points

The students did really well in earning their points and trying to beat each other.  I can’t wait to tell them how they did at their lesson next week. 

Halloween Lessons

Posted on by Heather Brunner

Just a food for thought post on Halloween.  Does your piano teacher offer lessons on Halloween?  Are the lessons interrupted by trick-or-treaters?  Do you wear a costume to your lesson?

Hopefully there are no scary lessons today!

Brunner Studios will have our piano, voice, or oboe lessons at the regularly schedule times today.  Students were offered the opportunity to choose a different time slot for this week if there was a conflicting event for this evening.  Hopefully everyone will stay safe and have fun this evening.

NFMC 2013

Posted on by Heather Brunner

This is just a reminder that Brunner Studios will be participating in NFMC Festival and Scholarship Festival in February of 2013.  Piano, voice, and oboe students are welcome.  This is a great festival to learn the ropes or to participate in a competition.  Students will begin receiving music next week to reduce the stress of learning music over the winter holidays.

If you are interested in participating in this event or beginning music lessons please contact Brunner Studios.  It is not unreasonable to think that a student could begin lessons now and participate in this event in February.  National Federation of Music Clubs is a nationally recognized music organization.

For more information regarding piano, voice, or oboe lessons please contact Brunner Studios. 

New Christmas Books

Posted on by Heather Brunner

As a piano teacher, I spend a lot of time playing music that isn’t mine.  It’s rare that I get to play the piano for pure enjoyment of the music and it not be a project of some variety.  Well, it’s that time of year again.  It’s time for Christmas music!  I love piano Christmas music.  If you saw my music library you would probably think I’m a little crazy.  So when I was at Music and Arts 2 weeks ago and saw new Christmas piano books, that was it.  I had to have some new books.

First up is Simply Christmas by Jerry Ray. Now you have to understand.  Christmas with Style by Jerry Ray is just about my favorite Christmas book to play from.  The arrangements are great and not overly difficult.  So when I was Simply Christmas it was meant to be. I was not disappointed.  This is a great book.

The second book I picked up was O Come, Let Us Adore Him by the publisher Lillenas.  Lillenas published my favorite hymn arrange book so I thought this was a pretty sure bet.  This book was obviously made for church pianists.  It includes transitions between every song.  The arrangements are pretty and very playable.

So there you go, I am already playing and teaching Christmas piano music.  The recital is only a month away. I should go practice.

Fall Recital

Posted on by Heather Brunner

Brunner Studios is happy to announce that our fall concert has been scheduled.  We will be playing at Miller Piano on Independence Blvd on November 17 at 3:00.

Recitals provide an excellent opportunity for students to practice their performance skills and to show off what they have been working on.  Students will be able to perform up to 3 pieces.  Right now the studio is having a competition to help us memorize those recital pieces. 

I would love to see community members and other teachers in the audience.  The more the merrier!

UNCSA Piano Weekend- Part !

Posted on by Heather Brunner

I just wanted to say good luck to the students from Charlotte who are participating in the UNCSA piano weekend/competition on Saturday.  From the roster it looks like Brunner Studios and Pamela Mullins are sending students to represent the Charlotte area. 

 

Good luck and I hope you all learn a great deal about music, performing, and yourselves.

What A Problem To Have

Posted on by Heather Brunner

I am teaching a wonderful group of students piano lessons right now.  In fact, they are so great they aren’t giving me much material to write about on how to run a studio.  What a problem to have!  We are learning Halloween music and Christmas music started leaving the studio this week. 

I am so proud of my younger students.  I have 3 students who just started lessons last year and are about to move from 30 minute to 45 minute lessons.  These kids are really practicing and excelling in their art. 

More students are participating in the National Achievement Program and one will be playing in a Piano Sonata competition later this month. 

This group of students is working hard!