Insight into piano practice tips, tricks, and methods.
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.
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!
A very exciting opportunity landed in my inbox last week. The UNC School of the Arts is hosting a Piano Weekend for young musicians. The event date is October 20, 2012. The students are being invited to participate in Master Classes, a Sonata Competition, and a Recital.
I love events like this. It is a chance for students and parents to go and hear other young musicians. The motivation boost and the experience of playing in a competition are extremely important.
If you are interested in participating in this event please let me know. The registration deadline is Oct. 1.
I just got home from a few days out of town. Disney World is great this time of year, but it wasn’t just for relaxing. I want to show you some of the ways music is integrated into the Disney experience. First up was the hotel. Since this was a last minute trip we stayed at the All Star Music Resort. This is a value resort. The rooms are quite small but are still themed really well. These pictures are not mine since I forgot to take photos in the room, and it was pouring rain 3 of 4 days.
It is a little hard to tell from these pictures but the border around the room is music themed and the print on the wall is Mickey Mouse conducting an orchestra.
The resort itself is totally decked out in music décor.
I will be updating this blog series throughout the week. I am very excited for fall lessons to get started back here at Brunner Studios in Charlotte, NC. Brunner Studios offers piano, voice and oboe lessons. At Disney World, I saw piano and vocal performances and heard many selections of oboe music. It’s funny how much you notice different instruments in scores when you are listening for them.
It is always a sad day when a fellow teacher passes away.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/07/20/3395824/davidson-college-pianist-ruskin.html
Last week I asked a student what goals they wanted to set for the coming school year. Finding what excites and challenges a high school student can be something of a challenge. The student answered that taking the Carnegie Hall Achievement Program exams was at the top of the list. This was followed by playing a ‘real’ classical music piece.
Now you have to understand, I don’t give my students ‘fake’ classical music pieces. The student was meaning that they wanted an independent piece not from a book or set of pieces. I think this is an admirable goal. However, the student is smack dab in the middle of intermediate music. Talking about challenging.
The pieces that I can think of easily that this student would student love are too difficult right now. The student wants to branch out from the classical era which is something of a niche for them and produces the best results. This particular student really dislikes modern music. Talk about frustrating perimeters.
Intermediate music is the most difficult for me as a teacher to select. How to find the most exciting piece? How to keep it challenging but not too difficult? What new skills can be learned? How long should the piece be?
I think I will need to consider this a treasure hunt and dig deep into my music library.
Summer is always a tricky time for music teachers. You want your students to continue taking on a normal schedule if possible but many families travel extensively in the summer. So as a teacher you have to be prepared for the drop in pay during the summer months.
The past few years I taught piano, voice and oboe at a school of music here in Charlotte, NC. It seemed like a pretty good deal as far a summer lessons went. Students were required to take 6 lessons in order to obtain VIP registration for the fall. People would twist and turn their schedules and gripe and complain, but mostly they seemed to fit those lessons in. Only 1 or 2 of my 35 odd students would take more than 6 lesson. Everyone was just so busy in the summer. On the surface, it seemed beneficial to have a required amount of lessons.
Fast forward to this summer. I am teaching exclusively from my home studio and I was really worried about how summer was going to pan out. While not wanting to pressure students into lessons, paying my bills is important as well. So, I highly encouraged my students to take lessons if they were in town. If they are traveling, don’t worry about it and you don’t pay for that lesson. However, if you are here I expect to see you in the studio those weeks if at all possible.
Talk about surprising. Almost all of my students are taking a full schedule for the summer. We are moving lesson days to accommodate summer plans, but the students are really stepping up to the plate. The flexibility of being able to change lessons with little notice is really keeping the lesson going.
So fellow teachers I would encourage you to give your students a little wiggle room in the summer. They might surprise you with their dedication.
Last week I had a little bit of a snap. My studio book cases are so full and there is literature on there that I just don’t use. A few hours of work later, there was a huge stack of music that someone might like. So this week I am having a music sale. The students can pick whatever they want and the prices are 50 cents to $1.
My book cases look a lot better now and it is much easier to find what I need. Getting new music is always fun and getting new music cheap is even better. How have you gotten rid of excess music or grown your collection in an inexpensive manner?
How did May get here so quickly? School will be out soon and vacation is just around the corner. That means it is time to start thinking about your summer lesson plans.
Piano, Voice and Oboe lessons at Brunner Studios run year round. Summer lessons have a slightly different policy. As always lessons are paid for at the start of the month. However, you will only need to pay for the lessons that you take. I encourage my students to stay on an as normal schedule as possible, but I know there are lots of extracurricular activities in the summer. Lesson times are available in the morning as well as the evening.
Brunner Studios has lesson availability but the time slots are going quickly. Call or email now to set up your summer lesson schedule.
Anyone else ready for a good week of lessons?
The recital is getting closer.
Go practice.