Category: Piano Practice

Insight into piano practice tips, tricks, and methods.

Piano, Voice and Oboe Lessons for Adults

Posted on by Heather Brunner

So often I hear adults say “I wish I hadn’t quit piano (fill in the blank for other lessons here) lessons when I was younger.”  I never hear adults expression gratitude for their parents letting them quit.  Sometimes an adult will say that they wish that they had gotten the chance to take music lessons.  My response is always  that it is never too late to start lessons. 

 

Why should adults go ahead and take the chance and take lessons?

 

Adults are going to pick up learning to read music more quickly than a young child.  Being more independent and able to reason through problem will keep the learning process moving at a steady pace.  It can take a young person several months to learn all of the notes on the musical staff.  A dedicated adult can learn the same information in just a few weeks.  This will allow more time to focus on learning to play with the proper technique. 

 

Adults are more apt to practice and focus as they are the ones paying the lesson bills.  You probably aren’t going to pay for something that you don’t enjoy or don’t spend time practicing.  If you go back to lessons after many years away, the desire to learn is there.  Mom and Dad aren’t making you take lessons and the initiative is yours.

 

Adult students are more active participants in picking out what music they would like to play.  Often adult students will come into lessons with a specific goal in mind.  They would like to learn to play or church or to play in a band.   Lessons can be tailored to fit your needs in these areas. 

 

So if you are thinking about beginning piano, voice or oboe lessons and you are an adult.  Go ahead and jump in. 

 

Brunner Studios offers flexible scheduling for adult students.  If you want lessons in the morning, during lunch, or after work, then there is a time on the schedule for you.

Prizes and Awards

Posted on by Heather Brunner

 

It is that time of year again.  The school year is just about over and it is time to hand out those achievement awards.  Every year I struggle to find just the right balance between well-earned and well-deserved awards and recognition for students who didn’t accomplish a major feat but stuck it out another year. 

 

Certificates go a long way for many students.  Almost everyone completed a book this year or participated in a festival or concert.  So I’ll head to Lakeshore Learning www.lakeshorelearning.com and purchase a bunch of certificates and those nice shiny gold seals.  I’ll do certificates for book completion, festival participation, practice records, and attendance.  It does take a really long time to fill these out, but most of the time the kids are happy to receive them.

 

Composer Busts.  A few years ago my mom was at the Dollar Tree and they had black and gold composer busts for….you guessed it….a dollar.  She bought them out and I am still giving them away.  My students with perfect attendance and those who met a minimum number of practice minutes for the year will receive a bust. 

 

I am not giving these out at a program this year because I ran out of time and the kids are about concertized out.  So at their last lesson they will get their prizes.  It doesn’t take much to make most students happy so this is a way to end the year on a high notes and to motive the students to keep practice during their summer lessons.

iPad hits the studio

Posted on by Heather Brunner

Shhh.  I have a secret.  Although I knit, sew, scrapbook and plant a garden, I am a techno-junky.   My newest acquisition is a 1st Generation iPad.  I got a great deal at Best Buy since the Gen 2 is out and it was an open box.

 

So lets review an app that I’ve found that is very useful…and free.  This the Ludwig Metronome app.  Let’s examine the features.

image imageDo you see the slightly shaded circle within the wheel?  This is where you select the tempo you want.  Just keep your finger on the circle and scroll around the dial.  The tempo and its term appear in the center of the circle.  The box with the lines at the top is a flashing indicator of the beat.  You can use the flashing light in conjunction with the ticking sound or alone.  Just select the speaker button with the x to turn the sound off and on.  To start the metronome use the Play button on the left.

 

At the bottom you will will see 4 buttons.  The one of the left shows 4/4.  This is the time signature that the metronome will tick to and give an accented down beat.  2/2, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 3/8, 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 are available.  To the right, you will see the options of Manual or Tap.  To use the scroll wheel ,select Manual.  To tap in the correct tempo, select tap.  This would be a great feature for kids who don’t yet understand how the numbers relate to the tempo.  They can tap in the speed they want to go and the metronome selects the tempo.  Finally, the gear button allows for customization of the features.

 

This is a great app and fun for the students to use.  Anything to keep students counting gets an A in my book.

Sight Reading Rhythms

Posted on by Heather Brunner

Now that festival season is coming to a close, I hope that I can get my students back on track with their technical exercises and rhythm drills. 

We all know the importance of good counting.  We also know that some students have a natural ability for rhythm and other do not.  Last summer while teaching Piano Artistry Camp at the Charlotte Academy of Music, I discovered that some students who I thought had excellent natural rhythm were really just hard workers. 

At camp, each student had a binder with rhythm drills.  We took turns clapping and counting rhythms.  I had thought that since the students were playing advanced music that they would be able to sight read intermediate rhythms correctly.  Bad assumption on my part.  We went all the was back to elementary level rhythms before they could successful clap and count the rhythms correctly on first sight.  So while the students could correctly learn the more difficult rhythms during the week between lessons, they were struggling on the sight reading front.

My solution to this was to give every student successive sheets of rhythm drills and sight read rhythms each week in their lessons.  The rhythms that they struggled with they practiced over the week at home.  The ones that were sight read correctly got a star sticker.

A good source of counting work sheets is http://www.composecreate.com/wendys-piano-studio/teaching-resources/rhythm-worksheets/. 

I would like to review the Rhythm Clapback/Singback series by Boris Berlin and Andrew Markow that is published through Frederick Harris Music.

I have a few of the Four Star Sight Reading and Ear Tests books and have found those to be useful as well. 

Playing correct rhythms is just as important as playing correct notes.  Our students deserve a strong foundation in this area.

Piano Technique Assignment Sheet

Posted on by Heather Brunner

I have added my Piano Technique Assignment Sheet under the Resources tab on the website.  I created this form to help me track my student’s progress in their scale practice.  Rather than creating different sheets for the different levels, I have used a table format to indicate the different scales with the appropriate octaves and tempos. 

 

Each student has a technical requirements sheet in their 3-ring assignment binder.  There are two different ways that this sheet can be filled out.  The first would be to write the date in the box for the indicated scale.  This could be either the date the scale was assigned or the date the scale was completed.  The second way would be to place a check mark by the scale when the student is proficient with the scale.  The second method is the one that I prefer.  I can always look back at the Lesson Assignment Sheet to find out when the student began work on a particular scale. 

 

When using the table for the minor scales, the teacher can either give new sheets for each form of minor scales or assign the scales as a unit.  I tend to assign the 3 forms of minor scales as a under so that the student can see the differences all at one time. 

 

I hope to add more technique forms in the future.  If there is a form that you would like to see add or would find useful please let me know.

Those first graders know how to practice!

Posted on by Heather Brunner

I would just like to congratulate my student Savannah.  She is in first grade and this is her third year of lessons with me.  Savannah is the final student to still have a perfect practice record for this semester.  That is all gold stars for 9 weeks!  She has met her practice goals and had her practice chart filled in every week.

Savannah will be receiving a book of her choice as a reward.  I am very proud of her hard work and dedication.

Lesson Assignment Sheets

Posted on by Heather Brunner

The assignment sheets for piano lessons plays a vital role in helping the student stay on top of their practice.  Well, that is if the student looks at the assignment sheet.  First as a student and now as a teacher, I  have seen many different methods used successfully.

The most basic method is to write the date at the top of the pages that are assigned.  Now this works well if the student is completing their pieces every week and if they remember what the date of their lesson was.  Overall, I find that this method leaves alot to be desired.

A slightly more advanced way is to use a small notebook and just to write Lesson, Theory, Performance, Practice and notate the page numbers out to the side.  This gives the student a check list to work off of.  There also isn’t very much room for additional notes and writing.

The past few years, I have been giving my students spiral notebooks with college rule paper.  Now this method definately worked well for me.  There was lots of room to write extra notes and to keep a practice record.  I did find that one of the drawbacks was that I didn’t always write the assignments in the same order.  If the theory somehow got added at the end of the page instead of after technique, it almost always was forgotten.  This was a good method and didn’t create any extra work for me as a teacher, but I felt that I could be more organized.

This year all of my students have been given a 3-ring binder.  When the student opens the binder the first thing they see is that week’s assignment sheet.  Every week I print out each day’s sheets with the correct date and the updated music history and listening assignments.  Below you can look at an example of this sheet:

Assignment Sheet- word version

This form seems to be working really well.  All the assignments are in the same place and there is plenty of room left for extra notes and reminders.  Also, I love to give handouts that are helpful to the students.  Some weeks it is supplemental theory sheets and others it can be music history information. By having a 3-ring binder handy, those papers don’t end up crumpled in the bottom of the student’s music bag.  It is also a nice place to keep sheet music so that it doesn’t get wrinkled. 

Over all I am very happy with the new assignment sheets and the 3 ring binder method.