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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.

Musical Editions

Posted on by Heather Brunner

The standard classical literature is produced in dozens of different volumes by different publishers. Some of it is good but some if it is just dreadful. So here are my top 3 picks for good editions.

1. G. Henle Verlag- Urtext- these editions are pretty much the best around. Being an Urtext edition there is no additional editing. What the composer wrote is what you get. The draw back to these editions is the price. These books are expensive.

2. Dover Publications- these editions are very clean and are reasonably priced. These are great for students.

3. International Music Company- good quality editions with very clean page layouts. These also are a little on the expensive side but they do have a wide ranging catalog for those hard to find pieces.

Now, my bottom 2 picks for editions.

1. G. Schirmer- this company has a wide ranging catalog at reasonable prices. However, the editing is just dreadful. Excessive amounts of fingering and dynamics make it difficult to know what the composer actually wrote.

2. Alfred Publishing Company- I dislike these editions from an editing and aesthetic standpoint. The editing is very good and accurate but the sheer volume of it is staggering. All the gray shading and endless notes are very visually distracting. These editions are musically sound and would be good for the independent adult musician.

I Seem to Have Lost My Voice

Posted on by Heather Brunner

Last week was going well enough until Wednesday night. I came home from work with a case of the grumpies that even a good dinner didn’t fix, and it was all down hill from there. Thursday morning I woke up with a fever and all the accompanying fun. So for the first time in 3 years, I had to cancel a day of lessons.

As a teacher you hate to cancel lessons. You only see your students once a week and for the more advanced students that are preparing for festivals, every week is important.

I am feeling better but seem to have completely lost my voice. Having an extensive background in voice, I know better than to try to talk or even worse, whipser. So my wonderful students are going to have to make out with hand signals, played examples and written notes. I think they are up to the task.

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.

Bartolomeo Cristofori

Posted on by Heather Brunner

So if you have looked at the listening assignment for this week, you will notice that there isn’t a link.  This week’s composer invented something very important.  The assignment is to listen to any music that uses this invention.  Just have the student make a note of what music they listened to. 

I don’t want to give away the answer.  Enjoy the search!