It’s all in the details

Posted on by Heather Brunner

Recently, I was thinking about how different all my students are in the aspect of detail orientation.  Some of my students are very careful to not miss notes and to observe articulation markings.  Surprisingly enough, this is not limited to older students who have had more musical experience.  Some of those little guys come in and are determined to get it right.  Other students take more of the bull in a china shop approach.  They rush through the pieces and ignoring the wrong notes, tempo and dynamic markings.  They just don’t want to slow down enough to take in the details.

 

How I teach lessons depends on how the student performs.  With a  student who is very detail conscious, I can send home the student home with a new piece with very little instruction.  Then we spend more time at the next lesson working out the fine details and musicality.  Those students who take a looser view of the music, require more guidance on the front end of the piece.  We carefully read through the music and correct wrong notes and mark those dynamics. 

 

Sometimes with new students, it takes a few weeks to find out where the student will fall in the learning process.  So I was wondering if there is a way to predict with new students what type of student they will be.  Right now, I am trying an experiment.  I have created a sheet with 3 different shaped boxes to be colored in.  I have randomly asked students to use a crayon and fill in the boxes.  So far the early results indicate that a student will color with the same attention to details as they would look for in their music. 

 

It might seem silly, but I see it as part of my job to tailor lessons as closely as possible for each students learning style.  Any help that I can get is great.  When accepting transfer students, those first few lessons are so important.  Having the student feel successful is imperative to creating a long lasting successful teacher/student relationship.  By having a glimpse into the student’s learning style and guiding those lessons along that track from the start can really make a difference. 

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.

New Blogging Software and Blog Topics

Posted on by Heather Brunner

My wonderful husband has insisted that I try some new ‘easier’ blogging software.  So in the spirit of trying new things, I am asking for ideas.  If there is topic you would like to see covered in the blog, I want to hear about it.  You can either submit your idea via email or through the comments section.  Topics could range from music reading to what is it like to be a professional music teacher.  I look forward to hearing your suggestions!

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.

Masquerade Musicale

Posted on by Heather Brunner

Just a quick note about how proud I am of my students. Saturday night was the Masquerade Musicale. There were 4 seatings and I had students playing in all of them.

Everyone did an excellent job. Their costumes were adorable and their behavior during the concerts was excellent.

Congrats and I can’t wait to see what the Winter Recitals will bring.