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Gretchen Saathoff

~ Collaborative Pianist/Vocal Coach ~ forging partnerships, making memorable music together

Monthly Archives: January 2013

Giant steps!

14 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by GretchensPianos in confidence, distractions, fingering, focus, freedom, learning, music, new experience, piano, process, progress, security, teaching, the unexpected

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adult student, music education, piano pedagogy, unexpected progress

Coltrane

The many ways in which one of my adult students progressed in her two most recent lessons felt like they were unrelated to what we were doing that day.

Four amazing things occurred in her playing!  We had worked on each step at various points in previous lessons, but not for the two weeks included in this post.

1.     Consistent fingering

Two weeks ago, my student was able to stick to the same fingering throughout a piece for the first time.

After our discussion about how this would help from now on, I asked how she felt.  She said she felt stuck, like she couldn’t move (from one location on the keyboard to another).  I had no problem with that for a first assessment.  She just hadn’t experienced the freeing aspects of using consistent fingering yet.  She was trying too hard, so her hands were not relaxed.

2.     More experience with consistent fingering

This past Saturday, she did it again!  When I repeated my question about her experience, she said, “I feel like I know the piece.”  I’ll take it!

3.     Releasing a chord to arrive at the next
in advance

This was such a surprise!  The right hand was playing a melody while the left needed to move from a 2nd finger C to an octave above with 1 and 3.  She was able to do that, and I don’t think she even noticed.  Moving early has always been difficult for this student.  So seeing her accomplish that even when the other hand was doing something else was particularly gratifying.

Of course we discussed this, too.  She said she could tell where she was headed.  It just “looked right.”  This is the first time she has been able to eliminate most of the 88 keys and see only the ones she wants to play.

4.     Stretching for an octave, then contracting hand

One passage in the right hand included a 5th finger C, then a stretch to the thumb one octave lower, both quarter notes.  Most of the time, my student’s hand would remain stretched, not relaxed.  On Saturday, her entire hand moved to stay with the thumb!

How could all of this happen at once?

My thoughts go back to consistent fingering.  When someone feels secure on the keyboard, then there is so much less to think about.  Most of the self-defeating guesses were no longer necessary.  (She normally uses a process of elimination.  “No, it’s not C…”)  She knew where she was.

I can’t wait until the next lesson!  This student’s progress will most likely move much faster now that she can find her way around the keyboard more easily.

Have you seen major changes in your students’ lessons?  What were they?

Please share your thoughts
in the comment section below!

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Long-distance coaching via txt

05 Saturday Jan 2013

Posted by GretchensPianos in coach, collaboration, distractions, emotion, integrity, music, singing, the unexpected

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English: mobile phone text message

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Last night during dinner (in MA), I received the following message from a singer I coach who had traveled to FL:

“Help!  I’m in FL for my godmother’s funeral and it’s looking like the organist is, well, not with it.  The family let him know they wanted me to do a solo at the beginning of the week and he didn’t get in touch with me till today [Friday] (funeral is tomorrow AM) and now he says he’s not ‘primarily’ an organist and he’s not sure he can play “Oh Rest in the Lord” or “He Shall Feed His Flock” on such short notice???????  Oh, and he didn’t call me sooner because he was kayaking!

I mean, taking a job as an organist and then saying you can’t do something simple like that?  And being an organist means being available for funerals, n’est-ce pas?  They aren’t generally planned in advance!!”

What to do?  No singer should have to be dragged down by a pianist.  The funeral was this morning, and I’m waiting for an update.  Hopefully the organist got with the program and didn’t freak out during the service.

I suggested to the singer that she could sing unaccompanied.  She would be comfortable with that, and then wouldn’t have to second-guess the organist or adjust to his discomfort.

If the organist decided to play and the rehearsal went fairly well, hopefully he didn’t drag the singer down during her solo.  I told her that if he messed up, just ignore him.  Can you imagine looking over to discern what the pianist might be doing when you are so emotionally involved in your singing?

We’ll see how things transpired.  The singer and I are driving to Boston and back on Monday (90 miles), so we’ll have plenty of time to talk.  This will make for fascinating conversation!

Every coach I know who is worth his or her salt checks for messages every 1/2 hour or so.  Next time the singer is out of town, she might have to take me!   😉

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Related article

  • What is a Vocal Coach?(GretchensPianos.wordpress.com)

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