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14 Wednesday Sep 2016
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I have enjoyed teaching several such students. My first thought was, “They’re all different!” Just as every person has different interests, their own look, speaking voice, and preferences in reading material, movies, food, etc., our approach must honor that person’s individuality.
So in my view, no one series of piano method books will entirely meet any student’s needs. Giving each student a comprehensive look at a wide variety of sounds and styles requires diverse resources.
This is my friend’s email:
“Hi Gretchen,
I was trying to think who might be able to help me and I thought of you. I have a new adult piano student. She reads music well but has pretty bad technique so she is limited in what she can play well. She has used those collections of 50 favorites and has some fairly good exercise books. I would consider her an intermediate piano student. I would really like to find a series that I could use with her that would be fun but would also challenge her. She seems to like classical music although I would love to try something else too. Any ideas. I looked at the Alfred Adult series but couldn’t figure out what level she might be. I just don’t have enough students to really know…..and most of my adult students have been beginners…..I never had a student where I need to break some really bad habits before. Anyway, any help will be GREATLY appreciated.
C.”
And my response:
“Hi C.,
Great to hear from you! I’m honored that you would use me as a sounding board.
My suggestion would be to skip around among different books. Going in sequence probably won’t work. In addition, all series books have pieces assigned to a certain level by the person who compiled the series. Each compiler/teacher thinks differently, and each student has different strengths and weaknesses.
That said, I like Alfred’s adult beginner book, Music for Millions, and skipping around in A Dozen A Day. For the latter, I don’t think it’s necessary to do every exercise, or even complete exercises. Understanding the concepts feels more important to me.
Best of luck! Just go with your gut, and let me know how it goes. Hmmm… I feel a blog post coming on! Maybe you could let me know what you’ve tried and we could take it from there.
Take care,
~ Gretchen”
30 Saturday Jan 2016
Posted acoustics, career, chorus, collaboration, concert, expression, extremes, goals, integrity, listening, music, new approach, new experience, new insights, outside the box, pedal, perception, performing, piano, priorities, responsibility, rhythm, serving music, singing, something new, the unexpected, tools, video, work
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As it happens, I did exactly that on Sunday night. I was thinking about that while driving home, trying to remember the last time I’d omitted all pedal. There was one occasion several years ago.
Christ & Saint Stephen’s in midtown Manhattan features a dome above the altar area. A baritone I played for had included “Why do the nations rage” from Messiah on his recital program. The piano reduction, 16th note tremelos, sounded like what you might call a bloody mess! The singer’s girlfriend, a professional cellist, attended the dress rehearsal, for which I shall always be grateful. She suggested that I play 8th notes at first, but even that sounded too muddy for audience consumption. Then she suggested playing quarter note chords, no tremolo at all, without any pedal. Amazingly enough, that worked.
Prior to that experience, the only time I played without pedal was probably in college, when playing Baroque music. At the time, I was a die-hard original sound freak, or preferred to come as close as possible given that I was playing a piano rather than a harpsichord. That certainly meant that the pedal was not to be used at all.
Since college, I have discovered that using the pedal on every note of a continuo bass line (i.e. quarter notes) enhances the sound without blurring it. But it must be used judiciously! Just tap it. The idea is to allow the strings to vibrate without making the sound last longer. You will hear the sound become rounder, closer to cello pizzicato.
Sunday night’s concert venue was a large church with high, valuted ceilings. The reverberation time was at least 4 seconds. We performed Copland’s “The Promise of Living” with a large group of combined choruses. The version on our program featured a piano four-hands accompaniment.
Both of us arrived at the piano, sat down and looked at each other. Whose score would we use? After we solved that question, my fellow pianist said, “Do you want to pedal?” I said, “Go for it!” He was playing the secondo part. The pedal would be easier for him to reach. In addition, he would be playing the part with the harmonic rhythm.
Soon after, we heard how live the acoustics were in the space. The piano was some distance away from the singers. We decided not to use the pedal at all, in order to provide as much clarity as possible.
I’m happy to say it worked! A professional singer, who sang an aria during the program, was sitting in the audience during the Copland. She and I were talking afterwards, when she said she heard clarity, and it sounded as if we had pedaled.
“Goal-oriented Practice”
Are you practicing well? Is your repertoire of ideas working for you? Are you making consistent progress?
My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click here for the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.
14 Thursday Jan 2016
Posted improvisation, piano, teaching
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Improvising is a wonderful opportunity for piano students to learn more about what makes music effective . . . or not so effective. Here are three important principles that pianists should consider in order to improve the quality of their improvisations.
One of the most important aspects of successful improvising is phrasing. A musical phrase is like a sentence or short paragraph in spoken English. Just as we don’t keep talking without brief pauses between sentences and paragraphs (at least most of us don’t!), a good improviser will create musical phrases with space (rests) between them.
The average phrase will typically consist of smaller intervals (unisons, seconds, thirds and fourths) with larger intervals appearing less frequently.
In written English it’s important to vary the length of one’s sentences in order to keep the reader interested. The same is true when improvising music. Varying the lengths of improvised phrases helps keep listeners’ attention.
Another aspect of phrasing is contour. The contour of a phrase may rise, or fall, or rise then fall, or any of a number of combinations.
Both the length and contour of phrases can help to create or release musical tension (see below).
The following G-flat pentatonic scale (black keys only) improvisation for RH employs phrases of various lengths and different contours. Each phrase consists of intervals of a third or less.
Another important factor for successful improvising is striking a balance between musical unity and musical contrast.
Unity is important because it provides consistency, which the human brain usually prefers. Without consistency, an improvisation may sound like a jumble of disconnected notes.
Contrast keeps listeners awake and interested. Without contrast, music can become monotonous or even boring.
Unity is created through repetition. An improviser might repeat notes, a phrase, a motif, a rhythm, or a harmonic progression, etc.
Contrast is created through change. An improviser might change the length or contour of phrases, change the rhythms used for different phrases, change the range (playing higher or lower), change the dynamics, change the tempo, etc.
An easy way for beginning improvisers to make sure they’re providing both unity and contrast is to improvise with an ostinato or simple harmonic progression in the LH (which establishes unity) while playing a varied improvised line in the RH (which creates contrast).
A third important factor in effective improvising is building and releasing tension. Just like a good film creates and releases dramatic tension, a good improvisation creates and releases musical tension.
A few ways to increase musical tension include:
Some ways to release musical tension include:
Pianists who pay conscious attention to phrasing, unity/contrast and tension/release will create more interesting and effective improvisations and are bound to increase their overall confidence as improvisers.
Doug Hanvey teaches improvising to aspiring creative pianists in Portland, Oregon. His Piano Lab Blog features fresh ideas, tips and inspiration for piano teachers and students.
Thanks so much, Doug!
23 Wednesday Dec 2015
Posted improvisation, inspiration, motivation, music, piano, teaching, Thank you!, travel
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Coming soon: guest posts from two readers about improvisation and motivating students!
Thank you so much for reading my blog.
And now… back to packing!
22 Sunday Nov 2015
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A new blog post! Surprising, I know. Having a few days’ vacation time gives me an opportunity to catch up a little.
A student took her turn a few minutes into the class, singing “Almost There” by Randy Newman.
She had nailed “All That Jazz” by John Kander just the week before, so I was anticipating that this would also be wonderful.
As it happened, she was anxious about something. When she began to sing, I could barely hear her. I wanted to get into it and play, but my sound would have covered her voice.
It could have been anything.
She was worried about the high note at the end of the first phrase, so she held back out of fear that her voice might crack. This is a freshman class. The students are shy about making a fool of themselves in front of other people, even in class. (I’ve been there myself so many times! As a freshman, I was so nervous in my first voice jury that I forgot every word after the title of a slow song in English! I changed my major immediately.)
The professor, who is also her voice teacher, identified the problem and found a way to deal with it. Among other things, she vocalized the student to a top note a third above the one she was concerned about.
On the fourth or fifth try, she knocked everyone out of their chair! She was SO GOOD!!! It was perfect.
The professor talked about how well the student had just performed, giving her kudos for her substantial progress this semester. She talked about how gratifying it was to witness this as a teacher, saying, “If I had my shoes, I’d throw them!” ++
Huh?
She elaborated. In the African-American tradition, when something is “too good,” audience members throw their shoes! *
And then the professor burst into tears. It was so moving.
The student was in tears soon after.
And the class was speechless.
And that, for me, is what it’s all about.
++ Class is held in a studio with a dance floor. Everyone takes off their shoes so the floor remains grit-free. If a dancer were to trip on grit, s/he could sprain, dislocate or break something, putting him or her out of the game for a long time. So that’s why the professor didn’t have her shoes!
* Both professor and student happen to be African-American. After class, I shared with the professor that I worked in an African-American church in Brooklyn for quite a while, also performing in other venues with the music director, who is a wonderful singer. However, when things were “too good,” no one threw their shoes. So where did that come from? She said it’s a Southern thing. People even throw their shoes in church!
“Goal-oriented Practice”
Are you practicing well? Is your repertoire of ideas working for you? Are you making consistent progress?
My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click here for the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.
01 Saturday Aug 2015
Posted career, directed practice, dynamics, exercises, fingering, focus, goals, learning, longevity, marking the score, motivation, music, outside the box, practice, practice after break, slow practice, teaching, tempo, tools, variety, warm up
inAlthough we may vow to practice every day without exception, we all find ourselves taking a break from time to time, whether planned or due to illness, other responsibilities, being on hold with ConEd, travel, etc.
In the past, I would get angry with myself. Not helpful! That leads to yelling at yourself when staying calm would be the way to go. When you acknowledge that everyone has days off, getting back into the loop is much less of a struggle.
What can we expect when we start again? (Note that I did not say “start over.”)
Perfection? Probably not. However, if you are going back to music you have practiced recently, you can expect improvement! Somehow, “ignoring” the music for a while lets it “cook.” You will most likely find new insights when you return to it.
Jell-O fingers? Yes… so I use the first practice session to concentrate on my warmup. Skipping the warm-up after time off just doesn’t work well for me. I need to feel the muscles in my fingers, so I exaggerate the movements.
Playing at performance tempo? Even if that were possible, wouldn’t we be inviting wrong notes, fingerings, errors in dynamics and phrasing? Practicing under tempo is useful, but extremely slow practice is not necessary. I’ve already learned the notes. But right now, performance tempo invites mistakes that I’d rather not add to the mix.
I usually dislike my playing that first day. That is frustrating, but by now I expect it. By the second day, it starts to sound better.
The first day back also seems to be a good time to assess fingerings. If something feels uncomfortable (a level or two below “rusty”), this may be the time to experiment. See whether a different fingering feels better.
Dynamic changes may not sound smooth. In addition to that, if a notated dynamic contrast is completely missing, mark the spot in your music! That means you didn’t learn that spot well enough. This is a great time to eliminate the “oops” and fix the gap. When you’ve remedied the problem, that phrase will usually fit into the whole more easily when you return to performance tempo in a few days.
I find it extremely motivating to set a goal, such as a performance date. With a concert in place, I am far less likely to return to vacation mode. (I have an aversion to making a fool of myself on stage. Wonderful incentive!)
It is also helpful to keep a practice journal. You’ll be able to see your progress. I have found that dropping and then returning to a program speeds my progress toward my performance goal. If you have a journal from the time you started learning the notes, you will be able to eliminate guess work and have accurate feedback. (Do you remember what you did a week ago? A month ago? Keeping a written record is very helpful. There is no reason to expect oneself to remember everything. Remembering the notes is enough!)
In an online piano forum, participants were exchanging ideas about how to return to practicing after a break. (What’s the secret? How can I make this easy?) Differing viewpoints emerged, as one might expect. Looking through the comment thread was invaluable.
One participant advocated starting out exclusively with etudes. Another suggested practicing only new repertoire. Someone else planned to play familiar music, waiting to add new pieces until s/he was back in shape.
While reading the thread, it seemed that perhaps taking something from everyone might be best. In that way, etudes are included but not intimidating. Familiar music needs to be there so we feel like we know how to play! And new repertoire keeps us making progress.
This post has been updated from 2010.
★ ☆.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.• ヅ★
My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click here for the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.
24 Friday Jul 2015
Posted coach, collaboration, concentration, correcting sloppiness, directed practice, dynamics, fingering, focus, freedom, fun!, goals, health, healthy independence, improvisation, learning, longevity, motivation, music, new approach, outside the box, perception, piano, practice, practicing basics, priorities, process, risk, something new, teaching, tempo, the unexpected, tools, variety
inI went with it, of course. Resistance would have resulted in one unhappy student. What actually happened? We had tons of fun!
15 Wednesday Jul 2015
Posted acoustics, balance, career, collaboration, concert, dynamics, engaging the audience, expression, goals, listening, music, performing, piano, priorities, rehearsal, serving music, tools
inNo worries! The following is not a scientific analysis!
*The lid may be closed or removed entirely.
If you think about balance, I’m sure you must have your own list.
What are the important considerations when balancing other instruments/voices with piano? If you’re the soloist, your main concern is that your part will be clear. But what about the other performers? If you’re the pianist, YOU want to be heard. (There are exceptions. Sometimes pianists seem to be intent upon disappearing out of a fear that they will be too loud.)
Assuming that our goal is to find appropriate balance among all participants, there are several variables that need to be considered from venue to venue:
Perhaps you feel that using the short stick would be too much. In addition, some pianos no longer have a short stick. Occasionally, manufacturers include only full stick or a variation, about 3/4 high.
You can take a wooden block with you.
A rectangular block, painted black, about 5” or 6” x 3” x 2”, is a better choice than a hymnal or book. Propping the lid open with a book results in a dented book cover. In church concerts, churchgoers are sometimes offended when hymnals are used in this way. (Setting anything on top of the Bible is considered sacrilegious. By extension, the hymnal, which contains sacred texts, is included in this category by some. If you want to be invited back, don’t prop the lid open with a hymnal.) Also, painting the wooden block black helps to avoid audience distraction. The dimensions of the block allow it to be used on either side and on end. Plenty of options.
Using a recording device to assess the sound is a great way to go when you have the time. Yo-Yo Ma swears by it, placing the recorder at varying distances from the stage. This can be done during solo practice sessions, rehearsals, and warm-ups, as well as in performances.
The acoustics of the room change depending on the size of the audience. Rehearsals typically take place in empty halls. Once the audience arrives, everything changes. So keeping an open mind, listening to the room, making adjustments in one’s playing during a performance, and trying various options make a difference.
Please experiment! And… go.
My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click here for the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.
08 Wednesday Jul 2015
Posted balance, chorus, collaboration, constructing a piece, dynamics, expression, goals, left hand, listening, music, perception, performing, piano, preparation, priorities, rhythm
inAre there other options?
When the only goal is to stay out of the way, is that enough? How can we not be too loud and still be expressive?
In a recent performance with children’s choir, the program included “The Birds’ Lullaby” by Marilyn Broughton. I’ll refer to her beautiful composition in the following examples.
Dynamics
The first step in finding expression, for me, is to find workable dynamics. My goals are to:
Introduction
In the introduction, the indicated dynamics were helpful. Piano and mezzo-piano needed to be there, and the crescendo to a level above mp needed to be practiced. I looked through the piece to determine how far that could go. I wanted to reach the loudest dynamic level on the downbeat of bar 7, then diminuendo into the choir’s mp entrance (but not below).
Accompanying the singers
At the singers’ entrance, the pianist’s role changes. S/he must listen in a different way. How can s/he be supportive without getting in the way? Where does the pianist’s expression come from?
To be supportive of the singers, simply disappearing from the fabric of sound is not an option. The choir’s pitch and rhythm could lose their integrity.
Bass line
In this piece, the bass line can certainly match the singers’ sound. It does not need to be softer! Since the bass is in a different range from the voices, it will not be covering the voices.
Counter-melody
As for the right hand when the singers enter and beyond, the top line can be more prominent. When played with a focused sound, it will be heard as a counter-melody.
Moving part
On the second page, the short piano interlude begins on the word “through,” with a crescendo into the next chorus entrance. With a little advance planning and practice, this moving line can be interesting. In fact, it propels the piece while the singers hold a long note. They also need to breathe! The pianist’s crescendo to mf encourages them to sing their next entrance at that dynamic level without even thinking.
In scores where dynamics are indicated only in the voice part(s) or the piano part, both singers and pianists can benefit by looking at the markings in the other parts. What if the dynamics apply to both? (Why wouldn’t they?)
This piece has three verses, with the voice parts expertly arranged differently for each (i.e. canon at the measure, canon at 2 measures, and crossing voices). The two piano interludes are nearly identical. Our job is to make them interesting! I wanted to find a way for the interludes to sound different from each other while matching the singers’ volume at the end of their verse and meeting them at their new volume at the start of the next.
First
The first interlude worked well with a simple arc, soft to louder, then diminuendo into the second verse, which was softer than the first. The dynamic scheme I used was mp to mf, then dim. to p.
Second
Finding a compelling way to play the second interlude was a little harder. After trying two or three different ideas, I noticed that the third verse was marked with a louder dynamic. I wanted to crescendo into the singers’ entrance.
So I found a way to start the interlude piano, then play a dynamic arc (cresc. and dim.) earlier than in the first interlude. Following the diminuendo, I could then crescendo from piano to mezzo-forte. This time, I played from p to mp to p, then cresc. to mf.
Problem solved? Not entirely.
The right hand of the piano part was in the same range as the singers’ entrance. My right hand melody continued past the singers’ entrance. So I needed a way to crescendo without covering them up.
Voilà!
It took a little longer to realize that the right hand could diminuendo while the left hand, which had moving notes, could crescendo at the same time. It worked like a charm. The interlude was compelling, it supported the singers, and nothing interfered with the children’s voices.
If playing a simultaneous dim. and cresc. seems like a juggling act, it might help to think about it in a different way. Try thinking about your feet. When we walk, we transfer weight from one foot to the other. One foot has more weight on it than the other. They feel different.
Another instance would be like driving a stick shift. One foot depresses the accelerator while the other releases the clutch. Now get the same feeling in your hands that you have in your feet. Problem solved!
In listening to pianists, my impression is that many people cresc. and dim. with both hands doing the same thing at the same time. However, playing fugues requires voicing separate parts, even when two or more parts are in the same hand. That requires using different amounts of weight on separate fingers. So why not apply this to other music? Why not use each hand differently when playing with hands together?
The lullaby ended softly. The short postlude needed some shape, so I decided to begin mp, then diminuendo, with focused, high bell tones at the end.
You may be wondering how I know that my ideas were effective. You are absolutely correct that a performer’s assessment of her/his own performance might be inaccurate.
And here’s my reason: Immediately after the concert, several audience members approached me to say how much they had enjoyed what they had heard!
Look for my next post: “PianoAnd: The lid. Full stick, 1/2 stick, or none at all?”
My book will help you take a step back, save practice time, learn more music, and perform with confidence. Whether teaching, playing solo, or collaborating with other musicians, you will find many practice- and performance-tested suggestions here.
50% off!!! Absolutely NO JARGON! Even my non-musician little sister says so.
Click on the link to see the book intro, table of contents, reviews, and reader comments.