April 2016 Wrapup

A Few Facts: 

- The Digital Age has changed the way the recording industry chooses music to publish.  The industry now is able to rely on data collected on what people want to hear, so they no longer publish based on the gut instincts of music experts.  This means we're getting more of what we want.  This is great for business, but is it so great for music?

-Conducting class gave me a reverential respect for large ensemble conductors.  They truly have the most challenging performance job, in my humble opinion.



Awesome thing from this month:  
- I've had the pleasure of perusing my former piano teacher's new book, Piano Student's Tool Kit, and discovering his new website: http://www.pianoinstructionandtuning.com


To-do's and Goals for this Month: 
- Finish the examples in the aforementioned Piano Student's Tool Kit, including Advanced Blues Licks

-Reach performing proficiency with my by ear piece, A Perfect Day, from (don't laugh) the Peter Rabbit Sountrack. Truly one of the most melodically calming and mysteriously searching pieces I've ever heard.

-Review one Baroque piece to performance proficiency

Read Mozart (Not Just His Notes)

A biography to be reckoned with by a historian who rivals the best. I have enjoyed Johnson's work before, so this book will be on my reading list!

Quick review by Doug Wilson, one of my favorite cultural commentators:

"This was a quick and enjoyable read. Mozart was a phenomenal genius, and this short book -- short just like Mozart's life -- gives a marvelous sense of that genius. For those who don't know much about Mozart's life, and don't know whether or not he was a founding member of the Dave Clark Five, this is the book for you. If you know enough about Mozart to think that joke wasn't funny, this is also a book for you."

The liberating, terrifying realities of deliberate practice (and the 6 best deliberate practice books)

I highly recommend that older music students read one of these books.  But for starters, just read the  article:



The liberating, terrifying realities of deliberate practice (and the 6 best deliberate practice books)

 Of course honing practice skills would benefit anyone in any field (it's just practical ;)  ! 

Method Books I Use

Method books vary according to age, music styles, and teaching strategies... oh, and price.   The two main categories are adult and children.  Between children's methods there are some variations, and I enjoyed surveying many methods in my pedagogy studies.  I bring in elements of these other methods to my students to supplement the method books I use.  I also use whatever method books students may have on hand.

Students under about 6 can start with this:

Step by Step Piano Course - Book 1 (Step by Step (Hal Leonard))   (like this:http://www.amazon.com/Step-Piano-Course-Book-Leonard/dp/0877180369 )

 These are the first two books for older beginners:

Schaum Notespeller  - a workbook.   (like this: http://www.amazon.com/Schaum-Note-Spellers-Method-Supplement/dp/0769234534 )

M. Aaron Lessons Book One - method book (http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Aaron-Piano-Course-Lessons/dp/0898988551/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380216794&sr=8-1&keywords=aaron+piano+lessons+1)
 
Belwin Piano Method Book One  - method book   (http://www.amazon.com/Belwin-Piano-Method-Book-Grade/dp/B003FQQ96K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380216784&sr=8-2&keywords=belwin+piano+method+1)

 Add note flashcards.

After completing Book 2 of either method book, introduce:

Dozen a Day Book 1 - Technique / Finger agility (http://www.amazon.com/A-Dozen-Day-Book-1/dp/0877180318)

I generally introduce chord symbol and playing by ear around intermediate level note reading, since the reading takes the most discipline and sets a student solidly in a mindset of hard work.   I demarcate intermediate level as my teacher did, with Bach's Minuet in G.

When I met my dear friend Lauren, we were around fifteen years old.  Our families were staying in the beautiful mountains of Colorado at a home school family camp.  We had a grand time in the varied camp activities and exploring the land, and when we were at the lodge, people gathered around the piano and had fun making music.  Some brought their own instruments.  Lauren brought this book of medleys, and it has been a favorite of mine since.  Actually, finding great hymn arrangements has been an ongoing challenge for me! 

Timeless Hymns with Ageless Classics, Book & CD

By: Marilynn Ham

It is so nice when books come with CD's.  It gives you an interpretation of the music to consider, and you can pick which one is your favorite to start on without having to sight read them all.  

My favorite is still the one Lauren played in Colorado: Meditation from Thais with "My Jesus, I Love Thee." I performed it last month for my church's offertory.  It is one of the hardest pieces I've performed in the last year.

Piano Classics Volumes I and II - Intermediate pieces reference

I went through the two volumes of this wonderful and affordable Piano Classics collection, searching for intermediate and advanced pieces to teach.

Volume 1                   

Albeniz Malaguena

Bach

Four Pieces for The Little Notebook

Prelude No. 1 from the The Well-Tempered Clavier

Air from the Suite in D Major

Beethoven: Fur Elise

Moonlight Sonata mvt. 1

Rondo A Capriccio  - Rage over  op. 129

6 Variations from the opera La Molinara

Hungarian Dance No. 5  -  Brahms

Chopin:

Valse Op 64 No. 2

Nocturne Op. 72 no. 1

Nocturne in E Flat Op 9 No. 2

Prelude OP. 28  No. 6

Valse Op. 64 No. 1

Le Coucou  Daquin 

Nocturne Field  in Bb

Rondino in C Diabelli

Poem in Bb Fibich  d. 1900

Anitra’s Dance pg 1  Grieg

Gavotte in D  F.  Gossec Classical Era

A` Alfredo G. Faria Playera  Granados

Air And Variations Handel in E 

The Harmonious Black smith from Suite No. 5

Haydn Sonata in D Major

Joplin The Cascades

The Music Box O. 32  liadov

To a Wild Rose MacDowell

Alla Turca?

Sonata K 545  Mozart in C

Fantasy in D minor k 397

Barcarolle from the Tales of Hoffman  J. Offenbach

Peter and The wolf   Prokofieff

La Tambourin  Rameau

Song of India  Korsakov

Italian Song  Op 39 No. 15  Tchaikovsky

Serenade   DUET    Schubert

Moment Musical  op 94  No 3  Schubert

Soldier’s March Schumann  & :

Marche Militiare

The Happy Farmer from Album of the Young

Traumeri

(DUET)

The Beautiful Blue Danube

Vol 2

Prelude No. 2 from 12 Little Preludes

2 pt Invention No. 8

2 pt Invention No. 4

Sonatina No. 1 in G Major

Sonatina No. 2 in  F Major

Sonata Pathetique  2^nd Mvt. Adagio

Prelude in E m  Chopin  op 28  No. 4

Raindrop Prelude

Prelude in C minor

Polonaise Militaire Op.40 No.1

Largo New World Symphony Dvorak

The Dying Poet Gottschalk Meditation

Passacaille  Handel in Gm

Sarabande  Handel

Surprise Symphony Andante Haydn.

An Alexis Hummel

Flower Song   (pre-Lieb) Op. 39 Lange

Merry Widow waltz Lehar

Confidence

Op 19 no. 4  Consolation Mendelssohn

 Venetian Boat Song  No. 2  Op 30, No. 6

12 Variations  265k  Ah! Vous dirai-je , maman

 Minuet from Don Juan  Mozart

Sonata in A k. 331  Mozart

Dance of the Hours from La Giaconda  Amilcare Ponchielli

Minuet in A Minor  Purcell

The Young Prince and Young Princess  Korsakov

Melody in F  Op. 3, No. 1  Anton 

Romance  OP. 44, No. 1   Rubinstein

Trois Gymnope’dies  erik Satie

Pastoral Scarlatti in G

Knight Rupert  Album for the Young Schuman

 

Advanced (Level 5- 8 )

Clair de LuneFinlandia Sibelius

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, 

Waltz of the Flowers & 

“June”  Barcarolle -  Tchaikovsky

The Skater’s Waltz  - Waldteufel

And many more which I haven't listed.

Playing by Ear and Jane Austen Music

  Playing by ear has no official term that I am aware of for when someone re-composes music based on hearing something, be it a simple melody, a vocal piece with accompaniment, or a complex jazz improvisation. 

When I "pulled this by ear," it was a special point in my aural training because for the first time I really "re-composed," so to speak, a full and rich rendition of a very excellent piece of music.  Before most of my aural renditions had been just completing an assignment.  When my teacher heard this, he said I had turned a page in my skill.  Those are special moments for a teacher. It just took the right piece to inspire me, no necessity or particular knowledge of what is achievable as far as aural renditions.  Sometime I'll get myself recording on my digital piano and put my rendition on here.
Later, I received the score of this piece in the book "Jane Austen's World."  The rendition there added a few touches to mine, but actually I had re-composed a much fuller rendition of the film soundtrack than the book offered.  One advantage of playing by ear! 
If you can hum it, you can play it by ear.

What I'm reading

 

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