Teaching Composition (Book Review)

I am excited to implement ideas on composition that I found in Carol Klose's book "Piano Teacher's Guide to Creative Composition."  Her book is designed for elementary students, but includes a wealth of ideas for the advancing composer.  I think I will be able to use it for years to come.  She also lays out a simple outline for helping a student begin and complete their work.  She suggests five weeks worth of lessons that should only take 5-10 minutes to introduce and assign which lead the student through finding inspiration, mapping out their piece, choosing the form, adding details, and refining the composition.  I have one young student in particular who loves to "doodle" at the keyboard, so I am hoping this will give him some way to channel his energy and focus him on achieving a final product.  We have a Ribbon Festival recital in March which features a composition category, of which winners will be selected for the state Oregon Music Teachers Assoc. recital and even published in a book of winners.  So this also provides motivation to compose a complete work.  I am also looking forward to everything I will learn through the whole process!

Toning Up

One of the biggest challenges to me right now is teaching and demonstrating to the student how to produce a rich tone from their playing.  Rhythm is improving, note reading is getting there, fingering isn't too bad.  But they still play with low and locked wrists, no matter how many times we lift with the helium balloon.  I tried today to explain how the sound was actually made in the piano.  I was a bit surprised that one of my teenage students had no idea how the sound was produced.  Maybe it seemed a bit like typing on a keyboard, you strike an "a" and suddenly an "a" appears.  So I explained the best I could how the key moves hammers which strike actual strings.  The way the string is hit produces the kind of sound - whether short and quiet or loud and full.  Then I reminded her that hitting the notes is more than just pushing the correct key.  We need to let the weight of our arm help us get that louder, richer tone to bring out the melody with, and that raising and rotating our wrists is the key to getting the energy where it needs to be.  I also encouraged her not to be shy, to exaggerate the loudness, let it really stand out and contrast with quieter parts.  [Interesting to note, it's usually the opposite problem with many boys, who tend to unbearably pound out the sound!]  She has several duets she's working on right now, and I think she did bring out her part better today.  Hopefully with practice she'll tone up and develop a rich, lovely sound!

Challenging Students

I have one student who is a challenge to me, not because he is difficult to teach, but because he learns things too quickly!  He comes with his pieces learned quite well every week.  He even learned a challenging version of "12 Days of Christmas" in less than two weeks.  I hear him often picking out "Fur Elise" by ear, so I have decided to offer him this version by Yoke Wong, http://www.pianomother.com/Fur_Elise.html.

Striking a balance between mastering each concept that is taught and moving quickly enough to match the student's ability has been challenging to me.  My tendency is to want to push too much, which can frustrate the student and cause confusion.  So I will try to keep the lessons at a steady pace, while offering some challenges along the way.  We may skip over lessons that seem redundant, or just sight read them for now. 

Christmas CD Giveaway

http://thechurchpianist.com/christmas/simply-christmas-cd-giveaway/

Jenifer Cook, The Church Pianist, is giving away her lovely Christmas CD at the above link.  I love her arrangments, and her blog has encouraged me to become a better pianist!

How to Make Piano Lessons Enjoyable

Quote from my student today:  Piano lessons are more enjoyable when you practice!

(Yes!)

Hand Position Pop Quiz

I love this idea. I printed out the pictures and am giving each of my students a mini-pop quiz this week before their lessons and challenging them to use the correct postion! http://ladonasmusicstudio.com/2011/11/11/hand-positions/

Christmas Links

I am getting my students ready for Christmas, but find myself getting a late start.  The music I ordered hasn't arrived yet, so I browsed the net for free arrangments for beginning students.  I found a nice site that contains many lead sheets from Christmas Carol Music, http://www.christmas-carol-music.org/Index_of_Titles.html, some beginning and easy arrangments at 8notes, http://www.8notes.com/christmas/default.asp?a=1&difficulty=0&orderby=5&pageA=4, and some wonderful offerings by Susan Paradis, http://www.susanparadis.com/catalog.php?type=Music&section=2&level=x&subtype=x&subtype2=x.  I also created my own arrangement of The First Noel, above, which is suited for a student who has been introduced to I/IV/V chords.  If anyone else has some ideas for free Christmas arrangements, I hope you will share!