On Injuries and Piano Practice

One of my students showed up with a swollen finger last week. C injured it during a non-musical activity and after several days, the swelling was increasing. I demanded that she go see a doctor to get that finger checked out.

C injured the middle finger of her left hand, which has presented us with the challenge of how to structure practices and lessons. It will take some time for her hand to heal but she can't take time off from practicing if she is to take her exam in the spring.

I have decided to zoom in on her weak spots. On Monday, I attended a workshop by the Royal Conservatory of Music, unveiling their new technical requirements. Some ideas were new while some I needed the refresher on.

C, like the rest of my students will be drilling their scales, chords and arpeggios at least five times per practice; playing them differently each time. Here are some of the variations:

• play legato
• play staccato
• play portato
• vary the dynamics
• add a crescendo while ascending and diminuendo when descending
• vary the rhythm (straight eighths, jazz triplets, even triplets, dotted half note followed by a quarter note)
• vary the accents (accent beat one the first time, beat two the second, etc.)
• play a repeated note scale (C-C-C D-D-D E-E-E)
• play one octave as quarter notes, two octaves as eighth notes, three octaves as triplets and four octaves as sixteenth notes
• play chords up the scale

In C's case, she'll have to just practice her right hand and rest her left. With these exercises, it's imperative to use proper fingering.

Tonight, we focussed on phrase shaping, continuation notes and right hand rhythms. Next week, we'll tap practice the left hand rhythms.

C is using this opportunity to work harder on her ear training and theory.

The following are informative articles/discussions on dealing with piano-related injuries:

• Cold Hands, Illness, Hand Injury, Ear Damage
• Piano Society Forum
• A Symposium for Pianists and Teachers: Strategies to Develop the Mind and Body for Optimal Performance - Book Review
• Stress in Piano Playing

Please feel free to share your tips on injury prevention or dealing with injuries.

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

A New Twist to Ear Training

If you're looking for a way to spice up your ear and rhythm training, try music transcription.

Several weeks ago, my student K, a seven-year old beginner, walked in with a CD to share with me. On it are three Indi pop songs he would really like to learn. They are quite catchy. He asked if I would be able to transcribe the notes for him as no sheet music is available.

The thing with these catchy foreign pop songs is that the rhythms and harmonies are rather complex. Polyrhythms are quite common. The harmonies aren't your standard I-IV-V-I progression. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Remember S? He's my talented 12-year-old student who fell out of music last month? He's doing all right now. I assigned him a quick study several grades below his current level. Last week, I also paired him up with the student who comes after him so he can coach her on a song.

Back to K's catchy tunes. To my surprise, I have discovered that S has near to perfect pitch. The discovery inspired me to enlist S to help me transcribe K's Hindi pop songs. Today, I tried the same exercise with G, another talented 10 year-old intermediate student. He enjoyed the project immensely. I have since decided to ask all my intermediate and senior students to "assist" transcribing K's songs.

I doubt any of my students realize that I'm asking them to do rhythmic and melodic dictation, two activities associated with transcription. I didn't learn these until university so I want my students to start while they're young. For the time being, they just know that it's a cool application of ear training, that they are learning about the music of a different culture and helping a junior student.

Someone will definitely have to perform one of these songs at an upcoming recital.

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Terrific Tuesday Link #2

This week, I'm asking my students to check out Flashmusicgames.com . There is a good mix of programs there, for students working on ear training to games for young students. Happy exploring!

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Honens MSL Concert features Jazz

This week, Honens and TD Waterhouse are pleased to present Gould Goes Downtown. The Music as a Second Language learning-performance series celebrates the 75th birthday of legendary Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. In the second concert of this three-part series, Amanda Putz, host of CBC Radio’s Fuse, joins five of Canada’s best jazz and indie musicians for performance inspired by Gould’s fascination with Petula Clark. Featured musicians: Kellylee Evans, Emm Gryner, Danny Miche and Chad VanGaalen.

Info:
Gould goes 'Downtown' The music of Petula Clark
Thursday 25 October at 7:30 pm
The GRAND (608 1 Street SW)

Tickets $30
atthegrand.ca
(403) 205-2922

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

On Falling in and out of Love with Music

Last night, one of my students came in to announce that "piano just isn't fun anymore" and that he wanted to quit. His mother and I pressed for a few more details. His family and I aren't convinced that he really wants to quit. He regularly picks challenging pieces one or more grades above his level, he signed up for band and is enjoying it.

I think he just fell out of love with music because now, he realizes that he has to work.

It's a plateau many students hit once they reach a certain level. This student whizzed through the beginner levels. Now, he's learning that it takes weeks, if not months, to master a song. Gone are the days when it only takes a few days to whip something into shape. When students hit this plateau and realize that they have to work harder and longer to get results, they become discouraged.

We've made changes last year to his programme to incorporate a much wider mix of music, which he chose for the most part (with just a little guidance from me). Last night, I realized that I'll need to start throwing some easy quick studies his way - some easy conquests. There are a couple more students I should try that on as well, but I digress.

His mother and I talked about how he will always find that there are aspects of his job, school, etc. that he dislikes or hates. Music is no different. The trick is finding the balance, between the fun songs and the "meat and potatoes" songs and studies, between repertoire and technical exercises, between performing and practicing.

Before wrapping up the conversation, I told him that music is his gift. We can help him to a degree, but he has to take responsibility also. If music isn't fun anymore, he must also seek ways to make it fun again - or to ask for ideas.

Hopefully, he'll take his parents and my words to heart and find ways to fall in love with music again.

Here's one way to fall in love with music again. Read Chris Foley's article Find Your Repertoire.

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Music & Life

I recently went to a group meditation session and this video was shown prior to meditating.

It's an excellent reminder that the "point" is the journey, not the finish line, in life and in music.

Enjoy the video.

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Getting into the Swing of Things

September flew by oh so quickly!

Maestro and I are gradually catching up on the admin end of things. I am still behind on my bookkeeping, which is nothing new. At least, I am finally done all 36 year-plans for my students. Writing four articles that are due on Tuesday had to take a back seat to transferring my website to a new server as I was getting regular bandwidth overage messages. While I was at it, I decided I may as well do the redesign I was planning to do in the summer.

Maestro is enjoying computer lab with the students. He likes to watch Beethoven Baseball as much as the students like to play it. He's also developing a sticker fetish, which is not a good thing. We'll have to work on that. He thinks the sticker tray is a tug-o-war toy.

This month, we can settle down into sinking our teeth into new repertoire (my students' and my own). I can't wait to try all my new books, which I got for the Contemporary Idioms program.

But enough of work. Have a great weekend and a Happy Thanksgiving!

The revamped website should be live within the next 24 hours. Happy exploring!

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.