Lifelong Lessons from Great Music Teachers

Mrs. Ginzburg loved highlighters. They are pretty popular in my studio too. Credit: Rhona-Mae Arca

My last piano teacher passed away one year ago this week. Thinking of Irina sparked memories of all my music teachers. I thought I would pay tribute to Irina as well as to all the people who helped shape me as a musician.  

Lynn Eamer was a stern woman who terrified me. Mrs. Eamer taught me the importance of learning how to read. In my second year of piano, she discovered that I still hadn’t learned how to read notes (I was playing solely by ear). I still have the 100 lines she made me write of all the letter names.

When we moved, I studied with a woman named Margaret Fraser. I only studied with her for a year. She loaned me a Reader’s Digest songbook, which for some odd reason, was never returned to her. I still use it when I play at gigs. Margaret wanted me to be more relaxed. I played at either one extreme or the other (tense versus relaxed and sloppy).

Elizabeth Mahaffy had the challenge of teaching me as a pre-teen and teen. She was very sympathetic to the woes of teenaged angst. Elizabeth told me weekly to "listen to what you're playing" and taught me that having a compassionate ear is very important.

Elinor Lawson taught me for four years at the University of Lethbridge. I completed my B.A. in Music and my Gr. 10 piano with her. Elinor is an incredible accompanist with perfect pitch.

She taught me many things: how to make the most of my practice time when I had a repetitive strain injury, how to analyze my music to improve my memory, a few cheats to play through sections designed for larger hands and developed my inner ear. Many of the skills she taught me to practice efficiently were simple time and project management skills that I’ve applied successfully to other areas in my life.

My last full-time teacher was Irina Ginzburg, whom I studied with for three-and-a-half years. She was a vivacious spirit who demanded technical precision and overflowing passion. Our best was not her best. She didn’t just want her students to play well; she wanted us to play excellently. She once told me to drill one trouble spot until I got it right 11 times out of 10 so that I could get it perfectly 10 times out of 10 on stage.

Mrs. G taught me to channel all my frustrations from work into my music, helped me put an end to uncontrollable performance jitters and encouraged me to teach. She saw me through to my Royal Conservatory associateship diploma in piano performance. It was a bumpy road but we were both satisfied with the end result.

Sometimes, I catch myself saying something that one of my teachers said or doing something the exact same way. Not surprising since now I am teaching and performing. Sometimes, their words float into my mind in non-musical situations.

I suppose that’s the greatest tribute to them—the fact that even now— I continue to apply what they taught me.

© 2005 by Musespeak™, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. All rights reserved.

Making Music with the Right Teacher

Next to fall registrations, people like to register for music lessons around Christmastime. If you are planning to start lessons next month or in the new year, consider the following:

• Family Commitment: Students and their families need to commit to regular lessons, practicing and performing

• Lesson venue: Music school, private music teacher or in-home instruction

• Teacher Qualifications: Student-teacher, professionally accredited or non-accredited

Here is a checklist to aid in your teacher selection:

1. Talk to your family, friends and colleagues

2. Check Teacher Association Directories: Alberta Registered Music Teachers’ Association (ARMTA), Alberta Piano Teachers’ Association (APTA), National Association for Teachers of Singing (NATS) and the Alberta String Association (ASA), Canadian Federation of Music Teachers' Associations (CFMTA), Music Teacher National Association (MTNA).

3. Ask music store staff for names of teachers

4. Conduct a preliminary phone interview

5. Conduct face-to-face interview/audition

6. Decision time

 Please refer to the links on the Studio Resources page to find out more about the music teacher associations or my website's link page.

Tuition varies depending upon the teachers’ educational and performance background, professional affiliations, track record, teaching experience and how their studio is set up. Good chemistry with the teacher, qualifications, high quality education and complementary vision should rate more highly than cost in your final decision.

After the interview/audition, the also teacher considers whether the student and family are a good fit for his or her studio.

Here’s to many years of merry music making once the choice has been made.

Careers in Music

Growing up, the only music careers I knew about were: teacher, pop singer, composer and orchestra musicians. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are countless more career options available for those who love music. Here are just a few (in no particular order):  

• Music publisher

• Talent agent

• Recording engineer

• Music therapist

• Concert promoter

• Radio disc jockey

• Community arts manager

• Marketing Director for a symphony

• Fund Development Coordinator for an opera company

• Composer (classical, movie, video game, commercials, etc.)

• Accompanist

• Transcriber

• Arranger

• Conductor

For more information about careers in music, check out the following sites:

• Berklee - Careers

• National Association for Music Educationi

• Music Careers

Happy exploring!

© 2005 Musespeak™, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. All rights reserved.

Why Study Music?

Historians have found that the further back into history we go, the more important music was to older civilizations. Ancient Greeks, for example, believed that music was the key to the cosmos. Pythagoras the famous mathematician, not only developed the theorem for right angles, but was lauded for his discovery of the ratios of intervals in music. Both were considered of equal importance. The benefits for studying music haven’t changed much over the centuries. Numerous studies have shown that students who study music, achieve higher grades than their non-musical counterparts. Higher grades is just part of the equation. Here is just a synopsis of the benefits:

• time and project management skills

• analytical skills

• improved academic performance (between 34 – 80% higher), especially in math and the sciences

• high spatial-temporal abilities

• enhanced communication skills

• teamwork skills (ensemble work)

For more information, you can visit the following sites:

• National Association for Music Education

• Twelve Benefits of Music Education

My First Blog

A friend of mine who is a marketing consultant has been on my case to set up a blog on the Musespeak(tm) website. At first, I thought, "Why? It's just a simple site about what Musespeak offers." However, the idea has been niggling in the back of my mind since she brought it up. I've been searching for ways to keep the main Musespeak site dynamic and have realized that a blog to muse about being an entrepreneur and an artist fits the bill. I should have known. This friend usually gives good advice. Why would this time be different? Consider this a slice of life blog on the adventures of being self-employed and a musician/teacher/writer. If I come across anything of interest, I'll put it here. Hopefully it will be useful and or entertaining to you, the audience.

Since I'm new at this, I won't even attempt to figure out how to enable discussion threads. I think I enabled comments to entertain comments and questions.