Playing By Ear

It's around this time of year that music students and music teachers alike feel a bit brain dead. I try to change things up a bit so that my students are learning, but learning music in a different way - playing by ear. Playing by ear is a great way to practice your ear training and brush up on your music theory.  My ConCan students would tell you that this is just a step up from their Keyboard Harmony and Transposition requirements for their piano exam.

Shortly after Halloween, my students started working on Christmas music. A couple of my older students wanted a bit of a change, so they opted for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa music. One week, I asked them to pick out the tune to one of their favourite songs. Subsequent weeks involve adding the harmonies. Then, if they wanted to sing along with their song, I would ask them to transpose the song into their range. It doesn't have to be seasonal music. Popular music is great for this exercises - the melodies have narrow ranges and most likely, you only have four chords to deal with. The one thing I've noticed with songs I've learned by ear is that I tend to remember them longer than pieces I've learned primarily through note reading and repetition.

Using Multiple Cameras in a Music Lesson Demonstration

After reading "On Teaching Piano with Multiple Cameras", one of my readers had mused how wonderful it would be to see a demonstration of using multiple cameras in a music lesson. My student Dylan and I were happy to oblige.

Here we are working on a short chord progression from U2's "Stuck in a Moment". I used the three claps at the beginning to synchronize the videos (à la Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir).

We used the following cameras for this demonstration:

1. POV Camera on Dylan's head (Top Left): GoPro Hero 2

2. Profile Camera on the Studio Desk (Top Right): Microsoft HD LifeCam 3000

3. Pedal Camera (Bottom Right): Canon PowerShot 5S IS (I can't bring myself to retire it completely because it's still a good camera)

4. Overhead Camera (Bottom Left): Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910

I took a photographer friend's advice and turned off the auto-focus on the two webcams. Another thing I do is try to minimize the number of background programs running on the computer when recording video.

The profile view is essential for checking posture and hand position. The overhead view gives you the musician's peripheral of the keyboard geography. The pedal view is essential with students who are having issues with timing their pedal changes. As for the POV camera - isn't is just fun to see how another musician sees when they play? It's also good for checking where they are focusing.

I will probably swap the positions for the pedal and profile camera.

Now, when a student working on something new, I can show them various perspectives that they can review at their leisure at home. Or perhaps they'd like to show off a newly polished piece to their relatives across the country.

Students, "Record & Review" has never been so easy to do at home. Use any of your portable devices, such as a smart phone, iPod, tablet, netbook, laptop, camera. You can place them at various positions as we have here.

Find out more about how to incorporate webcams into your studio here.

* Special thanks to my student Dylan and his family for granting permission to record Dylan for this demo. *

Music Practicing 101 - Keyboard Harmony Demo

Another quick demo primarily for students studying through the Conservatory Canada system (although anyone interested in chording can still benefit from this).ConCan students in Grade 5 and up have to demonstrate that they can harmonize a melody. In Grade 5, they use the Tonic (I) and Dominant (V). As they progress to higher grades, they must be able to harmonize using a wider selection of chords.From a speed learning perspective as well as a piano accompanist perspective, I must say that keyboard harmony is a necessity! It's saved my bacon on numerous occasions.This video shows you how to practice when you are just starting out with keyboard harmony.

Music Practicing 101 - Transposition Demo

Approximately a third of my students are working through the Conservatory Canada syllabi. One way it differs from the Royal Conservatory is that keyboard harmony and transposition are built into the practical examinations.Regardless of which music conservatory you're following (if at all), being able to transpose at sight is a valuable skill to have in your "musician's toolbox" It's practical music theory! If you play for vocalists, I can guarantee you that you will need to transpose at some point - with very little preparation time.Here's a quick demo on how to practice transposing at the keyboard. 

Piano Tutorial of a Beginner Arrangement of Happy Birthday

This was inspired by one of my beginner students. His mom's birthday is coming up, so I thought it would be neat to have him work on this. However, I was stumped to find a really easy version of the song for beginner piano students who are still at the pre-reading level. Then I remembered: folk songs and popular songs like this are best learned by ear. Beginners already know the rhythm, they just need help with positioning: