Music Practice Articles

This week, I've assigned some of my students online music games at www.sfskids.org and www.nyphilkids.org and I have been cajoling all of them to try shorter, more frequent practices. Improvising and composing on my new toy (stage piano) is another exciting activity for them.

Here are a few articles with tips, tricks, ideas and suggestions:

The Extreme Piano Guide, or 30+1 Ideas to Improve your Practice TimeA Guide to Great Home Music PracticeChildren's Music WorkshopPracticeTop Tips for PracticeMr. Morgan's Class - Practice TipsLessonmatch.com: Practice Tips

(c) 2008 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Busy Season

As merchandisers will tell you, there are only 32 shopping days left before Christmas.

Any musician will tell you that right after Halloween, we have mere weeks before we are up to our eyeballs with Christmas concerts and party gigs. I'm currently working my Christmas gig repertoire back under my fingers, along with some of the songs from Conservatory Canada's Contemporary Idioms syllabus. Well, I'm finding that it's one thing to stay a couple of pages ahead of my students. It's a complete other story getting their songs up to performance standard.

In the end, some of the new songs won't make the cut this season. They'll be replaced with old standbys with a twist. For instance, I've discovered that God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen sounds very nice with a Latin pattern or a Boogie Woogie pattern and that Blue Christmas sounds neat with a Honky Tonk bass.

Be brave. Next time you practice your holiday music, add some zip to your songs by changing it a bit. You'll find it entertaining and quite enjoyable.

(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.

Rhythm Fun @ Pattern Block Rock

Now that Maestro, the students and I are starting to settle into our school-year routine (right down to the "Back to School Cold"), I have a bit of time to resurrect the Friday Fun Links.

This week's Friday Fun Link is Pattern Block Rock by David Tulga. Each coloured block is worth a certain number of beats. Create a rhythm using the blocks (make sure it adds up to the correct number of beats in the time signature!) and then listen to it.

There's a bit of math involved. But then, there's a lot of math involved in music.

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

Why We Should Practice Scales, Chords and Arpeggios

A few of my students detest their technical exercises. In fact, I have a few students who really need to pull up their socks in this area if they're going to pass their piano exam next month. I hated them too. With a passion. That hatred was reflected in my poor technical skills mark on piano exams.

Since then, I've learned to like them. Elinor Lawson, my piano instructor at university, assigned me some songs from Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm by Béla Bartok. In it, I found several passages where chords progressed up in a scale (e.g. B chord, C chord, D chord, etc.). I started looking at music harmonically - from the chord progressions to how a melody would be stated in one key and then reappear in a closely related key. I learned that looking for patterns like this made memorizing easier.

In Chopin's Nocturne in e minor, op. 72 no. 1, which I'm currently working on, there are virtuosic scale passages that I've spent many an hour on.

As a listener at a concert, I've heard jazz and classical musicians play scale passages that move in parallel, contrary and zigzag motion.

As a teacher, I see chords, arpeggios and scales in my students' songs.

Scales, chords and arpeggios are often called the building blocks of music as I've illustrated above. They also are exercises in motor dexterity and strength. Those tricky passages in the Nocturne demand technical precision. The dramatic effect is lost if I stumble my way to the top.

It comes down to this: it doesn't matter how expressive a musician is, if he or she is weak technically, he or she can't convey the music convincingly. It's like trying to read an essay or a resume that's riddled with grammatical and typographical errors.

Here are a few more articles on the importance of practicing technique:

• Why Practice Scales?

• Using Scales to Improve All Your Music (primarily for guitarists)

• Scales, who needs them?Why and What For, Anyway?!

• Scales Practice

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