Jazz Lesson Musings

After years of thinking about it, I enrolled in jazz piano lessons this year. I was motivated by my students who are "pumped" about Conservatory Canada's Contemporary Idioms syllabus and the Teacher's Choice Study in the Royal Conservatory of Music syllabus. I was also looking for ways to "jazz" up my gig repertoire.I am currently studying with Derek Stoll, an accomplished jazz pianist and examiner for Conservatory Canada. These lessons are so different from the traditional piano lesson. We really go with the flow. I am currently picking out Christmas tunes by ear, then harmonizing them, then "jazzifying" them.

It's quite the process. Fun, but boy do you ever give your brain a workout from all the keyboard harmony. I am still trying to commit the octatonic scale to memory (I have no problems writing it, playing it from memory is another story). Theoretically, I understand what an A7 with a sharp 5 and flat 9 is but my brain and hands aren't completely in sync there either. Voice leading? Again, good with writing it down but still learning to think on my feet (er, fingers).

Some stuff is starting to stick. I'm looking forward to my next gig, where I can try out what I've been working on.

One colleague recently asked me whether my teaching style has changed. I'm getting my students to start looking at the shapes of chords more. They're all picking out Christmas songs by ear and personalizing them. I'm also getting them to analyze their chords more and more. Probably the biggest change is that I'm really, really harping on them about getting their technique up to snuff. Several have expressed an interest in improvising and embellishing their songs.

Since starting my jazz lessons, I've decided I'd like to take a Contemporary Idioms exam - for fun. Since I began teaching, my scales, chords and arpeggios and ear training are better than they ever were when I took exams growing up, so I'm relishing the thought performing well on a test in these areas. I guess I should start picking out my program and get cracking!

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

Piano Pedagogy Links

I haven't started lesson planning for the 2007/08 year yet. I planned to catch up on my bookkeeping and registrations this week before moving onto to lesson plans; but I am taking longer than I thought I would on updating my address book. Of course, it doesn't help that this is the worst month for me and allergies. I refuse to do any bookkeeping when my head is in a perpetual foggy, sniffly, snivelly and sneezy state. However, I'm almost done my address book project and I think I finally found an allergy/sinus combination that is breaking through that fog; so I'll have no more excuses. I will have to do my bookkeeping.

For my colleagues who are doing their lesson planning now (or plan to do so soon), here are a few online resources I've stumbled upon. Hopefully, we can gleam some gems from these:

1. Piano Pedagogy Forum

2. Can-Pno-Ped

3. Music Pedagogy

I may have posted a couple of these in a previous entry, but it would have been a while back.My apologies for the list being piano heavy. Feel free to write submit websites, book titles, periodicals that you use to help with lesson planning - all instruments welcome.

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

The Collaborative Piano Blog

The blog's tagline reads, "The piano in ensemble. The piano in real life."

Piano study can be pretty solitary, unless your schedule (or your family's schedule) allows you to do some collaborative work. Having done accompanying and duets, I have to say that collaborative work makes music more enjoyable.

And now, here's The Collaborative Piano Blog, by a fellow RCM alumni and fellow teacher that covers this topic. There are other useful articles too, including one on memorization.

Happy exploring!

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

On Tips and Reminders (My Personal APTA Festival Experience)

In my blog entry Sturm und Drang - Second Movement, I mentioned that I submitted my entry to the Teachers' Solo/Recital Class at the APTA Festival. My performance was this morning. Playing in the teacher's class was a unique festival experience. Gone was the churning stomach, hyperventilation and jello fingers from my competitive festival days.

The atmosphere this morning was fairly jovial. We were a little nervous but it felt more like playing at a master class at university with one's buddies. With the exception of one performer, I knew everyone else in the room - including the adjudicator, Helve Sastok.

We joked that it was far too early to perform. Musicians function better on stage anytime after 2:00 pm. We reminisced about how the 9:00 AM performance reminded us of early morning lessons and exams. We chatted before and between performances. A couple of us went in and out of the room to go upstairs to hear our own students perform upstairs. I went up to hear one of my students perform before returning to perform my songs.

Helve was wonderful as an adjudicator. She saluted us all for entering the class and praised our musicianship. Then, she got into the nitty gritty details, which is what we all wanted from her.

Teachers still succumb to the same challenges our students do onstage. Elements that were perfect during at-home practice were less secure onstage. Helve remarked that the heaviness of the bass on the piano we played on "wasn't the piano's fault". Touché - even teachers have voice balancing issues.

We even dish out the same excuses to the adjudicator that our students give us.

Helve gave us great tips on dealing with nerves while playing. If our hands and arms start to shake sit up straight and roll the shoulders back. If our leg starts to shake, shift your weight onto the buttock cheek of the shaking leg to force it to stop.

She reminded us that even though we knew everyone in the room, this was a formal performance setting. From the moment we rise from our chair to the moment we return to it after playing, we're performing. In short, no banter between songs and no critiquing your performance just after your bow.

One of my students and I played at the exact same time. We listened to her songs in between my pieces.

My Bartok Bagatelle came off stronger than I anticipated. I just need to readjust the balance between my voices in the middle and try a new practice tip for dealing with the technically challenging last three lines. I have three more weeks to tidy it up before my studio's year-end recital.

I thought my left hand wasn't loud enough in my Chopin Nocturne but overcompensated, drowning out my right hand melody. Helve had me drop my wrist in certain spots to give my thumb less leverage, make my left hand slither across the keys in the opening to keep it light, soft and smooth and take the ending much more broadly. Oh, I missed the ottava at the end of the third page. I never noticed it when I was learning it. Oops. So much for the big sparkly climax then. Once I fix those troublespots, it will certainly shine.

Onto my final song, Houki Boshi, which I partially improvised upon and embellished. Some of the themes that I had planned for ahead of time did come across as being more rehearsed than improvised however, she liked how I snuck in snippets of Pachelbel's Canon, Leaving on a Jet Plane and my Nocturne (the last done in a rumba style). Of course, she wouldn't have recognized another anime theme song I threw in. I got a few more good tips on improvisation and a reminder to provide dynamic contrast. I'll have to listen to more jazz to see how the musicians transition from the main theme to their improv.

All in all, a good experience. Sure, it was stressful making ourselves speed learn high level songs and memorize them in a short time span - on top of teaching, family, household and community commitments. Sure, our performances were not without glitches. However, there is no doubt that it was an extremely valuable experience for us, not only as teachers but as performers striving to improve. For to teach, we must continue to learn.

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

On Sturm und drang - Second Movement

Perhaps the spirit of my former piano teacher Irina Ginzburg was hovering as I was filling out my own registration form for the APTA Festival. She would want me to challenge myself. Before I could stop myself, I registered for the Teacher Recital class, which means three songs. It's not too scary, at least, I hope it isn't. It's just that I now have to add two senior level pieces to my practice list (on top of students' songs and gig repertoire...to practice in the wee hours in the night).

I'm pretty happy with my selections. I've been meaning to learn Chopin's Nocturne in e minor, op. 72 #1 for years; ever since I heard it in the Hallmark TV production of The Secret Garden. It's only four pages - however, the return of the A theme is a doozy! I've sightread Bartok's Bagatelle, op. 6 #5 before and find the rhythms catchy. Hey, if I can sightread it - then it's do-able. Both songs are Gr. 10 level, which provides a bit of a challenge without taking too much time. The final selection is Houki Boshi (Comet). It's one of the theme songs from the Japanese show Bleach. I plan on embellishing and improvising a bit, something which I already do with it.

The question is whether or not I will memorize all the songs. I'll play that by ear.

So all in all, not too bad. It's still added sturm und drang though. When to practice?

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