Music Students With Blogs - Speedlinking

Another short entry. Yes, it is indeed "crazy" season, when students and teachers find it hard to keep up with the pace, which only seems to push forward with an unceasing accelerando. Here are a few blogs I've found written by music students. They provide an interesting view of the trials and tribulations of studying music:

Harvard College Student Blog

UMS Student Blog Vocal Chords

California College of Music

Royal Music Association Student Blogs

Enjoy!

September 3, 2020: Added some new blogs.

Piano Exam Tips - Speedlinking

Yes, it's that time again: time for teachers and students to really buckle down and refine all the required elements on their upcoming exam. Here are some websites with tips for preparing for your piano examination:

http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Well-on-a-Piano-Exam http://www.ukpianos.co.uk/piano-exams-a-guide-to-preparation.html http://www.ehow.com/how_2239058_ace-piano-exam.html http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-For-Preparing-For-Your-Piano-Exam&id=505598

(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada.

Patrick Henry Hughes - Transforming "Disabilty" into Endless Possibilities

Thanks to my hair stylist for this inspiring clip about Patrick Henry Hughes. This phenomenal young man is blind and has some condition that severely limits his movement. He travels in a wheel chair and is unable to stretch out his arms.He plays a wonderful version of Debussy's Clair de Lune and plays trumpet in a university marching band. Yes - a marching band!

Here's the clip:

As the newscaster says, "Patrick Hughes plays so that we might hear the music of opportunity and the sound of potential."

What an inspiration to us all.

(c) 2010 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Helping Fidgety Students Focus with Active Sitting and Stress Balls

I have two students who are extremely fidgety during lessons. At some point, I'm going to have to read the information package I have on Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder to see what other strategies I can use. The following are a few strategies I've come up with along the way.

1. Keep changing the activities every few minutes

2. Keep these students moving from one part of the studio to the other side

3. Make them "play like a rock star" (play standing up)

This active seating disc is good for posture correction and fidgety students. Photo by R-M Arca.

I'm sure other teachers have come up with similar formulae:

• Do some stretches and warm-ups

• Play a scale

• Tweak a scale

• Move to the computer and watch a performance on youtube

• Back to the piano to play a song and tweak it

• Down on the floor to do theory exercises or games

• Make them sit on one of my active sitting discs

This week, I've made a new discovery: combine activities and work with their fidgety nature. While I was demonstrating something on the piano to one student, I made her stand on my Fitterfirst Classic Sit Disc. She loved swaying from side to side and I was astounded to find that she paid attention better.

Another student is not just fidgety but his hands are always moving. This week, I decided to keep his hands busy by having him use a couple of stress balls (from the good ol' dollar store) whenever his hands were off the keys. In addition to that, he sat on my new FitBall Seating Wedge and placed the Classic Sit Disc at his feet.

At first, I thought it was overkill but he moved to the music when he played and continued to move rhythmically in between pieces. I was delighted to see that he focused a bit better (I, in the meantime, was moving rhythmically and practicing active sitting on a FitBall Seating Disc).

On another note, one of my other students asked if he'd be allowed to bring an active sitting disc into his piano exam. Why not? People bring active sitting discs and core stability balls to work in the name of better posture, ergonomics and health. Musicians sit a lot and suffer from back pain, so to me, it's a no-brainer.

If anything, I bet his examiner will be jealous and want his or her own active sitting disc.

Here's a video about active sitting:

All three sitting discs are available at Fitterfirst, located in Calgary.

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada.

Be Prepared for Any Impromptu Music Situation by Learning these Golden Chord Progressions

My brother and colleague shared this Youtube video called 4 chords, 36 songs by Axis of Awesome with me. I laughed so hard I just HAD to show my intermediate and senior students. Here's a performance of it:

The way I see it, if one were to memorize this chord progression, in addition to the Canon in D and Heart & Soul progressions, in every key; one could improvise, fake and impress everyone the next time s/he is coerced (er, asked) to play and has nothing else performance ready.

If you could also throw in snippets of any of the songs from the video every few minutes, you'd have the audience eating from the palm of your hand. You might as well turn this into a practical ear training exercise and try and pick out the notes to some of the tunes by ear. That way, you'll never forget the notes.

Plus, if you ever start up a band, you'd be set. After all, these three progressions are in...well, as Axis of Awesome says, they're in every pop hit.

Don't believe me? Check out Pachelbel Rant:

And finally, Heart & Soul Chords in other songs:

By the way, these chords are sometimes called the "50s chord progression".

If you're itching to try this, here are the chords:

The Four Chords: |: I V vi IV :| V(7) I || Canon in D: |: I V vi iii IV I IV V :| I || Heart & Soul: |: I vi ii V :| I ||

For those that need to see the chords with the jazz or pop/rock symbols, they are (in the key of C):

The Four Chords: |: C G Am F :| G(7) C || Canon in D: |: D A Bm F#m G D G A :| D || Heart & Soul: |: C Am Dm G :| C ||

Happy jamming!

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.