I had the pleasure of working with Sherry Kennedy at the Jazz Connection Workshop this summer. It was only a couple of sessions, but enough to make me realize that if I'm ever going to play and sing at a gig and give some intelligent pointers to my students who are trying the "playing and singing" thing, I need to have a solid foundation in my voice. Today, I had my first singing lesson today after many years.
Piano Pedagogy & Studio Technology Musings
Paul shared with us the various techie toys and gadgets he uses in his studio, from PowerPoint to Home Concert Xtreme (click on the link for more info). He also touched upon audio recording, video recording and the use of webcams in lessons held with his students in another state. He also ran a couple of sessions on "Performance with Commentary", which I unfortunately was unable to attend.
Post-Examination musings
I had a terrible dream the other night that I got an 83% on my Conservatory Canada Level 7 Contemporary Idioms examination. Normally, I'd be happy with an 83, which is First Class Honors. However, having turned music into a profession, I was aiming for higher. I also wanted to beat my highest exam mark from my youth, an 88% on my Grade 8 RCM practical, which I got on my second attempt.
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.
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:
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.
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