When You're Forced to Simplify

From Easter Break until the end of the school year is a long haul for teachers and students. Music teachers included.

Last year, I tried really hard to keep up with everything: teaching, choir, Japanese class, etc. etc. My reward? Bronchitis for two months with a bit of laryngitis thrown in.

Now, the last thing I want is to repeat that part of history, so I've started to let go of things sooner. One thing I let go of was Japanese classes. I'll keep up with my studies some way, some how, but not right now.

Earlier this year, I switched to a choir in which I am not the only pianist. That means I don't have to play every week. I don't even have to be there every week.

Then, my technology decided it's time to force me to simplify even more. My swanky waterproof Japanese smartphone has been overheating. I've been working with my supplier to troubleshoot the problem. In the meantime, I've gone back to my "dumb" phone. It's my trusty LG Keybo II.

Although I felt a little disconnected the first day, it really isn't that bad. I'm usually near a computer with Internet access.

Now, I do miss my apps. Overall, it's actually quite liberating to not have my smartphone.

I will get my smartphone fixed eventually. However, this forced simplification is giving me a chance to focus on tasks that require my full attention, so I'm taking it as a blessing in disguise.

Have you been missing the signs that you need to simplify your life a bit?

Making Use of Music Festival Comments

You have survived this season's run of music festivals and competitions. You have your certificate. Maybe you even earned an award.

Perhaps now you're asking yourself, "Now what?"

Please bring your written adjudication sheet(s) to your next music lesson. If your music teacher was unable to attend your music festival performance - and your parents recorded your performance - do bring the recording to your next music lesson to review with your teacher.

Your music teacher can help decipher the adjudicator's handwriting and discuss with you how to incorporate some of the ideas that you picked up at the music festival.

I put the word "some" in italics. Bear in mind that music is a personalized experience, not just for you but for the listener. Your adjudicator is giving comments based on their skills, experience and educated opinion based on your playing at that moment. You may agree with some comments, but not all. The same goes for your teacher.

Your music teacher, the adjudicator and the examiner have similar "hot buttons" that they listen for: rhythm, pedalling, fingering, balance, technical fluency, command of the style. In basic terms, they are listening for whether you know the piece and if you're telling us a story.

What will differ are some of the ideas that they each have for you to try. Each of your musical mentors have a different set of skills and experiences.

Take the ideas that each have to offer and try them. Give them a solid effort. Keep what works for what you're trying to say with the piece and file away the rest. Who knows? It may work with another piece better.

THWOMP Interview: On Fun and Food

In Part Eight of this exclusive interview originally published for Suite101.com, Brad Stanton and Dave Marshall of the Nintendo® cover band THWOMP chat about fun and food.

Inspired by the music of video game composers Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy), Koji Kondo (Super Mario Bros) and more, Nintendo® cover band THWOMP share their music with gaming enthusiasts young and old at various geeky events.

Brad and Dave from THWOMP took a break from their Animethon 17 and CD release preparations to chat with me when I was a Contributing Writer for Suite 101.com. In this final installment, they discuss cosplay, food and shout-outs.

When you guys to gigs, do you dress up as characters?

Dave: "We want to. It’s a lot of work."

Brad: "There’s so many other things we have to do to get a gig going. Especially during a convention show…We really, really want to have some wicked cosplay stuff, but we don’t ever seem to have the time to pull it together. We have done some stuff. We did the “mad scientist” thing at one show and wore lab coats and crazy glasses. That was pretty fun. We should resurrect that one day, maybe."

The group dreams of having a show big enough to warrant costume changes between sets. "It would be awesome, but you’d need a whole production crew to do that," said Brad. "Then you’d need a budget that’s three times as big as ours."

Asking THWOMP About Favorite Snack Food

Dave: "Sushi. It could be breakfast. It could be lunch. It could be dinner. It could be a midnight snack."

Brad: "Well then, how would you not pick sushi every time? There’s no other answer, now that sushi is available."

Brad admits to favoring salty foods. "Brad has this thing called the “salt lust”," explained Dave. "Where there’s a bag of chips open and they’re not long for the world."

Anything else that you want fans to know? Future fans?

Dave: "Just our website."

Brad: "Oh, I see you have THWOMP in all caps, all the time on the page. That’s good. That’s important...A lot of people write it in lower case and put an exclamation mark after it and that drives me completely insane."

Any shout outs? Anyone you want to say thank you to? Acknowledge?

Dave: "Jenny Chan of Otafest and Adam [Scheopp] from Animethon. And Shawn [Hansen] from Otafest too."

Brad: "Yeah. Those guys have been good to us...and all of our parents for buying us Nintendo®’s."

More About THWOMP

THWOMP is a Nintendo® band comprised of Calgarians Brad Stanton (lead guitar), Colin Mitchel (lead guitar), Scott Munro (bass), Scott Moffat (drums), David Marshall (keyboards/percussion) and Kirk McVean (keyboards).

In the fall of 2010, THWOMP will host its debut CD release party in Calgary, Alberta. Many of these classic NES video game tunes will appear on the band's CD.

Nintendo® cover band THWOMP share their music with gaming enthusiasts young and old at a variety of gigs. Their primary focus is to perform for enthusiastic fans at anime conventions and comic-cons; and they dream of performing at the Penny Arcade Expo. For more information about THWOMP, the band or to listen to audio clips, visit their website and Myspace page.

Full interview series: Part 1 – THWOMP’s Origins | Part 2 – Band Names & Niches | Part 3 – Songwriting | Part 4 - Hey! Listen! CD Release | Part 5 - On Gigs | Part 6 - Convention Gigs | Part 7 - Video Games | Part 8 - Fun & Food

Exploring Online Scheduling and Calendar Programs for the Music Studio

One popular discussion thread in the music teacher groups is the matter of missed lessons and how to handle make-up lessons. Like secondary and post-secondary institutions, tuition is non-refundable or discountable.

Some teachers don't offer make-up lessons for student absences. Period. The client makes the choice what is more important to them that day: Activity X or their music lesson.

Many offer make-up lessons under certain conditions (sufficient notice given, illness, emergency, etc.). Others use a Lesson Swap system. Trade it or lose it. I currently use a variant of the two.

My colleague and friend David Story once mentioned a piano teacher in Texas who only teaches doctors. My first question was "How did he work with their schedules?" Using online scheduling software, the teacher would post his availability for the month on his site. His students, once they received their work schedule for the week, would schedule their lesson online.

It's a neat concept, that has caught the attention of a few teachers in my discussion groups.I hope to do more coaching and eventually offer online lessons, so this function is highly attractive.

With the right program, it can take care of all the little administrative details for you. Or at least, that's what I'm hoping for. It should make it easier for students and their parents to reschedule, without it being a pain in the posterior for the teacher.

Ideally, it will also have a control feature that prevents people from trying to schedule at the last minute. It doesn't work for your dentist or massage therapist. Ergo, it doesn't fly with us either. Although many of us work from home, we are, just like your hair dresser, doctor and masseuse, trying to run a business and keep things on the level.

These are a few free and/or reasonably priced programs that I've come across. Many thanks to my colleague Darrin Hogue and Nicole Lipnicki for sharing what they've also found:

Appointment Calendar (Wordpress plug-in)

Appointment Quest (Click here for the Music Studio Demo)

Booking Calendar & Appointment Scheduler (Wordpress plug-in)

Book Fresh

ClickBook (Example: Amy Rabinowitz Music Studio)

Music Lesson Scheduler

Scheduly (Example: Lisa Messi Piano Studio)

Schedule Thing - Music Scheduling Software

Simplify This - Interview & Demo with Music Teacher Allison Buhlman

Snap Appointments (Example: Carroll Gardens Piano Lessons)

The Online Booking Calendar (Wordpress plug-in)

Finally, here's an article that reviews 12 Free Appointment Scheduling Software packages for freelancers.

On Group Classes, Edutainment and Playful Learning

Another Group Class Week has come and gone. As I sit here trying to get my brain around next year, I'm mulling over how to approach group classes going forward.

Some students just aren't into group classes. While some like the idea of trying out something new (e.g. trying to make a radio commercial) but aren't really that interested in learning and honing their skills in those areas. Some like the ensembles. While some are just too busy for group classes and have missed every single one. You get the idea.

I know, we can't please everyone. To that end, I'm contemplating the idea of making the group classes optional and available to outside students.

Now, one comment that I usually hear from students and parents is how "X has so much fun at group classes." Well that's fine and dandy, but as an educator, I feel duty bound to teach them something. I'd like for them to learn something that will help them become better musicians and listeners.

The classes that they enjoyed the most weren't necessarily the ones where they actually learned anything. The aspiration of having the students create a video game theme, record, edit and then present it at the year-end recital? No dice. All the dreams of having them do a singing and accompanying project throughout the year and then perform it at the year-end recital? Nyet.

They fiddled, they made noise, they laughed a lot. Some made a 30-second radio commercial and saved a file. Others spent 90 minutes learning three types of beat patterns, while others played in a piano combo for the first time.

Is anything perform-able in public? Not without hours of tweaking (practice, editing, rendering and re-recording, etc.). Did they learn something that they can execute on their own? Uh-uh.

At least, they tried something new.

One area that started really slowly but gathered momentum was my Music Appreciation 101: Music & Technology class. It evolved each time a little bit to adjust to the next group of students. The students were fascinated with how music listening devices have evolved, especially with the addition of my retro-player:

Not only did this capture their attention, but the topic of copyright interested them too.

Now, the only group activity that saw any thread of progress and continuity was my student band WEDG as they prepared for the Long and McQuade Music Education Contest and later, the  APTA Festival. That was an optional activity, which impacted only four students - profoundly enough that they are continuing to work together.

My challenge becomes one of creating group classes that will generate enough interest, yet from a pedagogical standpoint, teach them something useful. I've heard the term "edutainment" thrown around in relation to TV shows. However, that doesn't quite sit right with what I'm trying to do here. I suppose that "playful learning" or "learning through play" would be a closer fit. I suppose that really, they're just different terms on the same continuum of learning.

It's a lot of food for thought.