How Do I Work With Different Advertising and Publicity Media to Publicize An Event?
You hang up the phone, and can’t believe that someone has just talked you into heading up the publicity committee for your local music teacher association’s piano play-a-thon. “Oh, you’re so clever and good with words,” said your friend, flattering you into that can’t-say-no state. Now you’ve...
How Do You Help Your Music Major Students Choose a College?
Once in a while a student comes along that is head and shoulders (wrists and fingers?) above the rest of your studio. Let’s call her “Karen Keys.” Now Karen is a junior in high school, taking the PSAT exam, and listening to her home room...
How Do You Practice Rhythm? – A Student Survey
In a recent faculty seminar our resource person was an educator whose research expertise focuses on teaching effectiveness. During the seminar he showed video-tapes of effective classroom procedures and outlined ways in which we could improve our own teaching techniques. He mentioned that, although there is much...
How Do You Teach Downbeats?
To teach or not to teach downbeats is really not the question. We all realize that a sense of meter is dependent on the student’s feeling of emphasis on the first beat of each measure. Just how one teaches downbeats varies from teacher to teacher,...
Can a Student Have Fun and Learn at the Same Time?
Keyboard Companion Winter 1993; Vol. 4, No. 4
Fun, a simple three letter word which is probably a part of every young child’s vocabulary, can be used to communicate two very different kinds of meaning. One meaning is pejorative in nature; the other is associated with the experience of pleasure. The resulting potential...
What are the Opportunities for the Teacher in the Retirement/Nursing Facility Center?
It has been said that inside the body of every seventy-year-old is a thirty-fiveyear- old saying, “What happened?” This brings to mind a friend who asked his mother on her 72nd birthday if she didn’t feel quite a bit younger than 72. She told him...
What Competition Pieces Do You Use With Early-Level Students and Why?
Any question that includes the word “competition” will immediately trigger hot flashes of emotional response among piano teachers. With the additional phrase “early-level students,” the heat level rises considerably. The sheer number of competitive events available across the country can be overwhelming for both teachers and...
How Do You Use a Sequencer To Prepare Your Own Practice/Performance Disks?
by Marguerite Miller To fully appreciate some of the technological wonders of today requires some knowledge of or experience with the equipment of the past. For example, my first use of a recording device was in the ’50s, when I bought a Webster-Chicago wire recorder. Eager...
How did you choose the digital keyboard in your home?
San Jose, California “I like my students to experience all different media,” comments Carol Herndon, author/host of Herndon Wood’s video-taped theory lessons. So, when Carol spied an inventory close-out ad, she bought four of the seven Yamaha MIDI-controllable keyboards in stock. That evening, Carol proudly showed her...
What’s Your Answer? Teacher Responses to Previous Magic Triangle Questions.
Keyboard Companion Winter 1993; Vol. 4, No. 4
I want to express my deepest appreciation to the many readers who write in to share their ideas and teaching tips with us! Your ideas are always interesting and challenging. Generally, we share these ideas in the Post Box section of each department. However, due to...
Are Progress Reports Helpful in Magic Triangle Communications?
Dear Reader, It has been an education, a challenge, and a pleasure to be the Associate Editor of the Magic Triangle Department since the first issue of Keyboard Companion in the spring of 1990. I have enjoyed the opportunity to communicate with our readers and...
As a College Teacher, What Would You Like Your Incoming Freshman Students to Know About How to Practice?
AII of us who have been in college music buildings which house practice rooms are aware of the almost continuous sounds of student practice emanating from within. Those who work in this environment must acquire the ability to tune out much of this round-the-clock piano...
What Suggestions Would You Give Two Students to Ensure Productive Ensemble Practice?
It’s probably safe to say that most piano students have most of their ensemble experience playing duets with their teacher. This is a logical introduction into the art of collaborative performance and is both fun and worthwhile musically. However, in this format the teacher continues to...
The Editor’s Page
The fascinating art work on the cover of this issue is by artist Amy Stewart who lives in Dallas, Texas. This Escher-inspired design involving the treble and bass clefs came naturally to Amy, the daughter of former piano teacher Mary Ann Stewart who is now...
The Magic Triangle: Teacher/Student/Parent
Cathy Albergo, Professor ofMusic at William Rainey Harper College, Chicago, Illinois, teaches piano pedagogy, class piano, piano performance, and ensemble. As Director of the Harper Music Academy,she supervises over 300 students of all ages. Co-authorof The Intermediate Repertoire Guide, she is active as a clinician, author, adjudicator, and is Group Piano Chair for the ISMTA. What Should Parents Do If They...