Minor Scales: a Hug and a Kiss, or Just a Handshake?
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
During my first ten years of piano study, starting at age five, the term diatonic scale was never taught to me. Nor had I realized that there existed an entity called a natural minor scale, inasmuch as I had been directed to practice only major,...
The “How-Tos” of Practicing
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
Probably the most important thing we can teach our students is how to practice. And, one of the most challenging things we teach is how to practice well. When we teach practice strategies that instill attention to detail and develop problem-solving skills, we help students...
Stretching a Lead Sheet
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
So, your students can play the melody and chords in a lead sheet…now what? Played at a medium tempo, this classic tune lasts about thirty seconds: How could this be stretched it into a complete performance? For inspiration, we can turn to legendary trumpet man...
Playing in “Country Swing” Style
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
Country songs often use quite simple chords, so let’s start with a very straightforward chord progression using only chords I, IV, and V (including inversions to create better voice leading). Play with your right hand only: To get a country swing feel, you can split...
Warm Music for Cold Days
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
Catherine Rollin’s early-intermediate solo Winter Waltz (Alfred) is a heartwarming way to welcome the coldest season of the year. Its mature sound will inspire students to stay inside and practice The A section looks easy to learn; nonetheless, it is loaded with wonderful technical opportunities...
The Other Pupils
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
In a perfect world, our only preoccupation as teachers would be with training our piano students. Unfortunately, we live in an environment where there is little available time for music-related activities, and we often find ourselves battling against soccer and baseball games each time we...
Twenty-First Century Pedagogy: A Whole New World Again
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
Do you have an iPad or some other type of tablet? How about a smartphone? Do you use them in your lessons? A large number of responses would probably be in the affirmative, but how are university pedagogy programs training the next generation of piano...
January 2014: Questions and Answers
January 2014; Vol. 6, No. 1
Q: What does the Teaching Artist movement have to do with me as an independent piano teacher? A: In the last column (November/December 2013), I responded to a question about Teaching Artists. We discussed the underlying value of “engagement before information” and briefly examined two types...
The gift of music: Teaching piano in a women’s correctional institution
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
“Most people take piano lessons as a child, not as a middle-aged woman in prison.” These words, spoken by a piano student at the Goodman Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina are true. This truth is a part of the reason why I began a...
A moment that makes a difference
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
Teaching music to prison inmates is exactly 30.8 miles from my front door in suburbia to the thick metal door of the Warren Correctional Institution, home to 1,400 male inmates. On my scheduled teaching days, I arrive with my contractor badge and clear plastic bag and wait...
The Cincinnati Adaptive Music Camp
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
The Cincinnati Adaptive Music Camp (CAMC) was born out of a dream that violin teacher Jennifer Petry had to expand her teaching experience with her own children to other children with physical disabilities. Both Jennifer and I adopted children with limb differences. Jennifer’s daughters have...
Adaptive Approaches to Piano Study
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
Early in my piano education, I realized that sometimes I would need to play with my hands crossed. After I announced to my parents that I wanted to take piano lessons, my grandmother kindly gave me the old upright that she didn’t play anymore. My...
More than a lesson: Piano study and students with special needs
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
Students with special needs face unique challenges every day, and those challenges may become pronounced in the intense interpersonal environment of the piano lesson. Many of these students face challenges in learning and processing social behaviors and expressing themselves in forms of social communication. These...
Génie Oblige: Franz Liszt and musical service
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
For Franz Liszt, music was a moral force. He would surely have agreed with Alfred Cortot who used to proclaim, “Music forces Mankind to confront its nobility.” Nobility! It brings us to the heart of the matter. Liszt was the first musician in history to articulate...
Notable next-door neighbors
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
Many music theory textbooks illustrate melodies that often consist, in part, of chord tones—the notes that match an underlying harmonic progression. An example of this may be seen below, in the folk song Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair. The first three pitches,...