How Do You Begin an Adult Who Has Had No Previous Music Study?
Keyboard Companion Summer 1995; Vol. 6, no. 2
Increasing numbers of adults taking piano lessons didn’t just happen overnight. Teachers have been observing that their percentage of adult students has risen steadily through the past decade. Publishers have responded to this change in the marketplace by publishing a diverse array of materials written...
How Do You Teach Intuitive Students to Make Decisions About Interpretation?
Keyboard Companion Summer 1995; Vol. 6, no. 2
Like many questions about teaching, the answer to this issue’s question is a process; there simply cannot be an answer that stands as fact, or even static opinion. Every time we face this question, usually in the middle of a lesson, the answer is both...
Does Practice on a Digital Keyboard in the Early Years of Study Prevent a Student From Becoming a Good Pianist? Part II
Keyboard Companion Summer 1995; Vol. 6, no. 2
In this issue, we continue with four more responses to the question first posed in the Spring 1995 issue regarding the use of digital keyboards for home practice. In keeping with the spirit of KEYBOARD COMPANION, we want to know your response to this question....
Which Music Computer Programs Do You Use at Home?
Lexington, South Carolina Award-winning piano student Andrew Capobianco, 8, works with state of the art computer programs at his teacher’s studio, then uses affordable music games software at home: ”You try to find a quarter note on the screen. Or you push down the button for as long as the note is supposed to be. I like ‘USA: where you have to outsmart the alien.” Andrew’s teacher, Carole Ann McClimon, is an avid computer advocate whose Piano...
What Music Games and Activities Do Your Students Like the Most? Part II
Games, Games, and More Games! The response to our first article about using musical games and activities in teaching (Autumn, 1993) created enough mail and reader response that we thought it was time for a sequel! Our authors for this issue are some highly creative teachers who have created their own musical games, some new events for the use of those games, and even their own companies to produce them. Here, they provide us with information on many interesting musical games, reasons for using games to teach music, an idea for building a lending library of games,...
What Suggestions Do You Give Students for How to Practice Ornaments?
We have all heard student performances of pieces which might have been quite acceptable except for the stumbles and hesitations surrounding the execution of ornaments. Perhaps these students should not have been assigned pieces containing ornaments. Or, maybe all of the ornaments should have been deleted before the pieces were begun. On the other hand, is it possible that these students might have played their pieces well, with the ornaments intact, if only they had an effective way to approach them in home practice? This is the subject we have asked our guest writers to address in...
Do You Have a Favorite Technical Regimen for Early-Level Students?
“Have you ever seen a piano teacher as tall as I am?,” I asked a 4-year old prospective student at her audition last week. I’ve learned the wisdom of saying a few calming words to new students when I answer my front door, knowing that...
Does Piano Study Help Children in Other Aspects of School Study?
Keyboard Companion Summer 1994; Vol. 5, No. 2
Did someone ever ask you, “How do you know that’s true? Did you read it somewhere … what proof do you have?” And you answered without hesitation, “I don’t know how, I just know it!” Piano teachers just know that studying music, especially the piano, is good...
What Is Your Opinion of Counting Aloud and How Do You Encourage This Activity at Home?
“I don’t believe in counting aloud. I just feel the beat.” You can imagine my surprise at this response from an adult student who was playing incorrect rhythms in passages of Rhapsody in Blue. I thought, like most of us would, that the fastest way to solve the problem would be to have this student count aloud. My suggestion was met with the “I don‘t believe in counting aloud” statement. For a moment, her comment caught me off-guard. Then I realized that we were dealing with an issue of learning steps...
How Do You Decide What to Say After Your Student Finishes Playing? Part II
Piano teachers have to make dozens, perhaps hundreds, of decisions during each teaching day. But, have you ever really thought about how you make all of those decisions? Do you just say the first thing that comes to mind? Do you have a particular procedure...
How Do You Keep Your Adults From Using The Lesson Times as Therapy Sessions?
If confession is good for the soul, then my soul is about to feel really good. Because I am going to admit to something which may appall most, if not all readers of KEYBOARD COMPANION. Currently, I teach adults only in groups, but when I was...
What Is Good Material to Use With Elementary Transfer Students Who Are Playing Music Far Too Difficult?
There are many reasons why students change teachers. In this mobile society, it is frequently because the student or teacher has moved to another location. But changes can also occur for professional reasons- poor communication between the triangle of teacher/student/parent, lack of interest, a particular...
What Is the New Monster Concert?
We are told that Louis Moreau Gottschalk, America’s first matinee idol, was the creator of the “piano orchestra” or Monster Concert, which became a genuine institution in 19th-century America. In his memoirs, Gottschalk mentions a number of spectacular occasions when he employed mammoth musical forces....
How Do You Take Care of Your Piano?
Keyboard Companion Summer 1995; Vol. 6, no. 2
Vancouver, Washington. Martha Sharman’s 1922 Steinway living room grand was a wedding present to her husband’s grandmother. “She was quite a pianist,” remembers Martha. “When she married, her husband took her to New York to the Steinway factory, where she selected the piano and had it...
How Can You Give Your Talent Away?
Keyboard Companion Summer 1995; Vol. 6, no. 2
Every student knows, or at least can imagine, the feeling of pride and joy musicians take from giving a performance that is appreciated by others. It’s a feeling that’s inspiring as well as gratifying. As one teacher writes in her students’ assignment books, “To keep...