How Do You Use Computer-Assisted Instruction to Teach Rhythm in Your Studio?
The greatest innovation in our teaching studios this past decade has been the new technology. This fact is made obvious by the topics of our teachers’ association meetings, presentations at conferences, and the display areas of conventions. Each issue of KEYBOARD COMPANION has one section...
The Heart of the Matter: Rhythm
Keyboard Companion Spring 1991; Vol. 2, No. 1
Marvin Blickenstaff is Professor of Music at Goshen College (Indiana) where he teaches applied piano and courses in piano pedagogy and music literature. With Louise Bianchi and Lynn Freeman Olson, he co-authored the series Music Pathways (Carl Fischer Publishing Co.). What Kind of Counting Do You Use...
What repertoire do you use when a student can play with only one hand, and how do you assign it?
Keyboard Companion Autumn 2004; Vol. 15, No. 3
from the series: Putting It All Together: Repertoire Marvin Blickenstaff, Editor All teachers become skilled in dealing with the unexpected. Most of us have had stud en ts enter the studio with an arm in a sling or cast, or fingers wrapped in heavy bandages. Our...
How Do You Teach Students to Feel Tempo Before Beginning to Play?
Keyboard Companion Autumn 1994; Vol. 5, No. 3
For the elementary piano student, the act of starting to play a piece of music is a complicated synthesis of many factors. Do I have the correct position? Does the piece start with skips or steps or some other interval? Where does my hand move next? Involved are several aspects...
How Do You Teach A Piece Containing Both Duplet and Triplet Eighths?
Keyboard Companion Autumn 1993; Vol. 4, No. 3
from the series: The Heart of the Matter: Rhythm Subdividing a beat is not such a formidable task to experience and understand. Many of the words we use are made of polysyllables (that one has five!). Our names and the names of towns and states are...
When and How Do You Introduce the First Rubato
Keyboard Companion Autumn 1992; Vol. 3, No. 3
Onw of the finest musicians I know, a world-famous teacher/ performer, says, “Flexibility and nuance make music human. Without them, music becomes mechanical.” This idea is also expressed when Nelita True speaks of making like things different. I find that most of my young students are wonderful imitators. They...
Spring 2020: Questions & Answers
Spring 2020; Vol. 12, No. 1
I model practice with my students. Although the student sees the progress she makes in the lesson with our practice plan, she doesn’t follow through at home. How can I help her use our practice plan at home so that she improves during the week?...
The power of one–a legacy of beautiful music
July 2014; Vol. 6, No. 4
Back in the 1930s a young Venezuelan pianist wished to further her musical studies, and did exactly what many aspiring musicians from North and South America chose to do in those days: she went to Europe to study. After completing her studies in Paris, she...
A Tribute to Nancy Bachus
Winter 2021; Vol. 12, No. 5
A Tribute to Nancy Bachus It is inevitable that our profession will lose valued members of our community, but that does not make the loss any easier. Our colleagues touch our lives and influence our work and the work of those around us. Nancy Bachus was one...
Making Music Come Alive
July 2012; Vol. 4, No. 4
In my early years of teaching I clearly remember commenting about my students’ playing to my husband, “All the notes and rhythms are correct, but they don’t sound that good. I’m not sure how to help them make the music ‘come alive’.” I certainly have...
How do you teach technique to beginning piano students?
May 2016; Vol. 8, No. 3
Beginning piano technique: Back to basics “He’s just trying it out, so he doesn’t need an expert teacher. We’ll just go to the most inexpensive teacher we can find until we know he likes it.” How many times have we bristled at this kind of...