Wed, 24 Mar 2010 12:59:48 -0800WeeblyThu, 16 Jul 2009 13:30:26 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/piano-practice-is-problem-solving.htmlYou have just found a new piece of piano music you want to learn.  Now what?  How should you approach this wonderful new music so you can get the satisfaction of playing it successfully in the least amount of time?  What are the steps that must be taken to solve the problem of making a bunch of black dots and lines on a white sheet of paper sound like beautiful music?

Before playing a note on the piano, do a mental analysis of the piece.  Start at the top of the music page with the very first marks you see on the top of the page.  Ask and answer the following questions:

1.  What is the title of the piece
2.  Who composed the piece
3.  When was the piece composed

Now move on to the very first part of the music score itself.  What do you see?  Again, ask and answer the following questions:

1.  What clef(s) are represented
2.  How many sharps or flats are given
    Is the piece in a major key
    Is the piece in a minor key
3.  What is the time signature
4.  Is there a tempo marking indicated
    by word description or
    by a metronome marking

Once this inital mental analysis away from the keyboard is complete you have solved the first problem of learning a new piece of piano music.  The next step is to incorporate these discoveries into the actual playing of the piece on the piano.

]]>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:08:23 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/share-the-joy-of-your-piano-playing.htmlI  hope my piano students learn from me -
How to share their piano music
How to find joy in making music

It is important to me that my students share their piano music with their colleagues, friends and family through the recital venue.  When they share their piano music recitals they move to a different musical level.  They take on the role of interpreter and performer.  The music they have worked so hard to learn becomes theirs and theirs alone.

The most important thing I hope my students learn from me is that making music is a joy-filled experience.  Creating beautiful sounds is a work of art - a work of pleasure - a work of joy.

Oh and did I mention, I also hope my piano students learn patience, perseverance, overcoming challenges, enthusiasm, happiness, knowledge and wisdom from me.  Yes, the give and take between teacher and piano student is continuous.  The learning and knowledge are constantly shared.  That is why I continue to teach adult students to play the piano.

]]>Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:39:34 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/skills-a-pianist-must-have.htmlI hope my piano students learn -

How to choose a piece of piano music
How to work through a piece of music
How to find "the music" in a particular piano piece

Choosing an appropriate piece of music can be difficult for an adult pianist.  Adults have definite ideas about the music they want to learn.  They are musically literate, they listen, they search the Internet, they buy music, they share music, and they find pieces they want to play now!  It is my job to help them discover the beauty in pieces that are within their technical capabilities.  

Once the piano piece or pieces are chosen, it is then my task to help them expediently work through the chosen music.  To look for patterns, to work out fingerings, to assist with note reading skills and to make the learning of the piece a constant pleasure.  

Once the notes are in place and the piano piece is beginning to take shape, I help my piano students discover the "music" in the music.  To play the piece more from an emotional perspective then simply an intellectual viewpoint.  We look at dynamics and nuances of phrases and rhythms.  We look for ways to be creative with the black dots on the page and ways to free themselves from the strictures of simply obeying the written symbols when learning to play the piano.

]]>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:35:28 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/skills-my-piano-students-learn-from-their-teacher.htmlI have been teaching adults how to play the piano and the organ for many years.  It has been challenging and satisfying at the same time.  Every week I learn so much from my students including patience, perseverance, how to overcome challenges, enthusiasm, happiness, knowledge and of course wisdom.

But, what is it I hope my piano students learn from me?  I hope they learn

How to choose a piece of piano music
How to work through a piece of music
How to find "the music" in a particular piano piece
How to share their music
How to find joy in making music

Oh and did I mention, I also hope my students learn patience, perseverance, overcoming challenges, enthusiasm, happiness, knowledge and wisdom from me.  Yes, the give and take between teacher and piano student is continuous.  The learning and knowledge are constantly shared.  That is why I continue to teach adult students how to play the piano.

]]>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 10:55:26 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/always-more-to-learn-from-my-piano-students.htmlSo, what do I learn every week from my piano students?

Perseverance – steady and continued action or belief, usually over a long period and especially despite difficulties or setbacks.  Learning to play the piano as an adult can be a daunting task, yet week after week, I have students who continue to diligently practice to attain technical proficiency in their piano studies.

Patience – the ability to endure waiting or delay without becoming annoyed or upset.  Learning to play the piano as an adult is a slow process and often the technical ability to reproduce the sounds heard in recordings or in the student’s mind is slow in coming.  The patience required to achieve a modicum of success in playing the piano is immense.

Fortitude – strength and endurance in a difficult situation. Learning to play the piano as an adult is not accomplished by playing at the piano for a few minutes a week.  It requires mastering difficult eye-hand coordination skills which takes an inordinate amount of time at the piano.

Determination – firmness of purpose, will, or intention.  My adult piano students set goals for each series of lessons.  To fulfill those goals and dreams requires a firm resolve to continue practicing and studying even when the desired results are slow to attain.

]]>Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:29:37 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/another-word-on-creating-a-toolkit-of-piano-skills.htmlThe successful pianist has developed the skill of memorization by using visual, aural, or tactile memorization skills.  The successful pianist knows in what way they most fluently memorize a piece and use the other two skills to enhance and enlarge their memories.  A successful pianist combines all three memorization skills to their complete advantage.

The successful pianist easily and willingly shares their music.  They enjoy giving their gift and allowing the ideas of the composer to flow off the written page into glorious sound.  

Are you a successful pianist?  Do you have a toolkit of skills, traits, and habits to aid your journey of studying the piano?  Start today to create your personal toolkit filled with self-discipline, technical skills, reading skills, memorization skills and performance skills.  Allow your joy to show in the playing of the piano.

]]>Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:05:59 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/more-on-creating-a-toolkit-of-piano-skills.htmlAre you a successful pianist?  Do you have a toolkit of skills, traits, and habits to aid your journey of studying the piano?  Start today to create your personal toolkit filled with self-discipline, technical skills, and reading skills.

A successful pianist has achieved success because of self-discipline.  The successful pianist has learned the importance of regular practice and has learned exactly how to use their practice time efficiently and prudently to achieve a goal.  The self-discipline may come in the form of a practice schedule closely followed day after day or not allowing oneself to attempt pieces beyond their current abilities knowing that with continued self-discipline and goal setting the more difficult piece will be learned at the right time.

The successful pianist has achieved success because of diligently practicing technical exercises.  They know the importance of technical warm-ups and finger dexterity and strengthening exercises and regularly make those part of each practice session.  A successful pianist knows how to work out difficult passages by trying various fingering combinations.  They look for creative ways to move the arms, hands, and fingers to create the desired musical effects.


The successful pianist has achieved success because they have developed music reading skills.  They carefully peruse a piano piece before playing it to make mental notations of key, rhythmic relationships, harmonies, dynamics, and tempo markings.  They develop the trait of looking ahead and of anticipating the flow of the music to and through the cadential points to the conclusion of the music. 

The successful pianist has achieved success because they have honed the power of musical analysis.  A piano piece is more than a group of black dots, lines and instructive words on a page.  The successful pianist can hear in their mind the move and flow of the music through harmonic analysis, key and rhythmic relationships, dynamics and tempo.  Before the successful pianist plays an audible note on the piano, they know what sounds they want to create on the piano.

]]>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:07:32 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/create-a-toolkit-of-piano-skills.htmlEvery successful pianist has achieved success because of good practice habits and traits.  They have developed a practice strategy that has led to performance success.  They have developed a toolkit of piano skills that works for them time after time after time.  

What are some of the habits, traits or skills that are in a successful pianist's toolkit?

Self-discipline
Technical skill
    Scales
    Technical studies
Reading skills
    Sight-reading abilities
    Analytical skills
Memorization skills
Performance skills

Are you a successful pianist?  Do you have a toolkit of skills, traits, and habits to aid your journey of studying the piano?  Start today to create your personal toolkit filled with self-discipline, technical skills, reading skills, memorization skills and performance skills.  Allow your joy to show in the playing of the piano.

]]>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:01:29 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/develop-a-plan-for-your-piano-practice-sessions.htmlEvery productive piano practice session is composed of several things.  First, each practice session should have a specific goal in mind.  Is that goal to be able to play a specific cadence of a repertoire piece successfully or to work out an intricate rhythm, or to practice technique only with exercises and scales or to work on memory?  The possibilities are endless, but every piano practice session should have a goal.

Once the goal is set, make sure you know how the finished passage or exercise, or cadence will sound. 

Second devise a piano practice plan.  Determine how much time you will spend on specific activities or when you will let yourself move to the next challenge.

What methods will you use?  How will you get to your goal - by using a metronome, by practicing rhythms away from the keyboard, by playing short sections, or by working on fingering?

Determine how you will know when you are finished for the piano practice session.  Has the timer run out or are you finished when you are tired or when you have accomplished your goal.

Answer those questions and your piano practice sessions will be a sucess and it will be a joy to make music on the piano.

]]>Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:33:26 -0800http://www.playpianosongstoday.com/1/post/2009/07/what-should-my-piano-practice-sessions-include.htmlEvery piano practice session should include:
A warm-up - time to focus the mind and start moving the fingers
Exercises - scales, Hanon, Czerny, arpeggios
Repertoire - working on chunks in a careful focused manner
Sightreading - read through a four part hymn
Theory - test yourself on key signatures, scales, terms
Reward piece - play something you know just for fun

Happy practicing on the piano!

]]>