Edge of Glory

During my after dinner jam session tonight, "Maggie Gaga" asks me to teach her to play "Ra ra, ah ah ah-" She catches on pretty quick because she loves A minor (the key in the book, not sure if it's the real key). However she needs to be patient to listen first and play after. A good lesson for ready play. We're still working on that.

My Lady Gaga Piano Play Along and CD from Hal Leonard arrived today, and I played my best to follow along with Bad Romance, Born This Way, and Love Game. The best part about the CD is the orchestra track with or without the keyboard demo, you just play and try to keep up. My daughter and her friend were pretty excited and they kept me motivated to play on, and when I stopped cuz I got lost on the roadmap, they said, "C mon, why did you stop! Keeping going!" (Funny, who's the mom here eh?)

She asks me, who's playing piano on the CD? For lack of a better explanation I just tell her it's Lady Gaga without the singing. Next came the track for The Edge of Glory. What a beautiful song, but I didn't know it at all, but the girls are singing their hearts out. Wow, I just looked it up on youtube and came across this really awesome clip by a classical player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aFnalWhHvk

They're listening to music all day long, probably Hot 89.9 and whatever the nanny plays on the radio, but it's music of our time. I used to play all the Baby Mozart CD's for her wakeup, lullaby, playtime collections, you name it. She could even recognize certain Mozart sonatas that were played on her baby brother's baby mobile machine. But What I learned today is the best way to get her to the piano is to just play something she likes, obviously Lady Gaga!

Who do you think is the most talented music composer or performer of our time? This is 2000-something I'm talking about, not Bach or Beethoven or Mozart. Stefani Joane Angelina Germanotta (aka Lady Gaga) comes to my mind. She writes her own words and music, and her fashion style, music performance, costumes and stage presence is so fascinating altogether. Or perhaps Hans Zimmer who writes all the big movie scores (Batman Dark Knight); or JohnWilliams who wrote all the music for Star Wars and more.

Piano Studio Policy and Brochure

My piano sudio bochure is colour printed double-sided on tri-folded 8.5 x 11 inches paper. I would like to share the content but the formatting certainly looks better in Word. There is a very short blurb on my studio policy as well.

MUSIC STUDIO
 
Programs available:


• Suzuki Method piano

• Private lessons in piano for beginners to advanced levels, children and teens.

• Group lessons for young children ages 3 to 5

• Theory and Piano Pedagogy Exam Preparation

• Musicland Pre-Twinkle Camp (10 classes). Group classes for ages 3-5 will involve storytelling, magical characters, games, song and dance. Topics include keyboard geography, right and left hand independent playing, note reading, music listening and writing skills, music performance and beyond.  Upon completion, students are ready for beginner’s piano, though it is not a prerequisite.

About the Teacher


I am a Registered Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) and Suzuki Piano Teacher, with over five years of experience and a Masters degree. I keep very busy as a mother of three kids while working full time as a professional Engineer and teaching piano part time.

Suzuki Book 1 (2011); RCM Piano Pedagogy Certificates for Teaching Elementary Piano (2005), Intermediate Piano (2006), Advanced Piano (in progress). Grade 10 RCM with First Class Honours (1994).

Studio Policy


Piano lessons are half hour each for $22 or one hour $40 for advanced students. Tuition fees are paid at quarterly terms; missed lessons for emergency only, call in advance. All lessons begin and end on time.



Suzuki Method


Dr. Suzuki formalized the Suzuki Method of Talent Education in Japan, for various musical instruments including violin and piano. Sometimes called the mother-tongue method, there is a strong emphasis on music listening and aural learning first; music reading comes later. The parent attends every music lesson with the child and oversees the practising at home. Most importantly is the unwavering belief that every child can learn to play beautiful music. Selected students will be encouraged to begin in the Suzuki method, and may later chose to continue with the Royal Conservatory of Music.





Classical Piano

The lessons for Beginners and Grades 1 to 10 will cover the following topics:

• Technique (major and minor scales, chords)

• Repertoire selections from Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Twentieth Century composers

• Duet-playing

• Ear-training (naming and singing intervals, melody playback)

• Music theory

  Performances

• Monthly Masterclass

• Students will prepare for RCM grade level exams in the Spring (June), Summer (August) and Winter (January) sessions as required for advancement

• Students may perform at a Christmas, year end, or Suzuki graduation recital

• Students may compete in festival and various civic competitions


List of Books and Resources

• Musicland by Yellowcat Publishing

• Leila Fletcher Primer, black key method

• Bastien Piano Basics, five finger multi-key approach

• Russian School of Piano Playing, books 1 and 2

• Anna Magdelena Notebook by JS Bach

• Selections from Notebook for Nannerl by L Mozart

• Royal Conservatory of Music Levels 1 to 10

• Suzuki Book 1 and 2

Studio Letter for Music Camp

It's camp season all summer, but I'm running a compact 5 lesson version of the Musicland Adventure Camp in September. I'll be moving away in mid October but the new parent I talked to really wanted her kids to try out music for a bit so I'm running this last class in Ottawa, for now! Here's a copy of my letter

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Dear Parents

Looking forward to teaching your kids in the upcoming session of Musicland Adventure Camp (Suzuki Piano Pre-Twinkle) starting September 2011!

This GROUP class will involve storytelling, magical characters, interactive games and activities to introduce kids to playing piano at the introductory level. Topics include keyboard geography, right and left hand independent playing, note reading, music writing skills, music performance. By course completion, the goals include playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Suzuki variations, early keyboard skills, pre-staff music reading, solfege pattern recognition, melody playback by ear and more! The target age is 3 – 6; parents will be encouraged to attend all the lessons.

The group class will be held on Saturdays at 9:30AM for one hour on the following dates Sept 8, 15, 22, 29 and Oct 6, 2012.

Cost is $100 each student for 5 lessons with a $30 registration fee per family. The material fee is regularly $25 each (music books, materials and a Suzuki Piano Book 1 CD). However since there are things your kids can share, how about $30 even. Tax Receipts will be sent out by the end of the year for the Children's Activity Tax Credit (Ontario) and the Children's Art Tax Credit (Canada). Please make a check payable on the date of the first lesson for $260 total for the two kids.

Please see the attached brochure for more information about my studio and policy, and please sign and return the Student Information forms. See you!

Sincerely,

Royal Conservatory of Music, ARCT Beginners and Intermediate
Suzuki Piano Teacher http://suzukiassociation.org/people/deborah-tang

What's a good mark for a Piano Exam

My friend whose son recently achieved a mark of 86 for his first ever Grade 1 RCM exam, asked me if that was a good mark. She told me the teacher did not comment or congratulate him on it and gave no further feedback.  I couldn't tell which of those statements were more strange?

I started off with the Asian mom answer, well what happened to the other 14% but she wasn't quite sure if I was joking. Anyway my giggling was giving me away.  I really had to lay it on think.

Me: "First Class Honours is 80% but First Class Honours with Distinction is 90% and up``
Mom: OK
Me: "Well you have to ask yourself if you think it's a good mark."
Mom: "Yah but I don't know."
Me: "Well if your son came back with a mark of 86% for math would you be mad at him or happy?"
Mom: "I don't know"

Wow,  harsh mom from China! I was actually starting to get confused if she just wanted me to say that it was a really awesome mark and she should be really proud of him.

Me: "Well I think that's a pretty awesome mark and you should be really proud of him. I'd be pretty happy with my student for getting that mark"

I did have a student who got 86 for his Grade 1 Exam too a few years ago. He's in Grade 5 piano now but he's been too busy playing basketball to be focused enough for that exam.

Fortunately, a recent RCM newsletter, the RCM Music Matters gives a very neutral and well rounded response to that question. I won`t quote it word for word so you can track it down yourself.

The marking criteria for practical piano exams is mapped out in the RCM Syllabus 2008 Edition.

Excellent:  First Class Honours with Distinction
Very Good: First Class Honours
80 - 84: A performance that is confident, musically interesting, and generally secure technically
85 - 89: An engaging performance that reflects fine preparation; displays technical ease, characterization, and a sense of spontaneity
90 above: Exceptional performance, demonstrating technical command, mastery, deep awareness of style and character, sophisticated musical shaping, effecting communication skills. And I like this one, an authentic performance spark.

I really like that last one, the spark. That`s exactly what I look for to nurture in each of my students. I have to honest that some have it naturally, some have yet to find it. But one you meet someone or hear someone in concert who has it, it is awesome. I might have been generous to say that 86% was an awesome mark, but it is still something to be proud of.

On the other hand, growing up my mom always expected me to have First Class Honours for all the grades. Only once did a I surpass that basic expectation and got First Class Honours with Distinction for Grade 9.

Tips for Adult Beginners

How hard is it in general for adults to learn how to play the piano?

That's a great question. It depends also if you are interested in playing classical music or popular music from the radio with chords, or jazz improvization or a bit of everything.

Potential Challenges
Adults will understand music theory, the structure of chords and why notes sound good together (mathematically) as well as the the concepts of note reading and rhythm, much easier than a young child would. However the the hand eye coordination may seem harder for an adult, the hands may be more rigid and tense (that is a generalization). But there's no reason that an adult couldn't learn to play piano.

The other challenges that adults may face are the distractions with work, tv, sports, life in general and some are not likely to practise.   All my students are young children or teenagers who started with me when they were younger.  The oldest beginner was 13 when he started.  I've had alot of inquiries from adult beginners but I've been relucant to accept one based on my schedule and personal preferences.

Finding a Teacher
If you are seriously looking for a teacher, it sounds funny but you could ask a piano teacher you already know for contacts, or look on usedottawa.com or kijii and browse the piano teacher ads. Some will actually say that they are accepting students of all ages and adults too, while others will say children only. So you know who to call.  Check out the Ottawa Folk Music Center or Long and McQuade music store or, Yamaha on Bank Street or Granata Music.

The Yellowcat Music Sheets that I use in my lessons for the kids work well for older beginners too.

Success Stories
The potential to succeed is there. It depends alot on your committment, your personal goals and the right teacher to tap into the talents you already have.  My mother's friend started taking beginners piano lessons as an empty nester when the kids went away for university and left the piano behind. She started from Beginners and Grade 1 and studied with her kids' piano teacher for about six to eight years.  She just used her kids' piano books.  At the time we talked a few years ago, she was playing Grade 10 RCM level pieces (classical music) and even offering substitute piano lessons when the senior teacher was not available.  This is an amazing feat because if a child starts piano lessons at age 6 an average or non-music-performance-major student would probably reach the Grade 10 level around age 15 or 16.

If you have the desire in your heart and the means to make it possible, just do it. You won't regret piano.

How do you say goodbye?

To be a Tiger mom or not a Tiger mom. How about the part about putting a child's heart first?  I'm sharing some thoughts from the perspective of a parent of a small child, age 4 going on 13, who recently decided to take a break from piano. This is my introspection on the right time to resume lessons.

My post is about having the strength to recognize a child's desire and dislike, having the courage to wait for a better opportunity in the future, and having a heart to understand the child's heart. The first step is just to be patient.

The Symptoms

Maggie has been happily playing her music by heart and I suspected she wasn't doing note reading, but I let it slide until recently.  Her other two classmates are boys her age and they are amazing at piano. The MYC  method truly works well for them, as they were just flying through the pieces and learning new ones ahead of time while Maggie and I were still working on the recital piece from before Christmas. On the plus side, her C major scale in the right hand and left hand are carefully executed. In the fall, the teacher taught them the C-G bridges to go with the tonic, mediant and dominant degrees of the C scale. She loved it! It was sad to see her level of interest and passion change.  Over the summer (6 months ago) she was very enamoured with the A minor scale! Now she sulks through it and I have to resort to bribery.

Then we started note reading on the staff with real notation and things just went downhill from there. She was always looking at my face and my reaction, more so than the notes on the page. I should've just let her look at the hands but I wanted to be sure she was reading. But after pointing out every note, she would wait for me to say the name and look at my face, which was not a smiley face unfortunately, which added to the tension. It got to the point where she would find every excuse not to practise piano.  Occasionally there would be the day where she would take out the "music rhythm bag" and copy out the music on the floor, which was startling! Or we would do the homework pages (though usually it was her younger brother AJ who did the homework part for there).  There were times when tears were shed; my precious tears that is. She had every excuse possible to get out of piano practise. It got to the point where she even would fall asleep at the group lesson (probably a Sunday afternoon scheduling issue).

For my child I poured my heart into, starting piano at age 3 with all the hope for her to be a child prodigy, I knew I couldn't keep this up until age 17 let alone 7. I decided to stop the lessons and perhaps resume at a more appropriate age for her.   I'm not proud that we couldn't finish the second year of piano lessons, that I let her stop in mid-February instead of pushing onwards to the end of June.  But I wanted to end on a good note, and we could say, "Let's have the last lesson, say good bye to your teacher."

Decision Making Steps

Identify the problem - Maggie loses interest and hates piano, loss of motivation to practise
List some solutions - stop lessons, change the teacher, change the method, (can't change the parent!)
Practical steps - Call the teacher and talk in person, be prepared to agree to disagree
Decisions - depending on the studio policy, lessons could be terminated with or without notice, ask for a refund for the remaining months (March to June)

In the end I had a heart to heart talk with her teacher, and we ended on good terms. I had referred many students to her, all doing very well, and I indicated that I would certainly continue to do the same.

After Action Report
It's been a week, Maggie has approached the piano to play her scales on her own once! This happened when it was my turn to practise piano. Perhaps that was the way to motivate her to the piano by hearing me play.  We are still keeping music alive as she still likes singing and directing the Mississippi Hot dog of Suzuki Book 1, looking for the right time to sit down and play it with her, though perhaps we should wait. The obvious question is, why don't I teacher her; well I would rather wait a bit.

Above all Maggie loves singing. She can listen to any song on the radio and start belting out the words in tune; she can improvise the words for any nursery rhyme with alternate lyrics; she teaches AJ her French songs from school and they sing together. I have a first recording of her singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at 22 months, it's golden. Last summer at age 3.5 she was singing Jana Alayra songs from VBS and acting like an MC leading singspiration.  My husband has considered voice lessons for her or even joining a youth choir. There is talent and heart there, perhaps that is where we could apply it.

  

Teacher Perspectives
As a teacher, when did this happen to me and how did I deal with it.

• A high school student who lost interest and wanted to pursue a new hobby.  The siblings have since joined my studio
• A high school student who had a busy schedule with part time jobs, after school activities, and transportation issues; I recommended a more suitable location for piano lessons at the Long and McQuade Music School run by the music book store near to the high school.
• A 3 year old in my group class wasn't quite ready; she will try private lessons at 3.5 in the spring time.

On the other hand, I also have high school students very committed to competitive sports but still finding the time to schedule lessons, practise piano and excel. That's motivating for me, to see passion in the kids music.

Music Community

Found a list of piano teachers in Ottawa posted by the Leading Note. I put my name on the Roladex years ago, it's still funny everytime I stumble upon this list online.  My daughter's piano teacher is there too.
http://www.leadingnote.com/customers/music-teachers/piano/


Ottawa-Gatineau Suzuki Piano. I recently auditioned and was invited to join them, along with my  Suzuki students.  However because I was suddenly moving, I had to decline but fortunately I was able to connect with teachers from the group to transfer my students to.  There is a $140 registration for the students to be in the Suzuki Piano School, however it is well worth it with the Saturday group classes, recitals and concerts year round.
http://www.suzukipiano.on.ca/suzuki8.html

ARCT Blog. Seems like someone I have alot in common with. She's in IT, I'm in Engineering and we are both teaching piano and at various stages of reaching the ARCT.
http://sites.google.com/site/eleanorsmusic


ORMTA Ottawa Chapter Events.
Previously, to be of ORMTA you had to have a Masters Degree in Music or the full ARCT with six students who got First Class Honours in the RCM piano exams, with the annual fee being $300 which is why I never joined.  They didn't even advertise their events. But now they have also allowed memberships for teachers who have Grade 10 RCM and additional Pedagogy training (like me with the ARCT Beginners and Intermediate, Suzuki, etc) but that must be new so maybe I will join in if I end up teaching again in Trenton!
http://www.ormtaottawa.ca/Events.htm

Piano, Violin, Cello, Guitar, or Flute?

Not really sure if piano is for your child? Would you like to introduce him to other instruments and see what other kids are up to?

Ottawa Suzuki Headstart Program - Strings
The Suzuki Music School in Ottawa runs a week long music camp each summer for the students in Suzuki violin, cello, guitar and flute at the Canterbury High School. Formally, this is called a Summer Institute where the levels 1 to 8 are available.  The 2012 dates are not listed yet, but in previous summers this took place at the end of July.  Another course offered during that same week is the Headstart Program which is a five day workshop focusing on an introduction to musical concepts and rhythm instruments, and each day a string instrument is presented to the class. An older child from the camp will perform a short recital piece the younger children on his violin for example, and then invite everyone to have a turn to try it out.  The Headstart program actually runs all year on Saturdays for a series of 5 weekly lessons in the fall, winter and spring.

My daughter age 3 at the time, and son age 2 attended the class and they learned all about "Mississippi hot dog" and "pepperoni pizza". Here is more information quoted from the website:

Headstart Suzuki is a pre-instrumental programme designed to introduce three and four year olds to basic musical concepts and beginning Suzuki rhythms and repertoire. Emphasis is on rhythm, singing, motor development and aural training, aided by the playing of percussion instruments. There are 5 sessions per term; on Saturdays at Canterbury HS. The fee is $90 per term.
Download the Registration Form here, though check again for summer information.


Musicland Adventure Camp
I model my Musicland Adventure Camp course a bit like the Headstart Program, packed with more emphasis on Piano and Suzuki Book 1 music appreciation, for 10 lessons at the Pre-Twinkle level.  Children ages 3-5 are at the right age for group learning of early keyboard skills, pre-staff music reading, solfege pattern recognition, melody playback by ear and more!

ABOUT Musicland Adventure Camp (10 classes)
GROUP classes for ages 3-5 will involve storytelling, magical characters, interactive games, song and dance to introduce kids to playing piano at the introductory level. Topics include keyboard geography, right and left hand independent playing, note reading, music writing skills, music performance and beyond.

Royal Conservatory Smart Start
This program caught my eye but it must be only offered in Toronto. Sounds like it would be competing with other franchises like MYC, Making Music Together or Kindermusik. They classes for ages 0 to 12 months, 12 - 24 months, age 2, 4, 5, 6, 7+ Orff

A brief course description: Typical classes begin with the introduction of the day’s musical concept, often explained using a familiar rhyme, poem or song. Students further explore the concept by locating it in other songs or rhymes and improvising their own small musical pieces. Instruments used are un-pitched percussion, such as rhythm sticks, drums, etc., and pitched instruments, which have been designed specifically for the curriculum.


Judging a book by its cover, I would say this course sounds alot like my Musicland course though my target age group is 3-5, followed by private lessons in the Suzuki method.


Royal Suzuki Program
I found this on the Royal Conservatory of Music website for Violin and Cello. At one time there was a job posting for a Suzuki Piano Teacher at the RCM in Toronto requiring Suzuki Book 2 and a music degree.  Perhaps they are changing the approach to beginners piano and this is converging point of the two methods.

Musicland Notes

A young child can learn note reading and even music writing when it involves a large Staff paper and some common colourful objects such as juice caps!

Treble clef notes (top); Bass Clef notes (bottom). The Middle C above the bass clef staff sits on a small imaginary line.

At my group class last week, we played the game "On the Line, Off the Line" where the kids had to jump on/ off a little straw on the ground.  This was a lead-in to the topic of placing notes on the staff - on the line, in the space!

Method:
Review the Treble Clef, Bass Clef, count the lines (5), count the spaces (4)
Talk about the belly of the treble clef (second line). You could colour this line red for Red Giant.
Point out the dots in the bass clef (line four). You could colour this line blue for Blue Fairy.

The kids already know the friends in Musicland:
Yellow Cat
Purple Dragon
Green Elf
Blue Fairy
Red Giant
Orange Albert
Brown Beethoven (black cap)
Yellow Cat

Point out the small extra line below the treble clef staff for Middle C, ask someone to mark it using the yellow cap and call it Yellow Cat (on the line)
Have the next child place the next note, someone will know that it`s Purple Dragon (space just hanging below the staff)
The next child will catch on quickly that the next note is Green Elf (on the line 1)
...and so on.
Work to the next Yellow Cat and review the word ``Octave``

If applicable, move on to the Bass clef. Yellow Cat is in the space (second from bottom).

In fact one of the children recognized a pattern right away and he started to sing, Step-ping Up!  That was so wonderful that he could relate the notes on the page to tone direction though it wasn`t perfect pitch he still sang a sequence of stepwise notes in whole tones!

For an older child, take notes away and name the thirds (the space notes form thirds, as do all the line notes)
You could use the coloured notes to build chords in root position and all inversions!