Teaching Note Reading

I have a couple of transfer students who play with such joy and ease; they love the songs in the beginner books they've been working on with the previous teacher since last school year; they seem to feel sad about finishing the book and moving on. However, I quickly identified the underlying reason; the note reading skills needed to be ramped up a bit to keep up with the playing level. While teaching my student Teapot Invention in RCM Grade 1, I discovered that she was actually playing the song by copying the melody, phrasing and staccato from hearing and watching me play it. This is confirmed, because she was not looking at the book at all, it is a brand new song and yet she complained, "Sorry I can't remember how to play it". (Of course not, it's still new :)

Of course this whole scenario reinforces the whole idea that some young children learn to play alot better from hearing the song and learning by heart without note-reading. However to reach the next level we want to achieve, some serious intervention is required.

YELLOWCAT

The student is a model student for the Yellowcat method to teach the note reading, hand placement and maintain playing skills at the highest level. Find out more about Yellowcat at http://www.yellowcatpublishing.com/ and http://www.ycmused.com/ Here is the plan for the next four lessons.

Lesson 1

• Musicland Story Chapter 1
• Identify the Caves and Castles, Worksheet
• Introduce Yellow Cat, Purple Dragon, Green Elf
• Play: Cat Dragon Elf, Elf Dragon Cat

Lesson 2

• Musicland Story Chapter 2
• Introduce the Blue Fairy, Red Giant, Orange Albert and Brown Beethoven.
• If they're ready, go to Bass Clef Notes and Treble Clef Notes
• Halloween Hairy Scary Spider
• If we're ready for sharps and flats, Halloween Lullaby

* Remember that the student already has a background in note reading, but appears to have trouble reading "fast enough" to play a song.

Lesson 3

• Talk about Blue Fairy Flight Rules: Note Key Finger
• Use Dragon Paw starter pages
• Selections from Notebook for Mozart

Lesson 4

• Review Blue Fairy Flight Rules: Note Key Finger
• Use Dragon Paw starter pages
• Identify songs printed from Yellowcat music sheets; music notes will still be printed in colour except for C's because "Cat turns black" in the Grand Piano Book.

I have an older beginner, he was 14 when he started beginners piano.  He plays very well and reads quickly now in traditional printed music, but we first started with Yellowcat.  One time we used standard black and white flash cards for note reading; he wanted to say "Blue Fairy" for F or whatever notes we were quizzing on.  Very cute. I told him, "That's ok you can say Blue Fairy if that helps you remember it better." The more important thing is to play "Blue Fairy" on the piano and have the brain make that connection with the finger placement.

Happy Birthday Dr Suzuki!

Today is Dr. Suzuki’s birthday! Born on October 17, 1898, he spent the better part of his nearly century-long life helping the world to realize the amazing potential that is poised waiting to be unleashed in every human being.

Suzuki training courses (supported by the Suzuki Association of the Americas) not only grounded me in a positive core philosophy but it also gave me a “toolbox” of communication and teaching strategies that I draw upon every day. If you have a moment, please watch this video and show your support!


http://suzukiassociation.org/giving/community/

Solfege Singing

Everyone is quite familiar with the song Do-Re-Mi from The Sound of Music, classic movie with Julie Andrews. The use of these syllables to correspond to fixed pitches on the piano beginning on the C is called Solfege.  In English, the key signature of a piece is given in a letter name of the scale or mode; in French the Solfege is used.

Many music students from around the world who have teachers familiar with the music theory teaching strategies found in Music Mind Games may be learning another catchy tune called "Daily Do".

Here is an amazing video of children singing "Daily Do" in Syndey, Australia with Michiko Yurko creator of MMG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6N7U9xqHmvk

I was wondering myself why it was part of the program to sing "Daily Do" in the lesson, and studying the structure of the piece makes it obvious.

"Daily Do" trains the ability to sing:
1. a Major triad
2. a minor triad
3. the intervals in a Major scale
4. a minor scale
5. a minor triad
and naturally relates the major scale to the relative minor scale.

Solfege singing is great for ear training, especially to learn music aurally by hearing pitches, intervals, melodies, chords and rhythms.  More advanced music skills built from knowledge of Solfege include music transcription (or copying), harmonizing and improvization, and even composition.

There are many other songs, even simple nursery songs for children that are sung to solfege and curwen hand signs. In my daughter's music class, her teacher likes to sing a song called Blue Bird, begins on Sol.

"Here comes the blue bird, in through my window.
Hey diddle dumb day day day."

Another favorite that my son likes to sing too, also beginning on Sol.

"Fuzzy wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy wuzzy had no hair.
Fuzzy wuzzy wasn't very, fuzzy wuzzy"


NEVER TOO EARLY TO LEARN

Even as a young toddler, barely 16 months my daughter would love to sing Do Re Mi. I would start with singing Do, and she'd just immediately follow with RAY (and a smile). Then I'd say Mi, and she'd repeat MEE, and I say Fa, VA. And of course I'd finish with Sol (she doesn't say SO, 'k that's it mom, I'm bored). But it just gets me everytime, it's so cool! Unfortunately I don't have perfect pitch myself so I'm always checking on the piano that I'm actually singing a "C". So wicked!  -My baby journal dated Aug 22 2008

What are the benefits of Piano Exams

When you have something to work for, you work a lot harder. You make a commitment to yourself. You practise because you have set an objective.

I found a Royal Conservatory of Music handout at a piano store that described the benefits of piano exams for the "triangle" of Student, Teacher and Parent.

To Students

• motivation
• commitment to practise
• performance experience
• pride of accomplishment
• high school credits
• certificates and awards
• personal growth

To the Teacher

• an excellent curriculum
• high pedagogical standards
• wide choice of repertoire and study pieces at level
• standardized assessment of student's achievements

To parents

• a balanced course of study
• a high standard of evaluation
• internationally recognized certificates
• valuable experience for the children
• development of self discipline
• objective assessment of child's accomplishment 

ARCT Repertoire Selection

Here is a list of sample repertoire for the ARCT Teacher's Exam and the ARCT Advanced Pedagogy

ARCT Piano Exam (Pre 2008 Syllabus)
Bach Prelude and Fugue in d minor (Book II)
Beethoven Sonata (Tempest Op 31 No. 2 or Pathetique)
Liszt Liebestraum 3
Debussy Golliwogg's Cakewalk from Children's Corner
Manual de Falla, Ritual Fire Dance (own choice substitution)

ARCT Piano Exam (New Syllabus 2008)
For the Teachers Part 1

One Bach Prelude and Fugue - Number 13 in F Sharp Major
One Grade 9 Piece - Mozart Fantasie in D Minor
One Grade 10 Piece - Copland Cat and Mouse
And two ARCT selections, the overall program to be contrasting


ARCT Advanced Pedagogy

Grade 7 – 10 RCM Repertoire 2008 Syllabus

* memorization of one selection

Grade 7

A - Suite No.8 in G Major, George Frederic Handel, pg 8

D - Rondo-March/ Dance/Song op 60 (choose one), Dmitri Kabalevsky

Study No. x Toccatina Op 8 No 1, S Maykapar

Grade 8

B - Sonata in G Major, op 49 no 2 (one movement), Ludwig van Beethoven, pg 28

C - Chanson triste, Vasili Sergeievich Kalinnikov, pg 54

Study No.x

Grade 9

B - Fantasie in D minor K397, WA Mozart, pg 28

D – La Saraband,Gabriel Grovlez, pg 92

Study No. x Study in A minor, op 61 no 13, Hermann Berens

Grade 10

A - Prelude and Fugue in F-sharp Major no 13 BWV 858

D - Claire de Lune no 3 Suite Bergamasque, Claude Debussy

E - The Cat and the Mouse (Scherzo-humoristique), Aaron Copland

Study No. x  Six Etudes Tableaux op 33 no 8 in G minor, Rachmaninoff

Sample Questions of ARCT Advanced level Pedagogy Viva Voce Exam

Here are a list of questions that were asked at a ARCT Advanced Pedagogy Certificate Exam for the Viva Voce portion in Spring 2011.  My friend who had recently completed the exam was kind enough to send them to me from memory, from her actual exam. Of course you'll have to remember that the flow of the questions also depends on the candidate's responses. Don't be afraid to elaborate and demonstrate what you really know.

1) What is satisfying in teaching students in the high level?


2) How do you fit everything in 1 hour lesson?

3) Is there anything that absolutely must be in a lesson?

4) Name a difficult rhythm that you would see in the higher level, how would you teach it?

5) How do you teach rubato?

6) What types of studies (etudes) do you use, other than the ones by RCM?

7) Play grade 9 romantic 19th century (chopin prelude in Db):

8) How do you teach cantabile?

9) How do you teach balance?

10) How many preludes did chopin write?

11) What book would you use to teach cantabile line?

12) Play grade 7 baroque (Telemann bouree):

13) What is a bouree?

14) What’s the form of the piece? What’s the benefit of telling students the form of the piece?

15) How do you teach evenness?

16) Play grade 8 twenty-first century (mysterious summer night):

17) Why would students like this piece?

18) What’s the composer? What other piece did she compose?

19) How would you teach bar 15? How would you ask the student to practice this bar?

20) Would you write in pedal markings for the students?

21) Play grade 10 baroque (Bach fugue):

22) How to you teach balance in a fugue?

23) How do you show the different lines?

24) How do you teach a student who plays everything correct but not musically?

25) What book do you use to help analyze fugues?

26) Play grade 9 twentieth century (golliwogg’s cakewalk):

27) What period is this piece written?

28) Who’s the composer?

29) What’s a cake-walk?

30) How do you introduce impressionistic music?

31) Is it important to learn multiple pieces from the same style/composer? (ie. play more than one impressionistic pieces from Debussy?)

What happens in a Piano Exam?

The Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada has 10 grade levels for piano examinations. There are pre-grade 1 levels called Preparatory A and B (formerly Introductory) as well.  At the higher grades, Grade 4 and beyond, there are corequisites in theory, music history, harmony, counterpoint and composition.  High school students are able to include Grade 8 to 10 piano with their high school transcripts for credits.  After Grade 10, the students may work on a ARCT Performance diploma or an ARCT Teacher's diploma (former). Presently, the ARCT Teacher's Certificate Program is split into three levels (beginners, intermediate and advance) which has Grade 9, 10 and ARCT level as co-requisites respectively.

EXAM SCORE

• A total of 100 marks may be achieved by the student.
• First Class Honours with Distinction - 90 marks and above
• First Class Honours - 80 marks and above
• Honours - 70 marks and above
• Pass - 60 marks I believe.

MARK BREAKDOWN
For the Beginner - Intermediate Level Exams, 50 marks total are assigned to repertoire (playing pieces) and the other 50 marks are broken down for technical and music training skills.  The mark breakdown changes for the higher grades and I can explain those in another article.

REPERTOIRE 50 MARKS
List A - Baroque dances. These could be Minuets, Gigues, Bouree in Major and minor keys; composers such as Bach, Gurlitt etc. In higher grades, List A is Inventions, Sinfornias, Fugues, Partitas etc.
List B - Classical. These are usually Sonatinas, Variations in Major and minor keys; composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Scarlatti etc.
List C - Romantic/ Modern ear. These are ballads, lyrical pieces with names that sound like a painting or a fall sunset. Keys tend to move around, exploring modes and atonality.
List D - In Grade 9 and up, this is modern twentienth century compositions (List C remains Romantic/ Impressionist)

The Repertoire categories are a little bit different in Grade 1; List A is Baroque/ Classical, List B is Twentienth Century pieces with descriptive titles, List C are Inventions (two or three part rounds).

THE OTHER 50 MARKS
Parents may wonder why we spend the first part of the lesson away from the piano doing singing, clapping and note reading exercises. They may be surprised to learn that only 50% of the marks go to repertoire (playing songs).  The other 50% is accounted for like this.

• 6 marks for memory
• 24 for technique (study pieces, and scales/ triads)
• 10 for ear tests (naming intervals, melody playback)
• 10 for sight reading (playing a song he's never seen before, clapping a rhythm correctly the first time!)

Therefore, in the first part of the lesson, I am training them to acheive 100% marks in this partof the exam, and the skills directly apply to memory training and even playing the pieces well because they understand how to read music better and more quickly; they will learn to play their songs and reach the performance level faster.

STUDIES
The Technical Study pieces are found in the Study book which features pieces that typically work on a specific technique such as chords, thumb crossing over, hand over hand, fast fingers, arpeggios etc.

Scales and Triads are learned in order of the circle of fifths by key signatures.

EAR TESTS

This includes naming intervales of a second (stepwise), third (major minor), perfect fourth, perfect fifth, sixth (major minor), seventh (major minor) and an octave. It's more useful to learn these from the experience of playing games and building them with magic notes. Another test is naming a solid triad as Major, minor or Dominant or diminished seventh.  Melody playback seems to be a very stressful one for some. However if we play enough Melodic Bingo or solfege singing or music dictation (by numbers or notes) this is easy to train.

In my early days of music teaching without much experience, I would just spend last two minutes of the lesson on playing these by rote, and say, "This is a perfect fifth. This is  perfect fourth." Then I would play an example and he would have to name it. BORING!  I believe that my new way of teaching it is more effective.

SIGHT READING

This can be very frightful if a student is required to read and play a new piece, never seen before. If he is already comfortable with note reading and rhythm reading, and the hand eye coordination is already in place, this is a piece of cake, an easy 10 marks. Rhythm clapping is easy too when you get to say, "Blue jello jello huckleberry, blue purple purple rest, pineapple pineapple pineapple rest." Students will also learn the Solfege hand signs (do re mi).  By teaching the solfege singing, a student can play this tune correctly in his mind, which makes it very easy to play live, even perfectly on the very first try.

FORMAT

There are three sessions of piano exams in most Canadian cities.
Winter sessions exams in January (register by Nov 1)
Spring session exams in June (register by March 1)
Summer sessions in August (register by June 1).
Registration is done online; the piano teacher should provide her Teacher Registration number or home phone number.

There are usually one or two piano examiners who are top level performers or pedagogues (a fancy word for a piano teacher with years of experience) from the US or Canada who will oversee the piano exam and ask the child to play the selected repertoire, studies, technique and carry out the music tests.  In the Royal Conservatory of Music, the child enters the piano exam room alone, to play on the Yamaha U1 or a Yamaha Grand Piano.  (In other piano associations such as the Conservatory of Canada, the exam session is more like a performance recital where the student invites her family and guests and prepares a printed program).

Other related articles to follow:
What are the benefits of Piano Exams?
Piano Exam Tips for the Night Before.