Piano Maestro Parent’s Guide

Piano Mania

 

It will be fun watching your child improve their piano skills all while having fun using Piano Maestro in lessons each week!

As your child’s teacher (or YOUR teacher!), I’m looking forward to seeing the progress they will make when they start using it at home each day. This guide will help you understand how this app will benefit your child and how to get it set up on your own iPad.

Overview
What is Piano Maestro?

Piano Maestro is the ultimate piano practice tool that will have students quickly playing their favorite classical, pop, rock, TV and video game songs and themes. It is available in the App Store and works on the iPad.

What skills does it improve?
• Note reading
• Sight reading
• Rhythm
• Inner pulse
• Confidence

What makes it so fun?
• Upbeat background tracks
• Stunning graphics
• Instant rewards and feedback
• Satisfaction of playing REAL music

It works with an acoustic piano?

Yes! Your child practices on your real acoustic or digital piano. Piano Maestro listens from the iPad’s built-in microphone. No wires needed.

I’m already paying for lessons. What value does this add?

Sometimes I wish I could be there with your child to encourage them to keep practicing daily. I’m sure it’s not always easy, as unforeseen challenges will arise.

Since our time each week is just too short, this app will give me eyes on the ground and it will keep them practicing longer and improving more quickly.

How will it be used in lessons?

I will spend a few minutes of each lesson helping your child master a couple of new songs all while having fun! I will also teach them how to use the practice options at home.

At the end of the lesson, we will choose Home Challenge assignments within the app that will show up in your account at home. I’ll get updates when progress is made.

Getting Started
Wow, this sounds awesome. Now, how do I get started?

1) Download Piano Maestro on your iPad from the AppStore
2) Create a JoyTunes account with a parent’s email, under which, you can have multiple profiles for each member of the family.
3) Create a profile for each family member (that means you too Mom and Dad!) inside the Parent/Teacher zone (top right-hand corner of the main screen)
4) Connect to your teacher, me! After creating a profile in the “profiles” tab of the parent/teacher zone, select the student’s profile and click “connect to teacher.” Once I approve the connection to your child, they will receive full access to all content for FREE! I will then also begin receiving weekly progress reports.
5) Start Playing – I will now start assigning you homework, meanwhile, get started on Journey Mode.

When you connect to the O’Connor Music Studio, Piano Maestro is free for as long as you study here.

Practice Pie: The Step-By-Step Guide To Helping Your Child Enjoy Their Music Practice

 

Music practice arguments in families are seemingly so ubiquitous that it’s become a trope used in sitcoms. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Your child can have a wonderful experience with music and you can enjoy watching their progress without practice becoming a battlefield.

In Practice Pie, I’ll teach you how to support your child in their musical journey. I can’t promise it will be as easy as pie (but then, is pie really easy?) but I can promise to make it quick and practical, with a little humour thrown in for good measure.

You signed your child up for lessons because you wanted them to enjoy and appreciate music. You deserve a taste of that fun, too. Let’s get baking so we can take a bite of some delicious music practice pie!

Practice Pie is a charming and accessible book that teachers, parents and students will gain immense benefit from reading! It is full of wisdom and practical advice. I plan to make it required reading for all my piano families!
– Katherine Fisher, co-author of Piano Safari, pianosafari.com

“Learning to play an instrument takes practice and learning to practice takes practice. Nicola Cantan’s ‘Practice Pie’ is the perfect recipe for showing parents how to create tasty practice sessions at home with their children.”

– Shelly Davis, Piano Parent Podcast, pianoparentpodcast.com

Music lessons spur emotional and behavioral growth in children, new study says – The Washington Post

From the Washington Post, but we knew this already, right?

Music training not only helps children develop fine motor skills, but aids emotional and behavioral maturation as well, according to a new study, one of the largest to investigate the effects of playing an instrument on brain development.

Using a database produced by the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance (MRI) Study of Normal Brain Development, researchers at the University of Vermont College of Medicine analyzed the brain scans of 232 healthy children ages six to 18 specifically looking at brain development in children who play a musical instrument. (The original study did not indicate specific instruments.)

“What we found was the more a child trained on an instrument,” said James Hudziak, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont and director of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth and Families, “it accelerated cortical organization in attention skill, anxiety management and emotional control.”

Read the entire article at Music lessons spur emotional and behavioral growth in children, new study says – The Washington Post.

Fun with Music for Young Children in Northern Virginia…


fun-music

The second semester of Fun With Music will meet every Monday from 10-11:30 am in the Gathering Place of Pender United Methodist Church at 12401 Alder Woods Drive Fairfax, VA 22033.

This program is for moms and dads with their children ages 0 to 5. A fee of $30 covers the cost of food and supplies for the semester.

Each week there is 30 minutes of singing, a snack and toys are brought out for the children to play. The parents are served a breakfast and have the opportunity to fellowship with each other.

Dr. Maurice Hinson

hinson

 

I have always respected Dr. Hinson’s work and his music.  So much so that I went to Connecticut to take a class on Piano Pedagogy with him several years ago.  I have also attended several local piano teacher workshops with him.  At one of them, he claimed to remember me from that Connecticut class.  Whether true or not, I treasure that comment and the signature on a piano book he gave me.

We have several of his books at the O’Connor Music Studio and many are available for loan.  If you are interested in buying any for yourself, amazon.com has a great selection.  In addition to those books he has authored, he has edited the works of many composers.  Amazon lists 270 works edited and annotated by Dr. Hinson.

 

From his page on alfred.com:

One of America’s most respected authorities on piano literature, Dr. Maurice Hinson received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Music Teachers National Association at its Washington, D.C. convention in the spring of 1994, the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Florida in 1990, and the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Michigan in the fall of 1995. Hailed as a specialist in American piano music, some of his articles appear in the New Grove Dictionary of American Music in the United States.

Dr. Hinson received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Florida and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Michigan. He also studied at The Juilliard School and the Conservatoire National in Nancy, France.

While a Senior Professor of Piano in the School of Church Music at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Hinson’s curriculum included teaching piano, piano literature, and piano chamber music. He performed, lectured, and gave masterclasses worldwide. His books and editions have become classic standards in the studios of serious piano teachers and students the world over.


From his obituary at legacy.com:

Hinson, Dr. G. Maurice, age 84 died November 11, 2015 in the company of his family. Dr. Hinson was Professor and Senior Professor of Piano at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1957 to 2015, and a member of Broadway Baptist Church. He was also organist-choirmaster of churches in Florida, Michigan and Kentucky from 1943 to 1980. Dr. Hinson received his BA degree from the University of Florida and his MM and DMA degrees from the University of Michigan, and also studied at The Julliard School and the University of Nancy, France (Conservatoire National).

He was the first president of the Greater Louisville Music Teachers Association, and president of the Kentucky Music Teachers Association as well as the Southern Division of the MTNA. He also taught “The Dorsey Class,” a group of selected piano teachers from 1963 to 2015.

Dr. Hinson is the author of 14 books mostly published by Indiana University Press, plus over 100 articles for music publications. He was a senior editor for The Alfred Publishing Company of California. He edited more than 300 editions of classical piano music and recorded five DVDs of piano music.

As Professor of Piano at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for 58 years, he taught and nurtured many pianists who now hold distinguished positions in churches and universities throughout the world.

Dr. Hinson received many awards in piano pedagogy and performance. He was awarded the Liszt Commemorative Medal by the Hungarian Government and the Medal of Excellence by the American Liszt Society for his research on the music of Franz Liszt. He was hailed as a specialist in American Piano music and some of his most recent articles appeared in the NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN MUSIC. He gave recitals, lectures, and master classes in five continents and 50 states.

Hinson was the founding editor of the JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN LISZT SOCIETY, past editor of THE AMERICAN MUSIC TEACHER, and contributing editor of THE PIANO QUARTERLY and PIANO AND KEYBOARD.

Parents! How to Help Your Students Practice ~ Day Eight

We have established that regular practice routines will not happen without proactive piano parents. So, how can parents be proactive practice assistants even if they have never touched a piano?

Day 8. The Timekeeper: Some of the O’Connor Music Studio students are using Andrea And Trevor Dow’s Timed Note Reading Tests For Piano, so their parents can be the timekeeper when it is time for their daily note reading practice.

Andrea And Trevor Dow’s Timed Note Reading Tests For Piano, Book 1: 90 Days Of Exercises In Middle C Position And C Position

and

Andrea And Trevor Dow’s Timed Note Reading Tests For Piano, Book 2: 95 Days Of Exercises In Treble C Position And G Position