Tag Archives: practice

Master Chopin By Practicing Just 20 Minutes A Day

Posted by MaryO on

Here are 8 bits of wisdom from Play It Again that remind us that it is possible to make time for what matters most in the face of life’s demands and stresses.

Own Your Stress

Rusbridger is completely clear-eyed about just how stressful his job is, and by confronting — rather than denying — the reality of his stress, he’s able to seek out ways to reduce it. Being editor of the Guardian is “one of those jobs which expands infinitely to fill the time and then spill beyond it,” he writes. “An editor, particularly within a modern global media company, is never truly off duty.”

A typical day in the life of a newspaper editor, he writes, means “a hum of low-level stress much of the time, with periodic eruptions of great tension.”

Find Your Metaphor

When Rusbridger felt frustration and self-doubt — which was nearly all the time — he found it helpful to think of people who took on great challenges in different fields. This helped put his own project in perspective, and also let him feel solidarity with others who had taken on great challenges. He compares learning Chopin to climbing the Matterhorn, the forbidding mountain in the Alps.

He writes: “Jerry R. Hobbs, an American computational linguistics expert and amateur climber, described the mountain as ‘just about the hardest climb and ordinary person can do’, which, apropos the G minor Ballade, sounds familiar.”

You’re Not Alone

Rusbridger supplements his piano practice with lots of reading. One book in particular, Arnold Bennett’s 1910 How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, reminds him that the sense of having not enough time to do all we want to do is universal, and not exactly new.

As Bennett writes: “We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is.”

There’s Power In A Morning Routine

Rusbridger learns quickly that his daily 20 minutes have to happen in the morning, before the unpredictable demands of work kick in. Here is how he describes his routine:

“I get up half an hour earlier. I fit in ten minutes of yoga listening to the Todayprogramme – not exactly meditative. Then breakfast and the papers with more Today programme all at the same time. Then I slip upstairs to the sitting room to play before driving into work.”

Pursuing Your Passion Is An Investment

Even though his morning piano practice is a solitary activity, he undertakes it knowing that it will have social benefits. After all, when he was a child, his mother told him that playing the piano would help him make friends. She’s right, and he finds her message echoed in the pages of Charles Cooke’s book Playing the Piano for Pleasure: “The better you play, the more your circle of friends will expand. You can count on this as confidently as you can count on the sun rising. Music is a powerful magnet which never fails to attract new, congenial, long-term friends.”

Mortality Is A Good Motivator

When Rusbridger’s former girlfriend gets in touch to tell him that her breast cancer has returned, he finds himself reflecting on mortality, and thinking of other friends more or less his age who are undergoing treatment for various serious diseases. Each brush with illness or mortality strengthens his determination to lean the Ballade. “In terms of getting on with life’s ambitions,” he writes, “I’m hit by more than a tinge of carpe diem.”

“Amateur” Is Not An Insult

Rusbridger has no illusions or intentions about becoming a professional pianist. He’s a dedicated amateur from the start, and his conversations and meetings with other music lovers — both professional and amateur — is a reminder that “amateur” isn’t a value judgment (i.e. worse than a professional), but a worthy end in itself. In fact, it’s probably a good deal more enjoyable and less stressful than being a pro.

In conversation with Rusbridger, the New York Times music critic Michael Kimmelman talks about the perks of being an amateur. “You have another life, it’s a full and interesting life, but you decide to add this life as well because music gives you something that you can’t get from this other life. It isn’t about having a career and making a living from it, it’s about something that only music-making will give you.”


It’s Never Too Late

As he improves and comes closer to learning the entire Ballade, no one is as surprised as Rusbridger himself. “It’s a funny thing to discover about yourself in your mid-50s — that you spent the previous forty years not doing something on the assumption that you couldn’t do it, when all along you could.”

He is astonished to learn, after memorizing complex passages of the Ballade, just how powerful his own memory is. “Back in the summer of 2010 I had no idea of just how capable a 56-year-old brain was of learning new tricks,” he writes. “So it’s heartening to know that, quite well into middle age, the brain is plastic enough to blast open hitherto unused neural pathways and adapt to new and complicated tasks. So, no, it’s not too late.”

From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/how-alan-rusbridger-edito_n_4080735.html

Ten Things You Should Never Say to Your Piano Teacher

Posted by MaryO on

Here are ten things you should never say to the piano teacher.

1. She doesn’t practice because she’s not feeling challenged.

2. What do you do for work, do you have a real job?

3. I don’t get paid until the end of the month. Can I bring the lesson money then?

4. She has never shown much interest in the piano, but can she try it anyway?

5. I never tried to play as a child, so there’s no chance I can learn to do this now.

6. I had a busy week, so I sat down on Saturday afternoon and practiced solidly for three hours to make up for all the days I had missed.

7. I can’t play this piece yet. Why are you trying to teach me something new?

8. I really want to play guitar, but my father told me piano would give me a good musical foundation.

9. I can’t believe how little I have improved in all that time.

10. My friend is getting married next week, and I told her I could learn the Wedding March just in time!

Read more at Ten Things You Should Never Say to Your Piano Teacher.

Why Students Really Quit Their Musical Instrument (and How Parents Can Prevent It) – National Association for Music Education (NAfME)

Posted by MaryO on

piano-teacher
A great article from the National Association for Music Education (NAfME)

The real reasons that students quit is often beyond their own understanding.  It is up to teachers and parents to create moments for students to want to continue on their instrument during the early years of study in order for the child to be successful and stay with the craft.

Here are reasons students quit, and ways to combat them:

Parents need to find music just as important as other subjects.  The sad truth is that many non-music teachers and administrators do not find music equally as important as math or English language-arts, but parents need to.  Besides, you wouldn’t let your child quit math, would you?  Many kids would jump at that opportunity.  Music is a core subject…period.  The more parents treat it as such, the less students will quit.

Students don’t know how to get better.  Without the proper tools and practice habits to get better at anything, students will become frustrated and want to quit.  It is the role of the music educator and the parents to give students ownership over their learning.  Teachers must teach students why, how, where, and when to practice, and parents must obtain minimal knowledge about how students learn music in order to properly support them at home.

Parents and students think they aren’t musically talented.  Sure, there are some kids who pick up an instrument and sound decent immediately, but they will hit a wall later and have to work hard to overcome it.  Most everyone else won’t sound that great at first.  Playing a musical instrument is a craft that, if practiced correctly, is something that all children can find success in.  As long as students know how to practice and that it needs to be done regularly, they will get better.

Students discontinue playing over the summer.  Statistics show that students who do not read over the summer find themselves extremely behind once school starts.  The same goes for playing an instrument.  A year of musical instruction can quickly go down the tubes over the summer vacation if students do not find small ways to play once in a while.  Picking up an instrument for the first time after a long layoff can be so frustrating that a student will not want to continue into the next school year.

The instrument is in disrepair.  A worn down cork, poor working reed, or small dent can wreak havoc on a child’s playing ability.  Sometimes the malfunction is so subtle that the student thinks they are doing something wrong, and frustration mounts.  Students, parents and teachers need to be aware of the basics of instrument maintenance and be on top of repairs when needed.

Teachers don’t create enough performing opportunities during the year.  The best way to motivate students musically is through performance.  Weeks or even months on end of practicing without performing for an audience gets old very quick, and student will definitely quit.  Teachers should schedule performances every six weeks or so in order for students to stay engaged and practicing.  Parents can help by creating small performance opportunities at home — a Friday night dinner concert or a planned performance for visiting family members are great ideas.

There is not enough “fun”music to practice.  It’s very important for parents to be aware of music that interests their child, because it exists in sheet music form for download or purchase.  It’s important that all students play music that is aligned to their interests in addition to other pieces that are worked on in school.

Other activities are pulling at the child.  Between art lessons, sports, karate, and other activities, parents grow weary of having “one more thing” to be on top of schedule-wise.  Parents need to understand that the enduring social and psychological benefits of music are as enormous as those of sports — in the same and different ways.  Budget time accordingly and children will have 10 minutes a day to practice an instrument, for sure.

Much like any worthwhile venture, practicing a musical instrument has its ups and downs.  Kids need to be reminded to practice, of course — but they should not be constantly pushed, and they should not be completely left alone.  It’s a balancing act where sometimes the parents will need to give their child a break for a few days and other times will need to bribe them to practice.  Either way, all children are capable of thriving with a musical education, and students will indeed thank their parents for not letting them quit.

via Why Students Really Quit Their Musical Instrument (and How Parents Can Prevent It) – National Association for Music Education (NAfME).

Practising Backwards

Posted by MaryO on
Found on Pinterest

Found on Pinterest

 

 

So often transfer students will come to me and play a piece they’ve been working on.  When they make a mistake, they’ll stop and start the piece all over again instead of correcting the mistake on the spot and moving on.

If they do this at home in practice, they’ll have played the beginning part many times more than the ending – or they may have never gotten to the ending at all!

The infographic above shows a way to get around this problem.  It’s also great for memorizing pieces during recital preparation.

Similar to this are some pieces in the early pages of beginning method books.  Lines 1, 2 and 4 will be identical with only line 3 being changed.

If a student plays this over and over all the way through, he’s learned line 1 three times better than line 3.  I always suggest practicing line 3 by itself several times to help counter this problem.

 

 

Practicing Piano Exercises

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hanon1

 

These tips work for more than just exercises!

  • Practice each hand separately first.
  • Practice slowly in the beginning (metronome on 60 or less). If you played it easily, and precisely with the metronome, move the tempo up one notch. Continue to practice in this way until you reach your goal speed.
  • Practice with various dynamics. Practice soft, loud and everything in between.
  • As you practice, vary the touch. Play staccato, play legato, and play two-note slurs.
  • Practice in different rhythms.
  • Try to practice Hanon Exercises in  other keys, starting with the white keys (C, D, E, F, G, A, and B) and then going to the black keys (D-flat, E-flat, G-flat,A-flat, and B-flat).
  • And as Charles-Louis Hanon recommends it, practice his exercises by lifting the fingers high and with precision, playing each note very distinctly.

The piano industry is slowly going out of tune | Public Radio International

Posted by MaryO on

Vintage TV set isolated on white background with static

 

The piano was once the heart of the home. In 1909, people bought more than 350,000 of the instruments.

“Back in the early 1900s, there were very little forms of entertainment,” says Stephen Scharbrough, a second-generation piano tuner and technician. “It was a time that was pre-radio, so if you wanted entertainment, music, or something to interact with at your house, place of business, or a restaurant or bar, you had to hire a musician or pianist.”

The piano eventually caught on, and individuals learned how to play the piano on their own to entertain themselves. But today, “things have obviously changed a bit since then,” Scarborough says.

The television has adopted the piano’s former role in the modern era, and children are easily entertained with tablets instead of having to practice musical scales. Annual piano sales have dropped to between 30,000 and 40,000.

Instead of serving as the family entertainment center, Scharbrough says pianos are now owned by specific sets of people. “It’s the family that places priority on self-discipline and has a respect for arts and music,” he says.

Read the entire article at The piano industry is slowly going out of tune | Public Radio International.

via

It’s Never Too Late!

Posted by MaryO on

“I used to play piano, when I was a child,” Fitzgerald explained. “My mother liked it, because she could just say, ‘Go play piano!’ and I’d go off and play it by myself.”

Fitzgerald stopped playing when she was young, due to the large size of her family. None of her brothers or sisters were much interested in the instrument, and she began to feel uncomfortable about her hobby.

She explained that big families can’t afford everything, and that keeping an expensive object like a piano for just one person would have been selfish.

So Fitzgerald gave up her piano, grew up, and moved on. But she always remembered her love of the piano. And when she moved into the Cartmell Home, and found out about the lessons, she was hooked.

“I decided to give it a try,” she said, laughing, “I’ve already got one foot in the grave! When else will I get the chance to?”

Although Fitzgerald’s skill with the instrument has atrophied since she was younger, (she laughs while pointing out that her music practice book is designed for children) her innate talents are as sharp as ever.

“I’ve always had an ear for music” she explains, “I can play a tune just from hearing it.”

Read the entire article at Returning to the keys: retired techer takes piano lessons after decades.