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We are thrilled to share this archival footage of Elvina Pearce in the inaugural episode of our new series, Timeless Teaching Videos. Video from this episode was recorded at a Piano Pedagogy Seminar at the New School for Music Study in year 2000.At The New School for Music Study, founders Frances Clark and Louise Goss created a trad...
During my fourteen years as an instructor of piano pedagogy at the collegiate level, one aspect of my work was to observe the teaching of interns enrolled in the course and then follow-up with one-on-one conferences in which the lesson happenings were discussed.I recall that one of the major issues which was addressed in nearly every post-lesson co...
Since many of our articles focus on what we, as teachers, think about the needs of the pre-college level student, I thought it would be interesting to survey several college students to find out what they have to say, most particularly about their own piano study and practice habits. Via a questionnaire, I interviewed four students: Jessica De...
from the series: The Other Teacher: Home Practice Elvina Pearce, EditorFor our Home Practice column in this issue, we have invited five highly successful teachers to become a roundtable panel and share with us some of their solutions to the most common issues which have to be addressed in their own studios, and which those of us who teac...
from the series: The Other Teacher: Home PracticeIn an interview with Nelita True which appeared in the Home Practice column of the Autumn 2002 issue of Keyboard Companion, she was asked, "What do you consider to be the most important thing you do when practicing?" Her answer was, "Listening!" In the same article, when asked, "What things abo...
from the series: The Other Teacher: Home Practice Elvina Pearce, EditorOver the years I have always found the "Fantasy Dance" of Schumann ("Phantasietanz," No. 5 from the Album Leaves, Op. 124) to be an excellent teaching piece for the early advanced student. Marked presto, it is brilliant, and dramatic - a wonderful "show-off" piece for...
from the series: The Other Teacher: Home PracticeElvina Pearce, EditorThe Burgmiiller "Ballade" of Op. 100 (see pages 18-19) is usually a favorite with all students who can play it well. In my studio, we frequently refer to it as the "Beauty and the Beast" piece, with the "misterioso" A sections (mm. 1-22 and 49 to the end) portray...
Elvina Pearce, nationally recognized pianist, teacher, lecturer, author, and composer, studied piano with Isabelle Vengerova and pedagogy with Frances Clark. For 14 years, she taught pedagogy and directed the Preparatory Piano Division at Northwestern University. She currently teaches at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois where she also ...
Certainly one way we can find out about student practice is to assign a new piece, give the student no help with it, and then hear the the piece after a given amount of time. The results of such an exercise can tell us quite a bit about things such as accuracy (notes, rhythm, symbols), pedaling, musicality, and technique. What this kind of pro...
Most of what I've learned about practice, I've learned from teaching. However, there are a few things that I learned as a student that I still strongly believe in and pass along to my students. Here's part of my "lecture" on practice that occurs during each new student's initial interview: Students who practice at the same time each day u...
by Elvina PearceProbably every teacher would agree that a student's ultimate success with a new piece depends, for the most part, on how that student approaches it during the first week or two of home practice. Going one step further, I would say that the productivity and success of this initial practice is largely dependent on what is done wi...
We have all heard student performances of pieces which might have been quite acceptable except for the stumbles and hesitations surrounding the execution of ornaments. Perhaps these students should not have been assigned pieces containing ornaments. Or, maybe all of the ornaments should have been deleted before the pieces w...
Last spring, I asked seven teachers to distribute a questionnaire to the parents of five or six of their students. Twenty- seven parents (who, for the most part, retained anonymity) returned the questionnaires. Not all of them answered every question, and the resulting data is by no means "scientific," but for the purposes of this department, ...
It's probably safe to say that most piano students have most of their ensemble experience playing duets with their teacher. This is a logical introduction into the art of collaborative performance and is both fun and worthwhile musically. However, in this format the teacher continues to "call the shots," so-to-speak, setting the tempo, and ma...
AII of us who have been in college music buildings which house practice rooms are aware of the almost continuous sounds of student practice emanating from within. Those who work in this environment must acquire the ability to tune out much of this round-the-clock piano playing in order to fulfill their teaching and/or other professional responsibil...
from the series: The Other Teacher: Home PracticeAs a piano teacher with no children of my own, I have sometimes wondered how, as a parent, I might have handled music lessons for my child. Would I (should I) have insisted that the child take piano lessons? If so, what role would I have played in this event? Would I (should I) have taught the c...
Most of our lessons involve two processes-teaching and testing. The teaching aspect of the lesson has to do primarily with preparation and presentation. In the area of concept formation, this means getting the student ready to learn something new and then introducing it. In the area of practice, it means getting the student ready for a week of prac...
A teacher can learn a lot about a new student's previous study ~ and practice by simply looking at the former assignment notebook. That's why I always ask a prospective student to bring it along to the pre-enrollment interview along with the music and other materials most recently studied. In some cases, the weekly assignments have be...
Elvina Truman Pearce is nationally recognized as a pianist, teacher, lecturer, author, and composer. She studied piano with Isabelle Vengerova and pedagogy with Frances Clark. She is currently an instructor piano pedagogy and director of the Preparatory Piano ...