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This student just started lessons in March. We only had a few lessons before moving to online lessons. In this clip, I'm preparing him for the first piece in the method book that involves dotted half notes and triple meter. The rhythm patterns that we do in the video are in the piece, but he hasn't seen the piece yet. I'm reviewing steady bea...
This video shows the introduction of a new piece in a group class online. The students work through the preparation steps as a group, practice the piece on their own, and play for the teacher to receive feedback.Music Featured: "On Tiptoe" from Music Tree 1, AlfredTopics: Elementary StudentsOnline Group PianoReading and RhythmStudent Independence E...
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Will there ever be online transmission, where I don't have to worry about 1/8 of a second delay while doing demonstration to my st... Read More
Sunday, 23 February 2020 20:48
I give my piano students many tools to improve their practice, such as logging their time and playing their music backwards, but one of the most useful tools is counting while playing. This technique is one of our most-loved pedagogical practices, and its benefits cannot be understated. By outlining these advantages for ourselves and our stude...
As piano teachers, we strive to instill a love of making music in our students. The inevitable process of making mistakes along that journey, however, creates challenges and intriguing mysteries to be solved. "Why did the mistake happen?" "What in the score did the student not understand?" As I searched for answers, I discovered that a clearer...
One of the most frequent problems I have encountered with students in my teaching, examining, and adjudicating is their approach to cross-rhythms. Yet, a lack of confidence—even fear—can easily be overcome by informed analysis and practical application. I therefore encourage students to accompany me through the following stages. My examples come ex...
It's the last lesson before the recital. Garrett, age five, is playing "Graduation March," the final piece in Time to Begin from The Music Tree. The B section is made up entirely of half notes and whole notes. The good news? Garrett's rhythm is perfect; a huge improvement over last week, when all of the long notes were being cut short and the accom...
My last two columns introduced the placement of Xs in boxes to help beginning students understand rhythms better. Now, I'll wrap up this series with ideas about how to use rhythm boxes to practice more complex rhythmic concepts. Start by using a word processor to make and print blank tables like those below. Then, try these activities with your adv...
Rhythm boxes, Part II by Bradley Sowash The last column introduced placing Xs in "rhythm boxes" to represent well-known tunes. Here are more ideas to enhance rhythmic understanding by teaching with this versatile tool. Rhythm box activities Start by making and printing blank tables like those below. Then, try these activities with...
When asked to teach a music course to undergraduate dance majors, I soon realized that decoding written rhythms does not come easily to non-musicians. For these students, writing Xs in "rhythm boxes" was easier to understand than learning to read music notation. Later, I transferred the idea to my books and lessons, providing music students an...
Music is at once simple and complex. We hear it, and we are moved by the feelings the music evokes. Yet, it is also a complex matter. There are eight ingredients of music: medium (the sound), meter-tempo-rhythm (the time), melody (the tune), harmony (the chords), texture (the thickness or number of voices), form (the organization), dynamics (t...
Rhythm is everything The pianist's bible begins: "In the beginning, there was rhythm."This quote, often attributed to Hans van Bülow, has been heard in countless piano lessons. In this TEDIndia "talk," not a word is uttered (there are some rhythmic vocalizations). Instead, the percussionist Sivamani takes the audience through a sixteen-minute rhyth...
Many piano teachers believe that it is imperative to teach students to count aloud when learning a new piece, and they certainly have support in many of the popular teaching methods. However, I have to ask: if counting aloud while playing is so important for developing good rhythm skills, how do trumpet and clarinet players learn to perform in rhyt...
Add improvised pizzazz to the easy rhythms found in beginner tunes by asking your students to identify "dot spots." These are places where students can substitute dotted rhythms in place of quarter notes. Instead of this: Students play this: Listen and play It's not necessary for students to know how to read dotted rhythms prior to exploring their ...
In this issue, we address the teaching of a basic, but often challenging, skill—the dotted-quarter eighth note rhythm. We wanted to take a different approach and survey several teachers to assemble a wider collection of ideas for you, the reader, to consider. Nine teachers of pre-college students submitted their thoughts on teaching this rhyt...
I remember the first time I heard Elvina Pearce talk about piano teaching. I was a doctoral candidate in piano performance and pedagogy at Northwestern University in the mid-1980s, and a special class of master's and doctoral students was assembled so that "Mrs. Pearce" could teach both at the same time. From the very start I was riveted by the pre...