Keeping fit

We typically sit all day at our jobs. Some of us travel in this line of work as well, eating on the road. Many juggle child rearing responsibilities with the job. Meals are often rushed or skipped. This stress leads to weight gain, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks and other lurking disasters.

One day we look in the mirror an unattractive stranger looks sadly back.

Speaking with some of our more fit colleagues I created the following list.

Diet

• Eat fresh
• Eat regularly to keep blood sugar stable
• If it comes in a box or is served by a teenager in a cardboard hat: don’t eat it.

Exercise

• Get a competent trainer, follow the plan
• Some do Yoga
• Speak with the doctor if it has been a few years since you did vigorous physical activity, before putting on the runners. I don’t what the next blog to be an obituary. :-)
• If it took twenty fives years to get in the shape you are now, it will take some time to remake yourself.

Work load stress

• This is a tough one for piano teachers

A wiser man than I said. “Don’t tell me you know what to do, tell me why you don’t do it.”

See you all at the gym and juice bar.

David Story
In the Saskatoon airport lounge

The Future of Classical Music

A very interesting article on the Classical music business.

The record label Naxos has gone from budget outsider to industry leader in its 20-plus years of existence. But what does the future hold for any record label at a time when CD sales are plummeting and dowloads are stagnant? Naxos’s founder and CEO, Klaus Heymann, is one of the most candid and straightforward executives in the business, and he’s tailored his long-term goals to the realities of today’s market; his goal, he says, is to be “the last man standing.” He spoke to me while in the States for marketing meetings about the Naxos’s future.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat/2010/07/the_future_of_the_recording_in.html

Be sure to follow this link afterwards.

More music is being recorded and released than at any other point in history. Yet music copyright is completely insecure, and piracy rampant in the current climate. So what does that say about pro-copyright and anti-piracy initiatives?



A sticky debate indeed. One of the major reasons for copyright law is to ensure the continued creation of intellectual property. Yet more musicians are in the game than ever before, and music fans couldn't be happier with the abundance.

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/072710stand

Cheers, I think.

David Story

Children Today

I remember a time before computer games, cell phones, instant messaging, IPads, iPhones, Internet surfing, Youtube.com, inflated school grades, unlimited free downloadable musical files, and instant communications.

Instead, we had: wall-to-wall television, radio, telephones nailed to the wall, bootleg cassettes, top 40 charts, hippies with guitars.

Okay, we still have hippies with guitars, except we now call them singer songwriters. Same chords, same banal sincerity.

And, old folks still worry about young folks.

Teaching young folk when you are an old folk has always presented a few challenges. But, the basics remain. Teaching, inspiring, and succeeding with still children requires:


Confidence
Competence
Enthusiasm
Experience
Knowledge
Trust
Faith

Cheers,
David Story

Upcoming: more book reports on teaching

The Music Exam Experience

I’ve just finished a week on the road, travelling in southern British Columbia hearing many piano and voice candidates.

A few observations

For the well prepared and enthusiastic student it is an awesome experience. In a world of faked experience it is a truly real and exciting.

I’ve learned five year olds can successfully and joyfully complete a grade one exam.

As always, Adult candidates are the most emotionally intense musicians, bringing the day’s emotional baggage into the exam room. But it is to their credit they persevere and succeed in spite of it.

Teachers are usually more nervous and anxious than their students

Pity the poor teenager. The desire is there, the talent is there, but often the skills are underdeveloped. Why? Speaking with their teachers the usual list of reasons comes up: over commitments. They are expected to get good school grades, have a part time job, social life (mostly on-line, the average teen in my studio is on line upward of 40 hours per week!), volunteer work (now required in many school districts) etc.

Cheers from Kamloops

David Story

Picking a university

It is that time of year: Picking a university


From a recent email

A family I teach in Hamilton have a son who graduated from MAC recently. He just finished his MBA at Columbia in NYC. Paul, another student is about to graduate with his PHD from University of Chicago, he went to MAC. MAC is now in the top 100 schools in the world.

The Ottawa school has a co-op, which I’m told is an advantage.

At MAC costs are potentially lower: i.e. Housing. Large student loans really cramp a young person’s start in life. This comes from other former students.

Roger, another student went to York, for music, he is working on his PHD in music/brain research in England.

Jim, Western University, is going to UofT for a doctorate in music.

The conclusion: It’s the student’s ambition and well focused plans which make the biggest difference, with the student debt factor being a significant determinant in post grad studies. This advice comes from other students and family members who have piled up debt and are now saddled with a school debt mortgage.

I hope this helps.

(The first names of the students have been changed.)

“I want to play the drums!”, “Piano is dumb!”, “Piano is for girls!”

We have all heard these comments from time to time, usually from early teens. What to do?


“I want to play the drums!”

Without blinking, I always start by asking a few friendly questions.

1. “What kind of music would you like to play on the drums?”
2. “Do you have friends who play the guitar?”

A statement “I want to play the drums!” often alerts us that the music we are teaching the student is becoming increasingly irrelevant or our approach needs a little rethink for this particular student. Remember they love music or they would simply quit. And, playing the drums really is fun.

“Piano is dumb!”

1. "What do you mean?"

Some possible causes of stress:

1. Overscheduled pressured student- hockey, band, piano, friends, homework, Facebook, etc. They love the piano; they just don't have time because of other commitments. Talk to the parents, quick.

2. Sitting still in a room by yourself, for extended periods of time, practicing music that you don’t understand when your friends are running around the mall, and having fun online is pretty hard to do when you are 13. Someone once told me that most kids quit piano when the music on their iPod doesn’t match what is sitting in front of them on the music stand.

“Piano is for girls!”

Believe it or not I’ve heard this.
My response, “I’m not a girl”.
He quit anyhow.

Cheers,

David Story

College and University Preparation

Five questions I consider before giving my approval.

1. Are they artists or musicians?

• An artist creates, a musician plays what’s put in front of them. Two completely different skill sets. (An artist knows they are one, musicians always ponder this question.)

2. Preconditions of success

• They have the “rage to master” as outlined in the book “Talent is Overrated”
• They have faith in themselves which is grounded in reality
• They have access to resources; musical training is expensive

 3. What’s the endgame?

• Lady GaGa adoration
• Schoolteacher
• Industry professional
• Medical school
• Or a drugs, sex, rock ‘n roll fantasy?

4. Are they prepared?

•  They have a history of focused accomplishment
•  Entrepreneurial talent
• Adult maturity is becoming evident

5. Charisma: how big is their talent?

• Dave’s definition of talent? “Can you hold the attention of a room full of strangers for 90 minutes? 89 minutes won’t cut it. “

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Part of the toughness, determination, and vision required to succeed, as many of us have uniquely done, precludes the need for approval.

Cheers,

David Story