Kids who love piano

Here are some thoughts on helping your children succeed at piano/music lessons.

1. Be clear of your goals and communicate these with me.
2. Make sure you leave enough time in their weekly schedule to practice.  The amount of time needed depends on their level and goals.
3. Supervise and support your child’s practicing.  One of the most successful strategies is to cheerfully help your children complete their homework correctly.
4.  Take your children to concerts.  Southern Ontario has an embarrassment of riches available seven nights a week. Play good music around the house. Children love what they know.
5. I take requests!  I encourage all students to supplement their studies with pieces of their choice.  After all, for most students this is their primary goal.
6 Encourage your children to participate in recitals and exams. This is a positive experience for most students, though I caution to add, not everyone. We must use our good judgement.
7. Repetition is the mother of learning. Learning to play the piano is both an intellectual and athletic skill. It takes time to develop both.  Encourage your children to take the long-term patient approach.
8. Participate as a family in other artistic outings and activities: consider trips to the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the opera, a jazz concert, a piano recital at McMaster University, a country and western show or Scottish tattoo at Copps Coliseum, the list goes on. If you attend church, synagogue, or mosque ask the musicians if your children may sit quietly with them while they work.

Cheers,

David

Video Practicing, Recording your practicing on your laptop

I may be the last person on earth to try this.


Record your practicing on your laptop.
Listen and watch


With myself, I discovered a few things:

1. I have tension in my jaw.
2. I have minimal tension in the arms.
3. The second time I recorded, the performance was much improved.
4. I will be trying it with students this week. (I will carefully delete the file at the end of the lesson.)

Cheers,

David

Student Interview Questions

When interviewing prospective students we owe to them and ourselves to assess our compatibility. The following was suggested to me.

1. If they are 8 years old and up, ask them to write on a piece of paper why they want music lessons, and what they hope to accomplish, while this is going on exchange pleasantries with the parent. Then interview the parent in light of what the student wrote.

2. If they are a transfer student listen to them play their favourite piece and then play a duet with them.

Cheers,

David

Income Tax tip for Busy Teachers

I had a conversation with some colleagues this week concerning income tax instalments, paid quarterly.They were remarking how "painful" writing that check can be.

A few years ago, the fine folks at Revenue Canada and I came up with the weekly pay plan. It works like this. Divide your upcoming tax liability by 52. Tell Revenue Canada to withdraw this amount weekly from your bank account. They will be happy to oblige over the phone.

Cheers,

David

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