Tag Archives: adult piano lessons

App Review “Blob Chorus” by Lumpty Learning – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

Aural training – or developing ‘a good ear’ – is such an important part of becoming a musician. It helps with everything from being able to harmonise through to simply recognising if you’ve made a mistake. But not everybody is born with a naturally good ear and even those who are can still learn to better refine it.

So how do we help our students develop their aural skills without the drudgery of drills and exercises? We use fun apps!

Blob Chorus by Lumpty Learning is one such app, which introduces students to basic pitch recognition in a fun way. It is used in thousands of schools around the world because it also works well in a group setting, but its simplicity means it is also totally suitable for individual lessons.

The premise of the game is simple: a number of green blobs have formed a choir and they are singing for King Blob (who is purple and wears a crown). Each blob sings a note and then King Blob sings a note. The note sung by the king is the same as a note sung by one of the blobs. But which one? This is what you need to identify.

Piano Teacher in Wallsend NSW Although the game always opens with the default of three blobs, you can set the game to as little as two (which is the best place to start). As you improve, you can increase the number of blobs in the choir. The maximum is eight blobs, which is very difficult.

If the incorrect blob is selected, that blob will explode, but you are able to select another blob and continue doing this until the correct blob is selected. At any time you can click the ‘hear blobs again’ button at the bottom to hear the remaining blobs sing their notes again.

Piano Teacher in Wallsend NSW The game is separated into groups of ten questions; after each set of ten you will receive a score and an overall rating.

Free on the Apple app store (but not for Android), the Apple version can be found here.

If you don’t own or have access to an iPad or Android tablet, never fear! The game is also available in a web version here; it just requires an internet connection.

They not only look cute, but they sound really cute as well 🙂

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW.

Going with the Flow – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

Young Mr G was resisting participating in a composing activity. I use a system that tells a cute little story and each lesson of the system builds on that story and subtly introduces another technique the students can use in their composition. Mr G liked the story and the idea behind it but he wasn’t going to try it out. No way. He procrastinated. He changed the subject. He fiddled with other things. So I let it go for that week and we smoothly moved on to something else.

The next week Mr G turned up with two plain books that he had made in school that day. He had folded in half many sheets of plain paper, with a different coloured sheet on the outside of each one. He had experienced trouble stapling the middle and wondered if I could help. We stapled up the books and I had an idea… I asked him what his plans were for the books (he had no specific plans) and asked if perhaps he would like to use one in his lesson to compose some rhythms. He was so thrilled to have a purpose for one of his treasured books, he jumped at the opportunity. He chose his red book and composed his rhythm. I drew a staff in the book, he put his rhythm to music and his motif was born. The first composing lesson was done! He was so proud of his achievement, he even let me video it to share with my Facebook page (and normally he is not a fan of sharing).

The moral of the story? Go with the flow.

I work hard on creating curriculums and I have a plan mapped out for each student. It’s important to know where we’re heading, plus it provides them with structure and a goal. But it’s all pointless if they aren’t engaged and sometimes that engagement can come from the most unlikely of sources. As a teacher, I need to be constantly alert for teaching opportunities. It may mean the lesson plan is derailed, but as long as they are learning something valuable and at their level, then the things in the lesson plan can always be caught up later.

Miss G (sorry, but their names really do start with the same letter) is a young teen who loves to experiment on the piano and she plays a lot of songs with a chord base. She has worked out a lot of this herself and will often show me what she has been doing. I realised though that she is solely playing by ear (a great skill in itself) but without understanding why she was playing those particular notes. So all of a sudden the lesson changed and turned into a conversation about chord construction, major vs minor triads and typical chord progressions (and even 12-bar blues). I wanted her to have the knowledge to work out where she should go next without having to try every note until one sounded right. It was important to ‘derail’ because playing this other music is what fuels Miss G’s love of piano when the slog of scales and exam prep becomes a chore.

Of course, this is harder with the students who are on an exam trajectory. If they want to reach their goals by exam time, their time is fairly tightly scheduled and because most of them don’t practise very much these days, lesson time is often spent going over things that should have been conquered during home practise. But even within those confines, it is important to be adaptable. Go with the flow.

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW.

How to Practise Away From the Piano – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

It’s that time again… How do the holidays seem to come around so quickly? We’re no sooner getting into the swing of the term and the term is over.

Spring is in the air and we are picturing sunny days spent running around outside, all cares and responsibilities momentarily suspended. It’s a beautiful thought, isn’t it? But the reality is a little different. For those still learning in the early years/grades, for every week spent away from the piano, about two or three weeks’ work is undone. Have a break from practising in the holidays and you’ll find it harder to catch yourself back up on the other end.

So it goes without saying that I expect my students to maintain practise over the school holidays… although I also realise the reality is quite a different story.

Piano Teacher in Wallsend NSW However, for those who are going to be away from their piano for a period of time, standard practising obviously isn’t possible. I have posted before about ways to practise away from the piano, but that was more about keeping your repertoire fresh in your mind.

Val has written a great post over at takelessons.com that will run you through a host of activities you can do to enhance and maintain your technique while you aren’t near your piano, or are pressed for time. She has even included great infographic summaries you can use. Check it out and discover the things you can do to help your body form habits that will help you when you are back at the piano.

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW.

What’s the Rush for Exams? – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

“How soon will she be able to sit her first exam?” is a question often posed by new or prospective student parents, often with a memory of their own days learning the piano.

When I was a kid, it was normal to start lessons at the start of the year after turning seven. We concentrated on one extracurricular activity (or only a couple) and we could practise every day. In the middle of the following year, we were usually ready to sit the Preliminary grade AMEB exam.

But these days the answer to the ‘when’ question is as uncertain as the length of the proverbial piece of string and there are a number of reasons why.

Piano teacher in Wallsend NSW

The AMEB Preliminary exam has been growing substantially and steadily more difficult. Pieces that appeared in my old First Grade books are now more likely to be found in the Preliminary repertoire. It was rare to venture beyond the basic five finger position and both key and time signatures were beginner level. In comparison, one of the pieces in the current Preliminary syllabus has interchanging compound and simple time signatures and two different pentatonic key signatures, as well as extending to both extremes of the keyboard.
Kids these days have quite heavily-scheduled lives. They often have a list of extra-curricular activities that take up so much time, there is little time left for home practise. If they can’t practise effectively, they won’t improve at the rate that may be expected. Just turning up to lessons isn’t going to do the job. A student who can manage 90 minutes a week of quality practise will take double the time to progress as a student who can manage 3 hours (and this commitment to practise is pretty much out of the control of the piano teacher).
Students are often starting lessons at a younger age. While I still prefer to not start them until around seven, many kids are starting as young as 4 and 5. This is a major factor in their exam-readiness. While there are many benefits to starting kids in music lessons earlier, without those language and maths basics behind them, it takes longer for them to learn concepts and many weeks of reinforcement activities are often required for each note or concept. Looking at the practise aspect, younger children’s attention spans are shorter and it can prove counterproductive to insist they sit at the piano for a specific amount of time. They also benefit greatly from having a parent sit with them and guide them through their practise, which becomes difficult when both parents need to work.
Both parents working often means kids aren’t coming straight home after school. Afternoons spent at facilities such as OOSH offer no opportunity for scheduled practise time and the precious few hours left at home are rightly dedicated to family time.

Piano teacher in Wallsend NSW The first point above makes the combination of issues somewhat specific to Australia, as the Australian Music Examination Board (AMEB) is the dominant player in providing instrumental assessments in Australia only, but the problem of less available practise time and younger beginners is lamented by teachers worldwide, whether in relation to exams or just general progress.

We can no longer expect piano students to follow the same progression as all the generations before them. Whereas once upon a time it was not uncommon for a beginner aged seven to spend eighteen months acquiring the basics and practising 20 – 30 minutes every day of the week to be ready to sit for their Preliminary examination (which were much easier), these days it is a rare student who is ready to be entered for this first examination within any less than two-and-a-half to three years of tuition.

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW.

Top Tips for Efficient Practise, Particularly for Adults – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

So many resources are available for helping kids practise. There are games, gimmicks, activity sheets and loads of tips for their parents. But what about the adult students? It seems as though the adults should be disciplined to practise, because they are choosing to learn, but the fact is adults have a lot of other pressures and demands on their time. It is often also a lonely pursuit – they don’t have parents involved and encouraging them.

Adult students in particular need their practise to be of good quality and very effective, as it’s often a struggle to find both the physical time and also the mental alertness required on a regular basis.

Piano teacher in Wallsend NSW Following are some tips that can help you make the maximise the effectiveness of your practise time:

1. Be organised – Practicing the piano efficiently is all about organising yourself to get the best results from the effort expended. It’s essential to be very clear about your daily practice objectives. Writing a daily practise plan helps you to zoom in on your most important tasks tasks and will give you a feeling of accomplishment as you complete each one. Your teacher can help you with this.

2. Don’t try to multi-task – Discipline yourself to complete each practice goal before moving on to the next. If you can meet the goals on your (for example) Czerny study before moving on to your Mozart sonata you will find it far more effective than bouncing back and forth between the two. Don’t try to get each task perfect the first time; you just want to see you are improving and well on track to meeting your overall goal.

3. Only practice with full concentration – If your practise session doesn’t demand large reserves of concentration, then you’re not practising properly. Five minutes of concentrated practise is far more valuable than five hours of moving your fingers while your mind wanders. The mind must be active at all times, since it is first and foremost the mind that play the piano. I think this is one of the most difficult tips to master, especially for adults.

4. Schedule your practise sessions – While this seems self-explanatory, this technique will only work well when in conjunction with the tip above – if you schedule in time, you must be prepared to give that time your full concentration. For some, the best time may be first thing in the morning when the mind is fresh (and you will feel accomplished at having started your day by completing a major task) while others may need to wait until the kids are in bed and the household jobs completed.

5. Always warm up first – Well warmed-up hands will allow you to accomplish the physical tasks demanded by difficult pieces with greater ease and with fewer errors. I find that scales and arpeggios make for the best warm-up. Even normal lessons here are usually started with exercises and scales (although warming up is only one of their many uses).

6. Practice slowly – It is a known psycho-physiological fact that the brain cannot absorb musical information in detail when playing fast. It is therefore essential to work slowly and carefully at all times. Speed can always be built up later, but forcing it too early jeopardises learning the piece correctly.

7. Keep a practise journal – A practise journal is a log of your practice sessions, including what you practise and for how long. It can be a notebook, a Word document, a spreadsheet or whatever works for you. At the end of each practise session, write down which pieces you worked on and how long you spent on each one. This can serve to force your mind to focus and may also help with planning future practise goals (in fact, it can be an interesting exercise to compare it to your original goals).

8. Practice only short passages – The brain absorbs musical information more readily when it is not overwhelmed by quantity. Each day, practice just one passage, and practice it with care and thoughtfulness. This makes for far more efficient practise in the long run.

9. Study away from the piano – This has been covered in more detail previously here. Some of the most efficient piano practise can be accomplished without a piano. You can do this by analysing the music and listening to it in your mind. Hear each voice in your mind and sing along and you might be surprised when you notice recurring themes and relationships, harmonic subtleties etc. You want to know you piece equally well with or without the music in front of you.

Most of these tips involve adjusting your mindset and – like many effective tools – require some effort. But the achievements are so much more rewarding when you appreciate the effort involved. I promise it’s worth it!

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW.

Why Do I Teach the Piano? – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

Why do I teach the piano? Why do I want to help others grow their love of music and gain the ability to do what they desire with that love? This is a long one, so you may want to make a cuppa and settle in for a read and a listen…

My mother, Carole and her mother, Doris. Mum and Mama.

For me it is all about legacy. There has been a great legacy left to me by my mother and my grandmother, as well as other ancestors. I am honoured to have received from them my family’s musical gift. While I inherited very little else from them physically, I do have similar hands to theirs; obviously a pianist’s hands. I inherited their ear, which will pick out an alto harmony as quickly and easily as hearing the melody. And I inherited their accompanying skill.

As I have not been blessed with children of my own, I have had to look elsewhere for an outlet to share this treasure. Not only what I have inherited, but everything I learned along the way to help me put it all into practice. I want to help somebody else start their own family memories.

Growing up, music was a tremendously large part of my life. So much of our family life revolved around music. Much of this was also connected to our church, but music extended beyond that as well.

Our family was part of a large church of very musical people (most of whom were related to us somewhere down the line). It was quite common for the congregation to naturally break into four-part harmony during the hymns. Mum and Mama (my grandmother) shared the job of church organist, a role each of them held from their teenage years right up until they were no longer physically able to play. They also played for all weddings and funerals held at the church.

We had a reputation in the area for being a very musically-talented church and often hosted functions where music was shared with the wider public. The church was also well-known for putting on great stage productions and although the congregation was smaller by the time we were old enough to participate, we still carried on the tradition. Mama always provided the accompaniment. My sister and I even produced shows ourselves when we were older. My fondest memories of growing up with my sister are the times we spent together singing and playing duets.

Singing in church on Christmas morning with Mum conducting us and Mama accompanying us.

When we were teenagers, Mum and Dad formed a teen singing group (called ‘Heritage’) and we performed around the region. Mum was the musical director and arranged all our songs while our accompanist was, yep you guessed it… my grandmother. She said we all kept her young!

I moved on to working musically in other areas, becoming involved with the local amateur theatre scene, including a few stints as a musical director. Once, when I had an absent band member, Mum jumped in at short notice and played a whole week of shows for me. Good accompanists are hard to find (it’s so much more than just being able to play) so in later years when Mum was the director of the local ladies’ choir, Nova Chorale and needed an accompanist, I helped her out for a couple of years. She also accompanied half my HSC music class for their practical exam.

While I feel most musically aligned with my mother and grandmother, there are other musical influences in my life. My Dad was a wonderful violinist in his younger days, and still has a good ear and a lovely singing voice. He was always fully involved in all our musical endeavours and used to buy me little instruments (like a fife and a harmonica) on a whim so I could “give it a try”. Mama had brothers with beautiful voices and married a lovely tenor in my Grandad. Grandad used to sing to all the grandkids as he bounced us up and down on his crossed leg (Diddley-um words sung to the melody of ‘My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time’ comes to mind).

Second from left, my grandfather. Second from right, my Dad. Far right, my great uncle (Mama’s brother). Great family male voices performing as a barbershop quartet for one of our Music Hall reviews.

It was only after my mother passed away that I found recordings of her and her mother playing together (the recordings had been played after my grandmother’s funeral, when I had already left the church). How incredibly precious are these recordings! They bring me to tears every time I listen to them, because they are a symbol of everything that is dear to me, as well as those we have lost. Beautiful memories.

So you can see how I have been immersed in music my whole life. And why I want to pass it on to others. As well as the times you can share with others, you will also never be lonely when you can play an instrument. This is why it is important for me to teach my students above all else a love of music. Technique is still important, even for non-exam students, as it provides them with the skill they need to play the pieces they enjoy. But it’s all about getting to that stage where you can simply enjoy the music and how it makes you feel.

Here is my one and only video of Mum and I playing together – Stardust. Only a couple of months later she was diagnosed with her illness and twelve months later she was gone. She is the reason I do what I do. Her legacy. Her gift to me. Passing on the flame…

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW.

Congratulations! Exam Results Are In – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

**It is a time of celebration here at ‘merri bell music’.**

Piano Teacher Wallsend NSW In mid-June, an assortment of students from our little piano studio in Wallsend sat for practical exams with Australia’s premier examining body, AMEB (Australian Music Examinations Board).

I am extremely proud to announce that all results have now been received, with all students achieving an A grade (honours) and one student receiving an A+ (high distinction).

Children and adults, teenagers and pre-teens… they all experienced the same level of nerves, which they learnt to channel into useful nervous energy. For many of them, it was the first time they had participated in a formal practical examination (of any sort) and they all handled themselves professionally and with confidence.

I’m thrilled to bits with them all and thank them for their hard work, dedication and perseverance, but mostly I am proud of their commitment to practising and bettering their art.

Congratulations!

Of course, following the exam path doesn’t suit everybody and here at ‘merri bell music’ about half of our students work to this goal, while the other half are learning purely for personal enjoyment. Either way, the aim is to help them learn, enjoy and love what they are doing.

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW.

Three Sure-Fire Ways to Improve Your Playing – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

I know I talk a lot about practising, but it is so important I can’t ignore it. Practise is the vital component of being able to play well. The linchpin. The thing that brings everything else together.

You can have the best teacher in the world and turn up every week for your lesson, but if you do no work in between lessons, you simply will not improve. Because of this, I post often about practicing. Different tips and techniques will resonate with each person or family, so I like to throw into the mix as many ideas as possible.

These three points are not really tips, though – they are fundamentals. They are the three things I push with all my students from day one. I’m sure sometimes I sound like a broken record!

If you are having trouble with a particular passage, any one of these techniques will help and often a combination is even better:

Slow down

Slow down and take your time. It can be frustrating when you know how the piece sounds and you just want to play it at speed so the familiar sound and what you are playing are closer together. But playing too fast doesn’t allow you to really pay attention to what you’re playing or note the areas that need additional work.

It is not necessarily easy to play at a very slow speed and discipline is required, but once you see the value it is much easier to stick with the technique. Practicing slowly helps with a range of aspects:

Establishing correct fingering;
Phrasing;
Wrist and arm movement;
Understanding chord structure; and most importantly
Note accuracy.

It allows the brain more time to comprehend every aspect of the piece and understand the overall picture or structure.

Physically, it can also help with tension. When we are playing a difficult passage, we will often subconsciously tense up and become stiff, particularly with fast sections. When playing slowly the body is more likely to relax, allowing for more freedom of movement and improved sound quality.

Speed can be built back up but bad habits are harder to unlearn. Also, your brain has already learned all the necessary movements so speed is just about thinking faster J

There is no such thing as too slow!

Count out loud

Even though I have been playing for over 40 years, I still find counting out loud is the easiest way to get my mind around a complicated new passage. It is particularly crucial for beginners and works excellently in conjunction with the point above about slowing down. Counting out loud helps develop a sense of rhythm; the physical act of counting makes the rhythm more dominant and the hands tend to follow.

As an extension, clapping the rhythm can also be useful; it allows you to hear and understand the rhythm before adding in the melody.

Separate hands

Similar to pulling difficult passages out of a whole song, playing with separate hands helps to reduce complexities into manageable tidbits.

Practising the left hand separately.

Think about technical development in areas such as scales and arpeggios – it is always learnt playing with separate hands first. Even the AMEB technical syllabus introduces new concepts with separate hands for a grade/year before they are brought together the following year/grade. It is only once these techniques are mastered that the hands are brought together. In many cases this philosophy can be taken into the pieces we play as well.

Playing hands separately allows the muscle memory of each hand to be continually reinforced, which makes it easier to then bring them together.

Practicing hands together is not twice as hard as practicing hands separately—it is at least four times as hard. As your playing becomes more advanced you will come across pieces where each hand is a separate voice or voices, and you want to hear and understand how they sound in isolation so each one can be shaped into an independent voice before putting them together.

Separating the hands is useful in the majority of instances, but may not help in pieces where the melody is constantly flowing between the two hands.

So if you are struggling with a difficult piece (or passage), remember the three golden rules:

Slow everything right down.
Count out loud.
If still having trouble, play each hand separately.

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW.

Adult Learners… the pros and cons – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis

How often do you hear friends and colleagues say, “I wish I hadn’t stopped learning …(insert a variety of past pursuits now inducing feelings of regret)? Often that wish is tied to a musical instrument. Because learning an instrument is hard work, often children give up before they have learnt enough to carry them through into adulthood and they stop playing all together.

Nearly a third of my students are adults and they are a really rewarding group. Learning an instrument as an adult has both pros and cons.

Nobody yells at them to practice, which on the one hand is very nice indeed. On the other hand, they have to be able to discipline themselves to do the job. Also, they are paying for their own lessons, so while footing the bill is not necessarily a positive feature, it’s easier to knuckle down to work when you understand the value.

One of the biggest challenges for adult learners is that their understanding is ahead of their physical reaction. Adults will often pick up theoretical concepts quickly, but they will develop technical and reading skills slowly and gradually. Unlike children who usually have nimble fingers and good technique but lack the emotional maturity to understand the musicality of the piece, adults can usually grasp intellectually how a piece of music should sound (e.g. playful, sad, lilting etc) but don’t have the skill on the piano to express it. This limitation is, of course, only temporary and will be overcome with time and practise. Physically, the body is usually more tight; as people age, they often cannot move their fingers fast enough to play at extreme tempos or their wrists may never loosen enough to provide good flexibility but there is still a lot of beautiful music to be made. There will always be pieces suited their physical level that can satisfy them emotionally and still challenge them technically.

Adult-oriented method books assume adults will learn a lot faster than children and this is not always the case. I have found it to be rarely so; adults may learn differently, but that doesn’t necessarily mean faster. Adult method books usually jump right in to using all five fingers on both hands – and reading nine notes – from the outset. For adults trying to learn something new on top of all the normal pressures of family, work, commitments etc, this can be overwhelming. I would prefer they start out with a sense of accomplishment rather than frustration. Consequently, a lot of the most helpful resources are very child-friendly and do not speak to you as an intelligent adult. But you do get some cute pictures!

Adult student, Alan playing finger control exercises.

Adults learners can be fluid, flexible and adventurous and bring with them a strong motivation to learn. But they are also cautious, perfectionists and extremely hard on themselves. They are often very anxious to achieve their goals and it can be difficult to convince them they are doing well. Adult students are also better able to articulate their problems and understand practise suggestions, both benefits helping them to make consistent progress.

The best thing about learning to play the piano as an adult is that they are free to do as they please. Adults aren’t trying to please a parent, a teacher or an examiner. No one is forcing them to take lessons. It’s about them and the music. And that is a blessing 🙂

If you are considering music lessons for your child or for yourself, please contact me to discuss the options. Piano lessons are conducted at my studio in Wallsend, NSW or mobile lessons are available in the eastern suburbs of Lake Macquarie.