Tag Archives: piano

When is the Best Time of the Day for Piano Practice? – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

I am not a morning person. Not by any stretch of the imagination. As an adult, I have become a night owl who rarely sees the sun rise. However, on those occasions when I do, I can truly appreciate what I am missing. You can watch and feel the world coming alive. The air is crisp and fresh… and so are our minds.

One of the first questions I am asked by new students or parents is how often the student should practise. This is often followed by asking when they should practise. The short answer is of course, when it best suits the family, because making the effort and starting the habit of practise is worthwhile at any time.

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t times of the day that are better than others. Think about when your kids are most alert and present. It is usually in the mornings, before the pressures of life, study, friends and other activities come along to befuddle their brains. They may be bouncing off the walls after escaping the school gates, but it doesn’t mean their concentration is at optimum levels. You would be familiar with the regular battle of having homework completed!

First and foremost it is our minds that play the piano – not just the fingers. Your mind must be active at all times. Five minutes of concentrated practise is far more valuable than five hours of moving your fingers while your mind wanders.

In the morning you have the highest level of concentration. Practising in the morning becomes part of your morning routine and you don’t need to worry about fitting it in to the rest of your day. That’s not to say it is easy; your mind probably won’t want to do it. But it will get your brain firing on all cylinders so you are ready to jump into the rest of your day.

Most young learners are able to focus and maximise their learning if done early in the day.

Sunrise photograph courtesy of Doreen Laforest, Sydney NSW

As a bonus, research has shown that we are at our most creative in the morning. The part of the brain that controls thoughts is still snoozing, so is not curbing your creativity.

Of course, many students complain that they have to get to school and can’t practise in the morning. The easiest solution is to wake up earlier and go to bed earlier. But if you can’t, you can’t. As I said earlier, I’m not a morning person, so I understand the struggle. The next best thing is to just spend 15 minutes practising one section. Often a couple of shorter sessions can be more effective than one long one.

Remember to consider your neighbours – if getting up earlier means practising at 6am, you may find you are reported for noise disturbance!

The most important thing is that whatever time you pick is a time when your mind is refreshed. Remember the purpose of this practise is to really concentrate on your playing. When you pick a time, schedule it in so it becomes part of your family routine.

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.

When is My Child Ready to Start Piano Lessons? – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

Nowadays – more than in previous times – there seems to be a desire for kids to be involved in many different activities and as early as possible. Young kids are like sponges and we want to feed their curiosity and eagerness.

Music lessons are no exception.

Like any activity, each child is different and will be ready at different times, but the following list will help you determine whether your child is ready to start formal lessons:

Attention span

Can your child sit still and concentrate for 20-30 minutes? Even though most teachers today will vary the lesson with off-the-bench activities as well, it is still a solid half hour of concentration, with much of that time spent at the piano. It’s not the same level of concentration as sitting still watching a movie for an hour.

Reading and writing (and ‘rithmetic)

Fluent reading and writing is not necessary to be able to play the piano. However, confidence in the basics is. The musical alphabet uses the first seven letters and the child needs to be comfortable with their order both forwards and backwards. As well as learning the note names, reading music also involves counting (note values). This concept is based on fractions (eg a crotchet is half the value of a minim).

Fine motor skills

Having the control and dexterity required to correctly hold a pencil helps kids with the fine motor skills needed at the piano. Can they use scissors well? Can they colour fairly well ‘between the lines’?

Reading from left to right

Does your child correctly track from left to right and top to bottom when they read a book?

Recognising patterns

Being able to see patterns and recognise up and down assist with both reading music and keyboard recognition. The keyboard includes groups of two and three black notes and the patterns within these groups are used to establish note locations. Moving up and down the piano according to tone is important, as well as being able to see that notes written on the music are following a particular direction.

Physical strength

Does your child have enough strength to depress the keys using the forearms without undue pressure from the fingers? Can they support their hands on their fingers? There is a physical aspect of piano playing that needs to be developed and this usually occurs between the ages of 6 and 8.

From a very young age, Miss B was always encouraged to indulge in her passion for music but didn’t begin formal lessons until she was physically and emotionally ready – at age 8.

Beat and Rhythm

Does your child sway or move in time to music he hears around him? Can she clap in time? While rhythm can eventually be taught, it is much more difficult to understand how to count music if they can’t hear the beat.

Accepting Criticism

Piano teachers are generally a caring and encouraging bunch of people. However, doing our job involves correcting errors and teaching new things. We will always do it as nicely as possible, but a child who is resistant to being either instructed or corrected may need to wait a little longer before starting.

Agreement to regular practise

Music is not a one-day-a-week commitment like many other activities. These days there are few extracurricular activities that require kids to daily put in a concerted effort. Before starting lessons, you need to ensure your child will be agreeable to daily practise.

You should also assess your own availability to help them. While your teacher will provide your child with all the tools they need to succeed, when the parents are involved children tend to progress more quickly than students left to their own devices. Particularly with young students or beginners, a parent sharing their interest and giving encouragement goes far in their development.

For all the above reasons, I prefer to not start students until they are around six years old.

Of course, there will always be exceptions to the rule, but objectively checking off the points above and waiting until your child is ready to learn with the least amount of stress possible will usually work in their favour.

If they are not yet quite ready for formal lessons, you can still indulge their passion for music by enrolling them in general music appreciation classes. This will also expose them to a variety of instruments and music and will also allow them to develop a good sense of beat and pitch, which will be a huge asset when they begin piano lessons.

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.

How to Practise When You’re Not Really Practising – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

piano teacher wallsend nsw Sometimes we just need to mix things up a bit. Practise can become mundane and boring and concentration wanes. I wrote two weeks ago about playing versus practising. If a student becomes too bored with practising, there is a real danger their practising can turn into aimless playing, which won’t be as effective in moving them forward. We want them to enjoy being at the piano and sometimes this means adding in a bit of extra fun so practise time doesn’t turn into a frustration-filled battleground.

The following are some examples of ways you can get your kids a little more excited about practising:

Choose one of the pieces on which they are currently working. Select either the bass clef or the treble clef and have them hop the entire rhythm while balancing on their left foot.
Have them create a radio commercial for their favourite piece. Think of three things that make this piece totally awesome (selling points). When they play the piece, they can exaggerate these features that make it so great.
Play their piece as though they are a ghost… silently! Press down the keys, but not enough to make any sound.
Pick one note and then avoid that note every time it occurs in the piece.
Pretend their piano has gone missing and play their pieces on a tabletop. Still use correct rhythm and fingering and see if they can hear any mistakes in their mind as they are playing.

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.

Playing vs Practising… A How-to Guide – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

“Every difficulty slurred over will be a ghost to disturb your repose later on.”
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) Polish Composer and Pianist

Practising the piano and playing the piano are two different things. If a student plays through all their pieces each day they may well find at the end of the week there is no discernable improvement, even though they have spent hours at the piano.

So what is the difference between playing and practising? Playing is just that – playing the piece through over and over and hoping it improves. Practise involves breaking down the song and working on each weak area as a stand-alone section.

The phrase I probably use most often with my students is, “slow it down” as that is always the first approach to a troublesome section. When you slow down you can better pinpoint where the problem is. It can be difficult to do when you know how the piece sounds; your brain will push you to speed it up and it is easy to lose concentration, but the benefits are worth the effort.

A tongue-in-cheek view of practising

Isolate the problem area and separate the hands, playing each hand on its own until you are more confident with the part each hand is playing. Really think about what you are asking your hands and fingers to do. If there is a run or passage that follows the pattern of a scale or arpeggio, it can help to play that technical exercise a few times first. Then slowly put the two hands back together and work to gradually increase your pace.

While slowing down and/or separating hands, still aim to maintain all the expression (dynamics, tempo etc) required.

Once you feel better about that section, put it back into the whole piece and see how it sounds and feels. If it is improved, move on to the next problem section and go through the same process. Using this method, you will eventually play the piece fluently and with pride in what you have achieved.

Scales… Pain or Gain? – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

Ah, scales. A word that causes many musicians to sigh with exasperation or boredom. Personally, I always welcomed them, with their structure and consistency. Love them or hate them, scales are a big part of practise life for any musician (instrumentalist or vocalist).

A scale is “…any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, while descending scales are ordered by decreasing pitch.” (Wikipedia) They are the backbone of all types of music we play.

While a variety of scale types exist, each type is defined by its characteristic interval pattern. It is the constant repetition of these patterns that causes scales to be such a large part of learning to play an instrument – including the voice – because they help build muscle memory. By playing scales, your fingers will learn to easily go to the correct notes in the scale you are playing, so when you play a piece of music, your fingers will move more automatically to the correct notes.

Why practice scales?

Scale practice plays an essential part in developing a pianist’s skills.
They improve keyboard fluency.
Scales develop posture, hand position and coordination, as well as balance between the hands and movement of the arm.
Practising scales speeds up the learning of new pieces (muscle memory).
They develop evenness of line and quality of tone.
Scale playing builds aural awareness.

For students preparing for an exam, the examiner will be looking for:

A positive sense of rhythm without under-accentuation;
Even, firm tone and a musical curve;
Good legato;
Accurate and fluent realisation of the different types of scales, arpeggios and broken chords; and
Convincing negotiation of technical challenges such as smooth passage of thumb and hand coordination.

So the lesson here is we need to learn to love scales. They are incredibly beneficial physically and the basis of all we do as musicians. All practise sessions should start with a variety of scales, even if their only purpose is to warm up the fingers and hands (although we know they do much more than that). To break up the repetitive nature of practising scales every day, apps such as Blitz Book’s ‘Scale Blitzer’ can add a bit of fun.

What Are Piano Lessons For? (Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW)

The contemporary Australian composer, Elissa Milne, has written a lovely article on the purpose of piano lessons. When an article has been written with so much knowledge, insight and passion, there is no point in trying to express it any differently so please take the time to read through her thoughts.

Elissa writes about a range of benefits, from learning to “do cool stuff on the piano”, understanding others and yourself and changing who you are, through to the sheer joy of it.

Enjoy “What Are Piano Lessons For?” by Elissa Milne

It’s Just a Sibling Kinda Feeling – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

“Siblings are the people we practice on, the people who teach us about fairness and cooperation and kindness and caring – quite often the hard way”
– Pamela Dugdale

It’s a good feeling when the sibling of a current student starts lessons; it means I must be doing something right!

As the younger of two sisters, I never knew what it was like to not learn piano while my older sister was also learning. We had lessons on the same days, we practised one after the other and we worked towards exams at the same time. We played duets together, we challenged each other, we created, transposed and harmonised together and we laughed a great deal.

I realise that for her as the older sister, it was probably a different scenario. While I idolised my big sister and wanted to do whatever she did, she probably didn’t appreciate a little interloper in her arena.

As far as lessons went, our wonderful teacher, Sr Marie Therese realised how different we were in style, technique and temperament. Also, our mother requested I didn’t play too many of the same pieces as my sister, even though I was three years behind her. (When you are practicing twice a day, exam pieces soon become extremely repetitive for the poor listeners!). While our carefully-chosen early method book pieces were the same, once we moved into grade work Sister catered for our different styles. My sister usually played the intricate, technical pieces, while I played the more emotive works.

Piano Teacher Wallsend Newcastle NSW In our late teens to early adulthood, these differences became our strengths. We worked together really well because we complemented each other and didn’t suffer from competition. Even when we sang, I sang the soprano to her alto. When she moved on to singing lessons, I accompanied all her practising. The picture on the right is a famous artwork that was on the cover of a card she once gave me.

These memories hold important lessons that I bring into teaching siblings – respect and encourage their individuality, make no comparisons and ensure enough variety in materials used to save the parents’ sanity!

Sibling rivalry/competition – whether blatant or subtle – can be a problem and for this reason it is usually not advisable to start siblings at the same time. However, the following positives usually outweigh the competitive aspect:

Both/all kids need to practise daily, so both are on similar schedules
The siblings can share a common interest
Older siblings can help the younger ones
Younger siblings can be inspired by older brothers and/or sisters
They can all have fun playing duets – even if they play different instruments
The younger sibling has seen the work involved by watching the older child, so goes into lessons with a clearer expectation of what is required (eg they know they need to practise)

The main thing is to remember each child is different, with different abilities. I will always work with the parents to ensure this individuality is respected.

The Labèque sisters, Katia (born 11 March 1950) and Marielle (born 6 March 1952), are an internationally known French piano duo.

Want to Reward Your Brain? Listen to New Music – Piano Teacher, Wallsend, NSW

Recently I attempted to have an MRI. I say ‘attempted’ because I failed. Miserably. Previously-unrealised claustrophobia swept in and took over… big time. Crying, sweating, shaking and stricken with headache and nausea, I was pretty quickly pulled out of the tunnel of terror and sent on my way.

But while I may now be overcome with unpleasant sensations at the very thought of an MRI (or any closed space) the technology is increasingly being used in research with very interesting results.

We all know it is impossible to listen to music and not be moved. What music moves us, how much and why are mysteries that have for many years intrigued both musicians and scientists. Last year a study* was undertaken at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University in Canada to find out some of these answers.

Piano teacher Wallsend Newcastle NSW While most previous studies had used only strongly-emotive music, this study had participants bring in music they preferred. This ranged from classical music through to techno, country, film soundtracks and heavy metal. The participants were then studied using MRI while listening to 60 different excerpts of new music, based on their musical taste. They also had the option to ‘buy’ a song in a mock online store, based on the 30-second samples.

What was discovered was that a particular part of the brain becomes active when we hear a piece of music for the first time. This part of the brain is the nucleus accumbens, a zone that is operated by the chemical dopamine, which plays a major role in reward-motivated behaviour.

One of the researchers, Dr Valorie Salimpoor, said, “What’s cool is that you’re anticipating and getting excited over something entirely abstract – and that’s the next sound that is coming up.” The more a participant liked the music they were hearing, the more stimulated the ‘reward region’ of the brain became.

Because our brains are so well-suited to using patterns to predict what will happen next, we are constantly making predictions. Even if the piece of music we are hearing is new, our brains are predicting – based on past musical experiences – how it will unfold. If we enjoy the music more than predicted, the nucleus accumbens (partnering with pattern recognition and high-order thinking centres) fires off with delight.

“What makes music so emotionally powerful is the creation of expectations. Activity in the nucleus accumbens is an indicator that expectations were met or surpassed,” Dr Sapimpoor said.

So if you want to get that dopamine pumping and reward your brain, treat yourself to some new music. Launch your Spotify app or go through some recommendations in iTunes. You never know what joys you may discover.

And I promise you won’t have to visit an MRI machine to feel the benefits 🙂

Credit: Image courtesy of MGH-UCLA Human Connectome Project.

* The study is published in the journal, ‘Science”.
Salimpoor VN, Benovoy M, Larcher K, Dagher A, & Zatorre RJ (2011). Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music. Nature neuroscience, 14 (2), 257-262 PMID: 21217764

It’s Not Just About the Piano – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

“He gets so much more from this time than just piano.”

Oh, such wonderful music to my ears!

Yesterday I was having a conversation with the mother of one of my students, discussing our musical goals for her child. It was such a blessing to hear her say the words above, because that is exactly what I aim for when I teach. I love spending time with my students, watching them blossom, learn new skills and gain confidence. In fact, last week I was so excited when a teenage student finally (and beautifully) grasped a technique with which she had been struggling, my gleeful reaction gave her a wonderful chuckle! And a lot of pride :). I don’t want the only thing your child walks away with to be the basic piano know-how – these are the notes and this is where they are on the keyboard etc.

My hope is that the environment I provide in my Wallsend studio is encouraging, yet relaxed. I want my students to enjoy coming to their lessons and to know that I will guide and support them to meet the goals we have developed together. I am strict with technique, because I want my students to be the best they can be. Good technique translates to ease of playing, which ultimately will make it easier for them to simply enjoy what they are creating at the piano. But it’s about so much more than that.

Following are just some of the benefits I hope my students will take away from their time with me:

Increased confidence – learning to play the piano is hard work and requires dedication from the student. With each song they master, your child’s self-esteem will increase. Learning that mastering a new skill is a patience-requiring process helps kids then approach other tasks in their life with a similar level of confidence instead of frustration.
Theory/musicianship – when learning to play an instrument, good theoretical knowledge is a vital skill that goes hand-in-hand with the practical playing. It’s not just about learning the concepts, but how those concepts fit in to what they are playing. Not just how to do something, but why you are doing it. Understanding how music is constructed not only helps with understanding music that is already written, but also aids greatly with improvisation and composition.
One-on-one attention – let’s face it… who doesn’t need this every now and then? Life today seems to be so busy, even for children. Their lesson is an opportunity for everything to be about just them. I enjoy learning about their lives and other interests so I can better understand them and how their minds operate but to them, this time is simply about them being special.
Critical and creative thinking – reading a piece of music requires a large dose of focus. The student needs to interpret both a rhythm and a note and translate that into what their hands will do on the keyboard, also considering technique. Then they need to immediately move on to the next one! A whole page of that can be rather daunting, but pianists develop these complex thought processes they will then take into many other areas of their life.
Music appreciation – through playing the piano, students are exposed to a range of music they might not otherwise encounter, from classical through to jazz and pop. I think it is important to be not just playing music, but immersing yourself in it and learning to appreciate the way different styles make you feel. Most people will identify a style of music they like for relaxation or for concentration, for example. I find Baroque is great for studying, but when it’s time for the housework, I need a good beat!

So it may not be that every week your child (or yourself, because this also applies to my adult students) comes home with a new piece of music to practise through the week, but they will have spent their lesson time immersed in music, feeling special, developing skills and absorbing more than they realise.

If you are considering music lessons for your child, 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.

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Tag Archives: piano

When is the Best Time of the Day for Piano Practice? – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

When is My Child Ready to Start Piano Lessons? – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

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

How to Practise When You’re Not Really Practising – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

Playing vs Practising… A How-to Guide – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

Scales… Pain or Gain? – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

What Are Piano Lessons For? (Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW)

It’s Just a Sibling Kinda Feeling – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

Want to Reward Your Brain? Listen to New Music – Piano Teacher, Wallsend, NSW

It’s Not Just About the Piano – Piano Teacher in Wallsend, NSW

“He gets so much more from this time than just piano.”

Oh, such wonderful music to my ears!