How to Interview a Private Piano Teacher

I have another batch of Orange students graduating in 2.5 weeks, which leaves me with mixed feelings!  I do hope everyone has a private piano teacher lined up, but if not, the LPM guide for How to Interview a Private Piano Teacher may be a good one to start with!  What should you ask when interviewing the teacher? What should you be looking for?

*sniff*  I'll miss you.  Good luck out there!

Register for Fall 2013!

It's time to register for Fall 2013 classes!  Act fast to ensure your choice of day and time (and help us be sure to get your materials before class begins).  We have lots to offer (see the registration link for more details).

New students who are 4 or 5 will begin in the RED level and can REGISTER ONLINE.

RED Tuesday 9:15 with Ann
RED Tuesday 1:00 with Ann
RED Tuesday 4:00 with Ann
RED Thursday 4:45 with Jen (almost full)
RED Saturday 10:30 with Gina (almost full)
RED Saturday 11:30 with Ann
RED Saturday 12:45 with Ann

New students who are 2-4 years old attend with a parent, and younger siblings can REGISTER too.

SOUND BEGINNINGS Tuesday 10:15 with Gina
SOUND BEGINNINGS Tuesday 10:45 with Gina
SOUND BEGINNINGS Tuesday 12:15 with Gina
SOUND BEGINNINGS Tuesday 1:00 with Gina
SOUND BEGINNINGS Wednesday 10:00 AM (for CKOM students)
SOUND BEGINNINGS Wednesday 11:00 AM
SOUND BEGINNINGS Thursday 10:00 AM (for CKOM students)
SOUND BEGINNINGS Thursday 11:00 AM

Lunchtime Serenade

I heard this bit on NPR about live Jazz being played at a school cafeteria during lunchtime.  It leaves me happy to hear of the great ideas for bringing music awareness to youngsters, and to hear how the community is working together.  Oh, and it leaves me pining for someone to serenade ME at my meals!

Harlem Shake

Playing Piano with TWO HANDS

This is the time of year when our YELLOW-level students are learning to play songs like "How to Skip", with two hands coordinating on the keyboard. For some, it's a challenge that takes serious work and concentration.

The great news is that learning two-handed coordination before the age of 7 results in a brain-boost that you can't get later in life:


"Among the musicians who started training before the age of seven, the earlier their musical training began, the more white matter they had in their corpus callosum, suggesting that their early training boosted their brain development in that area.

Musicians who started training after the age of seven had the same amount of white matter in their corpus callosum as the non-musicians, suggesting that the changes to brain development can only happen at an early age."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

When You Know the Notes to Sing...

The creator of Let's Play Music, Shelle Soelberg, is often nicknamed "Shelly Solfa" because she finds the solfeg syllables and handsigns SO PERFECT for training young musicians and promotes them in our curriculum.



You may have wondered how solfeg was invented,  how it became part of the curriculum, and how it helps YOUR CHILD with ear training.  Shelle recently answered these questions in a guest post:

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Here are some factoids about solfeg:

- Solfeg syllables were first written in an 11th century hymn/chant by a monk named Guido d’Arezzo.
- Researchers and educators discovered the brain’s ability to connect more easily with pitch relationships when a syllable was attached.
- Full body involvement is utilized because the hands can ‘feel’ the major scale. Thus, while singing in solfeg, the child is producing the pitch with his voice, hearing it with his ear, and reinforcing that pitch relationship with his hands.

Laurie Berkner: You can compose!

Labeled "The Queen of Children’s Music" by People Magazine, Laurie Berkner is a musician who captivates children (and their parents!) through her original music all throughout the country! I recently had a chance to interview her, and she gave some great insights and tips for all early musicians!

Let's Play Music: Laurie, You were involved in several music ventures as a youngster.  At what age did you start taking music lessons, and what was the first instrument that you learned?

Laurie Berkner: "Besides experimenting with the recorder in music class, my first instrument was the piano.  I started taking lessons when I was eight yrs old. That same year I also started taking clarinet lessons, and when I was ten I added the violin.  Then when I was about sixteen I took an adult night school class at my high school to learn how to play the guitar.  That's when I finally found the instrument I love the most."

LPM: Our 3-year program focuses on keyboard skills and emphasize whole musicianship (improv, chording, transposing, solfeg, singing). Do you have thoughts on which skills our young students will really need as they go on to grow as musicians? What skills did you learn that really have helped you the most?  

LB: "I don't know if there is any one skill that is more important than others as a general rule.  There are so many ways of making music and so many ways to take a skill and make it important - for you.  For me, making music can feel magical, but learning how to be a musician does not take magic.  It takes slowing down, focusing, and being willing to try things one element at a time and then doing them over and over.  So I think the most important skill for me was to learn how to practice."

LPM: During the spring months, the hundreds of 3rd year students (age 6-7) across the USA are composing their very own, very first compositions.
Can you tell us when you wrote your very first song?

LB: "I used to make things up all the time as a kid that I never recognized as "my own songs".  Then after I started to learn guitar and I was living in West Africa for a time, I found myself wanting to express a lot of feelings about being there and I wrote the first song I had ever actually made the effort to write down called, 'Black and White'."

LPM: Can you tell us what artistic process you go through when creating a new song?

LB: "It's different for different songs.  Sometimes I have a phrase or phrases in my head and I build the song around that. Sometimes it's a rhythm or a chord progression, or maybe a theme and a melody.  I guess I start with what I like and then move on from there.  Ultimately I just want to create something I would like to sing that has meaning for me - and that I hope kids will like, relate to and also want to sing!"

LPM: Laurie, can you remember a time when practicing was not super-fun (or does that still happen sometimes)? 

LB: "When I'm with the band, the practicing is usually super-fun.  I like to be with them.  Sometimes when I'm by myself I really enjoy it too, but honestly I think of practicing as my work.  It's what I need to do to get to a place where the music really gives me pleasure.  Knowing that makes me feel good about practicing, but I would say its sometimes more satisfying than super-fun."

LPM: Any words of advice for our students who sometimes aren't motivated to push through the challenging music?

LB: "It's so worth it!  And just like anything, don't try to do too much at once.  Also, sleeping on it helps!  Many times I have worked and worked on learning something new, and ended my practice without getting it.  Then after a good night's sleep my fingers seem to absorb the message, and the next day I find that I can do it - or am at least a lot closer to getting it!"

LPM: And, you once were a music teacher, too!  What do you think is most necessary trait a music teacher must demonstrate for success?

LB: "Listening to the kids. I think they taught me more than I taught them!"

For more information about the Laurie Berkner Band's exciting shows and recordings, take a look at the website: www.laurieberkner.com and be sure to check out all of Laurie's CD's:

Whaddaya Think of That?
The Best of The Laurie Berkner Band
Buzz Buzz
Victor Vito
Under A Shady Tree
Rocketship Run
A Laurie Berkner Christmas

Perfect Pitch, ECHO ED!

Every student's favorite doggie is ECHO ED (yeah, he's just my puppet, but we sure do love him!).

So, for my students, here is the REAL LIVE ED, practicing his pitch, almost like we do in our class every week :)  I hope kids and parents get a laugh from this, and I also hope it's motivational.  Sometimes trying to hear or sing the chosen pitch is tricky...but keep practicing along with us...relative pitch CAN be improved with practice!  I know it, and so does Ed!

Pentatonic Power

Wherever in the world Bobby McFerrin goes, the audience understands the pentatonic scale, and you will too as you sing (and laugh) along with this 3 minute demo. 

Our students are empowered with a musicianship that will carry them far.
If you're in the Silver Buttons class, sing your pentatonic scale now!
If you're in the Orange Roots class, you'll appreciate playing your blues this week knowing that the blues scale (primarily derived from minor pentatonic scale) is great for improvisation.

It's Triangle Time!

This week all of the SOUND BEGINNINGS students will be taking home their very own triangles to practice at home, especially listening for the few triangle rings in Offenbach's Infernal Gallop.   I hope everyone can be inspired by this fun instrument, so here is one of my favorite TRIANGLE SOLOS, with a little bit of Latin flavor.

Even a simple instrument, in the hands of a trained musician, can make beautiful and amazing music!