Studio Idea: have a sight reading competition!

July 3, 2010 Jennifer Boster

I hope everyone is having a great weekend, and for those in the U.S., I hope you do lots of fun fireworks or something to celebrate the 4th! I myself am having a grand time visiting my in-laws in Eastern Oregon – I sneakily (or not so sneakily) wrote this post a few days ago and post-dated it. I love technology

Here’s a little idea I have (but have not tried yet) – why not have a sight reading competition in your studio?

You could challenge each student to keep track of their sight reading – either by how much time they have spent or how many lines or pieces they have sight read each week. Keep track on a big, colorful chart in your studio and at the end of the month (or however long you decide the competition will run), the winner gets a prize. If you teach a lot of advanced students, you could challenge them to sight read pieces from the piano literature of the great composers (and maybe get in on the fun yourself!)

I think this would be a wonderful way to motivate your students to sight read, and to get them to make sight reading a habit.

Improving Your Own Sight Reading

July 2, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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As we are discussing sight reading this week, I have been doing some thinking about my own sight reading.

Now, I have been sight reading for many years now, and feel pretty confident in my sight reading abilities. Because of this, I haven’t been sitting down and formally sight reading regularly. Of course I play a lot and sight read things here and there, but maybe I should be doing more.

I had a great Keyboard Foundations class in college, taught by Scott Holden. Each week we had a sight reading quiz. Dr. Holden would give us a piece of music (usually pretty advanced in some way or another), and we would have to record our sight read of the piece and turn it in. It was a bit stressful because if we stopped, missed a beat or skipped a beat we would automatically fail the quiz. I loved it though, it was such a wonderful learning tool. Thinking back on it it is such a great reminder of the need to sight read regularly, to always be improving our skills and to regularly become familiar with new repertoire.

As teachers, it is so important that we are able to sight read well. I once read an article in a music journal (I will have to go in my files and find it so I can quote it exactly!) that basically said that a good pianist should have sight read through all of the major piano works of the great composers. Now that is a lot of sight reading, but just imagine how a project like that could improve your playing (and your teaching as well)!

One of my favorite assignments in my piano literature class in college was to sight read through the entire Well-Tempered Clavier (both books). Now of course this took a bit of time, but what a rewarding thing! As teachers we need to be familiar with the great literature for piano.

One of these days (probably after going through all of my belongings, packing up our entire house, finding a new place to live and driving all the way to Texas with my little family and getting settled – ya know, after I have a little more free time :)) I would love to make a goal to sight read through a new piece each day, with the end goal being to sight read through a lot of the major piano works – Bach Well-Tempered Clavier (again), Beethoven Sonatas, Mozart Sonatas, Chopin Preludes, Nocturnes, Ballades, etc.

But for now, I just wanted to share some of those thoughts. Do any of you sight read regularly? Do you have anything to share regarding this topic? Also, I just stumbled upon this neat blog, check it out!

four steps of sight reading

July 1, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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Here are the four sight reading steps I teach my students:

Look over the entire piece. Notice everything about it – key signature, meter, tempo, accidentals, slurs, staccatos, other articulation, hand position, range, fingering, how much your hand will need to move, any key changes, any tricky rhythms, dynamics, etc.
Play the piece with no stopping or missing, skipping, or adding a beat. (You can go slowly, just keep going!) This is important for a couple of reasons – first, it teaches your students the good habit of not stopping when they mess up. Oftentimes students get so in the habit of stopping when they mess up that they automatically stop when they get to those tricky spots, even if they don’t do anything wrong. Secondly, when you are accompanying somebody you can’t stop. In my experience, the vast majority of my sight reading opportunities have been in accompanying vocalists, choirs or religious congregations. These are the times when the pressure is on – and you cannot stop, or else you will mess up the entire group. It is a great thing to learn to not stop right from the get-go!
Evaluate how you did! Identify any spots you had trouble in, mistakes you made, etc.
Play once more, this time going for accuracy. Aim to get everything right this time, to fix those spots you had trouble with on your first try.

why sight reading is important

June 29, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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I believe that sight reading is one of the most important skills we can teach our students. Sight reading ability is a great indicator of the student’s overall understanding of music and music theory. If a student is a good sight reader, chances are they are pretty musically-literate overall!

In fact, sight reading is a big part of my own teaching philosophy. One of my three main objectives in my teaching is to help my students become musically-literate sight readers.

Being able to sight read well is of the utmost importance if one wants to be a proficient pianist. Students should learn all of the necessary concepts and skills to become good sight readers and well-rounded musicians.

So why is sight reading so important? Here is a list I came up with:

Good sight readers…

…are able to accompany somebody or make music in a group at the drop of a hat.

…are very good at recognizing and naming notes quickly.

…can probably learn new repertoire quickly.

…are good at looking ahead while playing.

…can become familiar with a lot more repertoire without necessarily needing to study it in depth.

…are well-rounded musicians!

It is one thing if our students can study a piece for weeks, months or years and then play it amazingly well (and this is definitely good!) But if they cannot sit down and play a new piece of music placed in front of them, are they truly good, well-rounded musicians?

ten ways to use your continued piano study to influence your studio

June 25, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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Play at your students’ recitals – not only is it a great excuse for you to perform, but it’s a wonderful way to show your students and their parents that you know what you’re doing and that you practice just like they do, and to introduce them to some great repertoire.

Perform at a group class or performance/master class – a fun, informal opportunity to play for your students, giving them an opportunity to hear you play

Give new students a recording of your playing – I like to do this at interviews; I give them a copy of my resume and a CD recording. Of course you could also just perform for them!

Perform in some local ensembles or as an accompanist – I believe that participation in ensemble/accompanying work is extremely important in becoming a good, well-rounded musician. I have found that through accompanying I have learned so much about music-making, teaching, learning, listening, and performance, and I think that has helped in my own teaching. Plus, when you are involved in performances, you can always invite your students to attend!

Accompany your students in duets, concertos, etc. – Fun fun. Another great excuse to perform! Someday I will have two pianos and cannot wait for all the fun two-piano pieces that can be played….

Sight read through (or do a more in-depth study of) intermediate/teaching repertoire – then, of course, you will be much more familiar with it, be better able to choose good repertoire for each student, and will be able to teach it more effectively!

Be involved in studio practicing competitions! – ever think of this? I have never done this but think it could be super fun! You could even do something fun like students getting a prize if they practice more than the teacher – holy motivation! If that doesn’t get you practicing, I don’t know what would. And it might just motivate your students quite a bit, as well.

Learn or re-learn more advanced repertoire being studied by your students – that way you will be able to be so much more aware of the techniques needed and the difficult passages coming up, and will be able to teach the piece so much more effectively. You will also be able to demonstrate passages and techniques much more easily

Perform a solo recital for students or prospective students – could be a great way to get new students, and something wonderful to work towards in your own practicing!

Take piano lessons again! – I would love to do this sometime. What a wonderful way to improve not only your performance skills, but your teaching skills! Each teacher I have had has taught me so many things that I have been able to incorporate into my own teaching – what a great way to get some fresh ideas and perspective.

making time for practicing

June 24, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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As a mommy, I find it so hard to practice at times. It really is depressing when I think about it – I used to practice at least four hours per day, and I loved it. I so miss that (not that I would trade being a mom…I’m just sayin’!). And while of course I don’t expect to be able to practice that much, it can be so doable to practice every day! I think as a mom you just need to be creative.

practicing + being with this
little man 24/7 = tricky!

Luckily my little guy adores music. It’s gotta be in his genes or something, because he just loves it. I turn on my ipod and he immediately starts dancing around (and oh man he’s got the cutest, funkiest little dance moves around). He bobs his head to the beat, he sings. He dances around the room when we play the piano (my husband is a really talented pianist…he plays the third movement of Moonlight Sonata and my little boy LOVES it).

So recently I made a fantastic discovery…when I play the piano, my son loves to listen to the piece and then tell me what he thinks it sounds like. The other day while he ate a snack, I was able to practice a bunch of tricky sections from some old repertoire. After each little section he would tell me what it sounded like – “Mommy, that sounds like a frog!”

If my son is playing with his trains, I’ll say, “do we need some train music?” and thankfully he gets all excited and says, “Yeah!!” Awesome. I am then free to practice anything that slightly resembles the sound of a train. Car music is also a favorite. Scales are good car music. Haha. (I am gonna milk this for all it’s worth, because who knows how long it will actually work!)

In fact, he now does it all by himself. The other day he walked up to the piano, played a little ditty, then said to me, “That sounds like a lion climbing through a forest!”

How do you find time in your busy schedules to practice? How do those with kids make it work? Even if you don’t have kids, it can be hard to be diligent and to fit it in. What are your secrets??

the best compliment ever

June 22, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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One summer afternoon I finished up teaching lessons to two little boys (on a totally unrelated note, these brothers were AMAZING students. They practiced EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Without fail. They were a teacher’s dream.). Their parents were late picking them up, so we had a little time to kill. I decided to play a piece for them. I sat down and played a little bit of Liszt’s Un Sospiro (Etude in D-flat Major). I finished up and turned to look at my students, who were standing there, stunned. One of them said, in amazement, “You sound like the freakin’ radio!” This is, by far, my favorite compliment I have ever received. It just cracks me up.

Our students need to hear us play! They need to know not only that we know what we are talking about, but that we practice what we preach and practice the piano just like they do. On a side note, I am definitely not perfect and this is something I am working on; I know I have a lot of room for improvement in this category (regular practicing, that is) since becoming a mommy and having precious little time to myself (I am sure you other mommas can surely relate!).

One of the things that I admire most about my piano teacher in college is that he was always practicing. It seems like every time I’d walk past his office, if he wasn’t teaching he’d be practicing up a storm. How inspiring, to see your own teacher practicing so diligently, and to know without a doubt that they absolutely know what they are teaching, and that they are exhibiting the same hard work that they expect of you!

Technique from the Pianist’s Bench

June 18, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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I was recently re-reading a great book by Boris Berman, Notes from the Pianist’s Bench. What a wonderful book! I highly recommend it for any piano teacher. Berman includes in his book chapters on topics such as Sound and Touch, Practicing, Deciphering the Composer’s Message, Technique, and The Art of Teaching and the Art of Learning. He illustrates his points with tons of musical examples from great piano literature. I find this book really inspiring to me as a pianist as well as a teacher. I think that this book is just as helpful for teachers of young students as it is for advanced pianists.

In light of our current topic here on The Teaching Studio, I was especially re-reading the chapter on Technique, which is fabulous and goes into great depth on what good technique is and how to teach it. I’d like to summarize a bit of his chapter on technique, because it has been so helpful to me (but you really should read the entire thing, it is chock full of incredibly helpful ideas!).

Did you know that the word technique is derived from the Greek word for “art”? I didn’t, until I read this book!

Berman talks about three fundamental physical actions used in piano technique:

independent use of well-articulated fingers
rotation movements of wrist or forearm
use of weight of the forearm and upper arm

He believes that most of the pianist’s movements are some combination of these actions, and that they are all equally important.

Berman also believes that two pillars form the foundation of good piano technique:

The economy principle (being economic in your movements; to not use a bigger part of the body when a smaller will suffice)
The extension principle (to regard the finger, hand, forearm and arm as the continuation of the others, with each individual unit ready to support and share the work with the others.)

He goes over each part of the hand/arm that is used in playing the piano (fingers, palm, wrist, elbows, arms, etc.)

Fingers

The fingers must always be active; this is essential for enunciation…The fingertips give definition to the sound…Finger technique is not only indispensable but also completely safe if practiced properly.

Wrist

It is essential for the pianist to develop a flexible wrist, capable of small and rapid movements. It should be able to work flexibly and smoothly in three ways: rotating, performing horizontal shifts, and making vertical movements….Wrist technique needs to be developed early in the pianist’s life.

Studies & Etudes

Berman briefly discusses studies and etudes, but says he is more familiar with the more advanced ones, as that is the level he most often teaches. However, for etudes he does recommend that Czerny, Cramer, Clementi and Moszkowski be used before more difficult ones such as Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov or Scriabin. As far as exercises go, he prefers Brahms, Tausig and Hanon. He says,

…some of them are well worth incorporating into a daily technical routine…to be highly useful for daily warm-up.

He also builds his daily technical routine on scales and arpeggios.

No technique without a musical goal

Important as the technical work is, it should never be done without a musical goal in mind. Realizing the musical content of the passage helps the pianist to find the right technical approach.

Principles of Intermediate Technique

June 16, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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Teaching technique to your students can seem like an intimidating task at times; at least I think so! For a budding pianist, developing a good, healthy technique is one of the most important things to do to become a fine pianist and a good musician. So how can we, as teachers, make sure we are helping our students develop good technique?

Each teacher has different ideas about technique, was taught technique differently (depending on the teachers we all had as young pianists), and stresses different techniques to their own students. For this reason, I hope we can get a lot of input and comments as to how you go about teaching your students technique, or how you were taught technique.

When teaching intermediate students, I feel that there are three main important techniques to help our students develop, as well as one other important point we should stress to our students.

A good hand shape – yes, this is basic and should be taught to our beginning students. Still, there are sometimes intermediate students who need a little help making good hand shape a habit, or transfer students who need to completely re-learn this. Students who still frequently let their knuckles collapse and play on the flat part of their finger instead of the tip of the finger need some help and guidance in making that a habit.

Finger dexterity and articulation – students should develop strong fingers that can play with good articulation and control. This can happen through scales, Hanon exercises, high loud fingers, etc. However, this should never come at the expense of injury, so we need to also stress the importance of not tensing up muscles as we play, as well as help our students to develop….

Wrist movement – It is important to teach our students to keep their wrists relaxed and incorporate appropriate wrist movement into their playing. This can be in many ways: a slight lift of the wrist at the end of phrases; wrist movement like knocking on a door to assist in repeated block chords; playing a singing, lyrical melody with a loose, relaxed and slightly rotating wrist, etc. Keeping a relaxed wrist not only helps to avoid tensing the muscles too much, but truly aids in achieving a beautiful sound.

When teaching techniques to our students, we should always give them a musical reason for the technique. Don’t just tell them to lift their wrist slightly at the end of phrases, explain why that makes the phrase musical.

What techniques do you feel are important to teach your intermediate students?

awesome intermediate duets

June 14, 2010 Jennifer Boster

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I love duets!

Sitting by yourself at the piano for long periods of time can definitely get lonely at times. Why not supplement your students’ repertoire with some wonderful duets? Not only will it add more peer interaction and fun into your studio, it will teach your students some valuable lessons about ensemble performance. I think summer is a great time for some fun duet recitals! You could pair up students of similar levels in your studio and have their lessons overlap by a few minutes in order for them to have time to practice the duets together.

I’d like to share with you some of my favorite intermediate-level duets. Enjoy!

The Legend of Pirate Pete by Kevin Olson

Very fun early-intermediate piece. Sounds very Pirates of the Caribbean-esque! haha.

Holy moly, look at all those pianos….this YouTube video is actually very impressive considering how many pianists were playing at once!

Big River Barn Dance by Carrie Kraft

This is a great duet, lots of fun, great for recitals! This is probably mid-intermediate. Here’s a video of me and one of my adult students performing this piece.

The All-American Hometown Band by Walter and Carol Noona

This is one of my all-time favorite duets! I learned this as teenager with my sister, and now my husband plays it with me as well! I actually once saw it played with the pianists sitting under the piano, facing the audience…

This is probably mid-intermediate level.

Here is a video of my husband and I performing this piece…

C.S. Theme and Variations by Randall Compton
(dedicated to Victor Borge!)

This is such a fun duet. It is based on Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, as well as another very familiar song……

This is mid- to late-intermediate level.

Here is a great YouTube video I found.

Jamaican Rhumba by Arthur Benjamin, arranged for two pianos by Walden Hughes

Awesome two-piano duet. My sister and I once learned this, and I guess didn’t feel completely ready to play it at our recital, because we were very surprised and relieved when our teacher forgot we were supposed to play it and never announced it!! haha. score.

This is probably later-intermediate.

YouTube video of the piece:

So tell me, what intermediate duets do you love?