It's true and here's why
I heard yet another "recital horror story" last night from a student. In this story my student's two sisters sat through a horrible experience at a recital and then quit piano - for good. Way to go, "teacher!" You really accomplished something.
I've written about this before but this simply story irked me anew and prompted a new explanation. Why, oh why, put young people (or people of any age) through such hell? What is gained? After all, almost every list I've ever seen states that "speaking in public" is a huge stress-generator. How much worse is it to have to do something unusual in public?
Now I play in public all the time but I recognize that I'm not normal. I'm what's called, politely and seldom to my face, a "ham." I know it. I love a crowd. I've spoken to 4000 people. I've done radio and TV, as well as print. I ran for public office. Give me a mic and I'll ask, "How many will be listening?" The more, the better. Most folks would run for the hills.
I know I'm a ham and most people aren't and have tailored all my teaching to this fact. Few wish professionalism.
That means it makes zero sense to train them in being professional, which is what a recital does. Also, where is the fairness in forcing anyone, even a child, to share their art with anybody who shows up? It simply "ain't right!"
Luckily, more and more enlightened music instructors are turning to "playing parties" and other functions that offer but do not insist on the student playing anything. They can, if they want. This works. What I've noticed is that almost everyone will play for people they care about when they get good and ready to. A playing party helps you care, puts you at ease, etc. Good call.
But recitals? Nope. And don't even get me started on competitions with judges. How would YOU like to be 10 and go in front of Simon Cowell?
You can search this blog for your interest!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Three Ways to Improve Reading Music
There is a one big secret to knowing the notes and three ways to fix it!
That "big secret" is that you have to know WHERE they are on your instrument. Simply knowing their letter name is not enough to actually make a note. Allow me to give you an example to demonstrate this.
Now I'm a really good pianist. Give me some piano music that isn't too hard and I'll sit down and play it pretty well. This is sometimes called sight-reading. I'm good enough at this that some students are quite amazed. However, give me "Twinkle-twinkle" for cello, flute, clarinet, etc. and something else happens. I can still write letters next to notes as fast as my eye can see those notes. Unfortunately, no actual music occurs because I simply don't play those instruments and don't even know where those notes are on cello, flute, clarinet, and a host of others.
Get it? My "ability" to identify the notes as letters is totally useless in making music on these instruments regardless of my ability to sight-read PIANO music. "Knowing the notes" for your instrument does NOT mean being able to put a letter to them but rather to make that note with that instrument when the sheet music says to do that. That's why I'm writing this essay - too many folks have heard that it is, and it simply isn't true.
Thus, your work with one instrument does NOT carry over to another. The only thing that someone who studied trumpet in school band knows that helps in piano is that the notes have some location on the sheetmusic page and that the different shapes mean different lengths (timing of the notes.) This IS valuable and should be used. However, sorry to say but your work in high school will not help you learn WHERE the notes are on a piano.
Too many supposedly great keyboardists and their books miss this point entirely. They take the easy approach of using the letters and thus their students quickly begin to think that "knowing the notes" means being able to put a letter to each. Sorry, gang, but it ain't so.
I speculate (warning - thinking ahead!) that the incorrect word is "read music." We do NOT read it like we read this essay. With regular reading, our eyes move over the symbols and our minds provide ideas. That's it. Sheetmusic commands us to DO something with the symbols it gives us. We actually have to make a note when told to. The closest thing to reading would be reading "aloud." I think we need a new word to describe the process but I'm not at all sure what that word should be. Any ideas?
I did promise to help you get better - but how? There are three ways:
1. Realize that the idea is to memorize directly "location on the staff (both bass and treble) to the location of the key in front of you." It's NOT "location on the staff to a letter and then to a location in front of you." That's way too slow. And besides, let's say you identify your note as a C. Even on a small keyboard there are 6 C's. Which is it? You say you know? Then you don't need that letter ID in the middle. Just go directly to the location. That's why each note has it's own location on the staff - because there is only one location on the keyboard for that particular note. As I tell my students, the identifying letter will not tell you the location but the location will certainly tell you the identifying letter - if you need to know it.
Realizing this will force the right memorization on you. This is the simplest method, but if that's not enough...
2. There are computer programs galore for this, even free ones. I give my personal students the download site for one I use. Remember to "turn off" any letter ID function.
3. If you can't find a program or the program doesn't work, then you might need some flashcards. Unfortunately, not all work well. Some only give the letter and, as I hope I've made clear, that is NOT enough. You will need some cards that actually show you on a keyboard where the note pictured on the front is presented. Thus the front of the card shows a location on a staff and the answer (on the back) shows a location for that key on a keyboard.
If these things don't work, or you can't find them, or something else happens, you will need to contact me via email or by posting a comment below. I will help, cause that's what teachers do. But you're gonna have to reach out yourself a bit.
Next post - the next step in "reading" music successfully.
That "big secret" is that you have to know WHERE they are on your instrument. Simply knowing their letter name is not enough to actually make a note. Allow me to give you an example to demonstrate this.
Now I'm a really good pianist. Give me some piano music that isn't too hard and I'll sit down and play it pretty well. This is sometimes called sight-reading. I'm good enough at this that some students are quite amazed. However, give me "Twinkle-twinkle" for cello, flute, clarinet, etc. and something else happens. I can still write letters next to notes as fast as my eye can see those notes. Unfortunately, no actual music occurs because I simply don't play those instruments and don't even know where those notes are on cello, flute, clarinet, and a host of others.
Get it? My "ability" to identify the notes as letters is totally useless in making music on these instruments regardless of my ability to sight-read PIANO music. "Knowing the notes" for your instrument does NOT mean being able to put a letter to them but rather to make that note with that instrument when the sheet music says to do that. That's why I'm writing this essay - too many folks have heard that it is, and it simply isn't true.
Thus, your work with one instrument does NOT carry over to another. The only thing that someone who studied trumpet in school band knows that helps in piano is that the notes have some location on the sheetmusic page and that the different shapes mean different lengths (timing of the notes.) This IS valuable and should be used. However, sorry to say but your work in high school will not help you learn WHERE the notes are on a piano.
Too many supposedly great keyboardists and their books miss this point entirely. They take the easy approach of using the letters and thus their students quickly begin to think that "knowing the notes" means being able to put a letter to each. Sorry, gang, but it ain't so.
I speculate (warning - thinking ahead!) that the incorrect word is "read music." We do NOT read it like we read this essay. With regular reading, our eyes move over the symbols and our minds provide ideas. That's it. Sheetmusic commands us to DO something with the symbols it gives us. We actually have to make a note when told to. The closest thing to reading would be reading "aloud." I think we need a new word to describe the process but I'm not at all sure what that word should be. Any ideas?
I did promise to help you get better - but how? There are three ways:
1. Realize that the idea is to memorize directly "location on the staff (both bass and treble) to the location of the key in front of you." It's NOT "location on the staff to a letter and then to a location in front of you." That's way too slow. And besides, let's say you identify your note as a C. Even on a small keyboard there are 6 C's. Which is it? You say you know? Then you don't need that letter ID in the middle. Just go directly to the location. That's why each note has it's own location on the staff - because there is only one location on the keyboard for that particular note. As I tell my students, the identifying letter will not tell you the location but the location will certainly tell you the identifying letter - if you need to know it.
Realizing this will force the right memorization on you. This is the simplest method, but if that's not enough...
2. There are computer programs galore for this, even free ones. I give my personal students the download site for one I use. Remember to "turn off" any letter ID function.
3. If you can't find a program or the program doesn't work, then you might need some flashcards. Unfortunately, not all work well. Some only give the letter and, as I hope I've made clear, that is NOT enough. You will need some cards that actually show you on a keyboard where the note pictured on the front is presented. Thus the front of the card shows a location on a staff and the answer (on the back) shows a location for that key on a keyboard.
If these things don't work, or you can't find them, or something else happens, you will need to contact me via email or by posting a comment below. I will help, cause that's what teachers do. But you're gonna have to reach out yourself a bit.
Next post - the next step in "reading" music successfully.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Learn to Play the Piano (Keyboard) by Ear? Bad Idea!
Being illiterate in music is NOT a good thing and I'll explain why below!
There's been a ton of hype lately about the idea of playing the piano "by ear." Of course, different folk mean different things when they say, "by ear" but there seem to be two common denominators which lead folks to thing this is a good thing:
1. They don't want to deal with the S-L-O-W approach of too many piano teachers.
2. They think that learning to read music is almost impossible and certainly too hard.
I can relate. Some piano teachers really do go way too slowly for some silly reason. I've written a ton about why in this same blog. These same teachers usually teach reading music badly so their students cannot learn the skill. Thus, if that's your total understanding of what piano lessons are, it's no wonder that you've bought into the idea of learning by ear. I'd want to avoid that as well.
Fortunately, there are options. I say fortunately because correct teaching allows for anyone to learn to react to music quickly. I also say fortunately because playing only "by ear" is very limiting to a player. Want to know more? Read on.
Let explain first that I use the phrase "react to music" rather than "read music" because, unlike reading which is a mostly a purely mental process (what are you DOING right now,) "reading music" actually requires that you DO something to make a note or notes. It involves seeing a symbol and doing something to an instrument which produces real music IN THE ROOM. You have to "react" to the symbol. (The problem might just be this idea of "reading" music. Maybe that's a bad word. However, it's the one we have.)
That being said, to play by ear means that you only have a single "input channel" for the information you are using to make sounds, namely your hearing. This means you can only access something already available to hear. You WILL thus play covers, meaning other people's music. This might be great for some guitarist in a bar band. Most pianist's have bigger goals.
The goals of many, perhaps most pianists/keyboardists require multiple streams of input - from ear, eye, and mind. That's what a good series of lessons with a good instructor does. Such a teacher can help you hear, see ("read music") and understand what you do. I know, cause that's what I've done for decades now.
Unfortunately, if you don't live nearby you can't take lessons from me. What you CAN do, however, is sample my work by reading and using the techniques from my cheap ebooks. Cheap - nothing more than $9.99! Go HERE. My techniques do work and do help, as a huge batch of happy readers/players have attested to me. Check them out.
There's been a ton of hype lately about the idea of playing the piano "by ear." Of course, different folk mean different things when they say, "by ear" but there seem to be two common denominators which lead folks to thing this is a good thing:
1. They don't want to deal with the S-L-O-W approach of too many piano teachers.
2. They think that learning to read music is almost impossible and certainly too hard.
I can relate. Some piano teachers really do go way too slowly for some silly reason. I've written a ton about why in this same blog. These same teachers usually teach reading music badly so their students cannot learn the skill. Thus, if that's your total understanding of what piano lessons are, it's no wonder that you've bought into the idea of learning by ear. I'd want to avoid that as well.
Fortunately, there are options. I say fortunately because correct teaching allows for anyone to learn to react to music quickly. I also say fortunately because playing only "by ear" is very limiting to a player. Want to know more? Read on.
Let explain first that I use the phrase "react to music" rather than "read music" because, unlike reading which is a mostly a purely mental process (what are you DOING right now,) "reading music" actually requires that you DO something to make a note or notes. It involves seeing a symbol and doing something to an instrument which produces real music IN THE ROOM. You have to "react" to the symbol. (The problem might just be this idea of "reading" music. Maybe that's a bad word. However, it's the one we have.)
That being said, to play by ear means that you only have a single "input channel" for the information you are using to make sounds, namely your hearing. This means you can only access something already available to hear. You WILL thus play covers, meaning other people's music. This might be great for some guitarist in a bar band. Most pianist's have bigger goals.
The goals of many, perhaps most pianists/keyboardists require multiple streams of input - from ear, eye, and mind. That's what a good series of lessons with a good instructor does. Such a teacher can help you hear, see ("read music") and understand what you do. I know, cause that's what I've done for decades now.
Unfortunately, if you don't live nearby you can't take lessons from me. What you CAN do, however, is sample my work by reading and using the techniques from my cheap ebooks. Cheap - nothing more than $9.99! Go HERE. My techniques do work and do help, as a huge batch of happy readers/players have attested to me. Check them out.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
"Dan, the Keyboard Man"
Why I'm re-inventing myself after almost 25 years of teaching!
After spending the last 2 and 1/2 decades teaching folks of all ages how to play piano and keyboard, I've discovered a few things - things that readers should know. I will simply list these things here and then expand on each every couple days. Those interested in such matters should return here for the evidence that has led me to these ideas.
1. Electronic keyboards are the best teaching tools ever invented but much "tradition" and false information gets in the way of this reality.
2. The piano is a nice instrument which has a vastly better reputation than it deserves.
3. The electronic organ is a nice instrument which has a vastly worse reputation than it deserves.
4. Adults learn more quickly than children. Sure, there are exceptions, but the normal result is as I've stated.
5. Being a hobbyist, an older person who plays their favorite music merely as a fun and cheap hobby, is something within the reach of most all adults. Plus, it keeps your brains and emotions healthier and young. Loads of pluses, and few minuses.
That's the list. Thus, I'm going to go against the grain of instructors and promote learning the electronic keyboard for older players (but as a hobbyist!)
That's why I call myself "Dan, the Keyboard Man."
After spending the last 2 and 1/2 decades teaching folks of all ages how to play piano and keyboard, I've discovered a few things - things that readers should know. I will simply list these things here and then expand on each every couple days. Those interested in such matters should return here for the evidence that has led me to these ideas.
1. Electronic keyboards are the best teaching tools ever invented but much "tradition" and false information gets in the way of this reality.
2. The piano is a nice instrument which has a vastly better reputation than it deserves.
3. The electronic organ is a nice instrument which has a vastly worse reputation than it deserves.
4. Adults learn more quickly than children. Sure, there are exceptions, but the normal result is as I've stated.
5. Being a hobbyist, an older person who plays their favorite music merely as a fun and cheap hobby, is something within the reach of most all adults. Plus, it keeps your brains and emotions healthier and young. Loads of pluses, and few minuses.
That's the list. Thus, I'm going to go against the grain of instructors and promote learning the electronic keyboard for older players (but as a hobbyist!)
That's why I call myself "Dan, the Keyboard Man."
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