Piano Drorp in is starting tomorrow

Before I can even start work on the post grads, I need to set up lesson plans for my piano drop in program. This program is a weekly drop in hour where the students sign up for any wednesday in the Summer. I opened the hour to all levels so I have the problem now of meeting the needs of the differing levels. This sounds like a challenge, yet if I think about it, they all have a commen desire to make music for one hour on a summer afternoon. No one is going forward in their studies. Rather it is a fun one hour singing their favorite songs, working on the ear training, composing, improvising, and ensemble fun. I also would like to add a new reading piece for each level. I was thinking of using one melody and making four levels. This could be a lot of fun but I better get to it. I was thinking of America for the first piece because it is July fourth weekend.

Today was my second and final Spring Musicale for the Season. I took a new slant on this event. I made it more formal with a program and asked for the children to dress up and bring a dessert to share. Between each child playing, I added an interlude which was a favorite activity and I used this valuable time to explain its value in the program. Parent orientation is always ongoing.

Update on a Group of Post Grads in the Fall

I spoke to the parents and although they all would like to continue as a group, they are concerned about what day. Last year we move the day to Monday and then the school moved afterschool band to Monday. We don't know what the school will do next year and they aren't telling us. It makes it hard for me to schedule the class because I need to book other classes as well. I may have to simply designate my available hour and then wait to hear from the parents.

I am offering a piano drop in class and my parents have responded pretty well. I mixed the different books into one hour. We will see if this works. The only children that registered are from book 1 and 2 so it won't be to hard to review and borrow glimpses of dance and drumming from book 3 and 4.

My Graduates take part in my Spring Musicale

Today is my Spring musicale for my private students and my graduating class is invited to play in the program.  Here is what they are playing:

Indigo is playing  Quadrille  and Kookaburra

Samantha is playing America, Juba (complete arrangement) and Melody for the Left Hand

Kara   is playing     First Dance, Bag Pipes and Country Dance II (Solo)

 Lina  Friendly Conversation and Country Dance I (Solo)

Kara and Lina  are playing Country Dance as a 2 piano 4 hands ensemble.

   When you consider the scope of the music in the curriculum, it is pretty impressive.  I plan to video their performances.                                                                        

 

 

 

Yesterday, I spoke to the parents of the children graduating from the program. I don't see the enthusiasm to continue as a group although two of parents would like to continue. One parent is more interested in private lessons and one parent is unwilling to commit to anything. They are addicted to baseball season and if interferes with this passion.

so I sent the group an email giving three paths they could consider.

One is the group idea.

One is a partner lesson idea with a group lesson every five classes or so.

One is private lessons with group lesson every fifth lesson or so.

I gave them until the end of the month to respond.

I probably will contact them all on the 28th to hear their ideas.

We wait and see.


Meanwhile I am preparing my MMK students for a spring musicale. We celebrate tomorrow night. I look foward to all the desserts, lol.

I guess the first task to figure out exactly where my students are at the end of the keyboard program. I have a group that will end the program in 4 weeks. They are all playing well. I need to introduce them.

Kara is the oldest of the group, age 9 1/2 and probably the most creative of the four. Her father has been her noblest supporter although he has inadvertently sabotaged Kara's reading skills the way a parents does best. Unknown to me, he marked all her music with the letter names and fingering. He also would spoon feed the music to Kara. As a result, she has no strong relationship to solfege. For her it was the annoying part of the class and she would often be doing headstands against the wall rather than read the music. She was always the moving type but it would worsen during this part of class. Yet, every week she would have all her pieces properly learned, although never with music in front of her. No matter what I did (and I racked my brain) did she connect to the music, yet, because of Dad's "support" she always was ahead. She also has very tight fingers and although we have come a long way from "spastic", still fights me if I casually mention the idea of using a 1, 3, 5 fingering for a tonic chord. She has a misaligned hand position that we are slowly changing and believe me, it has been a struggle since day one. Of course, I bet you can imagine the quality of tone she produces - harsh, harsh and harsh. So we spend a lot of time (weekly) discussing tonal quality and I have the other children raise their hands when she produces a harsh sound. She is beginning to come around and so his her hand. I find imagery works better to reduce tension in her hand rather than to say, "Relax".
We are spending mucho time on aural games with patterns so she reconnects to the solfeggio. Better late than never. On the positive side, she has created three CDS of original music with vocal and she does all the background music. Pretty incredible. Also she has composed quite a few 12 bar blues and has a natural connection to this form or composition and improvisation.

Lina is a sibling and dutifully does all her work and never misses class. She is super shy and sweet and will figure out anything. She is fluent in her solfege and in her rhythm language. Like her peers she will need practice naming notes but it really doesn't faze her. she is a bright spot in the classroom and always gets the concept the first time.

Samantha is the rebellious one that learns ahead and plays Ode to Joy at every share (sigh). She is actually the best of the four and her technique is solid. She has independence of hands and is a strong reader. She is the one that creates hell in the room and I often have to sit on her. Unfortunately the parents consider music to be a seasonal sport and when baseball season hits, I lose her. She is the leader of the group and very musical.

Indigo is the ultimate rhythm machine. He adores video music and plans to be a future creator of this music. He is best a dictation and will sing in tune if you ask him to. He always picks out the most interesting supplement pieces and learns them on his own but usually gets it all wrong. Yet if you mention anything, he fixes it immediately and thats that. He is fine with three girls in the room although the touchy hands thing sometimes invades the room. Oh for another boy in the room...

These are my students who, I hope will continue next year as a group.

For the past few days I have emmersed myself in the Van Cliburn International competition. They are streaming the entire competition online. This is a dream come true. I am overwhelmed by the music and the performers. I can only dream of playing at this level.

I also think about whether I am part of this creation of music in my studio. Am I training the next pianist for this event? Are their ears and body in my music program? what if I came from this place with all my students? It is an interesting and intriquing thought.