Spring Recital, I

The end of the school year is in sight.  Recital season is upon us.  I hold my recital in April, actually.  Spring sports, ballet recitals, school concerts, warm weather all tend to keep my students from regular practice, so the April recital.  I then hold an end-of-the-year soiree where the kids play whatever they want, and we celebrate with cookies and drink.  The kids love the atmosphere of the soiree; the parents appreciate the early spring recital.  

Starting in January, if not before, we choose recital repertoire. This year, all my students are in elementary school, a first for me, actually.  For the older students, I pushed a Mostly Mozart theme.  We worked diligently on their Mozart compositions, most of them adapted for younger fingers.  By early April, the kids were tired of Mozart; they knew all the notes, the rhythm, the tempo; they wanted to play something else.  I too was ready to move on, but they had yet to perform!  So, instead, we worked on subtle nuances in the score, and you know, they caught on!  They got into it, the crescendi, the diminuendi, and they played music, not just notes.  Come recital time, the young pianists are well-prepared for performance.  I too know every piece inside and out.  I play along (on my imaginary keyboard) as each student performs.  I hold my breath at each difficult phrase.  

This year I was so proud of one boy in particular who has a penchant for playing loud, always loud.  He was the most vocal about moving on.  Until that little spark, that little something in the music that grabbed him.  He noticed the dynamic markings, the quiet first theme, the louder repeat, the build to the climax and the release.  For the first time, I think he heard the music.  He knew what he wanted to produce, he listened and worked until he got it.  And he got it!  

They all did well.  The soiree is in 2 weeks, and everyone is getting excited about performing again, and then to summer break.  I am also looking forward to a week or 2 off.  Ah, summer.  But I want everyone back on the piano bench before too long.  I love teaching!  

Seriously

I have not been a good blogger, now have I?  I intend to amend that situation, starting today.  I intend to write something at least once a week.  All "the best laid plans" aside, I hope I can meet my challenge.  Too often, the computer means Spider Solitaire and FreeCell.  I hope to amend that practice as well.

My Spring Recital is just a week away.  In past years, my student base included elementary to high school students.  This year, I find all my students are elementary age, and most are beginners.  I'm working on the program tonight.  My theme this year is Mostly Mozart.  A relatively seasoned student complained he'd been "working on that Mozart piece for so long", why not something else for the recital?  It's a thin line, between introducing recital material too early or starting too late to master for performance.  And yes, we have been working on Mozart for quite some time, but there is still room for improvement, still need to practice and review, to polish for performance.  He gets it; he's just ready to move on.  One more week...

My Quiet Winter

You'd think I'd forgotten about my blog, it's been so long since I've posted.  

It's been a quiet winter.  Oh, wait!  Did I say that?  No, it's been a magical winter!  Going into the Christmas holiday, I had 6 students.  Coming out of that same holiday, I had 18 students!  I still don't know what happened, but I am ever thankful, and extremely happy.  

I had the honor of accompanying at a few elementary school holiday concerts, both in December and in January.  Chorus, band, and strings, depending on the school.  I've got to commend our young, aspiring musicians.  They worked very hard for these concerts, coming to school early for rehearsal, giving up recess for rehearsals, and most importantly, practicing at home!  Yes, even the chorus members had homework -- all their songs were performed from memory.  I was so happy to have been at each performance,  to accompany these groups, and mostly to have experienced their pride in their success!  

My own students are preparing for a mini-recital, to be held this next Saturday for the Alzheimer's residents of the nearby assisted living complex.  There are times when it is quite obvious that someone hasn't practiced since his last lesson.  Not so recently however!  The improvements these kids have shown this past month is remarkable.  We are concentrating on Mozart this year: not your standard elementary level repertoire.  I am so proud of the progress they all have made, learning new notes, new rhythms, dynamic shadings.  They have worked hard, and I can hear it.  I think they can hear it too, and are anxious to perform.   If I remember to take pictures, I'll post a few here next week.

Halloween! part 2

The residents of Sunrise Assisted Living had a big day last Sunday.  An hour of music, piano and vocal, followed by juice and cookies, made for a fun-filled afternoon.  My piano students entertained with Halloween Carols.  I was proud of each of them -- they introduced themselves and spoke about the music they would play.  They were poised and articulate.  Good job, kids!

After the piano portion of the event,  a seven-person, high school choral group led the residents in a sing-along.  I accompanied them as they shared music dear to the residents' ears.  Most of the residents joined in singing -- they had the words printed out to read, but I think most of them already knew most of the songs.  Unfortunately for me, I had my back to them the whole time, but I could hear their enthusiasm as they all sang together.

I am hoping for a reprise concert in December.  Not the same music, but the same venue and performers.  The pianists are already working on some Christmas music to perform.  Just have to get the high school choristers pumped to come back.  That shouldn't be too tough; they may have had more fun than any of us!

Halloween!

We are gearing up for a Halloween mini-recital at Sunrise Assisted Living.  Creepy, spooky, mysterious and kooky music has been wafting through the studio for weeks now and it's time to let it loose.  In addition to piano, a vocal group will join us to perform their own collection of songs.  I'm looking forward to hearing what they have prepared, and always to hearing my own students perform.

Annual dilemma

We're finally back into the routine of the school year, and weekly piano lessons are part of my routine.  It's a good thing I love what I do: I'm afraid I'm not too busy yet.  I have this annual dilemma come mid-September.  Where did all the students go?  Returning students tend to trickle back.  By October, my fears are usually assuaged, but that doesn't make September any easier.

My reasoning for slow registration is simply this -- kids do too much, and parents have little time.  Of course, I allow the slow return.  The beginning of the school year is always fraught with obligations, paperwork, and deadlines.  It takes about a month to get into the flow of the new year.  Even lessons at the college do not begin until mid-September.  And this year in particular, we experienced an earthquake on the first day of school, followed by Hurricane Irene and an extra week of torrential downpours, plus all the consequential school closings.  So it's no wonder it takes a few weeks to get my school age students back at the piano.

Reading other teachers' blogs, however, I don't see my slow-registration problem to be an issue for others.  Somehow they convince their parents to register in July, and pony up the first month's tuition with the early registration.  I guess I'm just too easy on my parents.  Someday I will get tough and learn how to begin the season full steam.  But until then, mid-September will remain a bit scary for me.

(An aside.  My current students are already working on scary Halloween music for an October mini-recital.  Maybe that's what makes my mid-September so scary.)

And so it goes...

We're back.  Back from vacations at the beach, picnics in the park, baseball and hot dogs and all that summer represents.  Back to work, back to school, back to the humdrum of daily practice.  No, stop!  Did I say humdrum?  Never, never!  In fact, I have just purchased a drum, of sorts: an African sanza.  More like a drum with a keyboard.  It's a bowl carved out of wood and topped, seamlessly, with wood.  An etching of a face has been burned into the wood, holes carved as eyes, above which are 8 metal keys of different lengths, thus playing 8 different pitches.  The underside of the bowl shows a woodburning of a drum.  As a piece of primitive art, it is beautiful.  As a tonal percussion instrument, it is intriguing.  I'm not sure how I can weave it into a piano lesson, but I'm going to give it a try.

I also have a bongo drum, which, yes, I use in piano lessons.  Despite the tune "I've got rhythm, I've got music.  Who could ask for anything more?", rhythm can be a difficult concept for some folks.  Counting, clapping, using words instead of notes doesn't always cut it.  I have found, however, that beating a drum tends to break through the rhythm barrier.  Outside of lessons, it's just fun to play.

I wonder what I can do with the 2 kazoos I have by my piano?  Nothing humdrum here!