Don't Give Me 'Tude

A read for my students especially!!

Did you know your attitude directly affects your piano sound? Also, the physical state of your body can influence your sound as well. Case in point. One time I did bikram yoga. The next day I had a piano lesson. I was sore from the weird yoga stuff I didn't usually do with my body. My playing was stiff and therefor my sound was stiff and my teacher could tell. She asked why and I explained what I had done the night before.

Another case. I remember playing in a recital right after drinking a very large sprite. My playing that night was frantic and rushed because not only did I have the usual nervous energy, I was playing on a sugar high.

But back to attitude. I have actually had lessons with students when I can tell something is bothering them based on the way they played. Usually, it is unfocused, so the details are somewhat flat. Their minds are occupied and not involved in their music. The better the mood they are in, the better they play! AND, even better yet, if I can get them to imagine the mood and attitude of the piece they are playing, their sounds gets better yet again!!

I'm not saying you can't come to lessons after a bad day, or even in a bad mood. Life happens. But music is about taking a break from life and putting yourself in another world. It's about being able to forget for a little and just indulge. So think about that before you play. At least momentarily, put yourself in a different mood, change your attitude, and play beautifully.

The Need For Focus

Please note that these are the ramblings of a piano teacher of 15 years. These words are merely my observations. They are not researched or proven facts.

I am a piano teacher. My subject IS piano. I do not teach Spanish or Algebra or scuba diving or quilt-making. I teach piano. The reason is teach piano is because my parents were wise enough to allow me the time to focus on piano. They did let me participate in other activities, such as church activities, skiing, sewing class, and a few other things here and there. But they were diligent in keeping my schedule open enough to devote much of my time to piano.

Piano is my thing. It is not everybody's thing. I realize that when I am teaching, many of my students will not desire to major in piano performance when they attend college. But there is a trend I notice in the lives of my students and many other children of today. They are OVERWHELMED with activities!! School is time consuming enough, but you add three different sports, one or two other musical endeavors, and just living life on top of school and what do you have?? Attention that is spread so thin, it will surely make it incredibly difficult for them to succeed and excel in the things they want to! I think there is sometimes a feeling of needing to keep up. That we ALL need to do ALL the things. But when it comes to refining the things we do, where is the time? I WISH I could practice my violin more, but I have to go to karate and then dance rehearsal. And then I have to come home at 8 and do homework until I pass out in my bed. Not only does this make me sad for the skill of violin, it makes me sad for the poor kid who doesn't get to be a kid, or know how it feels to achieve a great accomplishment in violin playing, (or insert other activity they wish to excel in)

Now, to keep this post from being a complete downer, I WILL say that kids these days are impressive! They work hard, they don't often complain about their busyness, and they are doing great things! But it's worth a thought or two when considering true achievement. Can they choose 1 or 2 things they really love and focus on those and allow their brain the room for that focus? My guess is there will be less hectic-ness, more peace of mind, more pride in achievement, and more joy in activities.

I LOVE TEACHING!!

I'm so lucky to have found out by the ripe old age of ten that I wanted to be a piano teacher some day!!! My students have *almost* all been wonderful, I've never tried to count, but I'm pretty sure that over the years, I've had over a hundred piano students, that's a lot of awesome people pursuing musical dreams!! Love it!! 

Now, I want to announce to my little following some recent musical dreams of mine, I'm going to perform again!! It won't be for a while, as I need to learn and perfect enough repertoire, but it will happen! I'm soooo excited, I need to many exclamation points!! One reason I'm announcing this is because I would like to actually begin regularly practicing again and if I tell you guys, I'm responsible to someone, so yeah. Thanks!! Music is the best! Especially piano music :) insert cool music emojis here;) 

Going Through Growth Spurts

I have been teaching in Sparks/Reno ever since I graduated from college and I taught here before I left for college also. Some of my students have been with me for four or more years. And many of them were anywhere from 7-10 years old when they started lessons with me. That means that they were and are with me during some major growing years! Some of them have shot up in height several inches (feels like feet) and when I am teaching them, they are sitting on the piano bench and suddenly I realize they look like giants! Not really, but there is definitely a big height difference.

This has a few implications for my students. Often, they don't realize they have grown A TON. Or maybe they know that they have grown, but they don't realize that this affects how close they should or shouldn't be sitting to the piano.

I don't know the average height changes in children between the ages of 10 and 14, all I know is that there is constant growing going on. I also know that many boys and girls start taking lessons at a fairly young age. That would mean that when they start their lessons, they are sitting pretty close to the piano with the bench scooted as close as possible to the keys. But by the time they are 10, 11, 12...there has been some pretty noticeable growing. But they still want to sit as close to the piano as they did when they started because that is what they are used to.

When a student has grown a couple or more inches, the distance they used to sit away from the piano is no longer a healthy playing distance and here are the reasons why.

1. They are learning how to use "arm weight" when playing, This becomes extremely difficult to do when their elbows are jammed at a 75 degree angle. They need more distance from the keys to open up their elbows to at least 120 degrees. This allows them freedom of motion and use of full arm weight. Arm weight playing is crucial to having a full, rich sound.

2. Their elbows being jammed at the 75 degree angle will also effect their wrists. Their wrists will drop lower than the keys, staying somewhat useless and this in turn will cause their fingers to have to work harder, compensating for the lack of wrist motion.

3. The students' heads will sometimes have to drop forward for them to be able to properly look at the keys, instead of having a better, full view of the piano that sitting farther back would give them. This doesn't necessarily have an effect on their technique, but it's just plain uncomfortable!

The main idea to take away is how the student sits will greatly affect their technique, their sound, and their abilities. AND their comfort level! So be aware, students and parents of students! Where and how you sit matters!

Just Pushing Buttons

There is something on my mind. Something that I have spoken to my students about off and on throughout my years of teaching.

Piano. It's an easy instrument to play, right?? All you do is follow the instructions, push the right keys, and BAM! You are a pianist.

Are you really, though? My students will probably all tell you the same thing. NO! Because they know that playing piano is ever so much more than just pushing the right buttons!! I'm probably offending some readers by calling the keys "buttons". By calling the keys "buttons", I am egregiously simplifying this beautiful instrument. That is the net that so many people who don't understand the piano fall into. Making it much simpler than it really is.

Let's talk multi-tasking. Did you know that at any given moment one of my students is playing the piano, they are processing at LEAST 5 different thoughts PER NOTE?? I say at least, because it's usually more. They have to think about how they touch the note, what position their hand is in, how long to hold the note, how loud or soft to play the note, what position their whole body is in while they are playing the note, is there pedaling with the note,... And that is just for one note. Depending on the level of the piece they are playing, there are anywhere from 50 to thousands of notes. Do you know how much brain power that requires? Sometimes it's exhausting to say the least. And all of these thoughts are for the purpose of getting just the right tone quality.

If you push a piano key down in different ways, it will sound different. Try it. Push any key down straight and hard. It will have a harsh, sharp tone quality. Push it down slow and soft. It will have a soft, wispy tone quality. Try something trickier. Push the key down with a firm finger, but relaxed hand and arm. Let the weight of your arm drop into the key, but let your wrist absorb some of the shock. It should have a more rich, warm quality to the tone. This technique takes hours of practice and focus just to get it right with every single note.

I could go on and on and ON about the complexities of playing piano, but I won't. For now, anyway :)

Maybe next time I'll rant about dynamics. Or maybe more about technique. But do me a favor and go give your friend or child who is studying piano a pat on the back. They are tackling a very intimidating challenge!

Some listening to do!

I plan to post as many TOTALLY AWESOME piano videos I possibly can so you can come right here to listen to them!! There are so many, it was hard to pick what I would post first!! But here is a good one to start you off. It's Rachmaninoff's preludes in C sharp and G minor. Rachmaninoff was pretty awesome, I'll write more about him soon!

Piano music

Everyone is pretty partial to specific instruments, usually the ones they play the most. Flute, harp, bagpipes, slide whistle, what have you. Me, I tend to lean more toward the black and white sorts of instruments. The ones that look like this>>

They are seriously beautiful instruments, aren't they though? This was a piano Rachmaninoff himself once recorded on. 

Piano music can fit ANY mood, ANY genre, can imitate many beautiful pieces written for other instruments, and can bring people to tears. It's amazing what a combination of black and white keys can unlock in a person's soul. Words can't often express the feelings that piano music finds paths to. I love this instrument and I love the music it can create. Because of this love, I choose to teach the secrets of this instrument to others. Though it's easy to get caught up in the sometimes monotonous grind of practice, once you've reached a point when the notes become a delight to you, when you can put your feelings into sound and rhythm, you can look back on the work and time and energy you put into learning to master this wonderful instrument and you can feel a deep, deep sense of profound joy. That is the joy I want to bring to my students. I want them to feel the happiness and the peace that comes from using this instrument to create beautiful music. 

I will use this blog to post the most beneficial musical material I can find. I will also use it to discuss some of the many musical topics that I have discussed with my students over the years. I hope they can all learn and grow in their piano endeavors by looking to this blog as a guide along their journey to discover Piano.