Musical Resources

The Little Things: Big Lessons from Little Students

2011-12-07T20:12:00.005-05:00

I have to admit that I'm not always the world's best teacher for the four- and five-year-old set, but having had a few great little students, I'm always willing to meet with them (and their parents) to see if they really want to learn and can sit still for long enough to do so.

As it turns out, some of these little ones have gone on to be excellent and committed teenage musicians.

And I fall for cuteness every time.

I've got an adorable little guy right now -- one who announces "I'm ready to learn a new song!" and "I can't WAIT to turn the page!" and "I'm so excited I'm going to learn to read music I can't even wait!"

How could even the grumpiest piano teacher resist?

Today, he told me, "Miss Karen! Did you know that if you play these notes, everything sounds good?" (Plays CDFGA) "And you can make up a song about anything you like."

"Really?" I said. "Show me."

So he played up and down and sang at top of his lungs, "Oh! I love my mommy so much!"

Cute little anecdote, but there's more to it than meets the eye (or ear.)

First of all, this little guy discovered the notes of the pentatonic scale*: the five notes that are used to make folk songs around the world; the notes that are used in the melodies of virtually every black spiritual (what vocalist Wintley Phipps famously called the "slave scale") -- the notes to "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Every Time I Feel the Spirit," and a hundred others.

And he's right: These notes DO sound good, and you can use them to write a song about just about anything -- Watch this audience participation demonstration by Bobby McFerrin at the 2009 World Science Festival and you'll learn that we instinctively respond to the scale my five-year old "discovered," so much so that we seem to know it in our bones. And so do musicians from places as diverse as and musically different as China, Nigeria, Ireland, and South America.

Finally, my student is also right about what it is that music does: What the point of this whole thing is. We can use it to express our feelings about anything at all. And share them.

We can even write a love song.

* Note for pedants and students: The notes CDFGA are the notes of the F pentatonic scale, not the C pentatonic scale. Just in case anyone is confused.

How to Practice Piano Effectively

2011-11-07T10:30:00.002-05:00

When we teach piano, most of us stress practice time. But time is only part of the practice equation: What, precisely, we do with that time is the other part. And contrary to how most people (kids and adults alike) practice, it shouldn't be a matter of mindless repetition. Good practice is actually a rewarding, creative -- and effective -- process.

And here's a note for piano parents who aren't necessarily musicians themselves: One sure-fire way to tell if your kid is practicing correctly is to notice whether he or she keeps playing the piece over and over from beginning to end. That's the WRONG way to practice. I tell my kids they can start with one play-through, during which they should note the problem areas. Then they need to get to work on those by practicing small sections over and over. They can finish with another run-through. But to just keep repeating a piece, complete with all the same mistakes, is ineffective and pointless.

Every pianist (and every other musician, as well) develops his or her own practice routine, learning a series of possible practice strategies to deal with different types of mistakes and to learn difficult passages so they can be brought up to speed and played fluently. Part of practice is trial and error -- seeing what works, and what doesn't.

Whether just beginning to learn to play the piano or an accomplished virtuoso, pianists should look at these strategies as part of their "toolbox." If one doesn't work, try another. Experience tells pianists which strategies are best for which problems, but quite frequently, a pianist will try a number of practice techniques to master a particularly stubborn passage.

Practice Strategies for Mastering Piano Technique

Mechanical strategies are those that teach the players' hands where to go. They deal with issues such as finding the right notes, using the right fingers, and coordinating the hands. These strategies help develop piano technique.

Play with hands apart. Practice one hand at a time if it makes musical sense to do so. Then play with hands together.
Play in small sections: Practice the piece in small bits, one phrase at a time. Phrases are the equivalent of sentences in the grammar of music. They are sometimes less than a line of music long, and sometimes more, just like a sentence on this page is sometimes shorter than a line, and sometimes longer. Practicing in phrases makes more musical sense than practicing by the line.
Combine all the elements in small phrases: Practice each phrase by playing one hand, then the other, then both together.
Study the fingering. Fingering choices should always be deliberate and intentional. Pianists must remember that good fingering involves not only getting to the note in question, but getting to the next note, and the next after that. Issues of how to tackle a series of similar motifs that start on different notes also come into play, as well as issues of musicality, which can justify fingerings that at first may look awkward. Students who have not yet mastered fingering techniques should run any changes past a teacher.
Break the music into even smaller chunks: Music can always be broken down into its component parts. If the phrase is too long, break it into two. Or practice a single measure. Identify the weak spots where mistakes are habitual, and practically those spots until the mistakes are eradicated.

Remember, piano mistakes don't go away by starting at the beginning and trying again!

Rhythmic Strategies for Piano Practice

Rhythmic practice techniques force the player to do all the tasks in strict time, which raises the difficulty, and also makes it very obvious which parts of the piece need more work.

Use the metronome: At its most basic, the metronome helps pianists keep a steady tempo. But I use a metronome as a technical aid: It helps a student work out technical elements by forcing the pianist to play in time and gradually raising the tempo. Playing with a metronome reveals any weak spots in the piece. Metronome practice is especially valuable for ensemble players.
Vary the rhythm: An effective way to smooth out bumps in long technical runs of very fast notes is change the rhythm. For example, a stream of 16th notes cold be played as alternating dotted 16th and 32nd notes, and then the player can try the reverse and play the section as 32nd notes followed by dotted-16th notes.
Add beats. A difficult series of chords can be practiced by by inserting one or more beats of rests in between them, then gradually, getting rid of the extra beats.
Change the tempo: Playing very slowly and very fast are also good practice techniques. Playing one hand much faster than the target tempo secures the muscle memory of the passages, which makes the piece easier to play with two hands. Playing slowly helps pianists make fingering and articulation choices that are conscious and deliberate.

Finally, if mistakes persist, change the practice strategy! The worst thing is to keep doing the same thing and making the same mistake. Try to go about the problem in a different way.

Further Resources for Piano Practice

Beginning and intermediate students will find Practicespot.com a source of practice suggestions.

The Musician's Way, by Gerald Klickstein [Oxford, 2009], is a resource for advanced students. It describes how to practice mindfully and artfully.

Classical Music for Halloween Playlist

2011-10-25T20:20:00.006-04:00

Halloween and classical music are a natural fit. Shrieking violins, demonic trills, spooky organs: the range of sounds available to the classical composer can conjure up visions of demons and ghosts, witches and warlocks.

Halloween is particularly well-represented by Romantic music -- that is, music composed after about 1825 to the beginning of the twentieth century. This is Romantic with a big "R" -- big feeling, big fears, big mysteries, big stories. Before the Romantic period, composers didn't reserve a whole lot of creativity for titles, and we got stuck with something like "Sonata in A minor." And one million "Minuets."

But the Romantics, now that's different. Thematic music told whole stories, without words. In Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture," we can listen to Napoleon's invasion of Russia; we hear the prayers before battle, the horns and drums of marching cavalries, snippets from the French national anthem, folk dances around the soldier's campfires, and the flaming retreat from Moscow.

Not to say that other composers didn't have their share of spooks. From Bach to the moderns, Halloween and related myths -- full of ghostly stories, mysteries, and the grand feelings of passion and death -- are well-represented.

Commerce with the Underworld: The Sale of Souls and Dancing with the Devil

One of music's most enduring myths is that of the musician who sells his soul to the devil. The Faustian bargain, described in poetry by Goethe, found a receptive audience among concert-goers, who were more than willing, for example, to believe that the great violinist Niccolo Paganini sold his soul to the devil. (So, according to legend, did the twentieth-century blues master, Robert Johnson; indeed, one can visit the highway crossroads where the transaction is said to have taken place.)

Carl Maria von Weber, Der Freischutz. This piece describes the forester who meets the devil in a forest, and agrees to sell his soul. Cheap? Expensive? The price was seven magic bullets.
Camille Saint-Saens, Danse Macabre. It's based on a poem where Death appears on Halloween to call the skeletons from their graves. How much spookier do you need?
Franz Liszt’s Totentanz. This piece recalls the work of 14th Century artists, who depicted the Dance of Death. This one is based on a poem by Henri Cazalis.
Franz Liszt: Mephisto Waltz. Liszt wrote this to depict Mephistopheles, who plays his violin at a local pub and seduces the villagers into following him.

Myths and Fairytales

The ghosts and goblins, the legends and myths, of medieval Europe have found a home in the music of the 19th and 20th centuries. As composers experimented with changing keys, new tonalities, dissonance, and sound effects, they found plenty of ways to depict the macabre, the thrilling, and the mysterious.

Modest Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain. This depiction of a witch's sabbath was included in Walt Disney’s Fantasia.
Modest Mussorgsky, Baba Yaga from Pictures at an Exhibition. Another witch's sabbath, this one atop Mt. Triglav. in this version, the old hag witch flies through the air and lives in a hut make of chicken bones.
Charles Gounod, Funeral March of a Marionette. You've heard this: It's the famed Alfred Hitchcock theme.
Franz Schubert, Erl King. The dark and spooky nighttime forest of the 19th century European Romantic makes another appearance in Schubert's famous lieder. This one is based on a poem by Goethe, which describes the frantic nighttime ride of a father trying to save his son. He fails.
Cesar Franck, The Accursed Huntsman. Another nobleman, another forest: In this morality tale, a huntsman skips mass to go hunting, and is cursed by the devil.
Paul Dukas, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Who can forget this Halloween favorite, also based on Goethe (Is anyone else seeing a pattern here?) Mickey Mouse portrayed the hapless apprentice in the Walt Disney classic, Fantasia.
Edvard Grieg, Peer Gynt Suite. Scandinavian myths, with trolls and dwarf-like beings come alive in this Norwegian composer's classic work. In The Hall Of The Mountain King builds from a slow, portending start to a frantic ending. Whoever is in that hall sounds like they in a massive panic to get out.
Maurice Ravel, Gaspard de la Nuit. This piano suite depicts a seductive water fairy, a hanged corpse, and mischievous goblin. The last movement, Scarbo (that would be the goblin) is considered one of the most difficult piano pieces ever written.
Claude Debussy, La Cathedrale Engloutie ("The Engulfed Cathedral"). This piece recalls a story where the devil floors a city by opening the gates to a dike. The bells of the underwater cathedral still ring on occasion.
Adolphe Adam, Giselle. A nobleman, a peasant girl, love, betrayal, and death by grief. In the second act, he meets here spirit in the forest, and she and her friends start to dance him to death. But she spares him in the ballet's final moments.

Just Plain Scary Music

Does a piece of music have to have a story or a myth? Does it have to be about the devil, or can it just -- evoke mystery, evil, weirdness, fear? Listen to these, and you tell me:

Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Can you think of scary piece of organ music? Yup, that's the one. A stalwart of old movies, its first notes virtually guarantee midnight other-worldly trouble. One of the keystones of the organ repertoire -- but musicologists debate its authorship.
Léon Boëllmann, Toccata (fourth movement of Suite Gothique.) This menacing pieces is probably the best known work of this nineteenth-century French composer. The Gothic title tells you all you need to know.
Olivier Messiaen, "Quartet for the End of Time". A piece of music written while the composer was a WWII prisoner of war; the subject is the end of the world. What more to say?
Giuseppe Tartini, Violin Sonata in g minor. "The Devil's Trill" takes place in the double-trills of the the final movement -- scary to musician and audience alike. Music legend tells us that the devil himself played the music to Tartini in a dream.
Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique. The Musical autobiography of a demented artist soul, suffering from all the usual things -- despair, unrequited love, and let's not forget an opium trip that shows him his own death ("March to the Gallows") and the subsequent orgy with witches ("Dream of a Witch's Sabbath).
Carol Orff, " O Fortuna" You have your basic church choir; then you have... THIS. Based on 11th and 12 century poems written in part to satirize the Catholic church, this 20th century adaptation sounds intense? Evil? Epic? And really... it's used to introduce Simon Cowell and his fellow judges in the X Factor: How much spookier do you need?

Dealing with Failure and Frustration and the Keys to Success

2011-09-17T12:59:00.005-04:00

The New York Times magazine's educational supplement recently published this article called "What if the Secret to Success is Failure." It's about character education and how learning to deal with frustration and failure can help create success later in a child's life.

The article didn't mention music once, but it should have.

Throughout the nine-page article, the author interviewed principals of schools ranging from a tony private school in Riverdale, N.Y. to a stellar public school in the Bronx, along with educational consultants and experts. They talked about character components that were important for success in later life -- grit, perseverance, curiosity, self-control, optimism -- and about ways they had developed to measure and nurture these traits.

But I've got an easier way to see what kind of character a kid has: Just watch how he or she approaches music lessons. Does she slump down in fatigue every time a teacher asks her to play something again? Does he look for praise even after a lackluster performance he knows is full of flaws? Does she avoid practicing the hard stuff at home because it's too "confusing"?

The more I teach, the more I see that success in learning music -- and I believe, by extension, in learning anything -- has to do with character. Not character as in following the golden rule and standing up to bullies, but character as in an attitude of approaching and dealing with the world and its challenges. Character as in taking responsibility for your learning. Character as is showing up for your life -- prepared, eager, willing, interested, alert, energetic, engaged.

Interestingly, this is most evident with smart students -- the ones for whom everything in school comes easily. According to the article, these students can be among the most resistant to tackling projects that actually require real work. In so many cases, bright students are underchallenged in school and never really have to deal with the mammoth difficulties that, say, a math-challenged student faces every day when looking at an algebra problem. Even in gifted program where bright kid are challenged, the steps for figuring out the problem come easily enough; the problem is usually solved without the head-banging frustration of just not "getting it."

Music is a more even-handed task-master: It challenges the brilliant student just as easily as it challenges everyone else. Becoming a musician is an infinite process, and none of us ever stop learning, ever stop making mistakes. So the bright student's typical modus operendi -- figure it out, do a bit of work, succeed, be done with it -- doesn't apply. There is no "being done with it." There is always someone better; there is always a harder piece; there is always something you can't do. There is no such thing as 100 percent; an A+ is not the goal. There is no top to this mountain; there is only the climb.

The "problem" is never entirely solved, because as soon as we learn to play one Beethoven Sonata, we discover another, harder one, we want to play. As soon as we figure out what scales Art Tatum was using in his improvisations, we are faced with the problem of playing them as fast and as lightly as he did, with all the melody notes woven in just so. And even when (or if) we can do that, there are other pieces to learn, other styles to master.

We take forever to "master" a piece, then we perform it and make a mistake. The band director doesn't pick us as first chair. We fail an orchestra audition and the job goes to a younger player. The audience likes a flashy showpiece by a technically sloppy performer better than our note-perfect but less appealing offering. We perform our tour de force technical masterpiece at a community talent show, but the talk of the town is the six-year-old who improvised on the harmonica.

Do we fold up and go home? Or do we practice our piece some more, try again for first chair, re-audition for the orchestra, and kick our improvisations up a notch? (As for the six year old -- well, best to learn to never share the stage with a talented little kid. Some battles you just can't win!)

The choices we make are not talent questions; they are character questions.

We are used to hearing about the benefits of music education: Serious music students score better on standardized tests, do better in college, have fewer problems with drugs and alcohol. MRIs have shown that musician's brains function differently in terms of neural pathways than non-musician's brains.

But we don't have to look inside a music student's brain to find the answer: It may be as simple as the issue of character -- of getting up when you're down, being honest about your mistakes, dealing with frustration, trying one more time, breaking a problem down and patiently putting the pieces together one at a time.

As we teach our students rhythms and notes and pedaling and dynamics, it's worth remembering that the "character education" we are giving our students is equally, or even more, important. It is at the heart of what we, as music teachers, give to our students. And these are lessons that go far beyond the "Entertainer" and "Fur Elise" -- to college, and life beyond.

Piano Practice Quantity and Quality

2011-09-08T18:49:00.000-04:00

The old saying that "practice makes perfect" is not entirely true as far as learning to play piano, or any other musical instrument, is concerned. What practice actually does is "make permanent." Only perfect practice makes perfect. How to practice piano well, it turns out, is an art in itself.

Piano Practice Quality Versus Practice Quantity

Practice reinforces the activity being practiced. A music student who repeats the same mistake over and over learns to play a piece with that mistake firmly learned. A student with good practice habits learns to correct mistakes before they become ingrained, which makes practice more effective and less frustrating. And those practice habits, once learned, can be effectively applied to learning other academic subjects, as well as other activities such as sports, drama, or dance.

Therefore, while the amount of time spent practicing is important, it is equally important that the quality of mindful practice be at the highest possible level. Students need to learn to identify mistakes, isolate them, and practice small sections of music until those sections are learned and the mistakes eradicated. Then they can stitch together the pieces and play the work as a whole.

At the early levels, parents can help their children practice by supervising them to make sure they are focusing on goals and following the teacher’s practice instructions. Intermediate and advanced students must learn to practice on their own, and, with their teacher’s guidance, develop ways to identify and correct mistakes before they become habits.

Learning Good Piano Practice Habits

As students become more advanced, they learn to take an active role in structuring their piano practice, and then restructuring it to meet the challenges that come up in each practice session.

Practice sessions should begin with a clear goal: Many students begin with warm-up exercises, scales, and technique drills, followed by repertoire. It's a good idea to work on pieces in various stages of the learning process, for example: one new piece in which the student is learning notes, one mid-level piece that is being brought up to speed, and an advanced piece that is being polished for possible performance. This means that the student is thinking differently with each piece, which makes practice more interesting, less rote, and more effective.

With each piece, the student needs to note what the problems are and then develop a strategy for working on them. Generally, this involves applying one or more standard practice techniques such as working in small chunks, learning one hand at a time, playing with a metronome, or varying the tempo.

Perhaps the most important admonishment is that the student should not simply repeat a piece, or a large section of a piece, hoping that the next time, the mistakes will magically disappear. Unfortunately, mistakes are more stubborn than that.

Repeating mistakes means learning mistakes. Most musicians are at least occasionally tempted to ignore mistakes and play through them (and indeed, this is what they should do when practicing performing). But when practicing to learn a piece, barging through mistakes simply reinforces errors and delays the inevitable corrections that must take place. It truly is possible for an advanced player to play a short intermediate-level piece badly 50 times in a row, and still not be able to play it. Whereas 15 minutes of targeted practice could yield a well-learned solid performance of the same piece of music.

In the end, quality of practice is as important as quantity, and perhaps more so: No amount of poor practice will teach a pianist to play well, whereas a small amount of high quality practice will yield big improvements.

The Creative Commons Debate

2011-09-07T23:17:00.024-04:00

This post is a response to a comment made on my last post, in which I requested that readers respect my Copyright. The commenter responded with a discussion about Creative Commons, and how it is the wave of the future for writers and creatives to share their work freely. I want to be clear that I fully support Creative Commons as an idea that may be appropriate and useful for some people. However, the commenter called those of us who protect our traditional, copyright-based intellectual property old-fashioned, locked down, on the losing side of history, and implied that we were somehow selfish for not making our decades of work and training available for free to the entire world. The commenter thinks royalty-free shared content is the wave of the future. I'm thinking -- not so fast, buckaroo.

Dear Commenter: Yes, the writing and publishing worlds are changing drastically, but I'll wait a while yet before I start to worry about my writing income drying up. The death of publishing has been announced every year since I started in this biz more than three decades ago. The old nag still has some miles in her.

Of course, things are changing. I'm seeing huge new opportunities for creatives to take control of their work. I'm definitely seeing a more challenging financial environment, especially for newcomers. I'm seeing lots of free (and royalty-free) content. What I am NOT seeing is a high volume (exceptions exist) of marketable, high-quality, royalty-free content. And of course, some of what looks free isn't: Just because a writer isn't being paid by someone to write doesn't mean there is no economic value to the endeavor.

For example, writers might be supported by grants, advertising, commercial interests, affiliate product sales, etc., or might be looking to build a public relations platform, develop a loss leader to drum up business, or build an academic reputation. It's easy for those folks to give their stuff away. Indeed, professors have always "given" their writing away (to academic journals and the like). Their money comes from elsewhere; "giving away" their academic journal articles helps them get that money.

And MUCH of what is truly free is free because there isn't much value in it, commercial or otherwise. (Of course, there are exceptions; there always are.) No one seems to want to pay for your newest creation, but you want to get it out there? Put it up for free. Throw it at the wall. See what sticks.

Lots of people sit on the sidelines and boo and hiss at those who "sell out" but I have this nagging little feeling that those boos and hisses are as much about jealousy and frustration as they are the result of some high minded idealism. Here's a little test: Try waving a nice book publishing or recording contract check in front those folks and see how quickly how many of them jump ship! All that rhetoric about being on the right side of history and the moral benefits of Creative Commons, and sharing and creative community -- it all goes out the window with a big enough check.

It's a lot like what we see with self-publishing and the writers -- usually those who haven't yet found a traditional publisher -- who extol its virtues. They put an e-book out, maybe distribute it for a low cost or for free; maybe one in a hundred has some modest success. Now let's say a traditional publisher takes notice: I mean, really, how many creative types would say, "Well, no thank you, Random House, I really don't want that six-figure advance; I'll just stay with the self-publishing thing/Creative Commons deal and give my work away for the good of humanity if you don't mind."? Yes, there may be some outliers -- idealists, rebels, free-thinkers, visionaries -- who would turn up their noses at a nice sized publishing deal but as a rule? I'm thinking they're signing those contracts as fast as they can find a traditional, moribund, lost-in-the-tides-of-history, low-tech pen.

I'm as excited about self-publishing and independent music production as the next guy, because it will work for my projects that DON'T work for traditional publishers. But am I giving up on traditional publishers? Hell, no!

I still BUY books and music because much of the good stuff I want isn't free. Also, I believe in supporting the artists who create good work. So I put my money where my mouth is, so to speak: I buy CDs (yes, CDs -- I'm THAT old fashioned) by local musicians (sometimes I buy even if I am not that wild about those musicians), and I buy books by local writers and art by local photographers.

Don't get me wrong: I think there's a lot of value in Creative Commons. I don't doubt that a few people who are giving away work for free are giving away work of real value. Many fine younger artists are taking this path to get the word out, and the cross pollination and energy of an exchange of ideas creates an incredible synergy. But let's be realistic: Do we really think that these people don't want to be paid for their work? Giving it away is often simply a matter of creating a long-term marketing and career development plan.

It is, however, getting more difficult to break into the arena of the creative fields where people pay you upfront for your work. The barriers to entry are as high as I've ever seen them. In a sense, that's where the free stuff comes in: People put their stuff out on creative commons or on free sites or for low prices and just try to get noticed. Then they move up to monetizing. OR they become hobbyists. OR find another way to support themselves. OR marry rich. Those are the choices.

The financial models, technology, and distribution channels are changing, yes. The financial situation, in particular, is challenging: Monetizing the Internet is a difficult endeavor, and traditional outlets are hemorrhaging money, advertisers, and readers. But traditional copyright-protected, royalty based work isn't going anywhere: The last music book contract I looked at (that was last week) had a clause about "all rights in all technologies now or yet to be invented in the universe or any universes yet to be discovered" -- or something pretty close to that, and I am not exaggerating. They are grabbing those rights because intellectual property still has VALUE.

The good stuff floats to the top, which is where the money is. There is still demand for good creative work that people will pay for -- just like they pay for TV, even though there is "free TV." (I think -- I don't actually have TV reception in my house, so I don't know -- there still IS free TV, right?)

People -- at least SOME people -- still want quality. And there lies the hope for those who want to monetize creative careers. I take issue with the contention that crowd-sourced material is as good as anything out there that people have to pay for. I won't argue about the perception of the value of anyone's work in particular -- as I have said, there are always exceptions. I WILL say that much crowd-sourced royalty-free material is crap, and even when there are golden nuggets in it, it is difficult to wade through because of the noise to signal ratio. I can tell a self-published book at sight. I barely even have to open it to know it hasn't been properly developed, designed, edited, and proofread. Same with many self-produced, self-recorded, self-mastered, self-engineered CDs. (Of course, a lot of stuff you pay for is crap, too; worse, a lot of people today can't tell and don't care.)

So intellectual gatekeeping is also in a process of change: How that shakes out in the future will also determine what is available for free -- and who pays for what.

I don't object to the Creative Commons concept at all: I can see where it can make sense and where it can produce some good stuff. It addresses some HUGE flaws in our current Copyright system. It can give beginners some experience getting their work out and talked about; it can share ideas from thought leaders who are monetized in other ways (universities, think tanks, etc.) It may indeed be (and I hope it is) a wave of the future -- but I do not think it will be the only wave.

What it is is a CHOICE. Both Creative Commons licenses and traditional copyrights have a role to play in the new digital intellectual marketplace. One is not ethically superior. One is not moribund and dying. One is not lame-brained and naive. One is not hard-hearted and selfish. It is the creator's choice to use one or the other, or both. And that is the most important thing of all.

Please Respect This Blog's Copyright!

2011-09-05T14:00:00.003-04:00

Dear Piano Teachers:

I'm overwhelmed at the global response to my post, "The Truth About Piano Lessons."

It seems that we are ALL going through the same thing: From Egypt to Estonia, Sri Lanka to Sweden, Cuba to China, the story has been read and passed around the world.

Unfortunately, it has also been reprinted (sometimes with alterations that I never even saw!) without my permission.

This puts me in a difficult predicament:

I WANT the article to be read and to help as many teachers and student families as possible.

But I make my living as a writer and a musician. I am the copyright owner of this blog, and I have not given permission for people to reprint the post on their blogs. This is not a matter of plagiarizing: Almost everyone has given me credit. But even if you give me credit, you do not have permission to reprint the article on line.

Reprinting MY post on YOUR blog hurts my business, because readers doing a search about piano lessons may find my post on your blog instead of on mine. Google pays me based on page views and advertising revenues on my blog, and it can and does penalize writers whose works are found in multiple places on the Internet. I also want people who view that post to be able to read the other articles on my site.

As much as I appreciate your valuing my work, I therefore have to ask that you respect my copyright.

There is an easy solution: You are welcome to reprint the first 50 words, and send readers to my blog via a link, to read the rest of the article. You may also print hard copies for your personal students, as long as my name and the address of the blog are clearly visible.

Thank you for your understanding,

Karen

News Flash: Musical Achievement is Not About Talent

2011-09-01T12:48:00.009-04:00

Musical Talent, Nature Versus Nurture, and the 10,000 Hours Rule

Meet my sister. She started piano lessons at age 7, and practiced a half an hour a day pretty much for the next 11 years, sometimes doing a little more, rarely less.

She didn't especially love practicing, and indeed, it was hard for her because she doesn't have a good ear: She can't sing on key, could never learn to tune a guitar by ear, can't pick out a tune by matching pitches. Most of the time, she had to be told that she was playing a wrong note, which my father vociferously did, shouting out from the back of the apartment whenever she hit a clunker.

My sister was smart in school, but she wasn't what most music teachers would identify as "talented" in music: She never sat down and tried to pluck out a favorite song; she didn't fish out chords and harmonies; she has trouble identifying the difference between major and minor. But she practiced that half an hour a day. 11 years: Do the math: That's a total of nearly 2000 hours. And she became skilled.

Here's a partial list of some of the (original) repertoire she played in junior high school: Chopin's Military Polonaise. Debussy's Clare de Lune. Dvorak's Slavonic Dances (actually, we performed those together when she was still in elementary school). Janacek's "On an Overgrown Path." Some Haydn sonatas. A few Chopin waltzes, polonaises, and preludes. She didn't ever get to the big concert repertoire: Chopin ballades and etudes, the big Beethoven sonatas, Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninoff. But she got farther than 95 percent of the piano students I've encountered.

I think about my sister a lot as my students come in and out the door, with their practice logs marked "10 minutes," "7 minutes," "3 minutes," and a lot of "zeros." I think about her when I've had a kid for four or five years who isn't yet fluent in note reading, who has to be coached to figure out where a method book piece even starts. Four years of lessons, and "Fur Elise" is still an impossible dream for most of my students.... I admit, I still have trouble wrapping my mind around that.

Comparing students is fruitless of course, but people do it all the time. And one of the ways they do it is by bringing in a destructive little word: "Talent." Joey has talent. Suzie doesn't. THAT'S why Suzie can't find Middle C after 100 piano lessons. THAT'S why Joey is playing the Fantasie Impromptu at the age of 12.

Talent, Shmalent

In the early 1990s, K. Anders Ericsson did a study at West Berlin's prestigious Music Academy. He interviewed teachers, asking them to put their conservatory-aged young adult violin and piano students into categories: Those who had the potential to become professional performing artists. Those who had the ability to play in working professional orchestras. And those who were destined to teach in elementary schools.

An interjection here: I don't like that last designation. Many fine musicians teach in elementary (and other) schools. But to argue about the classification is to miss the point: The teachers were ranking the students based on their professional potential as performing artists.

And then, in a blind study, the researchers interviewed all those students about how much practice time they had put into their music from the very beginnings of their introduction to music.

The results were consistent across the board, with so little variation that it challenges our very notions about "talent." As it turned out, the "talent" it took to become what the professors considered a potential concert artist had nothing to do with anything except how many hours the student had practiced.

10,000 hours: Master of the instrument; concert artist potential.
8,000 hours: Professional orchestral musicians.
4,000 hours: Teachers
2,000 hours: Amateurs

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explores the phenomena of people who live and work outside the bell curve: the geniuses, the achievers, the exceptions. He looks at questions like "Why do Asian children seem to do so well at music?" and asks "What is going on here?" He looks at the 10,000 hour study and then he looks at the Beatles and Mozart -- and he concludes that just as important as any "talent" was the fact that they had those 10,000 hours. The Beatles played day in and day out in Hamburg, racking up hundreds, then thousands of hours of performance and rehearsal time before their "overnight success." Mozart played music all day everyday, carefully supervised, starting as a toddler; he probably had his 10,000 hours in well before he was a teenager.

No one is saying the Beatles or Mozart didn't have talent: But would they have achieved what they did without those hours? Ericsson's study says "no."

Talent and Practice: The Chicken and the Egg

To conclude that talent has nothing to do with anything may be a little facile, and it contradicts the evidence every music teacher has of students coming in and "getting" it" or not. Some people are better at certain musical tasks than others. And indeed, talent may have been one of the factors that made people practice more to begin with. Would Leopold have sat with little Wolfgang day in and day out if Wolfie had been a distracted little kid who couldn't remember "Middle C"? Maybe not. But talent without practice can be nothing more than an empty, unfulfilled promise.

Where talent may factor in is that people like doing the things they are good at. There is a virtuous cycle: They practice, they get results, they enjoy the results, they practice more. A child who simply can't wrap her mind around how to figure out that "D" is one step up from "C" may not be having as much fun as the kid who sits down, grabs some notes, and starts playings something that sounds good. Kid number 1 practices less, Kid number 2 practices more.

The Role of Will, Drive, and Character in Musical Achievement

The type of practice also matters: Good practice is a whole lot more than butt-on-bench time. It can be active, engaged, critical, creative, and problem-solving. It can also be frustrating and boring. It's not just the time; it's also about intent and energy and efficiency.

Finally, there is the issue of personal will. Some kids simply have minds that like to wrestle.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about: If I put a Beethoven Sonata full of 16th notes and 32nd notes on the piano music stand, most of my students will treat it as adult garbage that has nothing to do with them (and, they seem to hope, never will). Their initial reaction to it is that it looks "HARD" and "CONFUSING" and that is all they want to know about it.

But I have a couple of 9 and 10 year-olds who would IMMEDIATELY pick up that music and start trying to work it out. They would look at the threes against fours and ask how to play them, or ask how you play a chord with six notes with only five fingers, and what is that "x" doing in front of a note where a sharp or a flat usually would go? They are curious -- and they see no reason why they shouldn't be able to try it. That's not musical TALENT, folks: That's character. Personality. Drive. Will. Curiosity. Interest. And I'm pretty sure it shows up on the soccer field and in school and in art projects, too.

And that, I think, is the bottom line here: Music is a great equalizer. In a world filled with technology designed to make everything we encounter as effortless as possible, music still requires, and rewards, work.

The Myth of Musical Genius

We have a myth about talent: We like to believe it exists, maybe in part because it lets us off the hook. We think of Paganini, or Robert Johnson, both supposedly possessed by the devil to play as they did. We hear about Uncle George who just sat down at the piano one day and started playing, and we shake our heads in wonder at George's talent, and say that we wish we had it, conveniently ignoring that when George was a kid he banged away at the old clunker piano in the school lunchroom and tried to learn songs by sneaking into the local music store and looking at chord sheets to see if what he figured out by himself was right, and he listened to the radio when he was supposed to be sleeping.

I'm not sure we'll ever figure out all the mysteries of talent and genius: The kids who can read music upside down, the prodigies who, at age six, start playing Mozart sonatas, the children with perfect pitch or an intuitive understanding of harmony. Such things certainly exist out at the far edges of the bell curve.

But professional musicians don't all live out there in the land of freak outliers. Indeed, as the Berlin study showed, even prodigies need to practice to make good on their gifts, and the vast majority of professional musicians inhabit the more prosaic world of "practice makes perfect" and good old slogging.

The conclusion we can draw is an encouraging one: If we practice like they practice, we too may achieve remarkable things.

Just like my sister.

How Classical Pianists Can Benefit From Digital Keyboards

2011-08-31T16:23:00.001-04:00

We've talked about this before: For a classical pianist, a digital piano is in no way a substitute for a traditional acoustic piano.

But despite the tendency of piano teachers to faint at the thought of using a digital piano to play Beethoven, the fact is that lots of kids are learning on digital keyboards. So let's look at the bright side today: Classical pianists who have electronic keyboards can actually find many ways to benefit from their features when practicing.

Benefits of Digital Pianos for Classical Pianists and Students

So yes, we know: A good quality grand piano or baby grand piano is essential for a serious classical pianist. However, a digital piano has some surprising uses in a classical music studio, including experimenting with voices and evaluating technique.

Even Action: The action of a digital keyboard is so even that it reveals any irregularities in the pianist's technique, especially in fast even passages. This is evident when the pianist records a selection, using the recording function available in most digital keyboards. Very few acoustic pianos have such even action, especially at the lower prices.
Precision: It doesn't take as much pressure for a key to go down on a digital piano, activating the electronics that make a noise. Practicing on such a sensitive keyboard makes pianists more careful and more accurate, because it forces them to avoid sloppily hooking onto and grabbing a second note when making moves, playing chords, or handling fast technical passages.
Playing and Practicing Duet Parts: Using the keyboard's metronome and recording capability, the pianist can play and record one voice at a time, then play another part over it. .
Experimenting with Sound. Try using the keyboard's many voices. Melodic lines played by different instrument voices will suggest different ways to conceive, shape, and phrase: the phrase. A piece of music sounds very different when played by a trumpet, flute, or harpsichord.
Voicings: Play a Bach piece using the organ voicing, the harpsichord voicing, and other piano voicings. Play a Two-part Invention using the digital piano's split voice function, i.e.: play the piece using one instrument voice in the bass and another instrument voice in the treble.
Composing: Keyboards can be used in tandem with computers for composing. Compositions can be played into the keyboard and notated by the computer.
Head-phones: For young musicians, city dwellers, and those sharing living quarters with room-mates, a digital keyboard can be used for late-night practice in an apartment.
Price and Value: A digital piano suitable for use as a classical instrument runs $1000 - $3000; sometimes more. The cheapest new acoustic uprights start at about $3000; at this price, many pianists feel that the digital keyboard plays better and gives more value.

Limitations of Digital Keyboards for Classical Pianists

The main problems with a digital keyboard are the touch and tone, including the lack of overtones.

Action: Digital pianos lack the feel of a "real" piano. The closest most get (even with so called "weighted grand piano hammer action") is mimicking the feel of an inexpensive upright. This makes them a poor substitute when it comes to dynamic control and voicing.
Tone: Closely related is the problem of tones and overtones: Digital piano sounds are recorded. The recordings mimic and copy the overtones of a piano, but the overtones themselves don't exist. In an acoustic piano, overtones sound in relation to other notes. The sounds a pianist gets on an acoustic instrument, especially when pedaling, are completely different than what is available from a digital keyboard.
Pedaling Issues: Subtleties are lost on a digital piano. On a digital, the pedals go on or off. On an acoustic piano, there are several gradations in between.
Heft and Weight: It's a different experience to sit down at an acoustic piano and put true arm weight into a big concert piece. It's difficult to put the same physicality into a lightweight instrument that moves around when it is played too hard.

The bottom line: A digital piano is not a substitute for an acoustic piano. But while digital pianos are not used in classical performances, they can be a useful addition to the classical pianist's music room.

For more information: Acoustic Pianos versus Digital Pianos.

Songs for A Hurricane

2011-08-28T13:00:00.004-04:00

What do a bunch of musicians do during a hurricane? Put playlists up on Facebook: Here's a compilation of songs suitable for a storm.

A Mighty Wind (from the eponymous Christopher Guest movie)

Against the Wind

Blowin' in the Wind

Blown' (BTO),

Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain

Coloured Rain

Come On Irene

Conversations of the Wind and Sea (from Debussy's La Mer).

Dust in the Wind.

Everyone Knows it's Windy

Feels like Rain

Fire and Rain

Fool in the Rain

Four String Winds

Get Off of My Cloud

Goodnight Irene

Have You Ever Seen the Rain
How High's The Water, Mama

I Can See Clearly Now

I Can't Stand the Rain.

I Wish it Would Rain

I'm Only Happy When it Rains

It Never Rains in California (It Pours)

Kentucky Rain
Let the Thunder Roar

Lightning in the Sky

Like a Hurricane

Listen to the Patter of the Falling Rain

November Rain
Purple Rain

Rain - Beatles

Rain - Peter Gabriel

Rain King

Rain Song - Zeppelin

Raindrop Prelude (Chopin)

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head

Rainmaker

Rainy Day Women 12 & 35.

Rainy days and Monday's

Riders on the Storm

Rock you like a Hurricane

Shelter from the Storm.

Singing in the Rain

So. Central Rain

Stormy

Stormy Monday

The Wind Cries Mary

They call the Wind Mariah

‎Who'll Stop the Rain

Wicked Rain

Windy

What Instrument Should Your Child Play?

2011-08-24T20:23:00.001-04:00

School is starting up, and depending on your school and district, your child may be given the choice of playing an instrument, usually in third, fourth, or fifth grade.

I well remember when the band director at my elementary school came in to our classrooms with a demonstration of all the marvelous instruments that would be available for us to play. I remember the boys' eyes lighting up at the drum sets (and the attendant let-down a few days later when they were all given little book-sized woodblocks to beat on). I remember the shiny wind instruments and the gleaming strings. I even remember Mr. Richmond's name, even though this was $%^# years ago and I never took a single class with him.

Because, very unfortunately, my parents said no (one of the few academic mistakes I think they made): They thought piano was enough, and I already had other extracurricular activities on my schedule. But of course, hindsight is 20-20.

The fact is that in the early years, participation in band and orchestra is a pretty low-impact involvement on family schedules and finances. In the very early stages, school music directors giving group lessons don't expect a whole lot of practice from students. Of course, the virtuous cycle of practice and reward kicks in immediately -- students get out of it what they put in -- but it's still a low impact introduction.The students get their rental instruments, and squeak and squawk their way through a few ear-splitting recitals. Those who take to it eventually move on to private lessons, start practicing for real, and audition for all-district and all-state ensembles. Some switch to another instrument, or join a rock band. Some major in music.

And those who don't continue turn their rental instruments, sit back in the audience, and watch their friends continue. So there's no downside to having your child try an instrument: The instrument cost is minimal (rentals), the teaching is done at school, and the time commitment, at first, is negligible. If you are at all conflicted about taking on another activity or trying out music, school group lessons are a great way to go.

The upsides are numerous. I won't belabor that point here (because I'm pulling together an article with links to formal studies about the benefits of music education: participation in a team creative activity, commitment, developing practice and learning habits, and side benefits like, oh, less drug abuse, greater math scores, and better overall academic achievement).

So for now, suffice it to say: no downsides, lots of upsides. So the question: Which instrument?

Instruments are so wonderfully different from each other. My partner is writing a book on ukulele right now, and while I don't mind listening to the uke, the thing feels like an alien monstrosity in my hands (even a so called baritone uke). I have to squeeze my big self into its little frets, and it feels all cramped over and high pitched. Give me a cello, a bass: Something that sends an expanding sound outwards and speaks from the gut. I have the same response to piccolos versus tenor saxes.

Other people are exactly the opposite: My just-post-college room-mate, for example, has become a leading piccolo recording artist. Lucky her, because it's a heck of a lot easier (and cheaper) to travel with a piccolo (or a uke) than a tuba (or a double bass)! Not to mention a piano.

Instruments speak to people: They use the body differently, and they speak in different voices, they speak from the gut or the heartstrings or the voice box. I can imagine myself playing a cello or viola but not the violin, and the idea of having to hold my breath and control it to put the voice in a wind instrument feels uncomfortable to me. Yet I can understand the appeal of that: What a blessing to use the breath that fueled your body to fuel the voice of an instrument!

And how about drums: The endless, amazing varied sounds of the world's thousands of percussion instruments: hand-drums, claves, marimbas, thumb pianos, cymbals, tambourines (and yes, we're talking about little kids here, so the appeal of BANG BANG BANG).

We ALL respond to instruments differently.

I'd try to stay away from gender stereotypes (Some of my five year old piano students are quite convinced that no boy ever plays the violin). It is, however, important to note that kids have different talents, skills, and physical abilities. The smallest kid in the class may not be able to reach the end note on a trombone, and a little boy who desperately wants to fit in with bigger tougher peers may find more success and satisfaction with a trumpet or sax than with a violin or a piccolo. Some kids have trouble holding down strings on instruments or the fine motor motion of moving their fingers on small instruments.

Musical taste is another issue: When kids are small, this is a difficult factor to weigh, but the fact is that there are more jazz saxophone players than jazz violists, that it's easier to score a position playing in an orchestra as a violist than as a flutist, and a clarinetist can not only play both sides of the jazz classical divide; she can play saxophone, too. A violist doesn't have that many chances to solo because of the limitations of the repertoire; a violinist may or may not -- depending on the competition. A string bass player doesn't get to play in the football marching band (which keeps a lot of kids in music through their high school years) and a bassoonist and an oboist are going to have trouble finding a place in a rock and roll group.

At the same time, the decision you make today isn't written in stone: Many musical children try several instruments. If your child is simply assigned one (because the school needs a bassoon player), they can always change later. In fact, the exposure to multiple instruments is a good thing, and can be a real asset down the road if you child becomes serious about music, either as a session musician or a music teacher.

And this point is also worth making: if your child hates music lesson, try to find out if it's because of the instrument. Some kids just aren't meant to play some instruments. It's like choosing friends: The fact that your child and the neighbor's kid don't get along doesn't mean that your kid doesn't like to make friends; it simply might mean he doesn't like that kid. Same may be true for the bassoon.

So talk with the school music teacher about demands -- physical, coordination, practice-related -- of each instrument. Let your kid experiment. PLAY some music for them: If they think they want to play violin, play them a violin sonata or a bluegrass tune; if they are leaning toward clarinet, play a clarinet quintet or a great jazz player. And then let your child be your guide.

Coming up next: Should your kid play more than one instrument? (With a focus on piano. Well, I admit it, I do have a bit of a bias on this blog.)

What Makes a Good Piano Parent?

2011-08-23T20:32:00.002-04:00

Okay, so my not-so-short rant on parenting and piano lessons has now reached thousands of people from dozens of countries.... literally, all around the world. Clearly, it hit a nerve -- in Russia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Jamaica, South Korea, Mexico, China, Portugal, Italy, South Africa, Israel, Japan, Bolivia, Estonia...

But there's a "glass-half-full" aspect to all of this, and I wanted to share that, as well.

Last night, David and I hosted a music party to celebrate -- well everything: The 9th year of our studio here in the Berkshires, the publication of seven music books in the Idiot's Guides series, and a community that has given us amazing support in our mission to bring music into people's lives.

And the performances of our students and the joy of David's song-circle of guitarists playing old favorites together reminded us, once again, why we do this: it's so much more than a job. Watching our students turn into musicians before our eyes is a one of the greatest gifts I can imagine.

So I wanted to share with you some of what I see that my really wonderful piano families (and David's equally wonderful guitar families) are doing right:

1) They are making music a priority. For some, this means that lessons and practice are a non-negotiable part of life. Kind of like brushing your teeth.

2) They don't overcommit. Our most successful students (and this includes those who are successful academically AND athletically as well as musically) do two maybe or three activities at a time -- not four or five.

3) They supervise their kids. For very young students, this means that they make sure the kids have put in their required practice, completed any assignments, have their books for their lessons. For older students, it means maintaining a presence: asking about a piece, showing interest, making sure their kid plays in recitals and other musical events.

4) They support lessons by playing music at home and attending live music events -- ANY live music events.

5) They listen in at lessons and then remind students of what the teacher told them to do. (Yes, we allow parents to sit in... I know some teachers don't, and there are good arguments both ways.)

6) If they CAN help with practice (counting, correcting wrong notes, etc.) they do.

7) Even if they can't help with correcting musical problems, they ask their kids to play for them and show them what they are working on.

8) They are JOYFUL about music: They see it not as just another chore, but as something special in life.

9) They listen to us when we talk about lesson length or practice times or overscheduling or summer lessons or the need for a quiet practice place uninterrupted by toddlers trying to bang along on the high notes or a blaring TV.

10) They communicate with us: Let us know about scheduling issues, school problems, and other issues that might affect how a child is doing. Sometimes we can help by changing the requirements, taking a break from the "serious" stuff to have more fun, or simply knowing that a kid is feeling overwhelmed.

If you're a parent reading this: What have you done to support your child's music education?

If you are a music teacher: What makes a great music parent in YOUR eyes?

Please comment.

Conversations With my Students

2011-08-17T19:02:00.003-04:00

A few choice words from my students.... Feel free to add some of your own!

Me: "So did you learn any goofy songs at summer camp?"
Student: "No, mostly they had sailboats in them. My mom knows the words."

Me: "So, what's new and interesting this week?"
Student: "Grandma has spiders on her legs and crinkly elbows."

Me: "So what's new this week?"
Student: "Mom got a new pooper scooper."

Me: "That was interesting.... You had some creative rhythms in there that I don't think the composer ever considered."
Student: "You mean it was a train wreck."

Me: "That was pretty stinky." (said to a student with whom I have a long-standing relationship that can handle this!)
Student: "I thought it sounded pretty good.... until it didn't."

Me: "So, how do you think that went?"
Student: "Pretty good."
Me: "Yeah? It's written in 3/4 time, but you played it in 4/4. And you forgot all the sharps in the key of A major. And you skipped these three lines entirely."
Student: "But it was still pretty good, right?"

Me: "So, what's new?"
Student: "After piano, I'm going over to my uncle's house to play with my band."
Me: "Really? Who's in your band?"
Student: "Me and my uncle."

Me: "That was great. Your finger position was so good that even if I were standing all the way over there in the kitchen, I would be able to tell how good your hand position was just by listening to you."
Student: "I think piano teachers are a different kind of human."

Buying a Used Piano: Problems, Issues, Prices, Advantages

2011-08-15T17:28:00.001-04:00

It happens every year: Little Bobby is playing on a cheap keyboard, and mom and dad (and piano teacher, too!) think he's ready for an upgrade to a real acoustic piano. (Here are some thoughts on acoustic versus digital pianos). Luckily, or so they think, they see an ad in the local advertising newspaper. All they have to do is pick it up and it's theirs.

Two weeks, a failed tuning, and a world of disappointment later, guess who is placing an add in the paper begging someone to take the instrument off their hands?

Buying a used piano can work, but there are some considerations to take into account before you write the check.

Used Versus New Pianos

Obviously, new pianos come with big advantages: There no secret history of bad maintenance and mechanical problems. The piano comes with a guarantee. It probably even comes with a free tuning when you first get it delivered.

And all that comes with a gigantic price tag; Indeed, a fine new grand piano can cost as much as a fine car.

Used pianos can be a good solution. While top brand pianos such as Steinway, Bechstein, and Bosendorfer retain their value (and thus their price) over time (if they are well maintained), most pianos depreciate. The problem is that you may be buying someone else's problems. And, just as with buying a used car, the fact that this is an expensive purchase means that there is someone awfully eager to sell it to you. The advice you get may be not entirely forthright, or even honest.

The biggest issue with buying a used piano is its condition. Pianos are incredibly complex mechanical machines with hundreds of hidden moving parts. A crack in a piece of wood no bigger than a safety pin can render an entire key unusable. And as a non-technician, you will never even know where to look.

But all that said, if you can find a good piano technician (ask the local piano teachers for references) to look at the piano for you, you might find that a used piano is a good deal.

How to Buy a Used Piano

Prices of used pianos can vary tremendously depending on make, manufacturer, the age of the piano, how it has been maintained, and how desperate the owner is to get rid of it.

When doing your research, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Go to a local piano store to get a benchmark, and expect to pay less from a private seller. (But also realize that maintenance issues may be more of a problem).
When visiting stores, play lots of instruments to get a feel for different sonorities and touches.
Ask a piano teacher for advice. Piano students quit, or upgrade their instruments, and sometimes a former student's instrument may be for sale.
Be sure you know what you are looking at and considering buying. A spinet is different from a console, even if the two are only a few inches different in size. A large upright may be better than a grand. Educate yourself about types and brands of pianos before you shop.
Never buy sight unseen: If it's a Craigslist piano or a piano advertised in your local ad newspaper, go to see it.

When checking out the piano, consider the following:

Ask about tunings and maintenance. Pianos should be tuned twice a year, although in practicality, once is a year is probably the most you can expect most people to spring for. A piano that has not been tuned in many years is more than likely no longer going to be able to hold its tune.
Ask about any restoration or mechanical work that has been done to the piano (new action, soundboard repairs, new strings, etc.)
Ask where the piano has been stored or kept: If it has been near a heater or a window, it may have been damaged by heat and light.
Don't commit to a piano before you have had a chance to play it in tune with any annoying clicks and dings in the action repaired. Don't trust promises that it will be "as good as new" when they tune it after you buy it. See for yourself.
Cracks in the soundboard are not (contrary to common myth) a deal breaker, but cracks in the pinblock are.
If you're serious about an instrument, ask a technician to see the piano with you. (You'll have to pay for this service, of course.)
If buying from a store, ask what parts of the piano will be guaranteed. Most stores include a tuning with the purchase price.

Buying a used piano is not for the faint of heart. But used pianos, even those that need considerable work and repairs, can be very good deals if you find the right instrument, and if you have it checked out by a competent and honest technician before you buy it. For more information, check prices and brands with the Blue Book of Pianos and read The Piano Book: Buying and Owning a New or Used Piano, by Larry Fine.

Group Piano Lessons: How to Make Them Work

2011-08-12T12:23:00.000-04:00

Traditionally, piano lessons have been taught one-one-one in private lessons. But with the advent of portable, inexpensive digital pianos equipped with headphones, programs have sprung up to teach piano to groups of beginners. For parents, these programs are less inexpensive than private lessons. At the same time, they can be more lucrative for teachers. Win-win. but what about the students?

While there are pros and cons to teaching groups lessons versus private piano lessons, group lessons for beginners can be successful if certain elements are in place. Here's what to look for if you are parent... and what to be sure you are doing if you are a teacher.

Elements of Success in Group Piano Lessons

The success of group lessons depends on the skill of the teacher, the class curriculum, the number of students, and how well matched the students are in age and learning ability.

Teacher Skill: Typical group lessons may be an hour in length, which is a long time for a small child. Therefore, the teacher must have a bag of tricks to keep students interested and keep the class varied and moving. The teacher must also have class management strategies in order to deal with working with one child privately while keeping the others busy with independent learning tasks, regaining control when the class turns chaotic, and coping with different learning styles and abilities.
Class Curriculum: The curriculum should be developed or modified so it is workable for groups. For example, the teacher should have plenty of supplemental activities to reinforce concepts, and to give to students who finish assignments before everyone else. Materials should also be age appropriate, as young children who can't yet read have difficulty using instructional materials developed for older children who are reading fluently. The curriculum should include plenty of variety in order to revive interest when students get tired or lose focus.
Number of Students: While some classes have experimented with teaching a dozen or more children, most teachers of group piano classes prefer a group size of about four children. This gives everyone plenty of time for individual attention, but allows for camaraderie to develop. Group dynamics add to the "fun" elements of the class.
Student Compatibility: Children should be grouped by age, and, when possible, learning ability. Children who are five should not be in classes with seven or eight year olds: The cognitive differences between different age groups make classroom management and evenly paced instruction virtually impossible. Even children of the same age can be vastly different in learning ability. The most successful groups combine children of similar ages and abilities together. Indeed, group lessons may not be appropriate for children who are very talented, or those who need constant extra attention.

Materials Required for Successful Group Piano Lessons

A professional group piano studio will have most of the following elements:

Digital pianos, one per student: Digital pianos must have headphones. Touch control (dynamic control when keys are pressed with different amounts of force) is required. It is preferable that keyboards have pedals and 88 weighted keys, so they feel as much like an acoustic piano as possible.
A photocopier: For writing group assignments and homework, for photocopying parts and music when needed.
A whiteboard or blackboard (and appropriate writing implements): Used for writing games such as drawing and naming notes.
Inexpensive percussion instruments: For rhythm exercises.
Computers (optional): Computers with mini-piano keyboards can be used for music theory and music-reading exercises. Teachers should be sure that the learning programs being used penalize students for mistakes, otherwise, students simply click randomly as fast as they can to try to score points.
An acoustic piano (optional): Having an acoustic piano enables the teacher to demonstrate, and allows the children to move among instruments and feel and hear the differences for themselves.
CD player (optional): for listening exercises and games.

With an enthusiastic teacher, a well-designed classroom, an age-appropriate and varied curriculum, and a class of compatible students, group piano lessons can work well for the first year or two as an introduction to more advanced, private study.

For more information on group music lessons, see Group Music Lessons for Young Children.

For more information on piano lessons, see: How to Know a Child is Ready for Piano Lessons.

If You Don't Have Rhythm, You Don't Have Music

2011-08-11T11:44:00.004-04:00

Rhythm is the heart beat of music, pure and simple. You can make danceable music with a drum and one note, but you can't make music with notes and no rhythm.

In a classical solo performance, of course, you can speed up and slow down all you want (well, within reason). In an ensemble, the group leader or conductor will lead the group through rhythm changes so you stay together through them. Accelerandos and ritardandos are part of the classical style and the audience and the critics will make their judgment, and that will be that.

But ensemble players in pop and jazz music have to stay steady together, without a conductor (even if there is a group leader, you're still expected to maintain tempo and rhythm on your own.) Indeed, pop players can drive their musical trains right off the tracks if they don't stay steady. And I' m not just talking about beginners and kids here. Here are some reminders... for all of us.

Counting it in: Some people have a knack for this, most don't. If you're one of the majority, and you are leading a song, here's how to count everyone in so they start at the same time at the right tempo:

First, get a strong phrase of the song in your head and start singing it in your head at the tempo you want to play it.
Add finger snapping to find the beat.
THEN -- and only then -- count in a full measure. Be sure your vocal tone and counting style leave no doubt as to where people are supposed to come in.

Don't use how you think the song goes as the backdrop in your head to lead you through playing it. Not every band plays every song just like "it is on the record." They may drop weird little rhythmic variations for simplicity's sake, ditch a solo, or repeat solos to give more people a chance. You've got to listen to THEM, and to a metronome in your head -- not try to copy "the way the song goes."

Keep the rhythm with a body part (depending on your instrument): foot tapping, finger snapping (for singers), nodding your head, whispering the counts.

LISTEN to the rhythm -- and that means to each other, not just to yourself. I've been in band situations where eveyone was nodding and foot tapping and feeling like they were in a groove, and they were -- that is, each person was in his own groove. The overall sound was a mushed mess because it was like everyone was playing in a bubble.

LOOK at each other. Make eye contact, nod, FEEL the beat together so that your counts are the same as your band member's counts. If everyone is speeding up and you aren't, you may be right -- but YOU are the one who will sound off.

Drummers: DON'T SPEED UP!!!!

Bass Players: Keep it simple until you've got everyone on board.

If the groove seems off, someone needs to pull it back in. Drummers can stress the downbeats, keyboard players can stop playing with one hand and start conducting, the bass player can hammer the ones and the fives on the downbeats. Simplify. Drop the complex syncopations. Guitarists and pianists should drop the little in-between-the-beats upstrokes and fills. When everyone is hitting the main beats together, then you can let the music evolve into more complexity. But if you're off, rein it in.

If you're playing a song from a lead sheet, you need to know how many beats each chord change is. If the changes are uneven or unusual, or there's a little half measure in there somewhere, put a little note in your lead sheet. Not all songs go in even four measure phrases.

If you are in a rock/pop/jazz group and the singer or lead soloist is bending the rhythm (holding back or anticipating the bar lines) -- YOUR job is to keep the steady beat, even if that means you are not with the soloist. This is the OPPOSITE of what classical musicians do: Classical accompanists, anticipate (or rehearse) the soloist's ritardoandos and stay with the soloist. Pop and jazz rhythm sections stay with the rhythm, giving the soloist a steady place to come back to at the end of the phrase. If you stay with the soloist instead of with the rhythm section, you will drive the train right off the tracks. The only exceptions are endings (and, very occasionally, transitions to bridges) where ritardandos are rehearsed.

Work at home with a metronome. To practice soloing, count off the measures so you fit your solo into the time allotted for each chord. You can also record (for example, on a keyboard) the backing chords, played in strict rhythm, and practice soloing over them and hitting the changes of your solo at the right time.

Bottom line: You (and your listeners) shouldn't need a search light to find the beat! By listening to each other and prioritizing rhythm, you can help your bad achieve a tighter sound and a better groove.

Stage Fright and Performace Anxiety: A Guide for Teachers and Parents

2011-08-10T12:19:00.002-04:00

Sweaty palms, shaking hands, nervous stomachs. Years after the first violin or piano recital, former music students can still remember the symptoms of anxiety. But the children's music recital is a rite of passage: How do we make it easier for them?

Performance anxiety is a fact of life, and it isn't limited to kids. Adults, including both recreational, and professional musicians, can both freeze from nerves on stage. Indeed, stage fright, is one of the most common social phobias, closely related to the fear of public speaking. At its most basic, stage fright is a fear of looking foolish in front of others, or failing at a task in a public setting. But music teachers and parents can help their students and children deal with this common phobia.

Symptoms and Effects of Performance Anxiety

Some amount of anxiety is normal before a performance, and indeed, professional musicians learn to channel the adrenaline of stage fright into their recitals. In most cases, young performers learn to cope with stage fright simply by gaining a bit of experience.

But sometimes the problem is more serious, and in severe cases, stage fright can completely undermine the benefits of giving a performance. Sometimes, stage nerves make a performance impossible. A student’s hands or legs may shake so much that it is impossible to play a note or push a pedal on a piano or an organ. Or a memory lapse may take place, a frightening occurrence performers describe as awakening from the dream-state of a performance only to find that they have no idea where they are in a piece of music, or even, what piece of music they are playing. At its most severe, stage fright can blossom into a full-fledged panic attack or anxiety attack.

Preventing and Overcoming Stage Fright

In most cases, treating stage fright is a matter of prevention. Acclimating, or getting used to the performance process, is the first step. Teachers can help beginning performers by scheduling no-stress or low-stress performances that take place in non-threatening environments such as a teacher's living room, a class-room, or even a friendly local coffee shop (serving cookies also helps). These practice performances can be as low key as asking a student to stay three minutes longer to play his piece for the next student family that walks in the door. Or (even) play for the dog or the cat.

In a very real sense, stage fright is a matter of conscience. Students know how well prepared they are, and whether or not they have practiced effectively. In most cases, the more confident a student is in the ability to perform a piece of music, the less severe stage fright will be. For a student's first few performances, teachers should choose easier works that the student likes and feels secure about performing. Virtually every instrument has a literature of student performances, and many composers who write for students create works that sound more impressively difficult than they really are. These pieces are often fun to play, and they boost a student's confidence.

Ways to Boost Confidence

When I'm sure the student can do it, I ask the student to play a piece, or a section of the piece, with his or her eyes closed. Assuming there aren't any huge jumps, it's amazing how many students are able to accomplish this. practicing with your eyes closed is another way to convince yourself that you really do know the piece inside outside and backwards.

And we play the "interruption game," in which the student's job is to keep playing -- no matter what. "No matter what" can include me turning the lights on and off, yelping suddenly in the middle of the piece, slamming a door, waving my hands in front of the students music, juggling, making funny faces, or jumping up and down. This is a really fun game with a group of kids, although for sanity's sake, give some ground rules: No touching the performer and taking turns being the interruptor are two good ones that keep things from getting out of control. This game is so successful that students beg to play it.

Familiarity with the performance process helps relieve anxiety. Some teachers have full-fledged recital rehearsals where students practice walking up to the stage, performing for each other, and bowing,

One of the most common causes of stage fright in music recitals is the performance anxiety associated with playing from memory. Unless the student is truly on a path to being college music major or a concert artist, playing from memory is something that can be introduced very slowly or avoided all together. Of course, a student who has memorized a piece is better prepared to perform it, but there's no reason not to let a child or an adult recreational player have the security of sheet music if they want it.

Adults, too, are susceptible to stage fright. Some use prescription drugs such as beta-blockers under the close supervision of a medical doctor. Others undergo hypnotherapy for their performance anxiety. Meditating and visualizing a successful performance are other common techniques.

With a combination of reasonable expectations and repertoire, a friendly, non-threatening environment, adequate practice, and a bit of experience, the process of performing music can become what it is meant to be: an opportunity to share a musician's art, rather than an anxiety-packed ordeal.

The 12th Annual Riverside Jam

2011-08-09T17:09:00.003-04:00

Riverside Jam 2011 is now in the rear-view mirror, and I thought it would be fun to share some of the highlights of this years event, if only because it really does embody the spirit of sharing music.

A brief bit of background: RSJ started just over a decade ago when a bunch of college friends reconvened at an old band-mate's wedding. Some genius in the group figured out that they didn't have to wait decades -- or till someone else got married -- to play together again, and they organized another get-together, which became an annual event. Over the next few years, long-lost bandmates and college friends found their way "home" to the newly reunited group, and new friends and students joined in.

Every year, someone different hosts: So far, we've been in Connecticut, New Jersey (twice), Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois (three times), Indiana, and Massachusetts (twice). My partner, David, has been involved in hosting four of the jams; I've co-hosted two here in the Berkshires, and David is just about always the music director. Each event has its own venues, its own highlights, the occasional drama, hundreds of songs, and a lot of laughs. We've played at public parks, bars, schools, coffee houses, community centers, a blues joint, and this year -- an alpaca farm (Think "Woolstock" complete with a little rain and mud.) And our repertoire has gone from Elvis to Elvis, from jazz standards to three chord rock to progressive to R&B to metal and punk and every combination thereof.

Here are some highlights of RSJ 2011, which involved about 25 musicians. Thanks again to Jeff and Helena for hosting and to Lily and John for the use of their alpaca farm! And thanks to John Reichert for the pictures.

Our rehearsal set-up.

RSJ is a chance to get to know new musicians. Greg's musical partner Suzannah was new to the group this year, AND it was her first time playing with a full band, but she did a great job, especially on Pink Martini's "Hey Eugene."

We didn't have a huge audience, so we appreciated everyone who was listening. These guys were among the most attentive.

Rock and roll and go-carts... what more could a kid want?

The young'uns joined in, too. Eric Brownstein did some great solos, and the guys contributed back-up animal sounds for "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

Michelle on cello, me on piano: Two classically trained gals, but you wouldn't believe the soundtrack: We're attempting to play along with Derek, Paul, and Ruben (the Space Jammers) (and Greg, too) on a heavy metal/progressive/rock original.

Viewing the set-up from behind the stage. Jeff, Dan, Kyle, and Greg were the sound dudes who had to figure out how to connect all this stuff together and make it sound good.

The treehouse: This was my vote for where to put the keyboard, but I was over-ruled.

How many engineers does it take to put up a tarp? The rain wasn't going to stop us, except for the hour or so it took to get everything protected and re-wired.

I always tell my students to get used to lousy pianos because you never know what you'll have to play. This was at the impromptu jam in the hotel lobby -- and this is what I had on hand. We started with variations on the chords to Pachebel's Canon, transposed to C because, man, those black notes are hard on an iPad!

Jamming in the hotel. What you DON'T see is a group of wedding guests, who came down to play cards and stayed to sing along. They ended THEIR part of the evening by walking out to the elevator singing the Sound of Music's "Farewell, Goodbye, Auf Wiedersehn, Goodnight."

A little rain didn't stop Woodstock, and it didn't stop Woolstock, either.

How to Choose a Piano (or Music) Teacher: Questions to Ask

2011-08-09T11:36:00.003-04:00

If you're like most parents, you're probably wondering where the summer went. back-to-school specials are in full swing, and you've probably got a mile-long list relating to soccer schedules and PTA meetings. And music lessons.

Don't wait to look for a piano teacher: Many already have their fall schedules booked. But if you are at the beginning of the process, here's a brief road map to finding the right teacher for your child.

Finding Potential Teachers

Many music teachers rarely advertise. Most of us find students from word of mouth, and of course, the better the teacher is, the less her or she needs to advertise. So you generally won't find your town's most popular teacher in the yellow pages.

Many piano teachers do have websites, which you can usually finding by searching for "piano teacher" and "your town, state." Websites may give a little bit of information about the studio, its location, and the teacher's credentials and philosophy, along with contact information.

You can also ask for recommendations at the local music stores, piano shops, sheet music stores, and the like. Note, however, that some music stores offer in-store music lessons, so they may steer you to their teachers.

Public school music teachers are another resource. They tend to know the private music teachers in the area, and can give you some names of teachers who have good reputations.

Also check to see if your area has a community music school. These schools generally vet the teachers. Many require college music degrees, or significant performance experience.

Questions to Ask a Music Teacher

The following issues are some that you'll want to cover in your interview with a music teacher. Some are purely practical. Others address issues of compatibility and teaching philosophy. There's not right answer to any of these questions: An excellent teacher may or may not have a music degree, and may or may not have performing experience. But the questions will get you talking to each other, and will help you feel out your compatibility.

What ages do you typically teach?
Do you teach one style of music or many, and how do you decide?
What is your background in music and teaching?
Do you do studio recitals?
Do you participate in any out-of-studio programs (such as state contests or Piano Guild competitions)
How long are lesson times?
What is the cost?
What is your payment policy?
What is your make-up and cancellation policy?
Where are you located (or do you teach in students' homes?)
What is your availability?
Is there anywhere I can hear you play? (Answers might include local gigs, the Internet, or a CD)
Do you have any experience dealing with a child who.... (has ADD, Aspergers, is four years old, has a learning delay issue, etc.)?
What is your philosophy about teaching music?
What kind of instrument is required?
How much practice do you require?
What can I as a parent do to help?

Having an open conversation with a teacher and being sure all your questions are answered is the first step in establishing the foundation of a relationship that lasts for many years.

New Book: The Art of Songwriting

2011-08-03T10:51:00.010-04:00

I'm going to use this post to let you know about David's new book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Art of Songwriting, coauthored with Casey Kelly. It just came out yesterday.

David Hodge and I live and work together and we both spend our days pretty much the same way: Writing books and on-line articles, teaching music, and doing the occasional live or studio gig. I teach piano; David teaches guitar and songwriting -- plus bass, banjo, mandolin, ukelele, and a little piano. We sort of fell into writing books for the Complete Idiot's Guide series, which despite its name, offers some pretty meaty content (written, of course, in a down-to-earth-easy to understand way).

David's the author of Complete Idiot's Guides to Bass, Rock Guitar and Guitar, and he's going to be starting a book on playing ukelele. I've written titles on piano chords (a little, easy little "pocket guide" to using lead sheets and fake books), as well as teaching music and piano exercises.You can read more about these books at our music books page

So... Songwriting. On this book, David collaborated with songwriter Casey Kelly, a Nashville-based Grammy-nominated songwriter who has written chart-topping hits performed by Tanya Tucker, Kenny Rogers, and George Strait, among others. The book covers music and lyrics, collaborating, business aspects of selling your songs, and gives plenty ideas on how to get going. The book benefits from the combination of David's long experience teaching and writing about songwriting and music theory and Casey's top-tier music industry and working-songwriter chops.

How to Tune a Guitar

2011-08-01T21:33:00.000-04:00

So you bought the guitar (That was my last post.) Now you need to learn to tune it.

Like violins, violas, or cellos, guitars go out of tune very easily. Guitars must be tuned every time they are played. (Indeed, during concerts, performers often stop between songs or movements to re-tune.)

The standard tuning for a guitar (both electric and acoustic) is, from the lowest note to the highest note: E-A-D-G-B-E. Using the piano as a reference, the lowest E on the guitar is 13 white notes below Middle C; the highest E on the guitar is the E just above Middle C.

Beginning players often use mnemonics to remember the names of the strings: Here's one that many guitar students find easy: "Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie."

Using a Tuner

The easiest way to tune a guitar is with a battery-operated electronic tuner, which costs a few dollars, and is available at any music store. Tuners attach to the guitar's headstock. Simply play each string; a light display reveals whether the string is flat, sharp, or in tune. If a guitar string is flat (low) it needs to be tightened by slowly and gently turning the tuning peg corresponding to that string. if it is sharp (high), the tuning peg needs to be loosened.

Many tuners come with other features such as a metronome. In addition to making the actual process of tuning more precise, tuners are useful when playing with other musicians, all of whom may be making a racket as they, too, tune and warm up for a performance.

Using Another Instrument as a Reference to Tune a Guitar

If no tuner is available, or if you've lost yours, tune to another instrument or a pitch-pipe (assuming anyone still has one of those hanging around). This requires playing the note (or having someone else play the note), then playing the guitar string, then listening and adjusting the tension of the strings so they sound at exactly the same pitch as the reference instrument.

Using tuners is so easy that many guitar players don't bother to tune by ear any more, but being able to hear matched pitches is an important musical skill. It can be difficult at first to hear the subtle differences. One technique is to hum the note the guitar string plays, then hum the note the instrument being tuned to is playing. It's possible to feel whether the pitch is going up or down by whether the voice tightens or relaxes to match it. Another technique is to listen for "beats, which are slight vibrations that occurs when the two strings are almost in tune, but not quite. Get rid of the "beats" and the instrument is in tune.

Using Relative Pitch to Tune a Guitar

If no tuner or instruments are available, the guitar can be tuned to itself. That means that while none of the notes may be exactly right, they will be in tune with each other. (Of course, if another guitarist shows up to play, the two instruments then have to be re-tuned to match each other).

To tune a guitar to itself, start with the low E string, which has the least tension on it, and is most likely to stay in tune.

Hold down the fifth fret of the E string. This makes the E string play an A. That is the sound the next string should make. Tighten or loosen the A string's tuning peg until the two sounds match.
Once the A string is in tune, put a finger on its fifth fret. to make a D note. Play the next string (the D string), and adjust the tuning until the two sounds match.
Once the D string is in tune, put a finger on its fifth fret to make a G. Play the next string (the G string), and adjust the tuning until the sounds match.. Be careful when tuning the G string. It's one of the strings most likely to snap if tuned too quickly.
Once the G string is in tune, put a finger on its FOURTH fret., which is the B. Play the next string (the B string), and adjust the tuning until the sounds match..
Once the B string is in tune, put a finger on its fifth fret. to make an E. Play the next string (the high E string), and adjust the tuning until the sounds match..

It may be necessary to repeat the process a few times.

The above guitar tuning techniques are the basics: Tuning any instrument is actually an endlessly complicated subject. The mathematics of tuning an instrument so it can function in multiple keys require some compromises in the purity of intonation, and compromises lead to controversies. (See Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization by Stuart Isacoff, Vintage, New York, 2003).

Some guitarists additionally use advanced techniques such as harmonics (which requires gently pressing certain frets to create a ringing tone that sounds in harmony with the main string). Finally, some songs require guitars to be tuned to different notes in order to create special effects. But those are all issues for more advanced players. (You can find out more at guitarnoise,com, which has exhaustive resources for guitarists of all levels.).

For now, buy a guitar tuner and remember "Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie."

Buying Your First Guitar: Types, Sizes, and Styles of Guitars

2011-07-30T13:32:00.004-04:00

Guitar is one of the most popular instruments taken up by adults.

As with all instruments, there a steep learning curve at first, but it doesn't take 10,000 hours to learn enough to accompany yourself on a basic three-chord song (and there are thousands of basic three-chord songs to pick from, from blues to folk to rock). Plus, you can enjoy playing it both solo and with friends.

Once you've made the commitment to learn, you have to find an instrument. And in choosing which guitar to buy, things can get confusing: It turns out that a guitar is not just a guitar. Here's a quick guide to deciding from among the classicals, steel strings, 12-strings, acoustics, resonators, hollow-bodieds, dreadnoughts, jumbos, and a few more types of guitars that may be new to you.

Choosing a Guitar: Electric Guitars versus Acoustic Guitars

Most people's first guitar is some kind of acoustic guitar. Unless you are a heavy metal fan, or you plan to only play rock and roll leads, an acoustic is more versatile for a first guitar, because it can work with rock and roll, folk, and country. An acoustic doesn't mean you're stuck without amplification: Acoustics can come with electronics built in for amplification, or you can insert a pick-up into the sound hole, or you can play directly into a microphone. But acoustics also work without amplification, giving you greater flexibility.

Still, if you are determined to buy an electric, you'll find many affordable choices. Indeed, some manufacturers make beginner's packages complete with amplifiers and cables.

Classical Guitars Versus Steel Strings

Classical guitars have nylon strings and wider fret boards; they also have fewer frets (12) before the neck joins the body of the guitar. Steel string guitars have two more frets (so you can get those notes WAY up there) and they may even have cut-outs so you can reach even more notes. The basic steel string acoustic is the warhorse of guitars: Almost everyone who plays guitar has at least one.

Classical guitars do not come with built in amplification, and they aren't widely used in anything but classical music or, sometimes, folk singing. However, for new players who feel that their fingers are clumsy, the wider fretboard can be easier to learn on. The nylon strings also make playing less painful for beginners, who don't yet have calluses built up. Classical guitars are great choices for young children who are just starting out because of the nylon strings. Note: you can put nylon strings on an acoustic guitar; you can't put steel strings on a classical guitar.

Standard Acoustic Guitar Versus Specialty Instruments

Unless you have a passion for a particular kind of music, you'll probably want to start with an all-around one-size fits all acoustic. But those who are determined to play country blues or jazz might want to look beyond standard acoustic guitars. For example, the resonator guitar, or Dobro, is part metal, and has a garbage-can twang that sounds great for playing country blues. Hollow-bodied jazz guitars are amplified, but can be played acoustically. The thinner reverberating chamber means that the notes doesn't sustain as much, which is important when playing dissonant jazz chords.

One specialty guitar beginners should stay away from is the 12-string. It's not that the technique is so difficult; it's more than you won't develop all the elements of proper basic technique if you start on a 12-string. Let the "twelve" be your second guitar!

Guitar Sizes: Standard, Mini, Dreadnought, and Jumbo

Guitars comes in several sizes and shapes from the standard acoustic to smaller scale guitars, and larger models such as dreadnoughts (its the big one with a sort of pear shaped body and it can be hard to handle, especially for smaller women) and a jumbo (as the name implies, this is an oversized behemoth; however, because of its shape, it may be manageable by smaller women). The size of the guitar has an effect on its timbre and resonance; Dreadnoughts, for example, often seem to "boom" while three-quarter sized guitars may have a finer more subtle tone. But don't just fall in love with the sound: Be sure the guitar feels comfortable in your hands.

According to guitarist and teacher David Hodge, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Guitar, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Rock Guitar, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bass Guitar, the most important thing to consider in choosing your first guitar is how it feels. "You're going to play it more if you love the sound," he says. "And you are going to play it more if it feels comfortable." He also recommends that you talk to music store personnel about quality and set-up (making the guitar ready to play by adjusting the action). David also recommends taking someone along to play the guitar for you so you can hear what it sounds like from the audience side of things: "Because the sound hole points away from the performer, the guitar can actually sound quite different from the playing and listening perspectives," he says.

"There are many playable guitars available for less than $200 or $300," David says. "And good guitars can also be found at garage sales or used, on consignment at music stores. A very cheap guitar can actually be painful to play, which means you won't practice because it hurts too much. So bring a guitar playing friend to the store with you, or choose a store that has been referred to you by a teacher or guitarist friend. You don't want to buy a guitar that is cheap, but turns out to be unplayable."

Finally, remember that choosing your first guitar is not a decision that has to last a lifetime. Most guitarists end up owning several guitars for playing different kinds of music. If you fall in love with playing guitar, chances are you'll find yourself in the music store again... and gain.... and again.... once more deciding which guitar to buy.

Oh, and pssst: You've have to learn to tune your guitar. That's my next post....

Instruments and Practice Space for Piano Students

2011-07-25T01:00:00.000-04:00

One student came in saying the reason she couldn't practice was that her two year old brother kept banging on the keys while she played. Another complained that her father wouldn't turn off the TV, which was in the same room as the piano. Yet a third told me that the piano didn't sound good because mice had eaten away all the felts. Another couldn't hear the wrong notes because the piano was so badly out of tune.

I wish I were making these stories up, but I'm not.

For most children, piano lessons take place once a week for perhaps a half an hour. In between is where the important work comes in. And that takes place at home.

Practicing the piano is as difficult a habit to get into as daily exercise. Having a good instrument and a quiet, distraction-free space to practice are two important factors in establishing good piano practice habits. By providing a good instrument and a quiet space for a piano student, parents can help make their children's piano lesson experience more enjoyable and productive

Choosing an Appropriate Piano for Students

Buying a new piano can be expensive, and parents may be excused for being reluctant to spend thousands of dollars on an instrument their child may not enjoy. On the other hand, the child is practically guaranteed to not enjoy playing on a poor-quality piano that sounds and feels bad. Before buying an acoustic piano (or even a digital keyboard), talk to the teacher about exactly what is required of a student piano. Some teachers come down heavily on one or the other side of the digital piano versus acoustic piano debate.

Here are a few issues that most piano teachers tend to agree about:

Parents who own an old acoustic pianos should make sure it is in working order, which means that all the keys work (with no sticking and no clicking noises), the pedals work, and the instrument can stay in tune for several months (assuming a stable environment, without great fluctuations in temperature or humidity).
Tune acoustic pianos twice a year. Instruments subject to great variations in temperature and humidity need to be tuned more often.
Buying a used acoustic piano can be a good and economical choice, if the instrument is functional. Ask a piano technician or a teacher to check out the piano. Technicians and teachers may charge for this service. Not all piano teachers feel qualified to evaluate a piano, but any piano teacher should be able to recommend a technician.
Digital pianos run the gamut from cheap toys to complex and sophisticated synthesizers. If the piano teachers approves of using a digital piano for classical music, be sure the piano meets the teacher's requirements, which will usually include that the digital keyboard has 88 weighted keys, at least one pedal, and touch control.
Don't be tempted to skimp on a digital piano that's on sale if it doesn't meet the teacher's specifications. There is a reason teachers recommend weighted keys (They provide resistance, which develops correct hand position and finger strength), touch control (which develops a student's ability to shape phrases using varying dynamics), and 88 keys (the student's peripheral vision contributes to a sense of keyboard geography. With a piano with different end points, the student's spatial perception is affected

Create a Distraction-Free Practice Space

Even a child who loves piano is not going to love practicing when there is a rousing game of Wii going on in the next room, or when siblings are giggling at a cartoon is blaring on the T.V.
The piano or keyboard should be in a quiet place where the child can practice undisturbed.
Acoustic pianos take up a lot of space and must be situated so they are not sitting on heating vents or right next to windows in direct sunlight. So there is often only one place in a home an acoustic piano can reasonably go. In that case, the student's practice time should take priority over other activities in that room.
Small siblings are often curious about music and about an older sibling's lessons, and show it by trying to participate – usually by banging on the upper or lower notes while the student is trying to practice. Siblings should be otherwise occupied during a student's practice session.
The practice area should be well lit, with room for the child to place notes, music books, and a CD players or iPod, if the teacher asks the student to practice with backing tracks.
A bedroom is private and quiet, but may not be the best place for a small child to practice. The ideal spot would be in a parent's earshot or line of sight, so the parent can supervise or encourage when necessary. A child behind closed doors may not be practicing correctly – or at all.

By setting up a special space with a good instrument for piano practice and making sure the practice session is undisturbed, parents are helping to establish how important practicing the piano is and also making the process as productive and pleasant as possible.

Group Music Lessons for Young Children Teach General Skills

2011-07-20T13:10:00.000-04:00

If you're a parent, I don't have to tell you this: You already know that your small child loves music. Maybe she sings, dances, claps, marches, and moves to music she likes. Or perhaps he bangs a drum or picks at notes on a piano.

Based on this obvious interest (not to mention possible aptitude), you may be considering enrolling a young child in music lessons. But while private music lessons work for some small children, not all preschoolers are ready to focus for a half-hour private piano, violin, or guitar lesson lesson. Many aren't ready to adhere to a regular practice schedule. Not to mention that young children simply may not have the dexterity to move fingers independently to make notes on a piano or a violin.

But small children can handle other instruments appropriate for a pre-schooler's development, size, and age. Percussion instruments, and sometimes harmonicas, recorders, or ukeleles, can be managed by tots. The trick is to find a program that suits your child's level of development and cognitive abilities.

Groups Lessons Offer General Music Instruction

Perhaps the most famous pre-school music education program is the Suzuki program, which started by training children as young as three or four on violin, and has expanded to offer music instruction in piano, recorder, percussion, and other instruments. The Suzuki program has some astonishing success stories, but it isn't for every child: It involves both private and group instruction and focuses on the development of specific instrumental skills. Other group programs focus on specific instruments, for example, group piano classes. But not all preschoolers are ready for this level of instruction.

Children who exhibit an interest in music but who aren't yet mature enough for private lessons can benefit from general music lessons in a group setting. Some of the better known programs with classes all across North America include Music for Young Children, Kindermusik, Musikgarten, and Gymboree Play and Music.

In addition, countless local programs offer group music classes for small children. Many of these programs have been developed by instructors who have experience working in various other major programs. Local group music programs for small children may be offered by just one teacher working out of a home studio; or they may be offered at community music schools, at community centers, in YMCAs, in pre-school programs, at colleges and universities, or in music stores.

The well-known programs vary: For example, Musikgarten has programs for infants, whereas Music for Young Children's Sunrise Program starts wtth children ages two and three. But though the specifics vary, all the programs include games and activities designed to teach children about pitch, rhythm, singing, listening, music appreciation, and even composing.

Benefits of Group Music Lessons

Group music lessons serve several important purposes in setting the stage for a child's music education.

Perhaps most importantly, these music classes focus on what small children can do (move to music, count, recognize pitch, sing) and not what they can't do (make a perfect note on a violin, play with good hand position on a piano, blow a note into a trumpet). Group music lessons don't focus on istrumental skills; instead, they include age-appropriate activities that most preschoolers can handle and will enjoy.

Games might include stretching hands up when notes go higher in a song, or crouching down when pitches get lower, marching and counting to music, tossing a ball in time with rhythm, and learning note names and how to count. Thus, lessons are not frustrating for the child; they are fun.

Secondly, the skills that can be taught to very young children – pitch recognition, musical form, counting, playing in time – are essential for beginning study on any instrument. Not only that, but these skills are very effectively taught to groups via games.

Many private teachers breathe a sigh of relief when a young child comes in the door who has already taken part in a group music program that teaches pitch and rhythm. A student who has not had this exposure is often overwhelmed by the sheer volume of all there is to learn and do when starting an instrument: find the note, play it correctly with the right finger, learn the difference between high notes and low notes, short notes and long notes, and so much more. Students with early exposure to fundamentals often find the first lessons on an instrument much easier, because they already understand some basic musical concepts.

Other Advantages of Group Music Instruction for Pre-School Children

Group lessons are fun because they involve play with other children. Small children take cues from each other, and learn by playing and engaging directly with material that interests them.
Group lessons instill an early appreciation that music is an enjoyable activity to be played in a group setting.
Group music classes focus on skills that small children are cognitively and physically able and ready to learn – not skills that will frustrate them..
Group music classes create a quality educational family interaction. (Most programs require parental attendance and participation.)

In short, group music lessons give pre-schoolers an opportunity to play with music, to have a stress-free and enjoyable introduction into the world of music making, and teach them skills that they will be able to apply to instrumental study – when they are ready for it.

Beethoven, Viral Marketing, and Fur Elise

2011-07-17T23:55:00.002-04:00

Viral marketing is supposedly the new kid on the marketing block, what with social networking and computers and Blackberries and Tweets. Only, it turns out that there's nothing new about viral marketing.

To the contrary, consider Ludwig van Beethoven and a simple piece of classical music.

When a Song Goes Viral

For two hundred years, students have been coming into piano teachers' studios begging to play it. They live in homes without a single recording of classical music. They think Beethoven is the name of a big cartoon dog. They can barely play three correct notes in a row. They don't know the name of the song they want to play. Neither do their parents. They can't remember where they heard it. They don't even like to practice piano, but they will, they promise, if they get to play this one song.

Dee-dle-Dee-dle-Dee-di-di-di-daaaahhh.

These nine notes pass from one student to another like swine flu, the newest rumor about the principal, or a bad knock-knock joke. What is it about Fur Elise? Certainly, piano teachers don't know the answer. There are other pieces kids love, but many of them are short and easy, like Heart and Soul or Chopsticks. Fur Elise is hard. It takes weeks to learn (sometimes months, if a student prematurely attempts the unabridged version).

"You can't play it yet," the teacher says. "It's too hard."

Usually, students recoil from the words "it's hard" like a vampire recoils from daylight. But not this time.

"Pleeeeaze," the student pleads. "I'll practice every day. I promise."

Be honest, wouldn't every company like its products to be received with such desperate enthusiasm? And consider this: This is happening 200 years after the product was created.

Ten Things Beethoven Must Have Known About Selling His Songs

So what is it about this piece of music, or anything, really, that makes it so immediately appealing, so catchy, so viral? What did Beethoven know?

It's all about the hook. Keep it short. Keep it simple. Keep it strong. Make it memorable. Nine notes, and everyone recognizes it.
Don't be afraid of saying things twice. The main motif in Fur Elise comes back at least a dozen times. Put the message out there, then say it again.
Get the kids hooked. Let a producer of kid shows do a children's biographical film. Get it in the schools. If the kids love it, maybe they'll love something else later on. The Moonlight Sonata, perhaps. Maybe they'll shell out for the Symphony. Or want to learn to play the Hammerklavier.
Don't be afraid of new media, and don't be stuffy. Sell the rights to a Peanuts cartoon. Let the theme go on a cell phone ringer program. If the audience hears it in a commercial, they'll recognize it in a concert. Maybe they'll check out what else this guy wrote.
Bury the complicated stuff. Make the opening ring, draw them in. Then hit them with more. Not everyone will buy into the more complex ideas, but some will.
Use a ringer. That most successful and talented student who is up to every challenge and can't wait to play for a group of people? Teach it to her.
Don't underestimate word-of-mouth. Not even piano teachers can name a prominent artist who has recorded Fur Elise. It's never played in "real" piano concerts. The big boys ignore it, but it's all over Youtube and piano recitals.
Have a mysterious love story in there somewhere. Who was this Elise anyway? After 200 years, scholars only think they know. Keep them guessing.
Being temperamental, tragic, and having a dodgy personal life help sell stuff. They always did.
Don't ride on the laurels: Keep creating good work. The audience will come back for more.

Case studies are used in business schools to learn from other people's failures and successes. Beethoven is not usually cited as a mastermind of the business world. But perhaps he should be.