Piano in the Family

Autumn Leaves - easy version on video

2011-11-13T12:44:00.000-08:00

Autumn Leaves

2011-09-10T20:40:00.000-07:00

Just for you!

Four YouTube videos of beautiful musical renditions of Autumn Leaves.

Click on the links below! You'll have to click the "back" button to come back to this site after watching each video.

Singers

1. A modern version of Autumn Leaves sung by Eric Clapton. Can you hear the piano?

2. Edith Piaf singing Autumn Leaves

Jazz Piano

3. This video shows Keith Jarrett playing jazz piano with his trio for Autumn Leaves.

Guitar

4. Eva Cassidy singing and playing guitar. Nice...

Saturday Piano Lessons...when I was a child, I sure didn't like my Saturday lessons as much as Nathan enjoyed his!

2011-06-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Merci de Nathan! (Nathan speaks French!)

Au Revoir!
Today was my last "teaching" Saturday...ever...well for at least a year or two!

I predominantly teach classes at my studio and over the past few years, my private teaching schedule has grown...and grown...and grown...and taken over my evenings and much of Saturday and any little pockets of time in between classes.

I decided that next year I wanted to carve out a little more family time in my schedule so I would let go of my evening and weekend teaching schedule and most of my private students.


Nathan playing and singing his good-bye song for me.

Nathan's good-bye was one of the sweetest good-byes, especially considering he didn't even like music before he started his lessons with me in January.

Mom wanders in to Musicalia...
I met his mom just before Christmas when she wandered into my studio looking for donations for her youngest daughter's preschool fund raising auction. I donated private lesson time.

She told me that both her husband and herself had taken lessons as children and didn't want that experience for their children. After speaking with me and my philosophy about music for children she decided to bid on my gift of lessons. She won the bid and after Christmas we started lessons with her 7 year old son, Nathan.

Nathan's love of music has a chance to sprout...
It's been pretty spectacular to watch this little boy's lights literally turn on as he sits at the piano. He has realized how easy it is to make music and have fun doing it.

He told his mom to tell me that he never liked music at school before he met Susan, but now that I've been his teacher, he is even is beginning to like music at school.

He figured it out on his own!
What is so amazing to me is we only had time to experiment with writing chords for the left hand. (I call them "bridges" and "buddy notes".) His lessons were only 15 minutes long so we really had little time to write much!

He did learn to read some treble clef, but we didn't have time to try writing melodies at all.

His mom drew a 5-line staff for him and he figured out how to write this little tune and play it all on his own. Honestly, I hope a traditional music teacher doesn't get hold of him! He has so much creativity and natural talent that traditional methods might curb his enthusiasm.

Thank YOU, Nathan! It's been a blessing to be your music teacher:)

Les Triplettes de Belleville - Bach à la jazz

2011-04-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Love this scene!

The Teaching Studio: Review & Giveaway!: Ear Training Pro

2011-04-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Jenny at The Teaching Studio blog, uses Ear Training Pro in her piano studio. It's an online ear training program. Check it out:)

The Teaching Studio: Review & Giveaway!: Ear Training Pro

A Simple Song

2011-04-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

A giant thumb piano.

This one is a 5-octave mbira and it's absolutely beautiful!

Talk about having a Piano in the Family! Meet the 5 Browns...a Five-Piano Family!

2011-03-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

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The 5 Browns are all siblings and they all tour and perform together. They are the first family in history to have 5 children attending Julliard School of Music at the same time.

I recently read that their mother sat at the piano bench with each child as he or she practiced for an hour a day. That's 5 hours a day just spent sitting at the piano with each child!

I think the practising paid off.

Apparently their monthly tuition for piano lessons was more than the mortgage on their home.

Imagine trying to find music for a 10-hand piano quintet...probably made to order.

Riverdance Inspiration for Piano - The Countess Cathleen

2011-03-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

In celebration of St.Patrick's Day!

Tucker, the Piano Dog

2011-03-05T11:01:00.000-08:00

When there's a piano in your family...everyone has the opportunity to enjoy making their own music!

6-Year Old Piano Prodigy

2011-03-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

Emily, the pianist! It was refreshing to hear her parents say in the interview that all they want for her is to be happy.

Ta Daaaaa! (again!)

2011-03-02T14:11:00.000-08:00

So DreamUp Studios has done it again!

They've beautified my Piano in the Family site with an awesome illustration, great colors and a great layout!

Now Piano in the Family complements the Make Me Musical site...a thrilling thing for me at this moment!:)

Thank you, Katie!

Thank you! Thank you!

KinderBach- Susan's Review of a Preschool Piano Program

2011-02-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of KinderBach?

It's a piano program for preschoolers that is available online at KinderBach .com and can also be shipped as a package to your home. There are packages for use at home and also for preschools and daycares. I watched the videos available to families but do not know what is offered for preschool centers. If you run a preschool, maybe you'd like to check it out.

Meet Dodi the Donkey from KinderBach!

Now, I haven't used this program with children but I am always interested in programs that use modern technology and animation. I can not see myself using any of them for many reasons...most of them being lack of "musicality" and "healing" reasons. (I think of healing as "wholing" or "making whole" or "whole learning".)

Except...

I think there are many families that could make good use of these kind of home-study programs with their children. With a "daypass" from KinderBach you can watch and listen to almost every lesson available for one day. I did this. (yes...I probably could have found things more interesting to do on a Sunday...but this is what I ended up doing...and it was fun:).

Here's my initial take on the home program:
Pros

I think many children (preschool and primary ages) would love this kind of fun, animated, colorful program.
Inexpensive due to the fact you revisit and rewatch any lesson at any time and several children can watch the lessons simultaneously.
Inexpensive due to the fact parents can provide a small electronic keyboard or even a paper keyboard to start .
Lovable characters that help to teach every concept from beat, rhythm, melody, notation
Some catchy tunes/arrangements.
PDF downloads for children to color that support concepts taught on the online video.
It's a discovery program not a performance program which keeps learning fun and playful.
Excellent alternative for parents who are housebound (for whatever reason) with small children and can not get out the door to a real teacher.
The child does need an adult to assist with organization of some materials. I think this is a good thing. For some parents this will be a con!
I enjoyed Karri Gregor. She is the creator and voice behind the lessons. I like her pink crocs!
Lessons progress very slowly and for most young children this will be great.
Excellent method to convey extremely basic music theory concepts regardless of what instrument you are learning.
Offers a more valuable way to spend time in front of screen than watching most children's TV shows.
Even adults could learn about music with this program. My husband was riveted by Dodi the Donkey and his home in between the 2 black keys. :)
There is an introduction to composing through "Bach Talk".
I LOVE finger football...the coaches help children learn about fingering...it made me laugh!

Cons

My personal dislike of the kind of electronic music in this program is that there is nothing really "healing" about it. My husband asked to turn off the sound after a few minutes...so I used headphones...but even I turned off the sound and ended up reading some of the lessons.
Acoustic learning offers something that is just unavailable with modern technology at this point. So this program doesn't fall into my sense of acoustic instrumental learning.
To complete this program you have to sit with a computer screen or TV. The physical vibrational and emotional effects of sitting with a real person (as opposed to a computer or TV) are healing (even if you don't think you need any "healing") and unless an attentive (key word here is attentive) parent sits with the child during the whole program you don't get this healing with the program.
To complete this program you have to sit with a computer or TV. The physical vibrational effects of touching and hearing an acoustic keyboard are healing (even if you don't think you need any "healing") and you don't get this with the screen program KinderBach.
The immediate feedback a child receives from a real teacher just can not be offered by a computerized program
No real experience improvising or playing in real time with a real musician. All those non-verbal cues and emotional learnings are most effectively learned from a real person and are some of the most valuable skills a musician can possess. Children improvise right from their very first lesson if I'm involved.
Learning to play piano this way is primarily a "visual" learning and not so much "auditory" learning.

Would I recommend this to parents?

More Pros than Cons according to my review EXCEPT for me the cons carry more weight than the pros. I will definitely tell the parents at my studio (even parents of my piano students) about this program. It may be interesting to some of them and a nice resource to have in the house...rather than watching TV. I know it's not going to be that attractive to them though. They are choosing to make the effort to leave their homes so their children have the opportunity to spend.time.with.me.

If you are a teacher...I recommend letting as many people as possible know about these programs because it gives so much more value to the developmental-people work you are doing and that you are excellent at doing!

Learning technique and theory are valuable and really can be conveyed by machines and computer programs but the intangible learnings seem to be absorbed by hanging out with real people.

Ever wonder why piano is always offered in these kinds of computerized children's programs and not violin? harp? cello? ocarina?

I think it's because piano can be taught visually and music theory is easier to teach with visuals. Often the most musical musicians don't play piano...they've had to learn music with their ears and hands not as much with eyes.

Just interesting to me!

Adrian Anantawan Schindler's List

2011-02-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon piano concert

2011-02-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

I have not been to a Sunday afternoon piano concert in many years. Right now I'm wondering why? Well, I know I wouldn't have gone to this concert if I hadn't been given tickets for my birthday last week. What an AWESOME gift!

My husband and I arrived early to Alix Goolden Performance Hall and found seats in the front row. If I sit too far back I sometimes fall asleep at concerts(...yup...I do!). The sun was streaming in through the intricate stained-glass window of the old church and it was a stunning setting for 19th century piano music.

Charles Foreman was our pianist.

An accomplished, confident performer, a professor of music, an eloquent speaker, he clearly knew what he was doing:)

We heard Liszt, Grieg and Schumann. Grieg and Schumann ended up being our favorites and there were 3 encores!

I'd love to hear Charles Foreman play again!

"My Father's Favorite" from Sense and Sensibility

2011-02-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

This is just the loveliest bit of piano music.

"My Father's Favorite" from the movie, Sense and Sensibility.

Stewart Goodyear - Stunning Performance with the Victoria Symphony

2011-02-07T20:55:00.000-08:00

Stewart Goodyear playing Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata .mov

If you ever have the chance to see Stewart Goodyear perform live...jump at it!

Above is a youtube video of Stewart playing Beethoven...it's not the work I heard live yesterday, but at least you'll know who I'm talking about.

He is a Toronto native and a charismatic pianist.

I don't think I've ever been riveted by a classical pianist performing quite the way I was riveted on Stewart's yesterday afternoon.

While he played, I'm not sure I even noticed the symphony. He plays with his entire body and draws your attention completely to his playing. (His hands actually reminded me of that Bugs Bunny cartoon where bugs plays piano.)

He was called in at the last moment to fill in for Andre LaPlante (who'd had a car accident) and played Beethoven's "Emperor" Piano Concerto No.5 with the Victoria Symphony.

After the first movement the audience applauded...that is unusual in itself. Usually everyone sits there politely and waits for the second movement.

Then, the adagio was breath-taking. After the third movement he received a standing ovation.

I know for sure I've never heard or seen a performance quite like that.

Playing for Myself

2011-02-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

I'm into a new book and loving it.

Jazz Improvisation for Keyboard Players

(Complete Edition)

by Dan Haerle

I played for an hour through pages 1-12, creating melodies, improvising with chord tones and scale tones. It was relaxing and satisfying.

Next week my lessons with tweens and teens will be infused with some of this. I'd like my students to experience this relaxed feeling and I think this is a way to get there.

Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous Year for 2011!

2010-12-31T05:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

This Christmas I offered to lead a carolling party as a pianist.

I had an opportunity to play an older piano called a Bluthner. It's known as the accompanist's piano and has a gentle touch and lovely soft sound. What a delight! It was unlike any piano I have ever played and I hope to have a chance to play it again.

The piano I played looked a lot like this one, with beautifully carved legs and a cafe au lait wood tone. Absolutely stunning to look at and to play!

The other piano I played this holiday was an upright Yamaha. Not nearly as pleasureable to play as the Bluthner! It had a more modern piano sound, clean and loud.

This one I ended up performing on by default one day. I arrived at the home where my grandmother is living, to accompany her to a gypsy swing ensemble performance. Somehow that group did not arrive and so my grandmother (and others) were ready for entertainment and nothing was happening. I offered to play Christmas carols. One of the residents went to her suite and brought back several old carolling books and I sight-read through them.

The residents enjoyed my playing.

My baba LOVED my playing.

I wished I had been practising more the past couple of decades!

North Point's iBand

2010-12-11T17:54:00.000-08:00

Yet another way to play piano! and play in ensemble. Wow.

Changing the strings on your piano is just more complex than changing the strings on your guitar

2010-12-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today I found out that when you want new piano strings for your piano, they are custom made for YOUR piano. Wow...

I had no idea.

I am used to stopping by the music store and picking up a set of guitar strings when I need them...or a set of violin strings or banjo strings.

There is a special computer program that calibrates the width of a string to 1/1000th of an inch.

Measurements are affected by what type of piano you have, how old it is, how long the strings are at present. The piano is such a complex instrument with so many little bits and pieces.

I feel like someone who has always had a car but never looked under the hood. The car needs special parts and they are special ordered. It's exactly the same with a piano.

Moms have better imaginations than you think

2010-11-18T09:04:00.001-08:00

I played piano for years beginning at about 3 years of age and as a teenager was still not a fluent player.

Somehow between the ages of 12 and 18 my skill level and performance ability just blossomed. My mother was incredibly insistent that I would learn and play music so I could have that as a life skill. She just did not give up...and believe me...I fought her about this.

She even had our piano teacher move into our house! So I lived with my piano teacher for many years. While this might seem remarkable to some of you...I am amazed we all lived with my mother!

I had many musical friends and I seemed to be less able than all of them at that time. Most of those friends didn't play piano though.

They played easier instruments (well...to me they seem easier) like violin or viola or a wind instrument or a brass instrument.

With those instruments you read one melodic line of music and that's it. That's it!

With piano, you read two different clefs simultaneously. So your brain has to remember two systems of dots and then each hand plays a different system (different notes) at once. It's a harmonic and contrapuntal instrument. So much more going on with piano.

More dots on the page to decipher and translate into something musical. Not as challenging as the organ though! Look at all the keyboards the organist has to play and think about...the organist even plays tunes with foot pedals.

In the end, my continued efforts took me far beyond what my friends or I might have imagined!

My mom had a better imagination than all of us in our short-sighted teen years!

Test-driving your Piano

2010-11-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

Imagine test-driving a 100 year old car...a 50 year old car...a 25 year old car...a 5 year old car...

The older a car (and a piano) get the more there is to watch out for and to keep 'em running smoothly you need a good mechanic (in piano land they call the mechanic a "technician").

My husband is so great. I am talking in circles right now about whether or not an old piano is really the right move and will there be surprise break-downs with an old piano and will I really be okay with the featherweight touch of an old piano...

He knows nothing about pianos and he's patiently listening...

He compares my quandry about whether or not a 100 year old piano is a good choice to his passion for BMW's and test-driving one. Is it a good one? The mechanic thinks it is. If you're not sure after the mechanic tells you it's probably okay, what do you do?

You test drive it again!

There are so many things that can go wrong with old cars and perhaps with old pianos. Generally, you don't keep a BMW for 50 years or more though.

We DO keep pianos in our family for 50 years or more. I can imagine this piano might outlive all of us...if it's a good one that is.

I have always told parents to choose a piano they like.

If you like it you will be happy, I say.

And they are.

It's so much easier to give that advice. I am trying to listen to that advice now.

But how do I know for sure???

I thought I found one I liked (it's more than 100 years old) and then I read up on 100 year old pianos on the internet...wow...if this really is a good piano, it will be a rarity. Most piano tuners and technicians steer people away from pianos that old.

My budget doesn't allow for a really good piano...so I'm looking for a piano I like.

I guess I'll take it for another test-drive. I'll ask the piano shop guy if I can drive it by myself.

FREE Piano - says the ad

2010-11-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

So I've begun my search for our piano. I go to craigslist. There are 3 upright pianos listed. Two are $200 and one is FREE. I call them all. The $200 ones are gone by morning. The free piano is still available.

When I get to the free piano....I am surprised. It doesn't look like I imagine it might...on the phone he said it wasn't a livingroom piano...it's a basement piano.

I imagine it looks like this!

But it doesn't.

It looks more like this...but with more wear and tear, scratches and an unimpressive finish.

I like the free piano.

I play it and say I like it. They tell me they were counselled to take it to the dump. sigh...

Well, I think it's still playable. Maybe not the greatest but...the dump???

It's been in their family since the early 1900's...it was the grandmother's piano and now all the grandkids have learned to play on it...obviously there is a sentimental attachment on their part...but why on mine???

They have a new piano given to them by an aunt...it's a Petrof upright...shiny black and modern "touch".

Beautiful tone. Lovely case...a piece of living room furniture for sure.

I still like the old one though....which is funny for me because I usually have a gut reaction that steers me away from older uprights. The keys feel loose and wiggly and the tone is unbalanced and too bright or too bassy or too something. This old FREE piano feels kind of comfortable.

I say, don't take it to the dump. I don't know if it's the right piano for our house but it's still playable and there has got to be a family somewhere that would love to have it...for FREE.

I go to Barkman's Pianos and talk to Glen about it. He doesn't believe in taking pianos to the dump either....electric pianos maybe...but acoustic pianos....they can be saved.

The next day I leave a message....call Glen, I tell them. He will keep your family piano out of the dump.

Finding the right piano

2010-11-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

I am beginning the search for our piano.

I wonder how long it will take? Days? Weeks? Months? Years?

Now that I see the piano as a member of our family I have a feeling I may be more discriminating than I might otherwise have been.

I wonder if this search will be like looking for a mate?

or an adoptive child?

or a new friend?

Will there be many pianos I will be forced to discard for some reason?

Wait for years to finally be bestowed a piano given up by another family?

Will I happen to meet the piano and find we resonate together and become like long lost friends?