No Piano :(

Hey Friends! 

I know I haven't posted in a long time and that is because we moved to Ohio. Not just anywhere in Ohio, but the 3rd floor of an apartment building. Because my husband and I are so brilliant and decided to move all our stuff by ourselves, we had to sell our piano. Sad stuff. I'm missing it tons. I loved being able to play whenever and I wanted. So I'm afraid that means I won't be posting simplified arrangements as often. Just a heads up! But feel free to leave comments or questions, I'll do the best I can. 

Got a question?

Do you have a question or problem on how to help a piano student that you would love some advice on? Feel free to email it to me and I will post it on here so other teachers can give suggestions.

lisagardner87@gmail.com

Help! Piano Teacher Question

One of my piano teacher friends wrote me a message. She is having a little bit of trouble with one of her students. So I thought what better way to get ideas to help her than to post it on here for you guys to make suggestions. This is what she wrote:

"I have a 10 yr old that is just starting lessons and for the life of me I can't figure out why she's not getting this one concept. I've tried several different ways to teach it, but it's not sticking. UGH! Basically, she's not seeing the notes on the page for what they are i.e. she's not memorizing where middle C is or any of the notes. We've been on the very basics for 2 months now! She's still having trouble with middle C. She's still not mastering the keyboard. Like today, she said "B" and played "A" and then stared at me like, "What? I'm playing the right note?" At first I thought she was cocky like, "I don't really have to pay attention because all the rest of this has been so easy." But then last week she says, "this is too hard I want to quit." She's bored and I'm frustrated. I'm doing flashcards at the end of each lesson and using several books so that she's getting the same concept in 6 different songs instead of 2. Any thoughts? She's driving me nuts with the attitude. It doesn't help that mom is sitting in the next room till the lesson is over."

So any thoughts for my friend on how to help her student? 

I love walking

Probably one of my favorite things about Florida is that I can walk out my front door (in bare feet) pretty much any time of the year and have a nice walk in the sunshine. It's wonderful. Since I'm originally from Utah, I especially appreciate this during Utah's winter months. Maybe it's a little overkill, but everyday when I take a walk or run in the sunshine, I look up at the sky and smile and say a prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father and our Savior for all the beautiful creations around me. It's amazing what They have given us. 

We had 54 votes from the poll last week and Teach Me to Walk in the Light received the most votes! Thanks to everyone that voted! I'm excited that this was the song that won because I have one student who is ready to start playing more than one flat or sharp in a song and this is the perfect song to have him start with.

Teaching Music Using Chords

Maybe it's because my dad was an amazing guitarist, but one of the ways I personally learned the piano was through chord progressions. I didn't learn this from my classical training, but rather from a WONDERFUL father who taught me that music is based on patterns and that once you learned some of those basic patterns (such as chords) you could mix and match the notes within those patterns to create great, simple music. My students love this because it makes music so much more simple. No need to memorize where 87 notes are on the Grand Staff!

I teach chords both as an exercise (see this post about how I approach technique exercises) and music theory combined in one. I begin by teaching them about the C-chord (how the first note, or root note, is a C and then you just add a 3rd and a 5th above that to make it a chord). I have them practice playing it as an arpeggio first (Using finger numbers 1, 3, 5, 1, 3, 5) and then as a chord (1,3 and 5 simultaneously). You'll be amazed how difficult it is for young students to play all 3 notes together. Have them practice hands separately first, then hands together. Then I make up a little exercise...simple enough they can practice it without any sight reading so that they can focus on technique (hearing all 3 of the notes equally and not rolling the chord), such as playing a C-chord right hand only for 2 whole notes, then 4 half notes, then 4 quarter notes. Or playing each C-chord on the entire piano 5 times.

Once they master the C-chord (usually over several lessons), I introduce the D chord, and point out that it has one sharp in the middle. Once they have the D-chord down in their technique practices (again, usually takes a week or two of practicing), then I teach them a song using the D-chord. Give Said the Little Stream is a great one for this! Plus, I love that it's been around since I was a primary kid.

Better Late Than Never

In December I had everyone vote on which Christmas song they would like me to simplify and almost everyone picked Away in a Manger. Today, I finally found time to write it! Hooray for Fridays! Although it's not Christmas time anymore, we can have the Christmas season in our hearts year round. Because what's better than remembering our Savior, his life, example, and sacrifice? Nothing.

Neglectful

I promise I'm not purposely neglecting this blog. It's just the holidays are nuts...aren't they? My husband and I have been visiting family for the last three weeks, so I haven't been home to arrange a new song. I'm going to though, I promise. Soon. In the meantime, does anyone know of a good/cool/fun/interesting way to teach kids about time signatures? I had a piano student ask me about it at our lesson yesterday and I felt like my explanation was totally confusing for him. I'd like to hear some better ideas!