evel of focus varies. The best approach is to encourage quality over quantity! Playing well for a few minutes trumps aimless, half-hearted effort for twenty minutes.
Use a reward system. Help children manage their time by providing special incentives. If a child resists learning new songs, for example, but loves to play familiar songs or have an audience, you can set up a reward system that encourages him to persist. Set a timer for five to ten minutes where the child must work on new songs. Then the next five to ten minutes let him give a “concert” where he can play any and all of his favorite songs.
Hire the right teacher. If your child is having a very negative experience, it may just be that the teacher, although qualified, is not the right person to teach your child. Don’t hesitate to try a different teacher whose style of teaching more closely matches the way your child learns.
Music lessons available at www.imagineandplaymusic.com
Posted in Music Instruction, Parents, Philosophy of Education | Tagged: children, music, music education, music lessons, parenting, practice | 1 Comment »
Posted by Pamela Szalay on May 31, 2011
Below are videos of two different students improvising a melody to go along with a 12-bar blues progression in the key of Eb. This is a great key for learning to improvise over a 12-bar blues pattern: not only does it sound great, but even novice players can easily pick out the right notes to play along. Since the black-keys form a pentatonic scale, which works well in the blues, students of all levels of ability can play confidently just by playing any black key. For non-musicians or anyone new to improvisation, this can be a liberating experience!
Regardless of previous experience, I like begin this activity by allowing players to improvise only with a single note, E-flat. For newcomers, I will often mark the note on the piano keyboard with a sticker or post-it note. I encourage players to experiment with all the ways they can perform that single note: slow, fast, with a swing, with different articulations, or whatever. I call this activity the “One-Note Blues”. It is amazing how many ideas can come from playing that one-note!
Once players have spent time exploring the possibilities of the “One-Note Blues”, I tell them they are ready to add one more black key. In some cases, we quickly move to using all the black keys. Usually, new players are pretty surprised at how good their improvisation sounds. I am glad to say that this activity always brings a lot of smiles, regardless of age!
The two videos below feature this activity. The students’ ages are 10 and 16, and both have been playing the piano for a few years. However, neither student regularly improvises in this genre, and neither was given an opportunity to rehearse before I hit the “record” button on the video recorder. They are truly creating their music in real time.
Posted in Music Instruction | Tagged: improvisation, music, music education, piano | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Pamela Szalay on August 23, 2010
1. Make time for creativity – Learning takes time and so does learning to be creative. Students are not always open to leaving the printed page, especially if their lessons have always been “by the book”. Have patience and offer plenty of praise for their effort (pat yourself on the back, too). Think of including creativity as a long-term goal, not the subject of a single music lesson.
2. Be Playful – Playing is different than practicing! When children play, often they are experimenting, testing scenarios, engaging in “what if?” thinking. This can be done with music as well. Instead of being focused on the final result, let students see what happens to a phrase when played with different rhythms or styles. Let them explore the possibilities or even compose an alternate ending.
3. Focus on sound – Sometimes it’s easy to get into a rut of relying too much on the notes on the page. Encourage students to listen to themselves, to hear the intervals and the rhythmic patterns. You could record them and then let them listen to themselves.