The ease of preparing my students with the new book "Play Piano in all Keys"

New scales, Chords / cadences, arpeggios book introduction: "Play Piano In All Keys" by Eva Martin Hollaus.

I have been entering students in the Annual Guild Auditions since 2001 and average about 26 - 35 students each year with a National or International program. All my students, with the exception of students I only had for a few months and that are entering Guild, are performing scales, arpeggios and chords / cadences.

I have used the usual scales books, e.g. Hanon, Keith Snell; those are all excellent books giving accurate scales fingering. BUT I was not happy with the results. My students are your above average mostly straight A students, who are busy with too many school activities and also are talented in everything they touch, including piano. Piano playing is an extracurricular choice activity for my students and most enter the Certificate of Merit (TM) and the NGPT Guild auditions.

I could organize their preparation folders so they could zip through efficiently practicing their 7 pieces (or bringing them back) and then learn / review their scales / chords / cadences / arpeggios - musicianship phases.

Years ago, when I started my piano studio here in Perris, CA, that was in 2000 (brand new), I used to hand draw the scales fingering charts, to help my students memorize the fingering and help acquire accurate, permanent fingering. A few years later, I asked my students to draw up the fingering charts on their computer spreadsheets.  Well, as you could guess, that did not happen - too busy with everything else.

So, I decided to do it myself.  I learned this internet course how to create a website, a little about advertising, learned the windows Office Suite and started putting down how I could get my students through any 10 piece programs. First, I published my downloadable books and then I took the time to develop the print books. I did not want to compromise. I knew I had to take the time and typeset it all myself to get the look the way I wanted it. All my books and charts are tested in my studio. These books are what I use to get a rock solid technical foundation in the least amount of time. In the 10 years of Guild auditions, I have only had 2 students whom I could never motivate sufficiently to learn a national program. And I am counting now, over 200 National / International programs.

I developed these books, to efficiently teach the phases from EB through High School Diplomas. I also entered students in EA with 5 musicianship phases and as soon as I can, I will put my Elementary A manual together.

But for right now, I am truly enjoying the results of my hard work. This is the first year, where I can sit back and my students are playing through their scales / chords / cadences / arpeggios phases one scale after another, one keys set after another. Often Guild judges ask to play the phases in one particular key. Well, that's how the book is structured: "C" everything, then "G" everything, etc., including black keys, including enharmonic keys.  This is the first year, I can sit and enjoy and they turn page after page and play ACCURATELY and EXACTLY scale after scale, chords / cadences and arpeggios.

What a relief for me as a teacher to have these books!  Using the usual scale books, the notes are small, the fingering uses a 10 point type style and reading keys signatures and notes adds many obstacles for some of my students.  My teaching philosophy is, to teach each element by itself. That way I get undivided attention and focus and in a short time each of the baby steps gets accomplished easily. When we practice scales using my charts, all difficulties are removed: no notes and a HUGE print; the notes letter match the keys black and white, the contrast is great. Even 5 year old students and beginners can decipher these scales charts. The entire manual is graphic. White keys are white, Black keys are black. All labeled correctly, with the correct letter names. Each correct keys has the correct finger number!

I also really like the idea of ONE BOOK, rather than needing to purchase a new book each year. When students learn the phases in the various levels, I simply mark the sections they need to practice, and that's how they learn them. Even with minimal practice time, we are able to get the national programs done.

The essence of practicing scales is technique and fingering. With the scales charts and scales sorted, so you can practice sets of keys, it is actually fun practicing scales. Several months ago, I took some time in the morning and practiced blocks of 30 minutes one set of Major / Harmonic, Melodic, Natural Minors scales with metronome and found it very relaxing.  I could not wait to get back to the piano and practice another block of 30 minutes. Remembering back to my Conservatory times, just like most students, I hated scales thought of them as boring -- and you know they were: there is not much variation in playing Major and relative minor. On the other hand, practicing one set Major and Parallel Minors - the fingering is quite similar, or identical, there is just enough variation for the mind to not fatigue and you can actually relax into the tonality of the key to really "tune" your body. This only makes sense: the loser you are, the more reverberation your body with feel with the sounds of one scale, the better your playing will be and the sound quality and your projection of melody.

Please, visit: http://www.playpianoinallkeys.com for more information, or just purchase your copy with the free reports as a product bundle at: www.classicalpianolesson.com.www.classicalpianolesson.com

Good luck and enjoy!


 

 

BACK TO BASICS - SCALES, CHORDS, ARPEGGIOS

Oh yes, it's this time of year again, back to basics practicing scales, chords, arpeggios. Over the summer, I am always trying to push for completed pages in the theory books and push practicing scales, chords, arpeggios: making sure the fingering is absolutely accurate, the fingers and hand positions are curved the correct way - no "breaking fingers", but correctly and loosely curved finger position, lose wrist, natural arm weight, beautiful well defined sounds. Each note matters. Working on pulse with the metronome, all speeds. In other words, lots of work is being accomplished. We are also planning out the next year, starting new repertoire in slow motion, allowing a thorough and exacting learning process. Sure enough we always have a few overzealous young pianists who want to perform the new piece yesterday, before learning the rhythm, notes, fingering, arm motions, the phrasing, dynamics in each hand -- and are "noodling" through a piece. Learning how to put your "talent aside" for a streamlined approach to learning a new piece is probably one of the hardest things to master for a budding young musician. I tell everyone: "no one is taking your talent away; you must program your fingers and muscles like a computer programmer creating a game to play; if you do not program a computer game correctly you will never be able to play it and it will bring about viruses messing up your computer. Just be patient; once a game is programmed correctly on the computer, it allows for many hours of enjoyment, the fun of playing the game you created. In piano, once your fingers, pulse and rhythm, notes, arm motions, wrist motions and mind are programmed correctly, you will be able to play your piece flawlessly.  Fingering decisions need to be carefully made. Your memory and mind will hold up under any performance stress and circumstance, while if errors were programmed, they may very well show up in performance. Once your physical motions and memory, mind and visualization is programmed correctly, your talent then will be able to flow through your fingers flawlessly and with great enjoyment and expression. "
Learning to be comfortable playing all commonly used classical scales: Major, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor and Natural Minor for 4 octaves and arpeggios in root position, 1st and 2nd inversions, all speeds with perfect control, is quite a challenge but well worth it. All my students use my fingering charts and practice instructions and progress amazingly. The fingering patterns have been used for centuries and were developed to use the right and left brain functions in easy to control cross fingering patterns. Practicing the different scale patterns and spending time until each one becomes second nature should be a goal for each piano student no matter what age. If you are rehearsed in your scales / chords / arpeggios, your fingers and technique is lubricated and you can easily learn new pieces. Many chords are used over and over and once the relationship of tonality, notes of the scale and their relationship of Major and Minor is understood, memorizing classical pieces, in particular, is greatly facilitated.
All the practice suggestions and practice principles are well tested and work very well for every student, with a little practice. All my suggestions work beautifully for literally anyone practicing 20 - 45 minutes 5 days a week. Of course if you put in more time greater progress, better performances and larger repertoire will result.
But then music is for everyone, well rehearsed or not, busy life style or lots of leisure. Piano playing is here to always make us feel better on the inside, relieve our tensions and stress of daily life and enjoy the beautiful music and sounds that we are creating.
Sometimes, I wish I had had my fingering charts and teaching at the times when I grew up. but then, all my efforts and failures brought this about and I am very happy I could make my contribution to help others play beautiful music.
Sincerely, Eva

Inland Valley Symphony - Tales of Magic and Music

Congratulation to Alex Few being announced one of the three winners in the Inland Valley Youth Symphony auditions. We are looking forward to her performance and wish her all the best. What an excitement performing with an orchestra! As if that was not enough! Additionally Alex will be performing on Sunday morning May 17th in the Southern California Junior Bach Regional competition in Orange County.
Here is her Thursday May 14 and Sunday May 17 program:

INLAND VALLEY SYMPHONY presents: Tales of Magic and Music Young People's Concert featuring the winners of the 2009 Young Artist Competition Dr. Jeanine Trent - Music Director May 14th (Thursday) 7:30 pm Old Town Temecula Community Theater 42051 Main St., Temecula, CA 92590 (866) 653-8696 May 17th (Sunday) 3:30 pm Vista Murrieta High School Theater 28251 Clinton Keith Rd., Murrieta, CA 92563

Program Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major featuring Josiah Tolopilo Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 Haydn: Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Major, featuring Alex Few Prokofiev: Peter & The Wolf - Michael Stairs, Narrator Hardiman: Music From The Lord Of The Dance Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, featuring Andy Leu TICKETS: $18 Adults, $15 Seniors, $15 Students (18 & Under), $3 Children (12 & Under) Tickets may be purchased online at: www.TemeculaTheater.org - for May 14th Box Office Phone: (866) 653-8696 www.InlandValleySymphony.org - for May 17th For more info call: (760) 318-0460 or (951) 677-9465

MTAC Certificate of Merit (TM)

Congratulations to everyone who participated and tested in the Certificate of Merit (TM). I am very happy to announce, that everyone from our Studio, passed their exams. All the hard work, extra theory hours and additional practice, paid off.

Please, congratulate:

Bret Paddock, Level 8 Branch Honors

Theresa Pailma, Level 6 Branch Honors

Corrina Conway, Level 6 Branch Honors

Justin Markowitz, Level 7 and Graduating Senior and Branch Honors

Ranen Unger Hicks, Level 1

Mitchell Johnson,Level 6 Branch Honors

Shalini Nair,Level 8 Branch Honors

Alex Few,Level Adv Branch Honors

Cindy Liang Path B, Level 6

Chloe Lovato, Level 4

Cynthia Nguyen Phan,Level 6, Convention

Kathleen Nguyen Phan,Level 2

Sierra Rupnow,Level 4

Andrew Vu, Level 5,Branch Honors

Nessa Vu, Level 2

Victoria Vu, Level 3

Jothy Yogarajah,Level 6 Branch Honors

Antonio Pontarelli, Level 8 Branch Honors

Sai Sivapalan,Level 9 Branch Honors

Kelly Rausch, Path B Level Prep

Maxine Imura, Level 6, Branch Honors

Shanti Ryle, Level Adv Branch Honors

Sharmini Premananthan, Level 7 Branch Honors

Niranjana Premananthan, Level 1

Vinayak Pillai, Level 6

Vishakh Pillai, Level 3

Song Nguyen, Level 2

Jessica Behar, Level 2

Kenna Behar, Path B Level Prep

Brittany Durgiah, Level 3

Cambria Justine Lauritsen, Level 4

Justin Markowitz pianist, composer in recital Dec 28, 2008

Happy Holiday Season to everyone:

I am happy to announce Justin Markowitz, composer, pianist in recital. Justin's dad sent me the announcement of this performance. Good luck to you and enjoy every note you play!!! Merry Christmas. Eva

Hi All,

I’d like to alert all of you regarding Justin’s Premiere performance this Sunday, December 28th, at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater with the California Chamber Orchestra. Justin was asked to perform/orchestrate one of his original compositions, World of Wonders, for this “Festive Music of the Season” show. How many 17 year olds can say they composed and performed one of their pieces with an orchestra??? And if that’s not exciting enough, Justin will return later in the show for an encore solo piano performance of another original composition entitled, Life Cycle.

I understand Temecula is out of reach for most of you; however it would be fantastic if you could attend.

I’d like to wish all of you a wonderful Holiday Season and New Year filled with love, laughter and great music! Cheers,
Todd Markowitz (proud dad)


FESTIVE MUSIC OF THE SEASON
Performance Date: 12/28/2008, 2:30 pm
Golden Valley Music Society presents the California Chamber String Quintet, an accomplished group of outstanding professional musicians drawn from throughout Southern California, under the skillful baton of Artistic Director Warren Gref.The program will feature Holiday music from around the world, including Greensleeves, Pizzicato Polka, Corelli’s Concerto Grosso, Auld Lang Syne and more.Featured artists include soprano Jaclyn Johnson and pianist Justin Markowitz.Performance: Sunday, December 28, 2008 at 2:30pmTickets: $25 Adults$20 Seniors$12.50 students over 12$2.50 child 12 and under accompanied by an adult


MUSIC OF THE SEASON
December 28, 2008
Old Town Temecula Theater42051 Main St.Temecula, CA 92590
Purchase tickets online
Performance time is 2:30 p.m.
The California Chamber Orchestra

Warren Gref, the Society’s artistic director and conductor of the California Chamber Orchestra, has played French horn for many years with the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Opera and San Diego Chamber Orchestras as well as with a number of other Southern California ensembles. He also conducts and teaches.

A resident of the Golden Valley, Mr. Gref has a long list of musical achievements. He won a GRAMMY in 2005 as part of a chamber music recording group. He has performed under the batons of such internationally acclaimed conductors and composers as Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Williams and Zubin Mehta. David Zinman, Murry Sidlin, Michael Stern, Christopher Seaman and Edo de Waart have been his conducting mentors.
Along with producing quality music, both as a player and a conductor, he puts priority on making fine music accessible to a wide audience and to bring live music to school-age children. He is involved in an array of educational offerings, bringing more than a dozen assemblies to valley schools and coaching local young musicians.

Beethoven, Czerny Liszt teaching technique and today's take on technique

I found this great dissertation of 1992 of the comparisons of how Beethoven, Czerny and Liszt taught. I took the liberty to copy this paragraph of Czerny's teaching that so much reflects what I am confronted with daily in my life as a piano teacher. Daily, I am speaking, teaching, breathing, telling, joking, the very same, unbelievably, almost 200 years later. Let's take a look, this comparative study is well worth reading, please click the link for the entire article:

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE METHODOLOGIES OF THREE DISTINGUISHED PIANO TEACHERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: BEETHOVEN, CZERNY AND LISZT
by
ANGELA P.Y. CHAN

Untitled: "Here I would like to mention briefly about teaching young gifted students. As Czerny mentioned, generally due to their high sensitivity to music, they may be negligent of their technique, and simply play in a messy way. They may be impatient during practice, and aim too quickly for the 'finished version'. Very often, instead of practising short passages in great detail, they would run through the whole piece as if it was an actual performance. They are too absorbed in listening to the ideal version of the music in their mind. They would not bother to listen carefully to what they are actually playing, nor do they have the discipline to slow down and practise in manageable short sessions. Slowing down is particularly difficult, as it appears to be going against the musical flow: the gifted student may perceive this as a conflict to his musical intentions and leads to frustration. Therefore, instead of insisting the student to isolate the difficulties from the piece and practice slowly, (which from my experience is virtually impossible for a musically gifted child) who would speed up after the first few bars, I propose to use short passages (a few bars) which do not belong to the text, but with similar technical demands. In this case, the student is clearly told that his aim is to acquire technique for subsequent musical expression, and he is only required to practice for technique. In an apparently incomplete "excerpt", there are no tendencies of musical flow which would urge them to rush through. Hence he would be better able to focus his attention in completing the task."

Czerny was one of the greatest teachers of the time. I grew up playing his exercises and the more I read about his teaching, the more I admire what he accomplished in his life. Czerny seemed to understand perfectly that each student was different and that each physique was different. His many exercises seemed to bring enough variety for developing each technical area.

I also agree with Beethoven to use a relaxed hand and to move each finger as little as possible. I show a similar idea to my students: the finger, comfortably curved, touches relaxed the top of the keys (hand is curved, fingers are curved, not flat) and you depress each key from the top of the key to the bottom of the key, about 5/8".
Liszt plays with a flat hand and fingers. It seems he had a very large hand and could acquire amazing dexterity in all fingers. Not everyone could do that, Schumann completely ruined his hand, his playing and technique by attempting something similar using a mechanical device.
Here is a reference to Schumann's injury: http://www.jstor.org/pss/954772 from attempting to acquire complete independence in the 3rd and 4th fingers.
Here is a reference to the Chiroplast device that Liszt suggested using: http://www.jstor.org/pss/966259

Liszt: " Then he stressed the great need of flexing and relaxing the fingers in all directions by multiple exercises for at least three hours a day; these exercises would include varied scales in octaves, thirds, arpeggios in their inversions, trill, chords and finally, everything that one is capable of doing. When one has perfectly flexible and strong fingers, one has conquered the greatest difficulties of the piano."

Definite YES, not enough attention to scales, chords and arpeggios is given in most modern piano lessons. The foundation, regardless how tedious, must be acquired sooner or later or larger repertoire cannot be learned.

Almost 200 years later, Czerny's teachings are an absolute stand-out and still stand true today.

My conclusion, teaching piano technique, after a life long quest searching for answers:

1. You must sit correctly (weight over your feet, knees end about where the keyboard starts, midsection - your core - pulled up, slightly leaning forward, absolutely lose shoulders and arm)
2. Floating arm; the function of the arm is to move the fingers over the right keys and drop the gravity weight into the fingers.
3. The hand stays as relaxed as possible and returns to relaxation instantly, allowing instant tension (depression of the next key) again.
4. Pain is an indicator that you are doing something wrong. Stop, find a way to relax, find a motion that works and try again. Use the levers of your back, upper, lower arm, wrist and hand.
5. Finger movement up and down is too restrictive

Scales, chords, arpeggios, Hanon exercises are an absolute must. Starting very young students with scales is quite possible and fun using my fingering charts and practice instructions. They work with any physique and any age. The tone is singing, always musical and well timed. As suggested, there are also other great finger exercises for more advanced students -- I have not had a chance to look them over, but am certain they fulfill a 20th century purpose of developing physical motion and movement in varied exercises on the piano. (Take a look at Ganz and Persichetti)

Absolutely do not let your mind wonder while practicing; the suggestions of practicing scales for hours and reading a book at the same time, as Liszt had suggested, well -- I guess I could see the point -- but truthfully, I do NOT see the point. IMHO, we do not have that much time at hand to just sit and brainlessly wiggle fingers, even if it might be scales. Part of the exercise is to be there, while watching the fingers move and stay focused with the tune like a mental exercise to not let your thoughts wonder elsewhere. For a successful performance you need exactly that: stay with the music, the tunes, project the feelings and leave other thoughts out of the picture.

There is another interesting point, though: Liszt suggests to sit straight up and actually lean a bit back, with the head more backwards: On trying that, I can feel that the upper arm actually relaxes, making a gravity sound possible with a relaxed arm weight. Well, the singing sound will only emerse, once all unnecessry tension has vanished. Liszt experimented with various touches, devices and techniques.

Nevertheless, I stay with my conclusions which I have found to work with everyone, no exception.

I hope you enjoyed my little excursion to 160 - 200 years ago.
Eva

Epoch Times - The Ultimate Goal of a Successful Piano Performance

Epoch Times - The Ultimate Goal of a Successful Piano Performance: "“Mozart’s music contains a sense of the pure innocence of a child, which can make people feel happy and pleasant. If the participants try to use Mozart’s music to boast their skills, they may end up deviating from the original intent conceived by Mozart. Mozart’s music is simple but very hard to perform precisely.”
The first sonata learned by someone starting piano may very well be a Mozart sonata. Yet the same piece may be performed on stage by an outstanding concert pianist. The music of Mozart is a delicate masterpiece in which performers can reveal Mozart’s unique faithfulness, child-like naiveté, truthfulness, and peacefulness."

I tell everyone, the most difficult music to play are second movements of Mozart piano concertos, since there are so few notes to be played but needing to be played so beautifully, requiring artistry, control, creativity and technique to express. It takes mastery of touch to make 1 single note sound beautifully ringing through the entire auditorium, touching the hearts of many listeners.
Of course, the other very difficult pieces are very fast pieces, but that I did not need to mention.
I hope, you feel blessed we are working on these skills daily. Start with beautifully played scales, chords, arpeggios and Hanon exercises. Learn to BREATH while playing your most fundamental pieces and exercises. The more difficult pieces will come in time.
Foremost, enjoy your own playing.