National Piano Guild Auditions coming up

I don't know how you feel as teacher, if you have students entered in the National Piano Guild auditions? I do, I have once again some 26 gold medal programs, that's once again 10 - 15 piece programs. Year after year, I say the same thing - why am I so crazy to go for 10 piece programs with so many students.
Well, I guess, it matters to me and when I see a student can manage, I feel obligated to make it happen. This is just my personality.
Several years ago, I talked to another teacher and he told me - why bother with learning so many pieces, why bring old pieces back, time is so short, just learn new pieces.
I can understand this point of view. However, I really feel that it is absolutely necessary to be able to bring "old pieces back", improve them. These are various skills that come in handy. Sometimes, it is necessary to be pressured to learn a piece in a very short time; it amazes me how able children are, nowadays. They do need to be challenged and each one is different; no-one learns quite alike. Adding a skill to learning quickly, learning to memorize quickly, visualizing pieces, learning a memorization routine that holds up, all are imperative skills.
The ones who never get ready, they will most likely not be ready later either; there's always something that comes in-between deadlines and busy schedules. As teachers, we are always challenged with these situations.
In all the playing requirements, I always insist on scales, chords, cadences and arpeggios. My students start these patterns in the very first lesson and after some short 3 or 4 lessons they show me how they manage to move their fingers running up and down the keyboard in scales patterns with accurate fingering. That always makes me very happy. They learn reading notes while learning to play. These early mechanical times are my GOLDEN TIMES with a student - they cannot yet play pieces and they are happy to move those fingers!
This is where I set my foundation for later on. Good habits, enjoyment of playing, moving the fingers nicely curved - oh wait - that's usually on my wish list and when I have parents who supervise I get nicely curved fingers. I always try to involve parent as much as possible.
So now, the Guild auditions are around the corner and we are on a strict schedule practicing diligently each piece entered a minimum of 5 times when very young and later on broken into sections with many more repetitions at various speeds, error-free. If an error is made the piece needs to be slowed down. The mind simply needs more time to think and it will be error-free if played slow enough.
That is the single most important habit to master that will take a student through any 10 - 15 piece program at any level.
And the second most important skill is scales, chords cadences and arpeggios - or maybe this is the very first utmost important skill to cultivate.
The book Play piano In All Keys Scales Chords Cadences Arpeggios Fingering Charts is the single most important book to have in any piano library. Without this book, I would not be able to take all my students through their large programs for their Guild auditions. And mind you, my students are regular honor students in school who also want to excel in piano.
Before Play Piano in All Keys Fingering Charts books, I would hand draw the scales fingering, now i just turn pages and the students love it, they can effortlessly master these skills time and time again.

Play Piano

Why is playing piano so important?

Well for one thing, you are creatively engaged. You are working each side of the brain - you could say you are giving your brain a workout! The right side of the brain controls the left hand and the left side of the brain controls the right hand.
When you are working scales, chords / cadences and arpeggios you could go through this checklist and find that each are is being improved with piano playing. I am not saying piano playing is the only activity that would improve these areas -- no, not the only one, but a good one:
1. working the brain: right / left
2. working the fingers - obviously
3. eye co-ordination - with your inner eye you are projecting how it should be and with your physical eyes you are observing
4. ear control - you know how you want the sound to be and are imagining this sound with your inner ear and then your physical ears are checking up, that it all actually turned out the way you imagined it
5. oh yes, you are working with imagination!
6. you are projecting your emotion into the tune
7. you are raising your emotion as you relax more and more into the music - the scales - the tune you are playing
8. you are detaching from problems of daily life while playing or practicing piano
9. you are breathing with the pulse of the music you are playing
10. you are adjusting your heart rate up or down; in my opinion, piano playing regardless of the piece or speed, it is relaxing -- even if you play a piece in top speed, your heart rate is not necessarily flying with your piece. You adjust your heart rate by breathing and practicing with the metronome, counting out loudly so you know your count and playing aligns perfectly with the metronomic clicks.
11. So it is important to practice breathing, relaxing arms, shoulders, upper, lower arms lose wrist, hands just enough tension to maintain effortlessly good pianistic hand position.
12. Sit upright, comfortably feeling slight body weight over your feet (well grounded), upper body / shoulders lose - your body is lose enough to vibrate with the sounds you are making - to tune in - in contrast if you are all stiff, shrug shoulders and tense your sound will be wooden and have no ring, or it will sound forced.
13. Think of the beauty and quality of your sounds, the music you are playing. - the esthetics in your playing.

This is what I can tell you today about the importance of playing piano.
Playing Piano is an important and creative step in your daily life.
Enjoy, Eva

Glenn Gould piano technique

"Guerrero was an advocate of a technical discipline known as finger tapping. Apparently, the idea came to him while watching a young boy dancing in a Chinese circus. Guerrero spoke to the boy’s trainer, who demonstrated his teaching routine: he moved the child’s passive limbs into the desired positions, which the boy would then replicate, trying to maintain the feeling of relaxation. Adapting the technique to the piano, Guerrero taught his students to hold one hand in a relaxed position on the keyboard, lightly touching the keys. With the other hand, the student would tap a fingertip enough to depress the desired key. The mechanical action of the key springing up would lift the finger back into place. The idea was to teach the fingers to play with a minimum of effort and no excess lift."  For Glenn Gould, Form Followed Fingers

I LOVE Glenn Gould! - A true artist, he stand up for his beliefs, regardless if ANYONE EVER AGREES or not with him and mind you, I certainly respect his interpretations and cannot wait to listen to one of them - and no, I do not always agree, but we discuss his interpretations in length.

The amazing thing is, I teach a similarly relaxed hand. I do not suggest to sit so low as Glenn Gould demonstrates, I also do not suggest a "dry Baroque sound" at all times - besides Baroque sound should not always be "dry" - often very rich and singing with a Clavichord brightly singing sound. On rare occasions - in order to show / demonstrate a relaxed physical motion - I let my students drape their hand over mine and they get a "feeling" of how the motion "feels" that I am trying to convey - and it usually works very nicely. We always work scales / chords - cadences and arpeggios, shaping a relaxed and beautiful meaningful sound. And we (my students) can play beautifully and accurately very early on, growing into advanced repertoire quickly. I have two students perform in the Bach Complete Works Competition next week and wish them well, preparing conscientiously in the next 8 days. It is not easy to keep youngsters focused, but that is all part of developing maturity and follow through.

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Now on Kindle: Major and Harmonic Minor Scales, The Way I Teach Them… using Fingering Charts

If you are looking for a great book, available on Kindle, that teaches about learning, practicing all Major Scales and the parallel harmonic Minor Scales, look no further. If you are looking for results, if you want to really get through the wall of scales, here is a manual for you.

The fingering Charts use large numbers for the finger numbers and large letters for the notes (no note symbols, only letters), so you can relax into paying attention to your technique, curving the fingers and working pulse with the metronome. The many chapters describe the structure of scales in detail in an easy to comprehend language. Technique and how to relax into the keys is also covered; how to play without error; how to train your mind to get from the very beginning to accomplished sounding scales. Scales are the foundation of playing piano. They train both sides of the brain and co-ordination. When you start reading notes, your fingers are already trained and the reading translation – playing process is greatly facilitated.

Over the last 10 years, my students accumulated over 500 gold medals (I stopped counting) – but we just recently had 26 in the Guild auditions and everyone had to perform scales. And this is how I could take my students through these exams. These practice instructions work with any students, any level and skill.

Please, enjoy this book:

Major and harmonic Minor Scales, The Way I Teach Them... Using Fingering Charts

"Play Piano in All Keys": From the first piano lesson to playing fantastic1

Hello all:

Playing Piano in all Keys is EASY!

For me, as a teacher, I will always ask the question: "How do I get my students to a proficient level as quickly as possible?" - and I truly believe, the missing link is in the early start, the very beginning months of learning to play piano.

I used to, just like every other piano teacher, start with one or the other method book, attempting to teach the basics of LEARNING NOTES and PLAY A LITTLE. Or simplify playing pieces, just to start playing immediately. After 10 years of literally taking students through over 200 10-20 piece programs in the National Guild auditions, I have updated my strategy.

I feel the first weeks and months while a new student (any age and level) starts to learn to decipher baby pieces, learns the musical symbols (notes, Grand Staff, rhythms,...) these are the most important times. There is nothing wrong with this way of starting a piano student, everyone works that way, one way or another.

BUT - THERE IS A BETTER WAY!

Learning the musical symbols takes time. Many teachers opt to "teach" one little piece a week, the progress is marginal. students after 2 years of lessons play in the second level method books - and are still struggling with weak fingers.

THE MISSING LINK:

Simply put, you must train fingers, fingers must be taught to move, the motions of the arm need to be taught, how to relax the forearm and the shoulders must be taught. THE MOTIONS of PLAYING MUST BE TAUGHT! This has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SKILL OF READING NOTES. Frankly, reading notes will only be an initial hindrance to fully focus on the motions of PLAYING. How are the motions of PLAYING PIANO taught? You must learn the basics of scales, arpeggios and then chords / cadences.

I remember, when I started my piano lessons. The lesson book was either too easy or too difficult (The Beyer Preparatory School) - I had to learn notes to play, I had to immediately learn key signatures to play in other keys. I was extremely frustrated when I had to put hands together and read notes at the same time. And all I wanted was to play really well. 48 years later, today, I have resolved this issue. "Play Piano in All Keys" is the answer to this problem. EVERY STUDENTS ANY AGE CAN LEARN TO PLAY and play accurately.

How does it work?

Yes, at the same time we start playing the usual way with some method book or another - they all teach the same things from day 1 on - at the same time we take time to only focus on the motion of playing. I use fingering charts that teach which finger goes on which key! Yes, we start with the white keys, simple: RH finger 1 on C, finger 2 on D, finger 3 on E, finger 1 turns under on F, finger 2 on G, finger 3 on A, finger 4 on B, finger 5 on C. Now, we go down: finger 4 on B, finger 3 on A, finger 2 on G, finger 1 on F, finger 3 turn over the thumb on E, finger 2 on D, finger 1 on C.  The charts are set up, so you can see the finger number in HUGE LETTERS. The white keys are white, black keys are black. OK, C Major is on white keys.

Then you learn the left hand, the same way.

This way, you are ALLOWED TO FOCUS ON WHAT IS IMPORTANT! MOVING YOUR FINGERS! Concentrating on which finger goes on which key, the co-ordination of right hand - left hand once you play hands together! The added difficulty of READING IS REMOVED! Finally, a way to start playing, to start practicing the motions and know you are doing it right!. No, you do not need to have piano lessons for a year to play the C Major scale finally.

And by the way, the moment you can play 1 octave C Major, you are adding the second octave in C Major hands separately, then together. YOU ARE WORKING THE FINGERS! Fantastic! From day 1 on! While you are learning to "read" the musical symbols.

And in order to keep your mind from getting bored, as soon as you have mastered the C Major scale, you are moving on to playing the C Harmonic Minor scale! The E key becomes the E flat key and the A key becomes the A flat key! Same motion, same fingering. Within a few days, you can play two scales. Then you can add arpeggios, a little finger gymnastics - very easy, learn the motion of the thumb turn right away. EASY!

The charts also teach immediately the correct name for the next key to play. you will not accidentally mis-name the scale keys F, G, A, A sharp, C,... no, you learn immediately to see the note names correctly: F, G, A, B flat, C,....

"Play Piano in All Keys" includes ALL Major, Harmonic Melodic, Natural Minors SCALES AND ACCURATE FINGERING, ALL PRIMARY TRIADS, INVERSIONS, I-IV-I-V-I cadences in root and 1st and 2nd inversions and all Tonic Major and Tonic Minor Arpeggios in 3 positions. All enharmonic scales are included!

What are the results: Usually after 6 months my students can play all whites keys 4 octave scales in slow and medium speeds which in a conventional way is learned in the 6th or 7th year of playing. And typically, since they learn to move the fingers and practice right - left co-ordination, their reading skills come along quickly, because the physical motions are already rehearsed. After 1 year of lessons my 9 or 10 year old students test in Level 3 in the MTAC Certificate of Merit (TM), a 4th year exam, besides their National Guild 10 piece programs (that include scales, chords / cadences and arpeggios). And they practice 20 minutes - 1 hour a day.

I wish, I had had this book to learn piano when I started to play piano almost 50 years ago, it would have made all practicing, all Conservatory requirements so much easier. 

All the best and let's PLAY PIANO!  Eva

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!


 

 

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

Daily scale practice, how to get results

DSCO concerto winners perform - Arts & Living: "I could not have been more amazed at Capone's masterful and impressive execution of playing high and low scales and at his overall performance throughout this difficult folk-influenced piece. Because Capone is a sophomore, the Davidson community will have a few more years to continue hearing his brilliant performances with the DCSO."

You see, this is really a very nice critique on a performance of scales in a difficult pieces in recital. Regardless which instrument, the control, polished and flawless execution of "basics"- scales is always expected, but it is refreshing to read a review where they are commented on. Quite obvious, there are performances of lesser quality.

If focused correctly with the goal in mind, that excellent performances are possible and a LOGIC consequence to proper practicing, the daily "chore" of working scales should not be more than a refreshing, easy "walk in the park" of beautifully executed structured sequences of sounds. Any agony or frustration will not result in "usable" scales now, later or anytime.

The other day I had a student play scales, as fast as she could (fourth year piano), sort of getting through the notes, lose wrist, correct notes, correct fingering BUT: the notes were uneven, there was no evident rhythmic pulse, no beauty of tone. Why practice in a manner that will NOT RESULT in the ability to play more difficult works? Students need to be reminded DAILY, that all practice needs to lead to eventuating in a RESULT now and later. The result NOW needs to be USABLE, beautiful scales totally under control AT THE CURRENT SLOW SPEED. Later on at a faster speed. The focus must be: TOTAL CONTROL at ALL SPEEDS from the very slowest to the very fastest.
Good luck in your daily practice.

Teaching this so obvious concept is almost like needing to REMIND a student to breath: "now, make sure you take a deep breath and then blow it out, etc. or you will choke!". Do I need to mention that? Of course, not. Well scales are similar: If you continue to "noodle" scales now, you certainly will "die" trying to play more difficult pieces later. Is that so difficult to understand? Well it must be, since it's a daily battle for most (even in my studio).

But for those students where everything comes together and we get beautifully played scales at several slow to medium speeds (for starters), then we really have a good foundation to build on. And patience is a very good virtue!

Piano playing is like solving a 10,000 piece puzzle. Each stone needs to fit perfectly to result in the final solved picture. Each day's scales practice equals 1 stone. Maybe now you can understand WHY a bad daily 10 minute scale practice session will only destroy the beautiful expected result for now and down the road.

Each note in every scale needs to be "cultivated" like a budding rose.
Simply put, enjoy each note and scale played well. And as you see in the review above, scales appear in most all pieces and if well performed are an absolute delight to listen to.

Learning HOW to practice and perform scales is really NOT THAT DIFFICULT, if you know how. Maybe, I can make a difference sharing my years of dedicatd practice and finding answers on how to PLAY.
Back to practice!

Epoch Times - Interview With Finalist From NTD’s First International Chinese Piano Competition

Epoch Times - Interview With Finalist From NTD’s First International Chinese Piano Competition: "Mr. Na has a deep appreciation for the power of music. “It’s something for the soul, like food for people. It’s possible to live without music, but it would be an empty life,” says Mr. Na."

What a great attitude, right from my heart. If you only play to collect trophies and placements, you will soon be out of medal reach. Listeners come to enjoy YOUR ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION, the emotional response is what matters. This is what you hear in our lessons from day 1 on. If you play Music for Little Mozarts at age 3 - 5 or Beethoven Sonatas and Rachmaninov, your emotional involvement is really the essence. Of course, technical, style and note accuracy cannot be omitted, either.

Yes, truly, I want it all -- this is what I LIVE FOR. Hearing great music in our lessons.
Feel blessed.
I will be hearing your scales, chords -- don't forget those: most of your theory is understanding scales and chords using scales notes; broken chords and arpeggios are still the black sheep in our practice, but when you get better, daily cultivating of your basics, practicing your pulse by counting loudly will get you quite far in a short time.
Eva

The Importance of Scales Practice

I am writing this as I am listening to the artistry of the D Major Mozart Piano Concerto, No 26.

In my twenties, I was so fortunate to have had the leisure in my life to study all 27 of them and perform a few. The music is so fantastic – simple, pleasing, yet with an amazing depth of emotion, very true to my core heartfelt emotions.

And I am, once again reminding myself of the importance of scales practice. I am hearing scales and more beautiful scales woven in this piece. Even when practicing scales, the sounds need to be played like pearls, smooth even, exacting and yes, musical.

Just today, one of my students was playing scales and I could feel my hair start to stand up – in Halloween anticipating mood. Let's briefly discuss: "good scales" and "bad scales":

How do bad scales sound? Wow, you mean you never heard bad scales???? The majority of scales I hear unless rehearsed right, are horrendous: Fingers 2 inches above the keys, snapping, slapping down on the keys, harsh, undefined, uncontrolled sound, forced, too loud, too soft, notes missing, unsteady beat, tempo not in control, note definition never considered, over lapping notes, uneven leggiero (even light almost staccato touch), too clumsy and slow; simply ugly, unmusically performed; thumb turns jerked, wrist locked, flat finger scales (I call these: dry your nail polish scales, hot dog fingers,…)

Now, that we more or less defined "the bad", let's take a look at how scales should be performed: Yes, you guessed right, they should sound absolutely fabulous: even in touch, perfect note definition (each note should have an equal sounding duration, the lift of each finger AFTER playing each note, should be clean, not delayed unevenly).

How do you get evenness in fingers as all our fingers are uneven in length, strength and mobility? Since I have relatively small hands, good, solid technique did not come natural and easy; I had to put my mind to it. In my teens, the forever same answer would have been "practice, practice, practice". But there IS a simple answer that works for anyone's hands, large or small:

Try to play with your fingers as little as possible, leave them relaxed, just get them on the right key and then use your arm to depress the key. With good dedicated practice, you will see results coming little by little; effortless, arm floating beautiful and fluid playing is not acquired over night (no, it takes a little – or a lot – of elbow grease – not exactly the "American Dream" – but absolutely worthwhile) – it is so satisfying to sit down and play beautiful scales and you know, that next Mozart Piano Concerto is not that far away and will sound great as scales are mastered.

Good luck

Eva Martin

http://www.classicalpianolessons.com/

 

Introduction

Hello all and hello to everyone who loves to create piano music:

I decided to name this blog Piano How To, giving many, many helpful hints regarding practicing, playing, performing and preparing performances.

My background is Classical Piano Performance, Coaching, teaching K-12 and Adult, all levels and abilities. I teach a very successful Classical Piano Studio in Perris, CA and am expanding my Piano Studio on the web, sharing my life's dedication with anyone who is interested.

My life's path has taken me from Vienna, Austria (Conservatory of Music) to the USA, playing recitals, accompanying soloists, and participating in International Piano Competitions.

I am often asked: Ms Eva, why are you not concertizing right now? I feel I have a greater value as a teacher, being able to resolve more questions and bring more JOY and HAPPINESS into individual lives by communicating what I have accomplished. All the years of searching for answers HOW TO PLAY PIANO, HOW TO PRACTICE PIANO, HOW TO WORK PIANO TECHNIQUE, what works and what doesn't.

First I always begin with PIANO BASICS. There just is no way around it.
I remember, teaching beginning piano to an adult student. He just could NOT WAIT to get somehow to the end of the book in order to play The Entertainer. He had a the firm belief that no piece was worth while playing or spending time with, until he would be playing The Entertainer. It was difficult making him understand, that even the first note ANYONE ever plays is MUSIC, just by itself. Usually I get this across easily, but somehow, this student was more insisting on quickly skipping through the book. We got through the book in record time. I cannot vouch for the student being able to play each piece note perfect, but at least we started learning what he so much desired. Then, once this piece was more or less out of the way, we could start practicing and working PIANO BASICS.

Many years ago, when I started teaching in the US, I felt it was more important to start PLAYING right away (but correctly) than learning a solid foundation, BEFORE commencing playing.

I still share the same views, just like a baby learns to speak first and read second, I like a similar approach for piano lessons and piano playing.

But teaching 10 years, has taught me, to finally sit down and WRITE DOWN my teaching! It has helped, my students definitely without exception have improved in their piano scales, their chords and arpeggios and through understanding solidly the concepts of TONALITY, their understanding of theory also skyrocketed.

To the best of my ability, I will try to express my conclusions, so they will be available for others.

Good luck to everyone in your journey finding and expressing the enjoyment you have in you through playing the piano. Learn, how to project yourself, your inner feelings into your music.


Eva