It is that time of year when parents are feverishly trying to organize their children’s after school schedules. It is never easy, and when you add a job and maybe a couple more kids, it is a puzzle that needs a keen eye. And then, as if by magic, it always works out. I encourage parents to give me a few choices re: times and days. I am pretty flexible. Classes run Monday through Thursday. If you are interested in registering your child for lessons, please contact me as soon as possible and I will do my best to accommodate your needs. Naturally, current students do have first priority in scheduling.

In theory, summer should hold a little more free time for our children. In reality, there is so much fun to catch up on after a busy school schedule, summer is busy too.
If your child would like to take some lessons this summer, give me a call. I have a few students who continue on a very flexible schedule. I am able to give them some structure to continue learning new pieces.
If your child is taking a lesson break for the summer, encourage him/her to keep playing. Have them play their favorites or maybe start with their very first book and play from the beginning. They will be really pleased with how much they have progressed as those early pieces will be easy. Summer is a time to reinforce the “play” in playing the piano as opposed to the “work” in practicing.
I would also really encourage you to plan some fun summer music outings. There are free concerts everywhere. Bring a picnic and bug spray and enjoy music under the stars. Don’t limit yourself to “kids” concerts, and if it is getting too late and stops being fun, leave. Show your kids first hand that Music Lasts a Lifetime.

This past month we continued to discuss music history from the vantage point of geography. Students read about and listened to the music composed by Claude Debussy. He lived in France and wrote during the Impressionistic time period. We looked at some paintings that were made during the same time period and discussed how you might musically create an impression of a visual scene. How do you write a musical impression? The students had an opportunity to listen individually to two pieces.

The Sunken Cathedral is a prelude for the piano. This piece is a musical depiction of an island with a cathedral that literally rises out of the ocean. Bells chime, the ocean rolls in and out and then it all sinks back into the ocean and is covered by the tide. The students immediately told me, “like Atlantis” which I thought was great.

The other piece, which was more familiar to many of them, was Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. It is easy to imagine the tiny animal in the woods. You can hear the sun glimmering through the trees and the fish swimming in the brook.

I had them each take turns at a listening station. With headphones on, they were able to listen in peace and draw a picture of what they imagined they were hearing. The older students also were able to follow along in the written music of The Sunken Cathedral.

Many of these pieces can easily be accessed on YouTube. Some of them are actual performances. I would encourage you to play some Debussy in your home. It really does inspire the imagination.

With snow days and early dismissals, our schedule has been confusing at best. My students walk thru the door and say, “Is it movie day today?”  They have been working very hard on their theory and trying to get in practicing. I have been having a difficult time picking the “right” movie.  It has to tie-in to our history topic; this year our history is circling around geography.

Yesterday, as I was absorbed in the Olympic Ice-Dancing competition, the announcer said, “Our last four groups will all be skating to the music of Russian composers.”  I thought, “Perfect!! That’s it!”  For our “movie” I will be replaying these four performances for the students. These Russian composers are some of my favorites.  Their music is rich in emotion and the skating highlights that element.

The pieces are, in order of appearance: Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet; Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake; Glazunov’s The Seasons; and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.  Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, and Tchaikovsky are all considered Romantic Era composers while Prokofiev is a Modern Era composer.

If you have the Shazam app on your phone while you are watching the skating, you can easily find out the name of the pieces and the composers.  It is quite educational and fun.

This exercise is a way to demonstrate that music is a part of our everyday life.  We just need to open our ears and invite it in.  This is why I like to say, “Music Lasts a Lifetime.”

It seems to be one of those years. Just as the snow melts and our surrounding get a little dull and grey, we wake up to a lovely new layer of white.  I don’t really mind.  It makes for a more fun “kid” winter, but it does make fitting in schedules just a little big tricky. I will try to touch base with parents the night before a potential storm and you are always welcome to give me a call.  Here is my general plan. First and foremost – only you know how you feel driving in the snow.  Trust your gut. Beyond that, here is the basic plan:

Have a wonderful holiday season.  May your home be filled with music and love. 

We will begin lessons again on Thursday, January 2nd. 

Twice a year we gather together for our “Concert”.  This is a fun, relaxed KIDS ONLY event.  The students have already started to pick out a piece that is a favorite. We have discussed what they will be playing, and I have encouraged them to keep practicing their performance piece. Memorizing the piece is absolutely not necessary and in some cases can be a set-up for disappointment.  We have a Boys Concert and a Girls Concert.  When the students arrive on the big day, my living room has been rearranged for performing.  The lid to the piano is up and a microphone set up so they may each announce the name of their piece. 

The prospect of a performance is a very personal experience. There have been times when my most quiet student gets the microphone in his hand and suddenly becomes a stand-up comic.  On the other hand, my most serious student can become very critical of her own performance. Some people love to perform at the piano and others do not.  This is not a testimony to their talent.  This is a very delicate balance and an experience that can truly stay with you for a long time.  My goal is to make this fun.  I encourage students to pick a piece that they can be successful performing.  If someone decides they do no want to perform, I encourage them and give them ample opportunity to change their mind during the event.  If they decide not to perform at one concert, they have always performed at the next opportunity.

After everyone has performed, we celebrate with cookies, hot cocoa and a bit of a holiday movie.  This little celebration gives me an opportunity to spread congratulations and give encouragement.  I will apologize now if their appetite for dinner is not perfect, but I hope they will be leaving with a smile and a nice memory.

A couple of weeks ago I explained that our movie was highlighting a geographical location and that later we would be listening to some music composed in that general area. Our movie was set in Denmark and our complementary composer is from Norway.  I am sure their patriots would not appreciate being clumped together, but I hope they will forgive my stretch as our composer also spent time in Denmark and his time there influenced his compositions.

This week we are taking some time to listen to music composed by Edvard Grieg.  Grieg grew up in Bergen, Norway, on the country’s west coast. He was a great pianist and composer of the Romantic era. He was well known for using Norwegian folk music in his own compositions which helped to develop a national identity.

I tried to pick out pieces that I felt musically represented the physical surroundings that might have inspired him.  Here was the list:  Morning Mood, Peer Gynt Suite; March of the Trolls/Dwarves; Peace of the Woods; Piano Concerto in A minor.  The students requested that we listen to “In the Hall of the Mountain King” also from Peer Gynt as they had heard that before. 

If you would like to play any of these at home, I highly recommend that you pull them up on Youtube. There are so many choices and they are literally at your fingertips.