First Recital Around the Corner

The Rockin' Hot Summer Show will happen in just under two weeks and today is one of two days of rehearsal. Instead of giving one student a specific time slot to rehearse his/her piece on the piano at the location, I am giving a group of students their own time slot. I divided 13 students among 3 time slots over 2 days.  It will be like mini masterclasses. This will allow these first time performers to see and feel what the big day will be like when performing in front of others.  In addition, I can communicate performance practices to a group of students at one time.

Music Books Falling Off the Shelf?

Ever got frustrated with having your music books on the shelf fall over every time you take a book out or try to put it back?  Ever wanted to categorize your music books by genre so it's easier to find but didn't know how?

I thought of a way that would tackle both problems:  large magazine file holders.

I found these Rubbermaid (r) magazine file holders at Walmart for about $4 each.  I grouped my books together by genre and labeled each holder with my DYMO.

Now, whenever I need to find a jazz book, I just look for the jazz file and pop that book out!  Putting it back has never been easier as well.  And no more books falling over while trying to take one out or put one back.

Lesson plan organization

Ever since I started having more than 7 students a week, I had to create a system for all the lesson plans I made for each student.  So far I've tried to simply memorize what I've covered with each student and continue off that at their next lesson.  However, that just took up too much brain power and it just wasn't working.  So I tried another system.  I bought a 3-pack of Steno notebooks and a set of colored pens.

I would write out the lesson plan using a different colored pen for each student (just to distinguish between the lesson plans).  As the weeks went by, I used a small binder clip to help me keep my place in the notebook.  This system seemed to work for a while for me.  I liked the fact that I had my lesson plan written down and I could take notes of what I was able to cover with the student, what needs improvement, and what I didn't cover.  After a few months of using this system, I started to dread doing lesson plans because I would have to re-write the lesson plan from the previous week, often with just a few minor changes.  It just became time consuming and cumbersome. So, I came up with my current plan.

I now create my lesson plans in a word processing program on the computer.  I save the file as the date of the lesson plan (e.g., "05.01.08.doc").  I then file it under the day of the week.  For example, May 1 was on a Thursday so I would put that lesson plan into the Thursday folder on my hard drive.  When I've completed making the lesson plan, I would print it out for easier access during the lesson, make notes during or after the lesson, then file the printed copy in a 7-pocket folder -- each pocket for a day of the week.

So far, this system seems to work out nicely. It is more efficient in the word processor with the copy and paste functions.  I won't have to re-write a lesson plan by hand ever again. Also, I can quickly retrieve a student's plan by going to the day of the week their lesson is held. No more flipping through the Steno notebook for previous lesson plans.

Open-Studio Management

At the beginning of the month I started reading a book called Open-Book Management. It's a concept that has been around for at least 10 years where a company gets all of its employees involved or aware in the finances of the business.

That gave me a wonderful idea to start a similar concept in my studio. I'm calling it Open-Studio Management.  I posted a spreadsheet in the studio with all of the names of my students on the left column of the chart and the lesson week dates in the first row.  I told my students that their goal for this progress chart is to get a sticker (I use happy face stickers of assorted colors) at the end of each lesson.



They have to meet two criteria:

1)  Come to their lesson prepared (i.e., homework completed and practiced their songs).

and

2) Show me that they are prepared (i.e., they stay focused with no distractions during their lessons).

If the student misses the lesson for the week, obviously s/he will not get a sticker and cannot make it up and I will mark "absent" in their square.

So far it is working.  Out of the month, I had only 1 student who did not get a sticker the first time around.  The second time around she worked harder and I was able to give her a sticker.  This system works especially well for young ones because they LOVE getting stickers and for competitive students because they get to see how everyone else is doing in their lessons.

Favorite Blogs

Here are just a few of my favorite blogs to read:

Music Matters Blog

The Church Pianist
The Collaborative Piano blog
Music Practice Tips

Looking for Inspiration

Yesterday my husband and I took a nice long drive to Kona's "Beach 69" for some R&R and a little bit of work (for him). Along the drive we listened to an interview between Ron Dawson, host of F-Stop Beyond podcast, and Jesh De Rox, a self-proclaimed "professional kid" who photographs weddings for a living. (My husband, who is a photographer himself, discovered this amazing artist a while ago and has been fascinated by his work. Thus, he is the one who primarily was interested in this interview.) So I listened to the two 20-minute interviews with him and, although I am not a photographer by trade, I too found much inspiration from this man. His perpective on life and the arts is fascinating. He gets much of his inspiration from kids and the way kids view the world. According to Mr. De Rox, everything to them is without labels, their minds are full of imagination, and that is what sets them apart from adults. They are able to see things in many different perspectives and even remain in awe of a simple object such as a fork. They are more intrigued with the kinds of feelings the object gives them than what it really is.

So what does this have to do with music? Well, Mr. De Rox's perspective on the arts has influenced me to change my way of thinking when I teach music to others. Instead of teaching music purely on the technical side of the spectrum (i.e., dynamics, articulation, fingering, etc.) -- as many of my previous instructors have done -- I should be teaching music how it really should be taught, which is to help the player be able to express the moods and feelings inside his/herself. I've had one piano professor who taught music in this manner: Dr. Peter Coraggio. He used a lot of imagery terms alongside technical terms and it really changed the way I played music. It made the music less mechanical, more human, and more emotional -- exactly the way any art form should be portrayed.

Thank you Mr. De Rox for the inspiration. I am looking forward to seeking inpiration from other great artists, whether or not they are musicians.

Online piano lessons?

With so much technology out there nowadays, almost anything is possible -- including piano lessons from an instructor who lives in another state from you. It's been about four years since I've graduated with my degree in Music and sadly, four years without an instructor to keep me on my toes. I have a decent background in music performance and theory and I am looking for a teacher that can expand my repertoire, share some fresh ideas with me, and teach me how to use what I already know. So, thanks to the wonderful world of YouTube, I discovered a guy named Duane Shinn who has a huge marketing plan for piano lessons of all levels and styles going on over at playpiano.com. I checked him out, looked for reviews, and was led to other people with a similar business. The idea of utilizing online piano lessons for myself is actually intruiging. I can pay for the lessons and take them at my leisure in the midst of my busy schedule and possibly even email or phone the instructor if I have any questions. What a brilliant idea! I have also looked into jazzpianolessons.com, which, to me, seems like something along the lines of my interest. Has anyone out there tried any of these services? If so, please do share your experiences, reviews, and what music background you come from.

Good Shepherd Catholic Mission Church in Honomu town

This past Thursday, the Deacon at Good Shepherd Mission asked me to accompany them at their Easter Service Mass this evening. Being fairly new to the island, I have no idea where the church is located and how to get there. He gave me specific directions and mentioned that it's in the small town of Honomu past Peepeekeo on the way to Akaka Falls. I have some idea of how to get to Akaka Falls but still not too confident about where the church is. So, I googled "Good Shepherd Mission Honomu" and among all the listings listed on the first few pages, I couldn't even find an address! Next place to search? The phone book. So I checked out the yellow pages under "Churches-Catholic." It wasn't even listed there! I'm thinking, "Boy, this must be a really small church!" Sure enough it was!

It's a really small and cute Catholic church at the end of Honomu Village Road in the community of 3 or 4 other churches. To describe how small it is, you could probably fit about 50 people max inside, and they don't even have a parking lot. Parking is alongside the road.

Well, my husband and I went inside the church and met up with the Deacon and the Priest. They were very hospitable to me: got the piano all set up for me for the service, provided me with all the music I needed, set up a lamp for when it gets dark, set up the fan for me, and the Priest even gave me bottled water in case my "pipes get dry."

After the service, the church patrons were so thankful that I came over all the way from Hilo to play for them. One even asked me kindly, "Beautiful music! Will you be coming every Saturday to play for us?" I felt bad that I had to tell her "no" because I could see how happy the people were to have music during the service. From my knowledge, Good Shepherd Mission is in dire need of a regular musician. If only I lived nearby, I wouldn't mind being their accompanist.

The people in the community of Honomu are very friendly. It seemed like everyone in the church knew everyone. Thus, if you were new to the church, they all would know. After the service last night, I discovered that I enjoy playing for churches in small towns because everyone is so friendly and appreciative of you. It's a very humbling experience.

The First Post

Aloha and welcome to my blog on all things related to the piano and music! After reading several other people's blogs dedicated to all aspects of music, I am inspired to start my own. I will try to put up a post as often as I can depending on my busy schedule. Feel free to browse through my posts and leave your comments. Have fun!