'At home everything went so well'...

'AT HOME EVERYTHING GOES SO WELL'

Every teacher is familiar with the announcement of the student:

"At home it went so very well".

Apart from the fact that there is really no need for the student to proof anything during a lesson, and that a lesson is also there to set good practise standards and for that reason is practise, I recently ran into a very good explanation of this experience.

Researchers at a University discovered that people tend to forget what they are doing, when they walk into a different room. Entering a different room, the brain seems to allocate and address a different and new part of the brain and for that reason we often forget what we were doing or leaving the previous room for. And hence we have to rethink what was the reason for going into a different room.

Our brain hence, is very much at ease in our practise room at home, and we can reconstruct the things we were practising with ease, but going into the lesson room our brain has to adjust and we have to 'retrain' to some extent what we have practised.

It is therefore a good idea to start the lesson with a practise attitude in mind and less so a performance attitude. Gradually make yourselves comfortable in your lesson environment and you will more easily remember and focus on what you have learned when you were practising during the week.

It is for this reason also a good idea whenever you have a performance to have a rehearsal session in the room, on the stage where you will be performing.

When a couple of years ago the students of a primary school were having a show in the local town hall in the evening, there was one little boy, who in the afternoon walked into the hall, soaked up the atmosphere of the room and got used to the idea that he would be playing there that evening. It was this boy who that evening performed with the most confidence and won the first prize that evening...

In Support of Art

IN SUPPORT OF ART

 

Over the course of nine years of living and working in New Zealand, Art Zegelaar has carved out a nice little niche for himself. His one-man piano-teaching business is flourishing, to the extent that his modest school now boasts a waiting list of potential pupils keen to avail themselves of his services.

The usual measure of a good businessman is the burgeoning of his balance-sheets. By this criterion, Art is not a good businessman, but that’s only because financial gain is far from being his top priority. Art sees what he does as a vocation. Above all else, Art cares – he cares about his students and he cares about Whangarei’s classical musical culture.

 

Art is a not only a dedicated and imaginative teacher, but also an enthusiast, brimming with ideas and possessing the wherewithal to bring these ideas to fruition. His students benefit not just from his teaching, but also from his constant efforts to keep costs within the reach of as many people as possible. On the one hand his fees are more reasonable than most, whilst on the other a goodly proportion of the profits of his “extracurricular adventures” go straight into the pot labelled “Money to Help My Students Pay Their Examination Fees.”

 

An Example

 

A fine example of Art’s extracurricular adventures was his “Beethoven Project”. In 2009, he started a series of lunchtime concerts (proceeds to the aforementioned pot) featuring Beethoven’s piano sonatas. On 16 December 2010, which just happened to be the composer's 240th. birthday, Art finished what turned out to be, to the best of my knowledge, a unique Beethoven piano sonata cycle.

 

Top-flight pianists seem to churn out live and recorded Beethoven cycles like there was no tomorrow. These are all, of course, polished to perfection long before they're allowed anywhere near our ears. However, the unassuming Art boldly went to the opposite extreme. This skilful but otherwise relatively "ordinary" pianist performed this supreme pinnacle of the piano repertoire almost in its entirety – not as a finished product but, remarkably, as "work in progress". If there were any nagging reservations regarding "washing dirty linen in public", these were soon dried out by the unfolding of this ingenious idea.

 

Eavesdropping on Art was a revelatory and ultimately very moving experience. The slick virtuoso, by definition, can show only what comes out, whereas Art, crucially, showed what goes in. Having spent 50 years of my life, off and on, gaining an appreciation of Beethoven's art, in that 15 months I came to appreciate Art's Beethoven!

 

However, it didn’t end there. At the final concert someone remarked on certain dance-like qualities in the sonatas, even going so far as to declare that “Beethoven is Dance”. A minute or two later, Art was asking, “Why don’t we put it to the test?” He took the idea to Alys Hughes and her amateur group, Dance Inc. Northland, and only a couple of months later, at the Capitaine Bougainville Theatre, they staged “Beethoven Dance”.

 

A good experiment doesn’t succeed or fail, but provides new knowledge to guide further progress. The choreographers, both in responding to Art’s question and in picking up Beethoven’s gauntlet, pushed their brave young dancers right out to the edge – which is exactly how it should be. The Beethoven Project was a good experiment, even unto exemplifying the “knowledge/progress” aspect, and exactly the sort of thing that does the culture of a provincial town a power of good.

 

What’s Really Important?

 

Sadly, though, Art’s current lunchtime series, of piano preludes by Bach, Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninov and Shostakovich – again presented as “work in progress” – has been rudely interrupted: Art’s work permit has not been renewed and he is therefore required to depart New Zealand’s shores.

 

Earlier, he had tried to obtain residence through INZ’s Arts and Sports Category, but this had been turned down, apparently because he is not important enough. I am forced to wonder: what is meant by “important”? The rules talk about exceptional talent and international reputation, though arguably, particularly in the field of classical music, the latter implies the former. So, am I to conclude that “importance” equates only to the applicant’s international celebrity? It rather looks like it!

 

If this is the case, then it has to be conceded that people like Art are every bit as important. For, without them to nurture budding talent, the high-profile professors would be starved of their influx of students, and NZ’s opportunities for basking in the direct glory of home-grown talent would subsequently nosedive.

 

“Importance” is thus not limited to those with celebrity status, but should extend to those who are (for want of a better word) useful in supporting the emergence of NZ’s own international celebrities. Such people are useful in terms of the benefits they bring to individuals, to communities, and indeed to the nation as a whole.

 

The other main path to residency is for those who immigrate to fill skills shortages. Art also loses out here, simply because such as “piano teachers” and “lively contributors to local culture” don’t appear on the lists.  But, don’t his full books and waiting list, as well as testifying to his exceptional talents, suggest that there actually is a shortage of people with his skills? 

 

The “bottom line” is that there is more than enough reason for INZ to be actively seeking a way of keeping Art here – simply to send him packing, as dictated by the rigid rulebook, seems plain daft; it smacks of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

 

Paul Serotsky Classical Music Reviewer for Northern Advocate and Seen and Heard International.

 

Pedalling

The Art of Pedalling

In teaching the techniques of pedalling are often getting not enough attention. And yet for a fully expressive performance the way the sustaining pedal is used can do so much to enhance the performance. 

The sustaining pedal does so much more than just delaying the damper to stop the sound of the strings. It puts every expressive intention of the music to the forefront and the attention of the audience, which by the way includes the performer, because you are always the listener of your own performance. 

You please yourselves...


A piano has two or three pedals. The pedal on the right side is the sustaining pedal, the left one is the 'una corda' pedal and the middle one is either a study pedal or a more advanced type of sustaining pedal. 


The 'una corda' pedal - if you have a higher range of piano, shifts the keyboard a centimeter or so to the right and instead of three strings you will only strike one string, which gives a softer sound. 


I use it rarely, because I like to achieve the dynamics with my hands, but the 'una corda' string does change the character of the sound - often drastically - which by the way is the real reason I don't want to use it for dynamics reasons solely.

But sometimes that is exactly what I want. For instance in music by Prokoviev, it often is very effective to change the character of the sound for a few bars and then I will use that pedal.


The sustained pedal on the right side is what we are dealing with today. You place your foot in the same direction as the pedal with your heel on the floor. Do put a shoe on, if you are not wearing any, and place your foot in such a way that the toes of are above the end of the pedal.


This way the angle your foot uses to press and release the pedal is the smallest. Take good care, when you release the pedal, to not take your foot off the pedal, because in that case you will generate all sorts of side noises, which you don't want. 


All pedal marks in published music are only the basics and in fact you want and have to do a lot more with the sustained pedal to use it to create the effect you desire.


The basic way is to pedal each chord span - often a whole or halve a bar - by pressing the pedal immediately after striking the first note and upon the first note of the next chord span quickly releasing and pressing the pedal again. Take care not to release any keys, before the pedal is down again. The difficulty the student has to master is the fact that when the key stroke goes done the foot goes up, hence hand and foot go in the opposite direction.


To create a 'portato' effect hand and foot actually go in the same direction albeit sometimes the foot stays on the pedal a bit longer as the hands do, which play staccato.


A good example to practise these two types of pedalling is 'Reverie' by Claude Debussy. In the second halve of the the piece exactly this 'portato' effect is called for. But further this music by Debussy is still in his early 'classical-romantic' period, which doesn't call for the advanced techniques of pedalling you can use in his later piano music. 

Now we are talking Debussy anyway: There is an exiting prelude 'la cathedrale engloutie', where the performer can just put the pedal down and extend it until the end of a section. Normally such behaviour is strictly a 'nono', but here it can be done to great effect....


Chopin is an example of Music, where the sustained pedal is usually provided for in the published music. But mostly it is very basic and the performer should do really a lot more to be able to communicate Chopin's music well. His waltzes are an excellent vehicle to get the student going here. 


A different way of pedalling different sections in a Waltz, will create a contrast between the sections and underline the musical intention of that section. 


For instance Waltz number 4 in F minor has four different blocks of music. The opening is vibrant and uplifting. Really, the performer does not feel bars of three beats, but groups of four bars. The pedalling in this first block is basic, clearing the pedal on the first beat and sustaining until the next first beat. 


The second block though requires a lot more thought regarding pedalling: The pedal is released on the third beat every other bar, providing for a third beat without sustained notes.

In the third section with the grace notes and staccato chords it is best to not use any pedal at all. 


Very often you will see that Chopin uses, as in his Mazurkas and Polonaises, a quaver (eighth note) with a semiquaver (16th note) rest and a semiquaver note. It would be a lost opportunity to underline Chopin's intention here, but just having the whole lot under one pedal. Rests are music and want to be played and the way you pedal things here  is part of the performance of this music...


to be continued.....

Texture

Texture

Apparently Music has an unlimited scope for melodic and harmonic combinations, yet people wonder how it is possible that we can think of an endless stream of new songs without it ever getting to the bottom of the barrel and we have to conclude 'we have done it all'!


Even in this respect the endless stream of (popular) song is based on a very limited scope of chords I IV V with no end to the inspiration. Of course here we may naughtily apply an observation made by Leonard Bernstein: 


"The British don't like Music, but they do like the noise". 


We may be forced to correct this observation somewhat though. The British exceedingly do like Music, but they like the money stream and the scope for social aspects attached to it even more...


Style of Music is always a response to what has been before. When the busy texture of Baroque, like its architecture, had become a burden, the simplicity and contrast of the Classical Style set in. 


But according to Robert Schumann, there was no Classical Style, only a Romantic style, which was almost by divine decree entrusted to him for further development, if only its Form could be preserved.


This focus on 'Form' by Robert Schumann and his 'league of David', became the platform for the progressives lead by Franz Liszt and Wagner to set themselves off against by dropping 'Form' altogether. For Robert Schumann of course this was only so because Franz Liszt had never matured as a composer to the level as he had as a performer. 


The French school again found an entirely new harmonic platform and since they also were not so good at 'Form' they invented simplicity. 


All this was leading to the Music of the 20th Century, which we will look at later. 


Texture  is the way the various melodic elements or instruments in a piece of music relate to each other and interact. It is quite distinct from the harmonic or rhythmic concepts of a piece of music. Once we understand that we can see why the scope for Musical composition is so unlimited.


Let us look at two entirely different pieces of Music.


The opening movement Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Rachmaninov's Prelude Opus 3.


Both are written for the Piano. Both are in c# minor. 


You may say: "Well, that's about it, the music is entirely different!" But is that so?

What does Beethoven do here? He is setting the key of C# minor in a full chord progression  of I VI IV V I. (He, BritPop are you listening?)


Now, let's have a look at Rachmaninov's prelude...


 
What is Rachmaninov doing first? He is setting the key of C# minor in bass line imitating 'the Bells of Moscow" using VI (IVb) V I.


The structure, the idea and the intention is the same, yet the texture is entirely different resulting in an entire different character and style of the Music. 


Ok, that's just for starters you'll say. That's the beginning!


Let us explore further. Both the Moonlight Sonata and the Prelude by Rachmaninov present after the first introduction of the key the main theme of the piece. And after they have done that both change the tonal center of the music to.... E major. 


Then admittedly Rachmaninov moves to G#, which is the dominant of C#, whilst Beethoven uses a much longer route to get there, through B and F# minor. Then Rachmaninov's Agitato section before taking up the original idea in an exciting climax is much more substantial and meaningful as is Beethoven's middle section. But then you can do so much with basically an identical structure!

Interview

Interview

 Channel North: Tony Underwood 
and Yuka Bath
 

Channel North: "We are with Yuka Bath here, and we just want to say it was really wonderful to hear what you played"

Yuka Bath: "Thank you"

Channel North: "I am sure other people who have watched it will enjoy it as well"

"Now, you were just telling me you were playing from a very young age, what did your mother say, how young were you when you started playing the piano?"

Yuka Bath: "I was very young. My mother said I was three when I started to play the piano, but.... I think it is physically impossible to move the fingers separately at three years old, so I believe I started to learn the piano when I was five... four, five, six something like that..."



Channel North: "And then how long did you keep playing for after that?"


Yuka Bath: "Oh, until eighteen years old and after 12 years I was really seriously practicing the piano for my career... Sometimes my mother remembered I was playing the piano about eight to twelve hours per day!...Yeah I know, it's crazy isn't it?...


Channel North: "You must have really loved it?"


Yuka Bath: "Yes, must be...I spent most of all my time in front of the piano when I was young, yeah... "

Channel North: "So what made you stop when you were eighteen?"

Yuka Bath: "Well, I decided to take a different career when I was seventeen, so that gave me one year to give up the piano. When I was seventeen I decided, that's it, I am going to do something else....
I think part of the reason was that I have very small hands. If I had had larger hands, then I may still have been in Japan and play the piano...But yes, that is one of the reasons why I decided to quit the piano" 

Channel North: "And you had a bit of an injury from playing so much too?"


Yuka Bath: "Yes, because well.. 12 hours... and I think my form of playing the piano was not really the correct way...So, yeah, that was a bit of a strain on my wrist, so I had quite a bit of injuries from playing the piano"


Channel North: "So, now you are more conscious of that? And you make sure this will not happen again?"


Yuka Bath: "Yes, exactly, because this time I want to play the piano for a long time, almost like the rest of my life hopefully, so you don't want to damage my hands..."


Channel North: "The pieces you played today were Schubert.... What is it about those pieces that you particularly like? Were there any challenging parts which were harder than others?"


Yuka Bath: "This is one of four pieces, the second one I played today, [Impromptu Ab, Opus 90] and I think I was fifteen or sixteen when it was the first time I played this one and I played all four pieces in sequence. But at the time I came to number four, which I played today, my wrist gave up on me and so yes, I had a really bad injury after that I played this number four... So it is very memorable music for me, because I could not play the piano for a good couple of weeks after that... Every time I play this number four I remember the image I used to have, of a Christmas tree...It's a twinkle, lots of light... I have the same image I have, when I play this piece. Perfect one...


Channel North: "Well, it has been really, really wonderful that you have been able to do that today and we thank you again for coming in and sharing this with us. Hopefully you will enjoy it when you get to see it."







 
                  Channel North: Tony Underwood 
                                 and Art
 
Channel North: "Can you tell us a bit about Yuka?"

Art: "Yes, I got to know Yuka actually through her daughter. She brought her daughter last year to me for me to teach her. And when I was teaching her - you get to know people - she told me she actually played herself her whole life more or less and that her mother was a piano teacher. She liked to observe the way I was teaching Jessica and that gradually made her aware of why she had some problems when she was around eighteen and she was studying at University or something and was forced to stop. And it is a very good example of the fact that as a pianist when you get to a more advanced level if your technique is not healthy that you really can injure yourselves. Really playing advanced piano is top sport. It really is yes, but without the whole support environment, which is there for sport. And that is only gradually the last couple of years worldwide getting recognized. Really that top pianists need top care also. It is not there yet....

When People win a competition, it is a wondrous achievement, but afterwards there is this huge gap, there is nothing for them, yes, I think this should change. It IS changing in Asian countries for instance, where a top pianist is a pop star. A classical top pianist! There is this support environment. But in our Western world over the last twenty years it has been fading a little bit ...

So with a wrong piano technique you really can injure yourselves. And whilst I was teaching Jessica she just found that quite a few things were different from the way she was taught to deal with the keyboard, so she started taking lessons too and she explained a few of her problems and we managed to overcome, it takes years to really overcome them, she will overcome them. Just changing a few things of how to approach the keyboard and now she is playing this Schubert, which is really very difficult, you bounce with your hand and use gravity. 

So, yes that is my experience with Yuka...."

Basic Rhythm

Basic Rhythm

 

'Music is organization of time' was the mantra of our performance teacher at University. There is a good deal of truth in it, I only wondered how he perceived time. Because in the end how we perceive time has an enormous impact on our performance of music. 

The left side of our brain perceives time as spacious and circular, basically without past en future, everything is here and now. The right side of our brain to the contrary perceives time as linear and probably it is this where he was referring to. 

 Music has this tremendous power of combining the two perceptions of time and create a wholesome experience. That's what 'Art' does. 

Now, if we talk about organization of time, basically we talk about having control over it and to have control over it means to understand it and use it to our advantage. Because when we are in linear time, we are constantly worried about what is to come. 

Basic Rhythm is a concept in Music which can come to our assistance here and solve many a problem for us, because of its capacity to combine both perceptions of time in the performance of music. 

Basic Rhythm is the basic pulse in music, sort of the heartbeat of the intentions of the composer. The time signature tells us a lot about the basic rhythm, whether it is 6/8 or 4/4 or 2/2. Especially with the last it is very important to find out when the music writes 4/4 whether not really 2/2 is assumed. 

When you practice or when you perform a pianist is his/her own conductor. Together with phrase structure the basic rhythm brings the performer straight into the circular spacious experience of time. And there is only the beauty and the meaning of the music. The past and future does not exist and hence neither do its worries. 


When we are performing we know that in fact what we are playing at this very moment we probably can master quite well. But it is the difficulties in the part of the music to come in the future, which make us feel insecure and threaten to take our performance down. Thinking in terms of Basic Rhythm and phrasing helps us to keep our performing in the 'here and now'.

Also closely related to basic rhythm is the way we co-ordinate our movements. Look at how a horse walks. Does it walk always the same way, but at different speeds? No! The horse changes its behavior if it wants to go faster. 

Then why do we practice as if we have to do the same thing, but only faster?


The horse walks and has a basic pulse and puts its weight on every step. The horse trots and has another basic pulse and puts its weight on every other step. The horse gallops and has again another basic pulse and puts its weight on one action with all its four legs. 


The basic pulse has to do with your (and your audiences) heart beat. When you embed your basic rhythm in there, you are well on your way in mastering your music and combining both time experiences into one wholesome experience.

Performance and Stress

Performance and Stress

 

In this period where so many of our students are exposed to performance and/or exams it is probably a good idea to shed some light on what we go through when we have to perform. And really an examination is just a form of performance.

When we are exposing ourselves to a situation where we experience danger, our body starts responding in a certain way, which is adverse to our normal routine. It starts blocking out everything, which is not really necessary to deal with that dangerous situation. And our sub-conscious  is not really aware of what the danger exactly is, only that there is danger. And sitting down calmly and appreciate a beautiful piece of music is not exactly what our sub-conscious is interested in at that very moment. It is more interested in checking where the exit doors are and whether the shoes are suitable for a good run. 

The day before the performance or examination then, you most likely will wish that you hadn't exposed yourselves to this situation and you can't see how the things you need to perform well are ever going to work on that occasion. You even feel there is no way you will find the right piano keys let alone play something at all.


There are quite a few things, which will be helpful in dealing with the situation:


1.  The sub-conscious mind is programmable to some extent and in advance you can give it signals that really there is no danger. Unfortunately some of those signals require for you to have experienced a few performances already and if this is your first there is no way you can tell yourselves in advance that it really isn't that dangerous at all.  Actually something you have enjoyed on a previous occasion! For this reason we always let our students give a performance before the examination and encourage them to play their pieces for fellow students and family. Family is an important factor here to help you experience some positive performances in advance.

2. Practice your performance situation in advance. The more: your practice is also performance, even with only yourselves as listener and when you see your lesson as a performance opportunity also, the more you are putting yourselves at ease with the idea that it is actually good for you. 

Here you see that of course good practice helps increasing your confidence, which in turn will decrease you anxiety. Having practiced well will send positive messages to your sub-conscious that you are not in a dangerous situation really, actually you are going to do something which is good for you and you can enjoy. 


On the other hand pre-performance anxiety will find all sorts of reasons for you not to practice before hand. Because not practicing sort of takes your mind off performing altogether and therefore away from the reality you will be finding yourselves in as a dangerous situation. Your sub-conscious mind is not going to tell you that you are fooling yourselves! To the contrary: Problem solved for now! By deliberately setting good practice standards beforehand you send positive messages to your sub-conscious.


3. Instead of allowing your sub-conscious mind to shut down the things you need for a good performance, shut down that sub-conscious by thinking about all the things, which you need for a good performance. Good phrasing, setting the mood and the character of the music and enjoying it. Having a good time will disallow your sub-conscious to assume that you are in a dangerous situation. 


When I studied at University our performance teacher was a sadist of some sorts. He was just writing a book on the animal instincts when dealing with performance anxiety, hence he was probably in the need for juicy stories and therefore put us performance students through lots of fear and let us describe how we felt. Just a pity he didn't think it was a good thing to show people how to actually fool those instincts and provide for solutions out of the dilemma. For which reason I handed down to him a blank page with no descriptions of fear. A performance time or show should be an enjoyable thing, both for audience and performer, which hands down the secrets on how to  trick the sub-conscious mind in its own little game against us or even turning the table entirely.

Two Schools of Piano

Two Schools of Piano Playing

 
There are two schools of piano teaching, which have remained blissfully seperated from each other as if the other did not exist. 

The first one originated from the keyboard approaches of the baroque era and its instruments the harpsichord, cembalo and the organ. Teachers like to cite references to its champion J.S. Bach who sat with quiet body and very skillful fingers behind the keyboard and they like to give their students studies from Czerny to emulate the finger technique.

And Czerny wrote more than 600 Opuses on what you can do to improve your major and minor scales.



Schumann described in his 'Neue Zeitschrift fuer Music' (new magazine for music) how Carl Czerny did away with Frederic Chopin as an upstart minor talent, when the latter performed in Vienna for the first time at the age of 18, not realising that Chopin would develop a fully new approach to the keyboard.


Chopin would revolutionize the approach to the keyboard, to such an extent, that he could put forward his wishes for the development of the action of the piano keys to the piano manufacturers, for which reason Pleyel developed the piano action as it is today. Chopin's technique involves the use of gravity, which again involves intelligent co-ordination of the arms and hands.

Eleanor Bailie in her book on Chopin, says it thus:

"It was undoubtedly Chopin, however, who legitimised such ideas as the free use of the thumb on black notes: crossing the longer finger over the shorter,e.g. the third over the fourth or the third over the fifth or leaping upwards over the fifth finger to the thumb or downwards over the thumb to the fifth finger. 

I say 'legitimised', but the fact that although Chopin's principles of fingering were seen to work by his contemporaries, they still, it seems, one hundred and fifty years later, have not penetrated some of the more dimly lit corridors of the teaching profession."

So after 150 years you still see the oranges being promoted into the hands of poor little piano students by 'duly registered' sections of the piano teaching profession.

Response to Student's Showcase

Maia Raimon won the Student of the Year Award

"I really enjoyed the show! Didn't everything go well with each student's performance? I brought my 11 year old neighbour with me as hubby had to stay at home to welcome house guests. She loved Elmo and Pops and was impressed with the students (she voted for Zoe to win again). The evening was pronounced "cool". High praise from a Year 7 student! I think it was her first exposure to a programme including classical music." 

Cheerio Jenny

"Just to say thank you for an awesome show last night. You have some very talented students and you have obviously worked hard with them. It was lovely to have the show in the Captain Bougainville theatre. Thanks for all your hard work." Carina

"Everything was so well organized, and you certainly know how to get the best out of children, you understand them really well. My son was determined not to play, but in the end he did and looks forward to doing it again. Amazing" Colly

After an amazing first half, where young and old enjoyed both the almost faultless performances and the thrown-ins by Elmo and Pops it was surely a difficult vote for the audience to decide who would win the 'Public Favourite'-Award 2011 PLUS $100.00 prize money. But the trophy went to Jessica Bath for her performance of 'the Swallow' by F.Burgmuller and a movement of a Sonata by W.A. Mozart. The 'Student of the Year'-award was easier, because that award is always already known in advance by Art and this year's winner of the trophy PLUS also a prize of $100.00 was Maia Raimon. Many thanks to the sponsor of the prizes, Mrs. Coppolino, who is a faithful guest at our events and lunch concerts.

The second half was exciting too, everybody really being impressed with Kaylee Anderson and Yuka Bath's performance of the second and last Movement of W.A. Mozart 23rd Piano Concerto. It was an experiment to work with orchestra sound track on the back ground, but an experiment which indeed will be repeated in future with other Piano Concertos. Thanks again all involved for a wonderful Saturday spent listening to such a variety of piano performance...

 

Lessons are not necessarily restricted by time

I only sell lessons and not time. If someone works hard and deserves it he/she gets more time. So Ronald started to come twice a week for two hours. That was of course not two hours playing, but talking, drinking coffee, listening to music etc. etc. And teasing of course!


In his early twenties admittedly, there were many things related to his daily life he couldn't do. Write for instance. Or make a calculation with a number above 10 or even below. He was very adept in hiding it. But never in his life was he used to being taught as an equal and being taken seriously. He was in a special class were math was deemed not necessary and he learned things like how many days there were in a week and he was reminded frequently of the fact that he was stupid. 

But he wasn't I found out soon enough. So talking about music leads to forming an opinion about things he loves and that leads to writing it down. When he finally got his grade 8 his self esteem was completely restored and he began to see himself, 'I am actually quite smart'. 

Ronald is now very articulate about music. He understands style. Is able to write down his thoughts and express himself. He tells me what he thinks. It is my job to let him do the discovering and steer him in a certain direction. Correct him when I think he is wrong, but showing him why he might be wrong. It is not my job to tell him what to do, but how to do it, if he runs into difficulties.

Should a lesson be only about music? Yes, in general of course it is. But attention spans are different with different people and in order for some people to excel some other things are needed also.



I find I have in general little problems with getting the student's attention and that is perhaps because I am sitting behind my own piano and they are sitting behind theirs. I can also show what I mean. But a lesson is also an opportunity for dialogue and students tell you all sorts of things.


By always going with the student and then picking him/her up there and leading him gently to where you want him to go. Of course the student does not always realise how much he/she is learning, because in the end it is the achievement of the student and must come natural.


I can't teach!


No, I can't. I can only remove obstacles. It is my job to let the student discover and learning music. The correct way in the end always is self discovery also.