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Sharing Holiday Music

Students enjoy singing and playing holiday songs together in their lesson.

For many years, we have eagerly anticipated attending our good friends’ annual Christmas party. It was a much appreciated opportunity to catch up with friends from years past. The dazzling tree, ablaze with over 1,000 lights and more than 600 traditional glass ornaments was always a spectacle. A highlight of the evening was to see who could find the special ornament using only a few scant clues.

Midway into the evening, after everyone had their fill of goodies from the buffet table, and settled in with a relaxing beverage, we would launch into a sing along, accompanied by me on the piano. This is a tradition that adds a good deal of emotional connection and merriment to the festive holiday evening.

Last fall, Reno and I had some people over to our house to sing songs from musicals, a genre of music we and a few of our friends particularly share a passion for.

Occasionally, a teenage or pre-teen student will tell me about a party they attended where they spontaneously sat down and began to play the piano or instigated a sing along of favorite pop songs.

In the studio, we send the message to students that they can use their musical gifts to add to the fun of a party by encouraging a sing along and contributing live music. I let them know that the holiday season is a perfect time to try this, as the songs are so familiar to so many, and they will have participants of all ages willing to join the fun.

Here are some things we teach students to allow them to be ready to jump in and accompany no matter what their level of skill or readiness is. (It’s not a recital, it’s an opportunity to have fun!)

Keep going! In a familiar song, the singers will continue to sing if you get lost, and you can jump back in when you find your place or a familiar passage again.

For a traditional introduction that sets up both the key and tempo, play the last phrase of the song first. Then give a head nod to indicate when to begin singing.

Practice singing along to see if you really know the song well enough all the way through at the tempo you start at.

A song can be transposed by the pianist to find a comfortable key to sing in or play with other instruments which might need a particular key.

If you haven’t mastered two hands together, play one hand and invite a friend to play the other part with you. Even if you stumble along, it will be fun to try.

If the song has chords written above the notes, just play the right hand melody and the chord with your left hand. Or just play the chord and let the singers carry the tune if it is very familiar.

Play by ear (if you can) and fill in the left hand chords according to the formula we learn for which chords to use.

Finally, confidence comes from experience. Jump in and don’t worry about being perfect.

When our students start this activity at a young age, they are old “hands” at it by the time they are teenagers and adults. As their playing skills have reached more advanced
stages their confidence and poise for playing with or for a crowd has grown up with them and doesn’t have to play catch up.

A Conceptual Christmas – Teaching Broad Music Concepts through Familiar Holiday Literature

Holiday Songs represent an evolving musical culture that spans 6 centuries and are the one body of songs that are more universal to our culture than anything else. Even though the harmonic treatments become more removed from the original with each passing year, there is still enough recognition of these songs even if they are now used to sell merchandise instead of their sacred original meaning.
The reinforcement students receive from family and friends by playing something “familiar”, as well as the short time span and goal of performance opportunities make students highly motivated to work on these songs.

However, in addition to the benefits to students mentioned above, these songs offer a treasure trove of opportunities to for discovering or reinforcing important basic music concepts that you are already teaching in other areas of your lessons. Don’t miss this golden opportunity for learning.

5-finger Patterns

Dreydl Song
Jingle Bells
Great for level 1 students. Have a spinner with 12 pentachord patterns on cards fanned around it. Students spin to transpose the song into the new key. To add extra zest, students give the jingle bells a shake after completing each scale.

Sequences
Have students discover the sequences in these songs.

Deck the Halls
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
O Christmas Tree
Angels We Have Heard on High
Ding Dong Merrily On High (one of the longest sequences I know)

Applying I and V7 chords
Use the formula, when the melody notes are 1, 3 and 5 use I chord, when on 2 and 4 use V7 to create a left hand for these melodies;

Dreydl Song
Jingle Bells

I IV V

Apply the same formula, adding the information that the 6th scale note goes with the IV chord.
Joy to the World
Silent Night (once the chords are established, apply broken chord style to bass for a simple but effective accompaniment pattern – if they are more advanced, they can apply ballad style (Root 5th 3rd above – use fingers 5 2 1)

Intervals
Look for the examples of these prominent intervals in these songs

Steps – The First Noel (the entire song is comprised of steps and fourths)
Skips –
4th and 5ths find the one fourth and one fifth, one skip, and the rest are repeated notes and steps
Octaves and major scales – Joy to the World

Major and Relative Minor Key Signatures
We 3 Kings
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Modes and Minor Keys
Use these songs to discover the difference between minor and dorian modes.
What Child is This
O Come O Come Emmanuel
Coventry Carol

Common Rhythm Patterns
Short Short Short Short Short Short LONG
Good King Wensceslas Looked Out
Jolly Old St. Nicholas
Compare to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old MacDonald Had A Farm, Melody, by Schumann, Song by Kabalevsky., Haydn Surprise Symphony, and many others

Form – find songs that represent the following forms:
AABA (O Christmas Tree)
AABC (First Noel, Good King Wenceslas)
ABAB’(Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Jingle Bells)
Have students listen and guess which form that song follows.

Repeated Patterns
Students often are so focused on individual notes that they don’t notice broader patterns in the music. With your early level students, don’t make them learn all new notes of Jolly Old St. Nicholas for the second half when all they have to do is change the last note! This song is a great example of songs going “home” at the end, but ending on a dominant note “not home” in the middle.

The same applies to Jingle Bells – just learn the two differing parts of One Horse Open Sleigh first, then the rest of the song is mostly steps and repeated notes.

Acquiring Early Experience in Leading the Sing a Long

Help your students become valuable to their friends and community by getting them used to playing carols early; with the chording tools above they will realize they don’t always need to have music. Additionally they can transpose to singable keys (instead of C which is usually presented in early books because of ease of key signature)

Teach them how to use the last line of the song for a introduction, and to use body language (head nod) to start the group singing.
Teach them basic conducting patterns, by having students take turns, conducting, playing and singing.

Teach them how to work with other instrumentalists or vocalists by reading the chords of a fake book (or chords included in a song with traditional notation.) Many have friends who play guitar, etc.
Teach them a basic sing and strum method if the melody is provided by another instrument such as flute or vocals.

Jump in and have fun! Holidays only come around once a year!

Piano Tuner Plays Important Role in “Five Guys Named Moe.”

It takes more than actors, musicians and dancers to put on a great theatrical musical performance. There are also a number of technicians handling audio, lights and more.

I was delighted to see, that when crediting all of those who contributed to the production of “Five Guys Named Moe” at the Court Theatre in Hyde Park, the producers included the production’s piano tuner Kent Busse in the program.

I am sure the appreciation extends to the outstanding six piece jazz band that accompanied the “Moes.” J.P Floyd (trombone), Sam Hankins (trumpet), Jarrard Harris (reeds), Ben Johnson (drums), Chuck Webb (bass), led by Abdul Hamid Royal (music director/pianist).

When you sit down to play it’s nice to have the confidence of knowing that your instrument is in tune. In a combo of this size the musicians usually tune-up to the piano, so it all starts there.

It is a similar experience for the singers. They have a certain pitch in mind that they expect to hear as the first note is sung. Singing in tune starts with an in-tune piano. In this production the Five Moes sing five part harmony. Typically each singer’s harmonic interval is derived from the first note. If that note is “off” everyone is off.

The harmonies of this doo-wop quintet comprised of Big Moe (Lorenzo Rush, Jr.), Little Moe (Darrin Ford), Eat Moe (James Earl Jones II), Four Eyed-Moe (Kelvin Rosten, Jr.) and No Moe (Eric A. Lewis) are spot on.

I think I’ll make Kent Busse the sixth Moe, “Hear Moe,” because what he hears will determine what the audience will hear.

Kent has been the “official” piano tuner for The Lake Shore Music Studio for several years and recently tuned our piano at home. That is why I was particularly pleased to see him get some of the recognition he deserves and also give him a bit of recognition here as well.

According to Julie, Kent does a great job of keeping the LSMS pianos in shape as well as in tune. As you can imagine they get quite a workout from 50+ students per week aged 4 through 74+.

You can enjoy the fruits of Mr. Busse’s work by playing one of the many LSMS acoustic pianos or coming in to hear your kids play during their lesson.

Additionally you might check out “Five Guys Named Moe” which is a tribute to band leader and saxophonist Louis Jordan, one of the fathers of rock & roll, who popularized several blues/jazz standards like Caldonia and Choo Choo Ch’boogie.

Listen for the boogie piano accompaniment in the beginning of this video.

To read my entire review of “Five Guys Named Moe”.

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Guest Blogger : Reno Lovison is Julie’s husband and reviewer for Chicago Theater and Arts.

Reflections on MTNA Music Conference 2017 Baltimore

by Julie Lovison

An action packed three day conference included two special concerts.

Igudesman and Joo are two young musical friends who have chosen to make a career out of poking fun at classical music while delivering thoughtful, real musical performances interspersed with the humor. Here is an example of their mashing up classical music with a “Russian accented version of I Will Survive”

Master Class and Concert by Leon Fleischer

Leon Fleischer is 88 years old and going strong as performer, conductor, master class teacher, and collaborator. In 1964, Leon developed focal dystonia, a curling in of fingers, which put an end to his concert piano career. Instead of giving up music, he transitioned into conducting, and returned to performing left handed literature only. After 40 years, through physical therapy and the use of Botox on his arm, he was able to regain much, but not all, of his right hand use.

His exquisite concert included the beautiful solos performances of Sleep May Safely Graze, Claire de Lune, Chopin Mazurka and Nocturne in D Flat, and duets with his wife, Katherine Jacobson-Fleischer. Leon also takes time to perform collaboratively with his son, a jazz singer in New York.

These two examples show that there are many avenues to making music beyond the traditional concept of solo artist, indeed a creative and musically open mind can experience many new and fulfilling areas of music making.

Here you can see how Mr. Fleischer despite the handicap of curled fifth finger, creates the sublime and intimate rendition of Bach’s Sheep May Safely Graze.

As usual Reno and I were on hand in the exhibit hall to represent Lee Roberts Music Publications and speak about the Robert Pace Approach.

Creative Summer Piano Groupings

Creative Summer Piano Groupings
Summer scheduling at The Lake Shore Music Studio is a patchwork. The schedule changes week by week, with students weaving in and out according to their family’s vacations, camps and other special projects. Summer brings a different tone to lessons. First, it seems that the students who stick around for summer are more motivated and interested generally in music than those who take the summer off. Secondly, new students arrive for whom summer is the time they have chosen to begin something new and exciting (music!) in their life. Third, students are much more relaxed and free in their minds away from the hectic pace of the school year activities. Fourth, just coming in shorts and sandals makes everything seem more relaxed (for teacher and student!)

As a group teacher, I have to be a little more general in my groupings. Students from several classes may join together, or I may do more groupings across ages or levels. For example I grouped two sisters together with their respective classmates. They were about a year apart in levels. The older sister delighted in being the teacher and the younger ones couldn’t wait to see what was on the horizon for them. By “teaching” it crystalized the material for the older one and made her proud of her accomplishments.
I did a similar grouping for another brother and sister combo. It made it easier for the parents to only come once a week. Let’s face it – they all need reinforcement in the same general things – note name recognition, rhythm and counting, and keeping their finger technique up to speed. For note names, games like Crazy 8ths, Spoons, Around the World or Bean Bag Grand Staff toss, or Bingo are the most often begged for games.
Sight reading for animals is another activity students enjoy. Each student finds an appropriate sight reading book, and collects a stuffed animal (for the day, they go back in the bin when the lesson is over!) for each song completed.
Duets are another great way to work across levels. Besides a wealth of fun easy duet collections to choose from, like Margaret Goldston’s Duets for Bear Lovers (Steps in the Forest is the favorite and easiest piece) most easy piano books have a teacher duet below. Some are a little more difficult, but some are simple I and V chords that an older sibling can master.
In July we typically focus on jazz, and the 12 bar blues gets a big workout. This is so easy to teach level one students, and you can expand in complexity from there. This gives a good jump on learning songs to be ready for our CAMTA jazz festival which seems to come up so quickly in November. Betsy Hannah’s Real Blues book presents the blues simply and offers a cool combo CD to play along with. Students like it when I play a walking bass and chords but they LOVE playing with the combo – (to their ears, that is the real deal.)
In another grouping situation, I had an adorable brand new 8 year old student so motivated to learn, she is coming 4 times a week. Her good friend came to the studio with a year or so of previous experience elsewhere. Although I began them individually, after a few lessons, I found common ground for them to work together, tic tac toe for reading small step and skip patterns, drawing a grand staff, improvising in various styles on the pentatonic scale (black keys) and the 12 bar blues, and transposing. These were concepts that the second student had not encountered in her previous study. Being good friends, they were thrilled to be able to work together.
In some cases an individual lesson format for students who have been faltering on a steady practice helps zoom in on and firm up basic skills that have been keeping them from making optimal progress during the year. I suggested twice a week lessons to a student whose total concept of “practice” is picking out songs by ear and now we get at least two solid days of reinforcement.
Adult students are another category of exciting summer students. For some this is their time to start something they always wanted to do. Summer shorter terms gives them that option to try it out.Others are snowbirds who will live in Florida or Arizona in the winter. This is a great opportunity to coordinate with colleagues in other states for reciprocal referrals (if you don’t want to do skype lessons with them directly.)
Some have a particular mission. For example, I have been delighting in helping a student become aware of the circle of fifths chord structure, and how she can apply it consciously to work out chords for songs she has been doing by ear for years. She is amazed, and absolutely thrilled that she can consciously put the chords she already knows into the songs according to the circle. Georgia and Autumn in New York are two of her favorites. I find the Hal Leonard Easy Thirties Fake Book a great place to find great standard songs that exemplify the ii V I or vi ii V I progressions.
For me, summertime is a golden time for lessons. What are your favorite summer projects?

Lang Lang at MTNA Conference Las Vegas 2015 | Julie Lovison The Lake Shore Music Studio

One musician who participated at the 2015 MTNA Conference in Las Vegas who has been doing a lot to introduce young people to the piano and hold their interest is Lang Lang. His boyish charm and somewhat flamboyant style makes him appear more accessible to a younger audience. Maybe in your day it was Liberace, or Van Cliburn but charisma has always played a part in musical performance though of course it must always begin with real skill or that elusive something described as “talent” to become a superstar.

In fact, speaking of superstars, a number of MTNA attendees took the opportunity to see Elton John, another consummate piano performer of the popular genre, who was appearing at Caesar’s which was the next venue over from The Rio where the conference was being held.

Though Lang Lang did not give a piano performance he did conduct a master class and a showcase session (both of which I attended) introducing his new piano teaching materials distributed by Alfred Publishing. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of each of the Level 1-5 books and get a couple of them autographed.

Julie Lovison gets Lang Lang autograph at MTNA Conference in Las Vegas 2015

Lang Lang Autographed music book.