Category Archives: Articles

Visit with Sir James Galway at MTNA Las Vegas 2015

One of the fun aspects of attending a national conference is the opportunity to spend a few minutes with the musical celebrities who are participating. We enjoyed a wonderful concert by renowned flutist Sir James Galway who incidentally was exhibiting his new “First Flute” instruction video series in the booth next to Lee Roberts Music Publications where I was assisting teachers to better understand the benefits of the Robert Pace Piano Approach.

Sir James Galway with Julie Lovison, Director of The Lake Shore Music Studio.

It seemed appropriate to have Sir James autograph a copy of “Shepherd’s Flute” composed for piano by Earl Ricker from the Robert Pace Piano Recital Series. Since it is written in a minor key popular in Jewish tunes he quipped, “This is a Jewish Shepherd” and went on to share the fact that “Jewish shepherds lead their flock” while shepherds from other cultures drive their flock from behind.

At his master class Sir James made a point of stressing the importance of practicing his scales which he still does devotedly every day. I guess that proves no matter how accomplished you are you need to pay attention to the fundamentals.

We observed how personable he was with each visitor taking time time to have a short chat while simultaneously playing chess via his cell phone with a friend online between visitors.

Sir James was also kind enough to autograph a page from the “Two On Tour” duet book volume 2 which was the promotional handout in the Lee Roberts’ booth. The piece is called “Parade for the Irish”.

Video

Julie Lovison, Director of The Lake Shore Music Studio in Chicago speaks with piano teachers about the Robert Pace Approach to Piano Instruction at the Music Teachers National Conference MTNA 2015 conference held at The Rio in Las Vegas.

Our “Funny” Clock

“I can’t read that clock,” exclaims a seven year old students in dismay about our clock on the studio wall. “Why does it have letters instead of numbers?” They want to know. After they figure it out, it’s like being part of a secret club or breaking a mysterious code.

We love our “circle of fifths” clock. The circle of fifths helps us understand the basic structure of musical composition that has been in use in so called western music from the early 1700s through the present time.

In our circle of 5ths clock, C is at the top. Counting five notes in order up the scale CDEFG brings you to G likewise GABCD brings you to D etc. Each key is 5 notes up from the previous one. Since we are using scale notes, the fifth note of B scale takes us to F# (A/K/A G flat) from F# we work our way back by 5ths up to C.

The circle represents many things to us, most importantly how scales are interrelated, and how chords follow a downward path of 5ths to resolution. In a simple example, a song ending in the key of C would always have a G chord (or G7) immediately preceeding it. Further it likely would go from D to G to C, or even further down the circle, from E minor to A minor to D minor to G to C. If the song were in the key of G, it would always need to end in D7 then come home to G. 300 years of conditioning have caused our ears to expect this resolution. As an example, think through Happy Birthday to You, but stop directly before the end of the song, on TO.. and notice the gravitational pulled toward YOU. It almost seems impossible to stop at “TO”.
Our students begin learning the first five notes of all 12 scales (which lay under 5 fingers comfortably), and they learn that every scale follows the same pattern of construction. From these scales we can change one note, and easily learn all 12 minor scales, as well as all 24 major and minor chords by playing only fingers 1 – 3 and 5; immediate transfer of learning from one concept to another. This is one of the unique aspects of the teaching approach we use. Students learn that we can transpose a song into any other key thus experiencing early the thrill of having the song “sound right” no matter what key they choose.

Being able to transpose a song into other keys is one of the primary skills of a competent keyboard musician because it allows him or her to accommodate the music according to the needs of other instruments and particularly singers who often need to change the key to accommodate their vocal range. This is a fundamental aspect of comprehensive musicianship and why what we teach is more than simply piano lessons. It is our goal that LSMS students be able to play music, not just play songs.

We learn to read and write key signatures. We learn a simple chord formula for applying the two important chords to a song (“when your melody uses notes 1 – 3 or 5, use the One chord, when it falls on scale degrees 2 or 4, use the Five chord”. Later, we fill in all 8 notes of each major and minor scale, learning additional chords and how to apply them to the other scale notes of the melody, and become familiar with other positions of the basic chords (inversions); more complex types of chords and applications of the chord formula.

Building this solid understanding of musical construction one step at a time makes music more accessible to students in many ways. First, they know how to interpret more intuitively (for example a “home: chord might be accented , or have a slight hesitation or ritard, a “five” chord might imply acceleration or crescendo) ; how to memorize more confidently and sight read more easily by knowing what chords will be involved in the piece; how to read chord charts or fake books; how to appreciate the structure of the piece and be in on the thrill of anticipating the expected sound and satisfaction of arrival; how to transfer the concepts that are so easy to see in the piano’s linear layout to other instruments which are not so visually obvious; how to compose their own pieces or apply accompaniments to music.

Next time you stop in, if you still can’t read the clock, ask your child. But don’t worry–there are little tiny numbers on the side if you need help.

Ear Tunes

by Julie Lovison

Why is a big ear hanging on our wall in the studio? This reproduction of Michaelangelo’s David’s Ear sculpture is a fun way to bring focus to a favorite activity at LSMS – finding “ear tunes.” Ear Tunes is a term coined by us to represent a song that one has found strictly by ear – in other words trying various notes until your ear finds the right keys for a tune. Often students will bring in an ear tune of a song from the radio, a song from music class at school, or choir or church, or the ever popular Ode to Joy or Happy Birthday. We write them down on our Ear Tunes of the Week chart to give other students ideas for songs to try to find.

We actively encourage students to use their ears to find songs – Music is experienced and enjoyed with the ears. Therefore, the better your ears can discriminate the sounds the more rich your experience of music will be and the easier time you will have playing piano.

In the words of our mentor, Dr. Robert Pace, we want to develop “The ear that sees and the eye that hears.” That means, when you hear music, you form a mental image of the notes going up or down, and when you see printed music, you can hear the music playing in your head..

Some people naturally begin with an ability to play by ear well. Others may have a good relative sense of some notes’ relation to others. We find our students can improve this skill to a large extent through practice.

How do we develop this? We begin on a simple concept. Beginning with a 3 note range (we use 3 triplet black keys) –we develop the ability to hear whether the notes go up, down or repeat. Once this is secure, we add discriminating between a step (an adjacent key) or a skip (skipping over one key, making a larger interval between the first and second.) Once success within a 3 note range is achieved, this can be expanded to 5 finger positions (a range of five notes, and then to an 8 note scale.)

Some songs are easier because the intervals are smaller, and they stay within the 8 notes of the scale.

Others meander more and are more difficult.

Here are some “ear tunes” to try, to begin developing your ear.

3 note range (use three triplet notes or CDE)

Mary Had a little lamb on CDE *Hint – it starts by going down , not up (so play EDC or High Middle Low first)

Hot Cross Buns (also begins going down)

5 note range (CDEFG)

Ode to Joy (begin on E)

Alouette

6 note range

Twinkle Twinkle

Frere Jacques

Pentatonic (black keys only)

Amazing grace

Old MacDonald

Those Were the Days (from All in the Family, by Charles Strouse)

The Farmer in the Dell

Other popular starter ear tunes

Lean on Me

Happy Birthday

If you insist on beginning with Take Me out to the Ballgame or Star Spangled Banner

remember, you were warned, some songs are more complicated.

Metronomes

by Julie Lovison

Little kids love them, older students want to throw them against the wall and are sure they are conspiring against them. Just what is a metronome?

Metronomes are devices that keep a steady beat. The first metronome was invented, according to the Harvard Dictionary of Music, in 1812 by Dietrich Nikolaus Winkel but named after Johannes Maelzel, who took the idea and popularized it. Beethoven was the first to publish suggested metronome numbers as a guide to correct tempi for his pieces. A metronome marking of 60 to the quarter note would mean each quarter note would equal a second. Most Sousa marches are played at 120, (imagine Stars and Stripes Forever at two beats per second.)

The original mechanism was a pendulum whose speed could be altered by moving a weight up or down. The familiar triangular shape was popular for many years. In addition to the original pendulum type, electronic, quartz and digital metronomes are also popular today, and many keyboards and software programs have built in metronomes. Many play along jazz educational CDs have built in combos as a very cool way to feel the beat. In our Moppets programs, we build “human metronomes” into our playing in the form of a partner playing a steady beat duet to our songs.

Young students are captivated by the original metronome mechanism, and enjoy keeping the beat with rhythm instruments or with body movement as they enjoy their songs. A typical use for a metronome for an intermediate level student would be to practice a piece like a sonatina a bit under tempo, with very deliberate attention to staying with the beat of the metronome. The metronome identifies which passages a student might be rushing or hesitating on, and helps pull these passages into steadiness. It very often FEELS like it surely must be the metronome that is off, thus causing frustration for students who are not used to working with the metronome. A good way to become friends with the metronome is to begin practicing 5 finger patterns or scales. These are easier to keep a steady beat with initially than a piece which has many types of musical and technical complexities involved. A general feeling among music teachers is that metronomes help students in many ways, but that students also need to establish a good natural sense of internal beat that can be relied on without a metronome’s help.

For more about metronomes see www.en.wikipedia.org/metronomes

OUR “PIANO TEAMS”

by Julie Lovison

Soccer, basketball, baseball, chess, swim, track … our students have much familiarity with these teams. Did you know your children are also members of a “piano team?”

We began this term with inviting students to think of their class as a “piano team.” Just like any sport, our team requires practice. All team members are responsible to the others to come to their lesson sufficiently prepared through their weekly follow up at home, to move on as a group. This means they need to have assimilated, memorized or mastered the requisite skills and concepts. This could be physical mastery of technique or memorizing some fundamentals such as note names, chords, scales, or key signatures (the structures of music.) Our curriculum layers new concepts upon previous ones every week in a systematic structure. The student’s assignment sheet gives them the “game plan” for practice every week.

The practice “game plan” includes many components beyond simply playing through their new piece once or twice. Each component is budgeted into a few minutes of concentrated practice per day, with the new piece being one aspect of the total practice time. Students need to budget ½ hour of practice time minimum at least 5 days a week to accomplish the required practice for our programs (6 and 7 year olds may begin with 20 minutes).

Each team member makes sure the whole team “gets” each new concept, by helping to explain it in their own words, then by evaluating each other. Teaching one another crystallizes their own knowledge.

As in any team activity, when players miss practices, it fragments the team’s cohesion. This is why it is important that attendance at lessons is a priority. It is better to come to even a portion of the lesson, or leave early, if your schedule has to be adjusted for some reason.

As team members we celebrate each other’s victories such as when we achieve success with a new piece, master a technical skill or memorize important fundamentals.

Yes we are a team. We do not have weekly contests to “win” against outside opponents. Nevertheless, we do have challenges to meet against two opponents – – discouragement and commitment as we challenge ourselves to improve. Our score is kept by evaluating our growing musical knowledge; our improving skill level; and our ability to perform and enjoy beautiful music.

The improvement in student progress since focusing on our “piano teams” this year has been dramatic. Students have been eager to share their accomplishments with their team members. Each lesson is infused with a creative, dynamic energy that has made teachers and students excited to be in this piano sport together.

When competing against ourselves we are often facing a formidable adversary. All teams thrive on energetic cheerleaders and fans. Parents, friends and family can help our teams and players by recognizing their efforts, supporting their activities and enthusiastically appreciating their exhibitions.

Building Blocks of Success – Getting the Most out of Your Lessons