There are a lot of method books available for our use, written by many different pedagogues and published by many different companies.  As teachers, we are lucky to have so many to choose from, making our jobs much easier.  Some are new, and some have been around for a long time.  Two of these older methods in particular are books that I use a lot in my studio. They are “A Dozen A Day” and “The Leila Fletcher Piano Course”.

Edna Mae Burnam (1907-2007) began taking piano lessons with her mother at the age of 7.  Twenty three years later she signed a contract with Willis Music Company for a series of technical exercises for the piano that she named “A Dozen A Day”.  An interesting bit of fact:  Those wonderful stick figures that illustrate each exercise were actually drawn by Edna Mae!  She drew them to show the illustrators where to put the artwork but they ended up keeping the figures instead.  The books come in seven different levels, from the “Mini Book” written in middle C position to a final “Play With Ease in Many Keys” which does just that.  Published by Willis, they are now sold by Hal Leonard.

Leila Fletcher (1899-1988) also began taking piano lessons at an early age with a local teacher in Ontario, Canada. In 1949 she founded her own company in New York and called it Montgomery Music. Her books offer students a lot of music to learn without taking up lesson book space with unnecessary explanations.  More music, less talk.  The series also comes in seven levels, starting with “Music Lessons Have Begun”, mostly in middle C position, then moving on to the “Leila Fletcher Piano Course” levels 1-6.  They are published by Hal Leonard.

Today I had a mother come into the studio to pick up her boys and to ask me if I would take her eldest son back when school started. This eldest son has already taken piano lessons from me for four years, but that was three years ago. He stopped when he got into middle school because he was too busy with other interests to continue with the piano. Soccer, gymnastics, scouting, baseball, guitar lessons, etc. had led him astray from the piano. Now, of course, a boy of eleven or twelve years will have these “temptations” thrown into their pathway and rightly so. All of them are exactly what a boy of this age should be doing. Three years away from the piano can sometimes mean a lot of frustration when trying to get back on course though. Do I want to do it? Should I take him back?

I know some teachers do not take students back if they have quit. It is simply part of their policy and students and parents are aware of it when making the decision to terminate lessons in the first place. If they quit, they won’t get to come back. I totally respect and understand the reasons for this policy. Usually, months before these students actually do quit, they are struggling to keep up with lessons, and typically have a bad attitude because of it as well. When thinking about their return, we can’t help but remember what a pain it was to teach them during those last months, and it makes us reluctant to get back into the same scenario. It is hard to start up again too, especially after a long absence, because a lot has been lost and bad habits might have crept in which can be hard to break.

On the up side though, the student is older now and has more maturity. He has tried other things and has decided the piano is actually something he really wants to do. If his attitude has changed, then positive learning can follow. Of course, he’ll have to realize that he can’t just pick up from where he left off. A lot of backing up and reviewing has got to happen first. Is he willing to do it? Am I willing to do it?

The prodigal returns. I don’t have a fatted calf… maybe Friday night at my favorite steakhouse will do.

The ancient tradition of muses, the gods or goddesses who inspire creativity in the area of art, music, and literature, are sometimes misunderstood as to their actual number. Three was the number given in the earliest record concerning them; however, Homer stated later that they were nine.  Although Homer is a very good source to go to for an actual count of a mythological idea, by today’s standards nine is very much outdated and three is totally out of the question.  So, how many muses are there serving our modern culture?  Have the ancient muses multiplied over the many centuries of their existence, causing an overwhelming number of progenitors to cover all of the much needed creative inspirations of the world, or are the original three being sorely overworked, trying to do it all on their own?

So many questions to muse over. (Couldn’t help it.)  Maybe in our modern times the muses have started to rely on small tangible things that they can simply throw into our everyday lives and occurrences, inspiring us mere mortals through the use of them and cutting down their own extensive work load at the same time. These little muse sightings would be seen only when you are not looking for them.  They would be meant to sneak up on you when you least expect it, inspiring you in a variety of ways.  Your own mood would have to determine whether you were having an inspiration or just another annoyance in the everyday tally of annoyances experienced by mankind.

This would explain a lot of things, including why one overworked muse had just enough time yesterday to visit the grocery store where I shop.  Yes, she could’ve led me to a field of wildflowers dancing in the wind, or a rainbow splashing its muted colors across the sky.  I would’ve even settled for a unusually decadent looking chocolate cake as I wheeled my cart through the bakery section.  But no, this muse had a dark sense of humor.  She led me instead to the only line at checkout that had just one other customer in it.  At first I was amazed at my own good luck, but as the other six, much longer lines kept getting shorter and shorter, I began to curse my bad luck.  Finally, what seemed like many hours and millions of coupons later from the customer in front of me, I was finally checking out my own small cart of groceries, wondering at the same time if Mendelssohn had been grocery shopping just before writing his Opus 53 Number 1.  Perhaps I should use this as inspiration too.  I checked my mood for clues.

Nope, this was definitely just an annoyance.  Besides, overworked or not, you can’t let the muses get their own way every time.

Summer lessons are now upon us.  Best wishes for whatever you have planned in your own studios and much thanks to all the ideas teachers have sent in for making summer lessons a success.  Let me know if you need any special worksheets or music to go along with your studio plans this summer.  Yes, we do take requests!

Summer is the season to “shake things up” a bit at the piano lesson. Summer music camps, group lessons, recitals at the park, rewards and unusual recitals are a few ideas we do to change things during the summer. Reinventing our usual routine during these months can help keep students coming and interested.  So… what do all of you do?

Here’s my invitation for everyone to share their summer ideas around. Pictures of studios, posters, etc. are welcome as well as your great ideas. Send them to ann@pianomorning.com, or answer directly to this blog.

All piano teachers are welcome to respond.  We want to hear about all the great summer ideas that are happening out there!

My daughter Sarah and I had three recitals last Saturday.  We usually divide them into age levels, with beginners at 5:00, intermediates at 6:00, and advanced students at 7:30.  This year we decided to mix them up instead so the younger students could be inspired by the older ones and  parents could see the spectrum of repertoire we teach in our studio. The recitals went off pretty well.  Sure, there were some moments of nervousness, a few incidences of memory loss, a scattering of wrong notes, and some last minute program changes – what student recital doesn’t have them?  But all in all, that’s what makes these kind of recitals interesting.  It’s like watching a professional ball team versus watching a team of local amateurs. Sure, you admire the skill of the pros, but you find you are really pulling for the amateurs, mistakes and all.  And there’s always the chance that at some time during the game, unexpectedly, some of them will pull off an incredible feat – perhaps a triple play, or hit a home run, something that the experts do all the time, but when it’s done by the novice… well, it’s just that much more amazing.

So let’s have a cheer for student recitals everywhere!  “2/4, 6/8… students we appreciate!” (Okay, maybe that was a little too much.)

The shamrock coloring sheet was very popular with my younger students during the week of St. Patrick’s Day.  They completed this “optional” assignment at their lesson during theory time, using creativity far beyond what the sheet had asked for.  I began on Monday putting them up on my bulletin board, but by mid-week, had to over-lap them, taping one to another.  (I should have planned ahead better!)

I appreciate the creativity of my students and all young children for that matter.  They are amazing!  I also appreciate the suggestion from one of our subscribers for the shamrock primer sheet.  (Thank you, Amy!)  We love to get suggestions, requests, and feedback from subscribers… please keep them coming!

Every piano student has heard of Hanon.  They’re the finger exercises played before the real piano pieces are practiced.  Kind of like the appetizers before a meal or the stretches before a jog.  They get the fingers warmed up and working so students can prepare to be virtuosos in only sixty exercises.  (Or so the teacher can take a quick break while the student plays through them).  But contrary to popular opinion, the word “Hanon” isn’t a synonym for finger exercise, it’s the name of a real person.

Charles-Louis Hanon was born in Renescure, France on the 2nd of July, 1819.  He was a composer and pedagogue who lived to see the new century only briefly before dying of pneumonia on March 19, 1900, in Boulogne-sur-Ner.  He was a devout Christian, soft spoken and unpretentious. He gave to the poor and helped bring music instruction to the orphans in his community, never having had any children of his own. (Hanon Junior was created many years later by industrious music publishers).  His exercises have been adapted  in recent years for other instruments besides the piano, such as the guitar, trumpet, violin, and xylophone.  You can find Hanon for jazz, samba, blues, boogie-woogie, rock, and other rhythmic variations. (If Charles-Louis were alive today he would be very rich indeed with all of the royalty checks he would be receiving).

Knowing a bit of the history of any composer can help us interpret their music with care and understanding.  I know I won’t play Hanon again without thinking of his contributions to mankind both then and now.

The cleaning crew came yesterday.  Three ladies who spent one hour going through my studio with their vacuums, dusters, spray bottles and other assorted cleaning supplies. It was a first for me.  I have always dreamed of having the money to pay for a cleaning crew to come but have never been able to swing it.  It’s not that I hate cleaning when I have the time to do it.  It’s just that the time I do have to clean with isn’t sufficient for the standard of cleanliness I expect.  So I fired myself and made a trade with lessons for cleaning.

With the economy the way it is lately, bartering and trading is keeping a lot of students on track with their piano lessons.  Parents can’t afford the fee but are willing to trade for services.  My services for theirs, from cleaning services to getting my house painted and the roof repaired.  Fathers and Mothers can continue to work, I continue to have a full studio, and students can have their musical education  uninterrupted, which is so important.  Talk about a win-win-win situation.  It goes to show you that even economic clouds can have a silver lining.

Merry Christmas to all of the wonderful piano teachers out there.  This poem is from December’s Music Talk 2008.  Hope you enjoy it!

“A Piano Teacher’s Wish List”

Lessons go as usual before the Christmas break,

Each bag and book are opened up for music goals to make.

This is the week a gift is brought, all wrapped and tied with style.

A candle or a homemade card are given with a smile.

There’s chocolate cookies, peach preserves, a frame around a quote;

A dishtowel or a can of nuts, a pad for writing notes.

There’s ornaments to hang on trees, each with a Christmas scene,

A picture or a calendar with music as its theme.

Students are excited as they hand each gift to me.

Their thoughtfulness is touching and I thank them cheerfully.

But what a teacher really wants is not beneath those bows.

Our list is long and personal, and not what you’d suppose.

A wish for Weston never to forget his books again,

For Jamie to be brought on time, and not just now and then.

Would Sarah, Dave and Charlie learn to play pianissimo,

And know that sneezing on the keys is just not apropos?

A wish that Ethan wouldn’t talk so much throughout his lesson,

And Caroline to talk enough to answer just one question.

Chopsticks played prestissimo is not a piano piece,

And Grandmas need to lay off teaching grandkids “Fur Elise”!

We’d wish for Tim to wash his hands and Beth to cut her nails,

And when he asks to be excused, a better aim for Dale.

Of course, we’d wish for practicing to happen every day,

And for tuition payments to come in without delay.

The best wish though, is at the top, we find it worth the reaching,

To help each student learn to love this music we are teaching.

Merry Christmas to all you wonderful teachers

who are involved in this noble pursuit!