Four Music Resolutions for 2012

Just because we’re now in to January doesn’t mean we can’t continue to make resolutions for 2012. Statistics show that most resolutions won’t make it far beyond January but maybe that’s because they aren’t realistic or we aren’t willing to leave our comfort zone. If you’re trying to improve your health, save more money, or spend more time enjoying life with your family, those are all admirable but maybe you have room for one goal relating to your study of music. Need some ideas? Here are a few.

Practice More

This is not a lot different from saying, “more exercise” so before we set a goal that has a long history of being unattainable for many, let’s make it realistic. How about practicing one extra hour each week? Still too much? How about an extra 30 minutes? 30 minutes of extra piano practice would equal 26 extra hours of practice per year and that’s a good step forward. You could even use those 30 minutes to practice something that your teacher never hears. Lean a new song on the radio, maybe. Remember that any time you spend with your voice or instrument will make you better providing you’re practicing with good technique.

Branch Out

Musicians who only learn how to play an instrument become burnt out over time. There is so much more to music than just performance. Music has hundreds of years of fascinating history that has shaped who we are today. The way music is constructed is as much based on math as it is on art and the way movie composers use technology to mix electronic and traditional instruments in to a gourmet meal for the ears is worth exploring.

Read at least one book about music this year. Find one on Amazon.com that interests you and branch out as a musician. You may not see it now but once you read one book, you’ll want to read another. As you learn more about music, you’ll want to become a better musician.

Upgrade

If you’re a vocalist, you can’t upgrade your voice but some instrumentalists can purchase step-up mouthpieces, reeds, method books, and new instruments. Pianists don’t have as many options but if you made a lot of progress last year, a new piano may be worth a look. Of course you should never change equipment without first talking to your teacher but make the resolution to spend some time talking to your teacher about what’s next when it comes to your equipment.

Play with Others

Music is best enjoyed in groups. Being a soloist has its benefits but interacting with other musicians brings on a whole new level of joy that may give you a fresh perspective. Make the resolution to become a part of a community band or orchestra, jazz trio, or form a group of your own. There is no minimum skill level required for playing in groups as long as you play with others that have similar skill levels.

What’s Your Resolution?

Maybe there’s something with your music that you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had the courage to try. When if you try and fail, you just gained valuable information that will help with your next attempt. Remember, when you’re engaged in music, there’s no wasted time. You’re always getting better when you’re doing something. Have a happy and musical 2012.

One of the best things you can do for yourself this year is to take at least one piano course from our PlayPianoCatalog!

This is an article by a busy adult student of mine who is learning to play the piano right along side four of her children:

Many folks these days are commitment-challenged and that can hinder one when learning piano. On the other hand, for those of us Type A individuals, we have to remember that it’s okay to be mediocre occasionally, too. I was waiting for the “perfect time” to start piano with the kids, a time when we could really focus and give the necessary practice sessions which it would require. That time never came. But we still went forward. Rather than 30 minutes a day for piano practice, we might give 15 minutes, three or four times a week. We are making progress, albeit at a slower pace, and although that’s not the ideal, it’s not bad, either. Personally, for me, it’s Bad, because I have been raised to think of everything in a good-bad, good-bad, good-bad type of way. If I’m not achieving 110% in every area of life, I must be slacking. The mindset is to knock myself out and move rapidly to the top. I’m trying to instill this love of achievement (hopefully to a lesser extent) in my kids, the oldest of which is beginning college this month at age 14, while still in high school. Dual enrollment. Not bad for a child who just learned English as a second language a few years back. And he’s pushing ahead in his budding tennis career, doubling up on his daily drills. That’s a lot going on, not to mention his congregational involvement and other activities and interests. Plus, there’s family time—the kids love to be together as a family and we need time for that. Our proverbial plates are full enough and since piano is not the main course, it can become lost somewhere on the salad plate of life. Believe me, I know: with four children, two parents, two dogs, two homes, and assorted additional issues of life, we feel like we’re juggling plenty of plates… while walking a tightrope between activities. I want all of us to learn piano and I have come to realize that we can still succeed even if we don’t have the100% commitment factor. The big chunks of time necessarily go to commitment to marriage (over 30 years at last count in our case), children (at the tween and teen years, they somehow need even more time), and God. These are things that require time and attention. But it doesn’t mean that the other interests of life can’t succeed, as well. I mean, I need to pluck my eyebrows and dish out 3 meals a day. It gets done even without a burning passion. I rise before the crack of dawn and coach my oldest son’s tennis development, whether I feel like hitting the courts or not. I check the underbellies of the dogs for ticks or fleas or rashes. Occasionally, there’s a floor to mop or vacuum, a bathroom or kitchen to clean, another load of laundry to toss in. I do spot inspections of the children’s rooms, where you definitely can’t make a coin bounce on the freshly-made bed, most of the time, I don’t even know where the bedsheet disappeared. Maybe it ran off with the cow and the spoon…. Sometime sandwiched inbetween, I do my own work. We’re all busy. Life has a way of moving on, whether or not we’re keeping pace. I’d rather have the kids brush their teeth for 30 seconds than not at all, make their beds halfway than not at all, learn a sport or musical instrument in a semi-satisfactory way than not at all. When you’re in a very busy phase of life, mediocre can be meaningful, too. Just put the objections aside and get started.

—————- Copyright 2011 – Alexandra Bartologimignano (Alexandra aims to be an above-mediocre person, jetting here and there with her two boys, two girls, and one husband, while chronicling their larger-than-life adventures at www.destinationsdreamsanddogs.com.) —————-

Piano practice for adults — how to help your piano teacher make the most of your piano lessons.

Any truly positive change takes a lot of time, dedication, and patience - and that includes piano practice. Anyone who tells you differently, is trying to get some fast money out of you. You know how it works. You start with a dream and you jump in and get started. Then reality comes roaring back. You have a job, you have kids, you’re tired, and after one week of work, you don’t feel like you’re getting any better so you start playing less and less.

That doesn’t mean that your hard work has to be tedious and boring. Far from it.

When is your prime time?

For some people, they do all of their “chores” when they wake up so real life doesn’t pull them in all directions before the essentials get done. Others do their piano practicing at the end of the day after everything is done and they can relax. When is your prime time? Whenever your mind is most focused and ready to engage in your practice, that’s when you should do it. If you have a bad attitude towards practice, often it’s not because you don’t like the piano. It’s because it’s the wrong time of day. Often the things that drain most of your energy and drive are the highest on your priority list, right?

Play Something You Like

Don’t spend all of your practice time playing material you already know but maybe do 10 or 15 minutes of scales and other technical exercises and then play something you enjoyed learning. Remind yourself that at one time this piece was just as bad as other music you’re learning now but you got there and now it sounds beautiful. Everything you’re practicing now will follow the same path. Play something you like to remind yourself of how the journey ends.

Consistent Standards

How’s your posture? How do your fingers look? Where’s your head? Are you using proper piano fingering? It’s ok and highly appropriate to focus on improving one thing at a time but your standards should never change. Bad posture while you’re learning teaches you two things: the piece you’re learning and bad posture. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between good and bad habits. You have to teach it and the only way to teach it is to keep standards consistent. That’s why your teacher may tell you to practice with a mirror next to you so you can see your posture.

You need a metronome

Metronomes used to be these big clunky looking things that cost a lot of money and looked like they were straight out of Beethoven’s day. Now, they cost as little as $15 and are about the size of a credit card. No musician is considered good if they can’t play at a consistent tempo. It will be annoying at first but quickly, you’ll get used to playing with it.

Bottom Line

Your piano lessons will help but they won’t make you a good piano player unless you make it happen. Your piano teacher will guide you down the road to being great but only your practice time will truly give you your dream of being a great pianist. Remember, positive change doesn’t come easy so hunker down and expect small changes over time but it won’t take long for you to look back and be amazed at the progress you’ve made.

For more good ideas on practicing, see Power Practice.

Copyright 2011 by Duane Shinn. Do not use without permission.

I wish I had invented this!

One of my competitors, Jermaine Griggs, has invented a software robot that allows you to SEE songs being played on the keyboard — note by note — and you can slow the song down, rewind it, change keys, and all sorts of other things.

They call it the “Song Robot!” You simply load
song files into it and it shows you, on demand,
how to play them on a big virtual keyboard.

There’s a full video demonstration at:
http://www.hearandplay.com/go/?p=a283550&w=songrobot
Here’s what it does:

* It can slow down songs, “turtle speed.”

* It transposes songs to all 12 keys so you’re
not stuck in ONE key.

* You have the choice of learning with huge, red
colored notes that light up or a real-looking
3d version of a piano.

* You can stop, pause, rewind, fast forward.

* You can even load your favorite audio files
and have it remove vocals so you can practice
(they can even be slowed down and put in all
12 keys… real albums!)

Visit:
http://www.hearandplay.com/go/?p=a283550&w=songrobot
Like I said — I wish I had invented it, but I didn’t. But I’m glad that Jermaine did, as it is going to be a HUGE help to pianists all over the world!

Sometimes the teacher learns more from the student than the student does from the teacher. Hopefully, not too often, but today I would like to share with you some great practicing ideas that have come from my piano students over the years:

1. A Colonel in Virginia that I taught for several years got up at 4AM every weekday morning and practiced on an electronic keyboard with headphones so he wouldn’t disturb anyone at that time of the morning. “I love the early morning”, he said, “because it’s so quiet and peaceful and I’m fresh and raring to go. No phones are ringing, no people walking into the room, no disturbances at all. I practice for a half-hour, have breakfast, and then hit it for another half-hour — all before I have to show up for work. When I get home in the evening, if I’m too tired to practice, I don’t feel guilty because I’ve already got my licks in for the day. And if I’m up to practicing some more — well, it’s a bonus!”

2. An elementary school teacher in Indiana told me she took each piece I assigned her and transposed it into all 12 keys — not written out, but at the piano — in her head. She said “It doesn’t always sound so hot, but I find that if I keep at it day after day, I can at least get by in the most difficult keys, and it makes the easier keys seem real simple. And it gives me a perspective that I just wouldn’t get it I just played it in one key — the key it is written in. I’ve learned that each key has it’s own “feel”, and some keys are bright (like “D”) and some keys are mellow (like “Db”).

3. Another piano student with a similar idea, who was the Minister of Music in a Catholic church, said he took one whole month of the year and devoted it to mastering just one key. Since there are 12 months in the year and 12 Major keys, that works out perfectly. So in January he played everything he could find in the key of C, and transposed anything that wasn’t in C into C. In February he went up 1/2 step to the key of C# (also known as Db enharmonically) and played everything in Db and searched for pieces written in the key of Db, and so on. By the time the year was up, he had a pretty fair grasp on the 12 Major keys. I suggested that he devote the next year to the 12 minor keys, and the next year to the modes, and the next year to polytonality, etc., etc. — but as I recall he decided to just recycle through the 12 major keys, since he used them so much more than the ones I suggested.

4. Still another piano student took an idea from me and twisted it a bit. I suggested that she play along with pieces she liked on tapes and CD’s, so she would get a feel for the motion of the song. (I used to do that by the hour when I was a teen-ager, and it paid off big time for me!). She took the idea and tried it and liked it so much that she started getting videos of people playing the piano. She arranged her TV and video player so that she could be at her piano while the video was playing, and she would play along with the pianist on the screen, following her/his hand motions and arm motions and finger position and thereby getting a feeling for the flow of the music. (Patterning). Her creativity is paying off for her — she is advancing rapidly. (And by the way, don’t think she is “copying” the person she is watching — not at all. It’s the same principle as watching Kyle Singler moving toward the basket, or watching Robinson Cano swing a bat — it just gets you in the right groove before you apply your own style to it.)

5. A doctor I have taught for years makes a idea file of things he has learned about piano playing over the years. He notes where in a given book or tape or video I discuss such and such a topic, and files that alphabetically. Then later when he needs to refer to that idea, he simply looks up the idea in his file, locates the video or cassette or book, and presto — he can review that idea or concept almost instantly. It’s like a card catalog in the library — makes finding things so much faster than flipping through endless books trying to find that idea you saw long ago.

With the advent of the computer a person could store and categorize ideas such as this very quickly.

Hope this gives you some ideas of your own!

Lots of people who play the piano have trouble finding time to practice. They are involved in work, family activities, and a million and one things that take up their time, and by the time they think about getting to their piano practice, they are exhausted and fall in the sack. I can sympathize — we’re all in the same boat. Life is busy with the normal activities of life — sometimes far more busy than we ever planned to be.

And so days and then weeks go by and the good intentions to practice the piano give way to computers, TV, sports, eating and no time is made for playing music. We mean well, but life just happens too fast.

I would like to suggest an easy remedy: Dedicate yourself to playing one song each day. Only one song. And play it once. That should take just a few minutes depending on how advanced you are. If you’re a relative beginner, let’s say a song takes 3 minutes to play though. Determine that no day will pass without playing that 3 minute song.

Easy enough? Sure.

But here’s what will probably happen: once you are sitting at the piano and playing, chances are you’ll feel like playing the song through twice or three times. You don’t HAVE to — all you have required of yourself is 3 minutes — but once you’re there on the piano bench, you’ll probably play much longer and several more songs than you required of yourself. It’s called “momentum”, and like a rolling ball, it has a life of it’s own.

This is for ADULTS ONLY, and adults who do NOT have a piano teacher. KIds need to keep their practice time required by their teacher. And for adults who have a teacher, the same principle applies.

But for those adults who simply play for their own enjoyment, this is an excellent way to make sure you get at least some playing time every day.

Even the most avid of piano players sometimes dread practicing. Sometimes that dread can sabotage your practice time. Don’t sit down at the piano feeling negative before you even begin. Use one or more of the following piano practice tips to help make the most of your time:

* Always start by warming up. You already know that warming up gets your muscles moving. You may not be aware that warming up also stimulates your brain. Specifically, it wakes up that part of your brain that you use to remember notes. It’s the part that guides your fingers, giving you the ability to play notes without having to look at your hands. Nothing gets those neurons firing like running a few scales. The faster you can get your brain going, the more efficient your piano practice time will be.

* Remove distractions. Hopefully your piano is in a room with a door that closes. Shut the door. Turn off the television and stereo. Teach your household members to respect your practice time and not bother you.

* Sing along. If you’re playing a song that has words, sing along. It might seem a bit awkward at first. If you can get past that feeling, you might find this improves your skills. Singing along stimulates the part of your brain that helps you multi-task. The more ways you can challenge your brain at once, the more punch you’ll pack into your practice time.

* Change it up. If you find it difficult to stay focused on your music for a half hour practice, break it up. Practice for 15 minute increments instead. Do a bit in the morning and a bit in the evening. Try other ways of changing the way you practice. Practice at different times every day. Practice your songs in a different order each time. Change can be a great way to keep your practice time fresh and exciting.

* Find what works for you. Some people like to start with the easiest piece and work up to bigger challenges. Others prefer to get the hard stuff out of the way. It’s important to do what works best for you. If you’re simply trying to copy someone else’s style, you may just be sabotaging yourself. Don’t set yourself up to fail. Set up your practice time in a way that produces success.

* Reward yourself at the end of your practice time. Even if you love to play the piano, it’s sometimes a chore to play what you’ve been assigned. Don’t let drudgery sap your motivation. End your time of practice by playing something fun. It doesn’t have to be something from your curriculum. Just play a piece that you enjoy. Or, spend a few minutes trying to make up your own tune. Knowing that you have that little reward to look forward to at the end will be motivating.

Playing the piano should be rewarding and personally fulfilling. This doesn’t mean practicing will always be fun. However, when you try some of these piano practice tips, you may find your time to be more efficient. Ultimately, you increase your chances of successful learning when you make the most of your practice time.

For more piano practice ideas, go to Piano Practice Tips