Supervised Practice

Here are some of the things students learn during supervised practice time

• How to have fun using the metronome and why it is your “best friend”
• How to choreograph your eye movements to improve your accuracy and aim
• How to hear and look for patterns in music to make it easier to understand and remember
• How and why to practice hands alone, then hands together
• How to gradually speed up a song to final tempo
• Just how much to gradually slow down when you see the musical term, “rit.”
• How to play expressively
• How to improve your music reading skills

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Technical Work

Great technique begins with correct posture and seating. The Well Balanced Pianist has some great photos and explanations for how to sit correctly at the piano and ideas for ways to adjust the bench height and what to use for a foot stool for younger students.

Once a student is sitting comfortably and correctly they will be able to keep their arm and hands in the proper alignment.

Here are just a few examples of technical skills that are developed over time

• Articulation:
  • smooth sounds (legato)
  • detached sounds (staccato)
  • legato in one hand and staccato in the other
• Tempo and Dynamics:
• Fast, slow, gradually speed up, gradually slow down
• Loud, soft, really loud, really soft
• Gradually get louder, gradually get softer
• Voicing:
• play one hand louder than the other
• play more than one note in the same hand and make one of the notes louder
• Chords:
• Major, minor, diminished, augmented, 7th chords, and all their inversions

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Rhythm/Theory

Learn the basics of music theory using fun games and songs.

• Ramona's favorite music games:
• Music Mind Games™
• Rabbit Race Game
• Favorite Rhythmn Books
• Rhythm by the Numbers and Clave by the Numbers by Doug Smith

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Music Reading

Read, read, read!
The best way to improve your music reading skills is to read music that is fairly easy for you to play, but keep a steady beat and keep right on going even if you make a mistake.

Some people can look at a page of sheet music and play it almost perfectly on their first try.

Some can hear a piece of music and play it almost perfectly on their first try.*

Most students eventually learn to read music well enough to decipher how to practice it so that they can play it after several tries!

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Improvising/Composing

Some students really enjoy experimenting with sounds and composing their own music.

• Here are some examples:
• #23 by Isaac - age 10
• Kitty by the Food Dish by Katy - age 6
• Brother John - a humorous version of a folk song making use of the special sounds on one of the Roland digital pianos.

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Folk Songs

Students really love this activity - details, photos, and examples

• Steps to learning a folk song by ear in 15 - 20 minutes
• sing the song
• decipher the rhythm to the song using the Music Mind Games™ Blue Jello Puzzle™ or Real Rhythm Cards™
• write the rhythm of the song over the song lyrics in stick notation
• figure out the melody by ear (a few notes at a time)
• write the notes in solfa syllables by the rhythms
• play the song on the piano from beginning to end while singing the syllables
• play the song on the piano while singing the words to the song
• Benefits of Learning Folk Songs by Ear
• develop in tune singing
• recognize common musical patterns
• understand and internalize complex rhythmic patterns
• favorite songs can be elaborated upon as the student progresses (adding harmony, etc)
• students are motivated to play the songs because they are real songs!

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