Emilie Read's Piano Studio

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I finally managed to host a piano workshop! I had to cancel last December, as covid worked its way through the neighborhood. After that, travel schedules and family obligations interfered with our ability to get together, so I put it off until Spring.

Today's workshop focused on rhythm--we played some rhythm games, and each student had learned an excerpt from a piece with a rhythm that was tricky for them. I presented the rhythm as a lead-in to each piece, which the group then played on various percussion instruments. Then the student played their piece. Each youngster had a chance to see the group work on their song a bit before playing, and they seemed to appreciate that. Everyone played really well, and I am so proud of them!

I'm busy getting ready for my beginners' holiday workshop this Saturday. We are going to play some group games, learn a new holiday song, and take home some treats. I am really looking forward to it!

One of my favorite YouTube channels is "TwoSetViolin," put together by two young men with a wicked sense of humor. Today's hilarity is brought to us by ads from a piano learning app:

The App That Teaches You Piano in 3 Weeks (but not really...) Practice Merch: https://www.twosetapparel.comFollow for Weekly Giveaways: https://www.instagram.com/twosetapparel/Submit your music memes: http://www.reddit....

I have been listening to _The Practice of Practice_ by Jon Harnum on Audible. This book is full of gems! My favorite so far: when you are having a hard time with a passage, try playing it in a different style. "Second verse, same as the first. _________ style, but a whole lot worse!" It sounds like a hilarious way to get out of a rut! I wonder what my Bach would sound like if I played it with a salsa rhythm?

Things have opened up a little around here, and I am helping out in an early-morning program at one of our elementary schools. I have introduced a few musical activities on the mornings when I am there. The first activity was a tin-can drum. We learned about the resonating chamber (the can, which also had some duct tape on the top edge to protect little fingers) and the membrane (or head, but membrane is the word I introduced). The membrane was a latex-free balloon with the open end cut off. For drumsticks, we had pencils, with a ruler introduced by one creative youngster. We explored how the size and materials in a drum can change the sound, and we listened for the different sounds we could make by hitting the drum in different places. One of the students loved these drums so much that she collected up all of the examples and used them for her very own drum set!

Stuck-at-home piano activities:

4. Guess that song! This one is not specific to the piano, but it is a lot of fun. This is a game for two or more people. Choose a song, but don't tell the other person which song it is. Tap or clap the rhythm *without* singing along. Can your partner guess the right song? If not, hum the first few notes while you clap. Some songs are pretty easy, and others are surprisingly difficult. Then let them tap out a song, and you guess!

For the last several weeks, I have been working on combining speed and precision in a new-to-me piano piece, the first movement of the Sonata in A major by Friedrich Kuhlau. The metronome marking is pretty fast, and my fingers don't want to go at that speed just yet, although they are getting nimbler.

I have been taking a two-pronged attack on this piece. First, I worked on the notes without my metronome. I can read this piece pretty easily, as I have been playing for decades, but I wanted to be sure that I hadn't missed anything. There is a lot of detail in even a fairly straightforward piece of piano music.

Then I turned on my metronome. I used an eighth note speed at first, just until I was sure of all the notes and markings. Then I turned the speed down by quite a bit, and worked on getting my phrasing to sound good, with the quarter-note beat at a level that I could easily follow. Now, finally, I am working on it at a bunch of different speeds. I roll a die to determine my metronome marking. When I get a slow tempo, I work on phrasing and expression. When I roll a faster tempo, I work on precision at speed--my weakest skill at the moment. And when I roll a speed that is in between, I try to combine the two.

When I started this, I worried that I would find it boring pretty quickly, but I was wrong. I *have* played this song over and over again at all sorts of speeds, but I can clearly see my improvement. It's a sparkly little song, and I have been having so much fun with it! What's next? Maybe I'll learn it so well that I can start to improvise on it. Wouldn't that be great?

I'll be putting up a new yard sign soon. I have more afternoons free this year, so I'm looking forward to lots more fun with some new students!

Stuck at home activities #3:
Hum your favorite tune. Now see if you can play it on your piano. My favorite improvisation activity is simply playing around with a folk song. I like to make up new melodies to extend the songs I know really well. Why not let "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" be a starting point for something else? How about "Happy Birthday" or "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"? Or your favorite pop song? I bet you could come up with a different new part to the same song every day for a week. Why not try it?