Month: June 2011

MTAC, music teachers association of california, New York City, New York City High School of Performing Arts, New York University, Oberlin, Oberlin Conservatory, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano instruction, piano instructor, piano lesson, piano lessons, piano pedagogy, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, Piano World, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, playing piano, self-analysis, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, talkclassical.com, Teach Street, teaching piano, teaching piano to children, teaching piano to teenagers, traditional piano teaching, uk-piano-forums, word press, wordpress.com

Piano Lessons and dropout rates: How the initial interview is better than a crystal ball

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

I've been eyeing the forums lately at Piano World, and a hot topic is why students drop out of lessons, some after only a few months. A related thread had jabber about a circulating statistic that level 2 method books took a significant marketplace nose dive. What could it mean? I looked into my crystal… Continue reading Piano Lessons and dropout rates: How the initial interview is better than a crystal ball

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Practicing “Flight of the Bumblebee” in slow tempo (Rachmaninoff Arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov)-Video

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

"Flight of the Bumblebee" was originally composed for orchestra. It was the Interlude of the opera, Legend of the Tsar Sultan (1900) by Rimsky-Korsakov. According to the plot, a prince becomes a bee and stings his villainous relatives. The piece has been arranged many times over for various instruments including the piano. The edition that… Continue reading Practicing “Flight of the Bumblebee” in slow tempo (Rachmaninoff Arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov)-Video

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Piano Instruction: Working on the flexible wrist with a hair band (Videos)

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

I videotaped Nayelli, age 10, practicing the use of a flexible wrist. I also integrated the hair band (demonstrated by Irina Gorin) into the lesson for the purpose of teaching the dead weight drop into notes with a dipping wrist. All advance the singing tone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmBrKEuk3bo Nayelli plays Faber's "Scarf Dance" (Lesson Book 1, Piano… Continue reading Piano Instruction: Working on the flexible wrist with a hair band (Videos)

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Piano Instruction: Learning from our colleagues (Videos)

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

Since we are very isolated as piano teachers, nurturing one-to-one relationships with our students for months and years at a time, we sometimes forget that there are other teaching universes beyond our own with repositories of ideas that may enrich the learning environment. One example, is the cosmos of Irina Gorin's studio in Indiana. I've… Continue reading Piano Instruction: Learning from our colleagues (Videos)

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Digitals, Acoustics, the economy, and piano lessons

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

After I showered myself in digitals these past two days, I pleasantly dried out and came home to my dearly beloved acoustic pianos. (Two Steinways and a Haddorff) Now nothing is perfect in the world of electronics or acoustics. There are a repository of pitfalls associated with each, and it can be maddening to deal… Continue reading Digitals, Acoustics, the economy, and piano lessons

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Digital Piano Review continued: On Location at Best Buy in Fresno CA (6 videos)

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

This was such a smooth experience. Matthew Wheeler was found playing drums and keyboard in Best Buy's atrium, for want of a better name, and he stopped what he was doing to film me sampling digitals. These were console models: Roland F110, Casio 830, and Yamaha Arius YDP 141. There are six videos, including a… Continue reading Digital Piano Review continued: On Location at Best Buy in Fresno CA (6 videos)

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Scoping out Hammer-Weighted Digital Pianos: On Location at Guitar Center, Fresno, CA (Videos)

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

I managed to get to Guitar Center right as it opened this morning, and had the good fortune to avoid the crowds along with obtrusive pop style background music. Unfortunately, I bumped my head a few times on the same shelved keyboard that hadn't qualified as a hammer weighted digital. Maybe it was retribution for… Continue reading Scoping out Hammer-Weighted Digital Pianos: On Location at Guitar Center, Fresno, CA (Videos)

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Aiden Cat joins Ilyana, age 8, at the Haddorff piano (Video)

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5tK4GvhqRo On a scorching Wednesday morning, Aiden was piano plopping. First it was the Steinway piano bench -- then he moved on to Haddy where he joined Ilyana who played "Firefly" and the first section of "Little Flower Girl of Paris" by William Gillock. Ilyana declared that she liked Haddy more than the Steinway grand… Continue reading Aiden Cat joins Ilyana, age 8, at the Haddorff piano (Video)

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Practicing on a Digital Piano (Video) PROS and CONS

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

My Casio PX 110 sits on the second floor of my townhouse because there's no room for it anywhere else. Haddy Haddorff stole the space that Cassy formerly inhabited. In truth, the digital is not on the high priority activity list of instruments here but it has a role in technique-based toning and conditioning In… Continue reading Practicing on a Digital Piano (Video) PROS and CONS

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J.S. Bach Prelude in C minor, BWV 847 from the Well-Tempered Clavier (Two Videos)–exploring the Chordal outline/harmonic rhythm

arioso7: Shirley Kirsten

In summary, there is so much harmonic rhythm to think about here that mapping the chordal outline helps keep the composition from degenerating into non-stop, punctuated 16ths, at least in the opening section marked Allegro Moderato. A compelling melody is woven through the harmonic fabric and must always be fleshed out. The Adagio interlude is… Continue reading J.S. Bach Prelude in C minor, BWV 847 from the Well-Tempered Clavier (Two Videos)–exploring the Chordal outline/harmonic rhythm