adult piano studies, adult piano teaching, piano teacher, piano teaching, piano techique

Piano Technique: Practicing well-shaped scales and arpeggios (videos)

It's always disheartening when students forego their scales and arpeggios at lessons, choosing instead, to dive immediately into repertoire. In their zeal to immerse themselves in the Masterworks, they neglect a pivotal Circle of Fifths journey that's wedded to keyboard geographies, key relationships, and much more. As a child, I reviled scales like most beginning… Continue reading Piano Technique: Practicing well-shaped scales and arpeggios (videos)

adult piano students, blog, blogger, blogging, Circle of Fifths, classissima, classissima.com, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, f# minor scale, Fresno California, humor, Major and minor scales, mental imagery, Mildred Portney Chase, mind body connection, music, music and heart, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, my space, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Oberlin, Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, piano, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano lessons, piano pedagogy, piano student, piano teacher, piano technique, piano warm-ups, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, Steinway and Sons, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, Steinway piano, Teach Street, teaching piano scales, teaching scales, technique, the natural minor scale, Theory, whole body music listening, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Piano Instruction: Learning the F# minor scale (video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc9_wRE4MN8 I made this video after plunking the "devil" beside Bb Major in my previous blog, so if you review the basic approach in that post, you'll get my sway about scales in general. It's always better to think in GROUPS rather than individual notes. For F# minor in its Natural or PURE form, let's… Continue reading Piano Instruction: Learning the F# minor scale (video)

adult piano students, athletic coaching, athletic training, blog, blogger, blogging, California, Circle of Fifths, classissima, classissima.com, Creative Fresno, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, El Cerrito piano studio, Facebook, Fresno, Fresno California, gymnastics, humor, keyboard technique, Major and minor scales, mind body connection, music teachers association of california, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, my space, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano lessons, piano pedagogy, piano practicing, piano student, piano teacher, piano technique, piano warm-ups, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, playing piano, publishers marketplace, publishersmarketplace.com, satire, scale fingerings, scales, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, Steinway and Sons, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, Teach Street, teaching piano scales, teaching scales, technique, Theory, whole body music listening, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

The most reviled scale for piano players!! (Video)

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb C D Eb F G A Bb *** Last night I had a rap session with a student on the subject of his favorite scale. And it quickly dawned on me that this whole area of discussion, while definitely out of the mainstream and not a life… Continue reading The most reviled scale for piano players!! (Video)

6 degrees of separation, adult piano students, Album for the Young, Apple iPhone, arpeggios, Art Linkletter, athletic coaching, athletic training, attorney, authorsden, Baroque music, Bay area, blog, blogger, blogging, boxing, boxing lessons, California, Cato, cd baby, cdbaby, Children's pieces, Circle of Fifths, Classical era, classical music, classissima, classissima.com, counterpoint, Creative Fresno, crossed hands, diminished 7th arpeggios, diminished 7th chords, Domenico Scarlatti, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, El Cerrito piano studio, essercizi, Facebook, Fig Garden Village, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Fresno, Fresno California, Fresno Famous, fresno filmmakers alliance, gymnastics, humor, Internet, iPad, iPhone, keyboard technique, kids say the darndest things, lawyer, Major and minor scales, memoir, mind body connection, MTAC, MTAC Baroque Festival, music, music and heart, music history, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, musicology, my space, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, pentachords, piano, piano addict, piano finding adventure, piano instruction, piano society, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, piano warm-ups, Piano World, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, playing piano, publishers marketplace, publishersmarketplace.com, Ralph Cato, satire, scale fingerings, scales, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, sparring partner, sports, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, Steinway piano, Teach Street, technique, Theory, trills, tritone, uk-piano-forums, video performances, videotaped replay, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Adult piano students say and do the darndest things.

I remember Art Linkletter's show, "Kids Say the Darndest Things," which made me think of a few adult piano students and their hauntingly memorable words. Yesterday, for example, I was forewarned by a 70-year old pupil, that I should expect a call from her during the night about the key of "F# minor." What impending… Continue reading Adult piano students say and do the darndest things.

"Just Being At the Piano", "The Inner Game of Tennis", Amsterdam Avenue and 74th Street, arpeggios, athletic coaching, athletic training, authorsden, Bay area, Bronx, California, cd baby, cdbaby, children's music, Children's pieces, Circle of Fifths, Classical era, classical music, Classical period sonata, Classical sonatina, classissima.com, counterpoint, Creative Fresno, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, El Cerrito piano studio, Exposition in piano sonata, Facebook, Fig Garden Village, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Fresno, Fresno California, great pianists, gymnastics, humor, Internet, Irwin Freundlich, keyboard technique, Latour, Latour Sonatina, Lillian Freundlich, Major and minor scales, mind body connection, MTAC, music, music and heart, music appreciation classes, music history, music teachers association of california, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, Music Together, musicology, Musictogether.com, my space, New York, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Northwest Bronx, Northwest Fresno, Oberlin, Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Old Fig Garden in Fresno, ornaments, pentachords, pentatonic song, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano finding, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano pedagogy, piano practicing, piano society, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, piano technique, piano tutorial, piano warm-ups, Piano World, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, pianoworld.com, ping pong, ping pong balls, publishers marketplace, publishersmarketplace.com, satire, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, Shirley Smith Kirsten, sonatina, Steinway and Sons, Steinway grand piano, Steinway piano, talkclassical.com, Teach Street, teaching piano to teenagers, technique, Theodore Latour, trills, uk-piano-forums, video performances, whole body music listening, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Why Play Scales?

Scale practicing examples: https://youtu.be/SJGbnFQB8L8 https://youtu.be/Bo1ptHbMu9M https://youtu.be/W3N_9Me7hXQ *** The Backdrop: As a young piano student living in New York City, I remember my reluctance to prepare a mandatory scale each week for my lesson. In fact my first teacher had so many students, she always seemed to forget the scale she had assigned to me, so… Continue reading Why Play Scales?

100 years, Album for the Young, arpeggios, athletic coaching, athletic training, authorsden, Baroque music, Bay area, California, cdbaby, Circle of Fifths, Classical era, classical music, Classical period sonata, Classical sonatina, counterpoint, Creative Fresno, Dario Marianelli, dream piano, El Cerrito, El Cerrito California, Faber Primer Piano Adventures, Facebook, Fig Garden Village, five finger positions, five finger warm-ups, Five for Fighting, Forever and Always, Fresno, Fresno California, Fresno Famous, Fresno Piano Store, gymnastics, humor, J.S. Bach, Jane Austen, JS Bach, Kabalevsky Op. 39 Children's pieces, keyboard technique, Latour, Liz on Top of the World, Major and minor scales, memoir, MTAC, music appreciation classes, music teachers association, music teachers association of california, music teachers associationo of California, Music Teachers Asssociation of California, musicology, Musictogether.com, my space, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Northwest Fresno, Oberlin Conservatory, New York City High School of Performing Arts, Old Fig Garden in Fresno, pianist, piano, piano addict, piano finding, piano instruction, piano lesson, piano pedagogy, piano purchase, piano room, piano scales, piano society, Piano Street, piano student, piano teacher, piano teaching repertoire, piano technique, piano tutorial, piano warm-ups, Piano World, pianoaddict.com, Pianostreet.com, pianoworld, ping pong, ping pong balls, popular music, Pride and Prejudice, scales, Shirley Kirsten, Shirley Kirsten blog, sonatina, Steinway and Sons, Steinway grand piano, Steinway M grand piano, talkclassical.com, Teach Street, teaching piano to teenagers, teenagers, tennis, Theory, uk-piano-forums, video performances, word press, wordpress.com, you tube, you tube video

Teaching Piano to Teenagers: Classical, Pop, Taylor Swift, Liz on Top of the World and more (Videos)

There's always room for flexibility in choice of repertoire, especially when teaching teenagers. Alex, 18, had taken lessons during primary school, took a long break and returned to the piano as a senior in high school. His first request was to study "Liz on Top of the World," by Dario Marianelli from the movie, "Pride… Continue reading Teaching Piano to Teenagers: Classical, Pop, Taylor Swift, Liz on Top of the World and more (Videos)