Chronicles of Piano Teaching - May 9, 2024

Rushing

Playing too fast is one of the biggest issues new students have. I think this stems from the fast pace of life. From timed tests to deadlines to instant messaging and instant food, we do everything on turbo setting. Life can feel like a race. But music should never, ever be a race.

I used to be a chronic rusher. Dave says I still am sometimes, and he's probably right. But mastering a musical instrument requires slowness. A slow, patient, methodical approach to learning a new piece begets both accuracy and feeling. One of the most moving pieces of all time is also one of the slowest (Adagio for Strings by Barber). I cannot listen to this piece without bawling. On the contrary, so many fast performances sound like showing off to me; they are just notes devoid of soul.

Years ago I was recording an album of my compositions. I was playing too fast and just not getting the accuracy I needed. The recording engineer told me to play like I was drunk. The suggestion worked. It's hard to go back and listen to that album because I hear my immaturity as a musician and my need to show off. The pieces are just too fast. If I had just played 25% slower, it would have had 100% more feeling.

How do I get students to slow down? I can't really tell my young students to play like they're drunk, so I tell them that this song is like the lazy river ride at the water-park, not the waterslide. (They GET that).

Funny Kids

It's really cute when your student uses the phraseology of a bygone era. I was reminding a third-grade student to connect the left-hand notes throughout and she said, "Yeah, I think I got the memo." ; ) I realize this may give away my age, but I remember paper memos that were circulated via office mailboxes. (Yes, I had a few office jobs). But how does she know about those?

End with Encouragement

There's a time and a place for correction and discipline, but every lesson should end with encouragement. Compliment whatever you can, even when it's hard. Even if everything sounded terrible, thank them for their conscientious effort and focus during the lesson. Thank them for having the courage to show up and not cancel.

D Blues Scale with Comping Exercise

*** Note:  I forgot to note this on the sheet music!  Please practice this exercise in swing rhythm (a long-short pattern in the eighth notes). ***

What will you get with this exercise? (LINK BELOW)

✅ D blues scale practice with proper fingering

✅  Practice comping chords WHILE playing a blues scale

✅  Practice of ii-V-i ending

✅`Practice of syncopated rhythms typical in jazz

✅ Preparation for improvising over chords in the blues scale

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wanted one of my adult students to start comping chords in the left hand while improvising in the blues scale in the right hand, so I wrote this exercise.  Why D blues first?  Because it's a relatively easy blues scale, and only has one black key in it.  

This is an early-intermediate level exercise but can be used for more advanced levels if you're new to jazz or blues scales.  In this exercise, the right hand will be running up and down the D blues scale with a syncopated rhythm that is typical of jazz, and you will get lots of practice mastering the D blues scale fingering in the process!   Practice the right hand alone first. 

Once you have the right hand down, start adding in the left hand chords.  Once you've mastered the first half of the page, which only has whole notes in the left hand, practice the new left hand rhythm found in the second half of the exercise.  This is a syncopated left-hand jazz rhythm that is frequently used in jazz music.  

After you've mastered the second half, try to get creative!  First, improvise a melody using the D blues scale tones, but make sure you do them out of order.  Keep your left hand going in the same rhythm all the way through. Here's the pdf:   D Blues with Comping Exercise

I hope it helps you get started practicing blues!

The Fun of Sonatinas (Sonatina in A Minor by Benda)

My student has been working on this classical piece, and it’s been stuck in my head on repeat. I figured I’d dive in and enjoy it for a spell. It was a lot of fun to take time out and practice it myself. Unfortunately, my grand piano hadn't arrived from Virginia yet, and I had to make due with the Korg keyboard. (Apologies for the finger tapping you hear in this recording!)

Sonatinas make up an important part of classical piano literature. They are meaty compositions that offer a lot to chew on; and they're fun! For the advancing intermediate student, they offer technical challenges like rapid scale runs and alberti bass patterns in the left hand. They call for a variety of touches (staccatto, legato) and they demand very specific and detailed dynamics. Sonatinas are a good avenue for teachers to introduce phrase shaping and discuss form more in depth. And they are an important bridge between beginning and advanced repertoire.

Classical is just one of the genres I teach. You can’t go wrong with classical. It’s dramatic, exciting, complex, and fun. To study classical is to live a life rich in beauty.

FREE TRIAL ONLINE PIANO LESSON! We've come a LONG way since 2020! Chec...

I really want to spread the word about our FREE TRIAL ONLINE PIANO LESSON!  Are you itching to deconstruct the mysteries of the piano?  At our new home outside Las Vegas, NV, my husband and I have developed a state-of-the-art instruction studio!  I can help launch you into the piano stratosphere from anywhere in the world.  You won't even have to leave home.  Not convinced that online instruction can rival in-person?  Consider this....

• I took 50% of my piano students with me when I moved from the east coast to the west coast.
• They trusted the quality of my instruction enough to stay with me in our online format.
• We can switch cameras and devices at the push of a button, creating an engaging learning experience.
• We utilize tools such as video switchers, sound effects, Stream Deck, multiple camera views, and a virtual MIDI light-up keyboard.  
• We use other visual aids such as the white board, virtual flash cards, and an overhead web-cam to look down on my hands.
• We can live-edit your sheet music with many colors.

So take just four minutes of your time to WATCH THE VIDEO and get a taste of how our online instruction is awesome.  

Call or text 571-439-0136 to schedule your first free trial lesson!  Or e-mail me at jennifer@piano2go.com.

We moved to Vegas!

Well, a suburb of Las Vegas called Henderson.  It's akin to Reston in terms of Washington, DC suburbs.  Only twenty minutes from the Vegas strip, it's a lot more urban than we have been used to.  

I don't know who reads this.  I don't try to get readership, but hopefully someone will glean some vicarious benefits reading about our journey westward.

How did this come about?  And why such a drastic change?  Well, my husband has been stationed here working on a project on the Vegas strip for the past year.  He's probably spent less than twenty days in Virginia since January.  I flew out to visit him and fell in love with the area so we final decided -- what the heck?  I'm in entertainment (the music side) and he's in entertainment (the tech side), so it just made sense.  (The dry, warm climate has also nearly eliminated pain, inflammation, and pollen allergies).  We took a leap of faith and lined everything up so we could move.  

I've been accustomed to the lush green hills of the Blue Ridge and dense hardwood forests, so this desert mountain scenery is a big change!  But as the chili cooks on the stove, I figured I'd introduce everyone to the new place we're calling home.  More later!

These are my youngest three kids (15, 12, and 7) exploring some mountainous terrain near our new place.

A Return to Blogging

 Alas,

This is my first post on this blog in four years.  I guess I determined that the blog was not important.  There were big changes in my personal life that included a new marriage, a pandemic, moving twice, and spinal fusion surgery.  I had to take a time-out from non-essential activities.  During the pandemic, we decided to enroll the kids in online private school, which had to be supplemented with math tutoring, enrichment, and constant supervision.  Who had time for a blog?

I did try to access the blog about a year ago, but Blogger kept asking me to name the blog, and I got confused.  I was not creating a new blog!  Anyway, once I proceeded to call my blog something today, it logged me in and gave me access to all the old content.

So today, I resume writing about music and life!  The itch to write has been satisfied through daily journaling.  I mostly write about scripture these days.  Daily conversations with God hover far above other pursuits in rank of importance.  I suppose Covid-19 and my spinal surgery have brought me down to earth about my own mortality.  I don't want to waste my life on meaningless time-drains like social media.  So I quit Facebook in 2020, except for my business page, which I stay off of as much as possible.  All the time I used to spend on social media -- I replaced with reading and writing.  I started reading a lot of literature, non-fiction, and of course, the Bible.  This shift in time-usage has been one of the best decisions of my life.  

The itch to write has also been satisfied writing letters to my husband.  He is stationed in Las Vegas on a long-term project (no, he's not military; he's a broadcast engineer).  I know the epistolary arts are a long-lost practice, but I enjoy regaling him with anecdotes of the children, my students, and all their blunders and victories.  Somehow, short spurts of text messages don't compare to a well-crafted letter.  I guess I'm old-school!

I am looking forward to updating this blog with more piano-pertinent posts in the future!  I am still teaching and performing in Loudoun County, VA and Washington, DC, and I have been updating my Instagram and my business Facebook Page with videos.  

~ Jennifer Warren Stoll

A Monthly Technique Plan For Advanced Contemporary Pianists

So...

I crafted this plan to get my technique sparkling this year.  (I assure you that there were no diet or exercise plans in my new year's resolutions, but there are musical resolutions.)

This is a plan that should work for most pianists.  I will start it officially tomorrow and see how it goes.  (I'll report back here with the results).

***UPDATE:  1/13/2019.  I've been trying the "monthly technique plan" I posted for several days,  and realized that I had some duplicate exercises listed on the original Google doc I posted.  I also thought the organization was not logical enough so I re-ordered the exercises for a more logical flow, in the hopes that this will help me and others to memorize the routine.  So, here is my latest plan.  I will start practicing based on this plan today and update you periodically with edits and progress reports on how I'm doing! I do want to tell you that I already feel more accuracy and technical competency in my playing of pieces.  It's taking me about 45-minutes a day to get through the routine (I suspect this number is a bit inflated due to my interruptions and note-taking while I practice).  My knuckle joints are a bit sore in a tired way, but I'm keeping my pulse on this and will make sure it doesn't worsen. ***

HERE'S THE NEW, UPDATED PRACTICE PLAN FOR ADVANCED PIANISTS AND ADVANCED STUDENTS:  

CLICK THE LINK AT THE RIGHT---------->  TONAL-BASED PRACTICE SYSTEM:  A KEY A DAY, A MONTHLY SYSTEM TO DEVELOP FLUENCY AND TECHNICAL PROFICIENCY IN ALL 12 MAJOR, MINOR, AND BLUES KEYS
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eoxHpuhYbo8jXvFylz27CHbuLAdlIc3M/view?usp=sharing

Why is better technique on my bucket list for 2019?  Well, I had a few events lately with difficult passages.  I did practice them, but when it came time to execute the difficult passage during the performance, I was faking it at best.  I didn't get the level of detail in there that I should have.  My fingers just wouldn't fly fast enough for certain technical tasks (rapid trills, trills in thirds, rapid 16th note passages).  I did have a baby a few years ago, and practice has been difficult to fit in, but this is no excuse.  I'm determined to rise early to exercise my fingers!  

Here's what I've spent the better part of a morning on:

Monthly Technique Plan for Advanced Contemporary Pianists

*** Click the link above for a printable version. ***

Here is the plan, at a glance (below).  Focus on 1 key a day, doing the exercises below.  Now...here's a disclaimer alert:  I haven't tried this yet but I will time it this week and report back on how many minutes (or hours!) of your time this will gobble up.

Do you subscribe to this blog, or my YouTube channel?  There's lots of valuable information in both places, and I would highly recommend it if you're into piano, jazz, classical, or piano-teaching!