Summer Trial of Piano Lessons: A Huge Success!

Summer Trial for Purcellville and Loudoun Area Piano Students:  www.piano2go.com

Our Popular Summer Trial is a Smashing Success!

It's high time for me to review the success of our 6-lesson summer trial program.  So far this summer, we've enrolled 10 students in our summer trial (1 60 minute student, 1 45-minute student, and 8 half-hour students), all of whom found Piano 2 Go's summer program on Google. Also over the summer, we lost a family of 4 students in July who moved out of the area, 5 students in June who were away too much over the summer or simply don't attend through the summer, and two families who deducted a family member from their enrollment.  That's a loss of 11 students, or roughly 22% of my class roster at the time.  I also expect 5 - 10 hours of student absences a week, due to students traveling or attending summer camps.  I know from experience to expect this every year, but what does a piano studio owner do with the extra time on her hands?  The summer trial is a great way to turn the vacancies and vacation cancellations into opportunities for new customers.  New customers get to experience my dependability and assess teacher-student compatibility before signing on to a longer-term relationship.  The program is also discounted (1 free lesson and I waive the travel fee) so families love the value!

Lessons can take the format of summer camp if desired, and we can do fun projects such as learning top-40 pop songs, doing 12-bar blues duets and jazz jams with the teacher, and supplementing with rhythm games and hand drum accompaniment.  I can even tote my Roland speaker along and teach kids improvisation while accompanied by YouTube backing tracks.

So what happens in the fall?  I will be able to place most of those who are available for low-demand times right away (pre-3pm and weekends) and those needing prime-time slots (3pm - 7pm) are usually be happy to wait a few months for a regular slot.  In the meantime, I e-mail my weekly cancellations every Sunday, and students on the wait list can pop into those times until a regular, recurring time slot is available.  This system has been working beautifully for the summer months, and families are happy to select from the weekly cancellation list.  In fact, there hasn't been one week my summer trial students haven't found a cancelled time that works for them each week.  I've even been able to offer several trial students a regular, recurring time.  

So I'd say our summer trial program has been a huge success!  I've been having a great time getting to know new students this summer and look forward to incorporating as many new faces as possible into the fall schedule.  Next year, the only thing I plan to do a bit differently is to offer a 4-lesson trial as well, for those who join up later in the summer.  So bookmark our website (www.piano2go.com) and look ahead for our 2018 summer trial programs!  

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For more information on Piano 2 Go's mobile lesson service or summer trial program, visit our website at www.piano2go.com!

Hanukkah Piano: Dreidel Boogie

I took a book of Hanukkah songs yesterday and rearranged them in my own way.  I had never played a Hanukkah party before this weekend, so I had to do my homework.  Most Hanukkah songs are sad-sounding, folk-like melodies in minor keys, with simple chord progressions.  With most of the songs, I took a pretty, classical interpretation, adding the usual bling (you know, arpeggios, scale runs, thickened chords, change of register, octaves in the melody, more bass/tremolos, beautiful intros).  But when it came to "I Have a Little Dreidel," I had to do more. This song has the child-like quality of a nursery rhyme.  It's about as sophisticated as "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep," or "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  In my humble opinion, it's just kinda dull! With the need for some musical spice, I thought about spinning up a boogie around this tune. Boogie is typically characterized by a left-hand ostinato (repeating pattern) played fast and swingy.  Simple songs with only two or three chords lend themselves nicely to a boogie accompaniment in the left hand. Jingle Bells is another simple holiday song I play in boogie style.  So this two-chord folk song was just begging to boogie yesterday!  Here is what I came up with, in about ten minutes of jamming out my ideas:

How did I do it?  Here is what my left hand is doing (below).  If you don't know this left-hand pattern, you should add it to your tool box.  It's a great work-out for the left hand that uses all five fingers.  It keeps the lazy hand in shape (yes, it gets lazy because, even if you are left-handed, left hand parts in general are less physically challenging than right-hand parts).

Piano Boogie:  Left Hand Accompaniment Pattern No. 1:  www.freethepiano.com

Just memorize the pattern in scale degrees (thinking in numbers is always a good idea in music!), and apply this pattern to whatever chord you're in.  When you go to the V chord (G here) in the song, the pattern looks like this:

Piano Boogie:  Left Hand Accompaniment Pattern No. 1, transposed to G Ma:  www.freethepiano.com

Of course I also jazzed up the melodic rhythm and added some blue grace notes to the melody (more on this later), but you don't have to do that if you don't want to.  I hope you enjoy trying some boogie on your Christmas and Hanukkah tunes this year.  Have fun!

Jazz Piano "Therapy" for Adult Students

One of the student types I've attracted over the years is the adult student looking to explore jazz and improvisation.  Perhaps their childhood teacher knew nothing about it.  One time I was teaching a woman who just couldn't get the sight-reading thing mastered.  Every lesson had been a struggle in the past.  But she truly loved music.  A former dancer, she suffered from miserable back pain and life troubles in general.  Simply put, she was unhappy.  I knew these lessons were possibly self-therapy for her.  But the traditional approach wasn't working.  As I find with many students, reading two staves of music is a burdensome chore that stifles their natural musical ability.  So I switched my approach with this student.

One day I asked her to improvise with the C pentatonic scale while I played a swing beat on my keyboard and improvised a 7th chord accompaniment.  I will never forget how transformative this experience was.  The sullen face she usually wore was replaced with a radiant smile.  Her typically rigid body began to bounce freely to the music.  She clearly felt the rhythm of the music, and her improvisations were good!  At the end of the exercise, she was talking rapidly and excitedly:

"That was so much fun, Jennifer!  Oh my!  Oh my!  I've never had so much fun in my whole life!  I've never done anything like this.  Do you think we can do more of this?  I love it!"

She went on raving about the experience for the rest of the lesson.  It was as if I'd given her a magic potion.  She couldn't sit still and couldn't stop talking.  Joy had replaced despondency and I pondered over this transformation for several days.  What was it about that experience that gave her more fun that she had ever had?

I think it was the freedom she found in improvisation.  She could play the notes of her heart.  Her fingers didn't need to get it right, or be mistake-free.  She didn't feel the judgment of a teacher; she didn't feel wrongness and inadequacy, only joy in expression.  She just needed to be herself and let her heart dance to the music.

The man in this article claims that jazz piano lessons cured his mental illness:  http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2013-04/how-learning-play-jazz-piano-kept-me-sane.

I would encourage everyone considering adult piano lessons (especially jazz) to read this.  I have no doubt that music study was what cured his illness.

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If you're interested in exploring jazz piano as an adult beginner or a returning adult student with classical training, I specialize in making jazz easy and joyful.  And I also teach popular, classic rock, and movie themes from a jazz approach.  Call 571-439-0136, or visit www.musicbyjennifer.net for more information.  

Little Mermaid the Musical - PREVIEW VIDEO!

Here is the preview video for "The Little Mermaid" the musical, which will have its world premier at Blue Ridge Middle School on Feb. 28, 2014.  A music medley runs in the background, and you can get an idea of the costumes.

Want to come see the show?  Don't delay in ordering your tickets!  All four performances of last year's production of CATS sold out a week before opening night!

ORDER ADVANCED TICKETS HERE. 

Show dates are:

• Fri, February 28 7:30pm
• Sat, Mar 1 2:30 and 7:30pm
• Sun, Mar 2 2:30pm
• Sat, Mar 8 7:30pm
• Sun, Mar 9 2:30pm

Hope to see you there!