Why it really is a necessity to have a good piano teacher and not try to teach yourself.

Piano Lessons - January 30, 2019

 The Learning Experience

I was practicing a part in the song Rhapsody in Blue in which the proper fingering was difficult and felt awkward.  However, I was playing it with the correct fingering and thought I was doing a mighty fine job at playing it when my teacher stopped me and told me I had the rhythm wrong in my right hand.  I had to re-learn that part, but it was easier to re-learn it correctly since I had already got the fingering down, all I had to fix was the rhythm.  Had I not had a teacher, or even a good teacher who caught it being that Rhapsody in Blue is 29 pages long with a lot going on, I would have never known I was playing that part wrong.  Another part of this same song I was practicing which was a difficult part is when on the sheet music the treble clef is written on the bottom where bass clef normally is and bass clef was written on the top where the treble clef usually is....AKA....a hand crossover while playing which can be tricky.  I caught the staff switch and got the hand crossover correct, but when I was playing thinking I was doing great at this tricky part, my teacher once again stopped me and told me that I had the notes and rhythm and the hand crossover accurate, but my left hand needed to go down one octave.  I looked at the sheet music and was perplexed that I had missed that octave jump.  Had I not had a good teacher to catch that, I would never had known to fix it.  It sounds like a small thing, but playing an octave lower adds more meat or more power to the song while playing.

The Positive

My teacher stopped me from playing; put her hand up and high-fived me for the first time EVER in a piano lesson when I played a crazy difficult part of Rhapsody in Blue accurately.  She was wowed and it surprised me, and only then did I realize the difficulty level of the part of the song I was playing.  I felt like a winner at that moment!  :-). 

Another positive is that I got to use the Sostenuto Pedal....AKA the middle pedal on the piano for the first time EVER!!!  Of course I've used the famous right pedal, the Sustain Pedal all of my piano career, and recently I've been using the left pedal, the Soft Pedal more, but never have I used the middle pedal.  This is a sign that I'm actually for real in advanced piano lessons.  Only upper level pianists use the middle pedal.  This was exciting to me!!!!....just way neat and a sense of finally being worthy of the middle pedal.  :-)

Pedaling Fun!

Piano pedals are like the birth order of children.  We'll say the left pedal is the oldest child....usually well balanced, usually not too loud, and there to help the younger children be more balanced.  The right pedal is the youngest child.  Usually the fun one who everyone knows, and the loudest of the bunch.  Usually the most popular child....it's a fact that the youngest child is usually the most playful one.  :-). The middle pedal is the middle child and has the same hard time as the middle child in a family.  It is loved just the same in the family, but it is usually the quiet one that can be forgotten by others being that it is sandwiched in between the super responsible one and the super popular one.  But the middle pedal is honestly the most well balanced one because it is never overused, it is not bossy, not too soft or too loud, and only used by the more advanced pianist, and therefore usually never has too many problems, and therefore turns out to be the most balanced of them all.  The golden pedal!  :-)

Defintion of 8va - my personal favorite

The musical symbol 8va is: an abbreviation of ottava, Italian for octave (otta is the Italian feminine of “eight”). a musical command indicating a note or series of notes will be played an octave higher than written on the staff.

Your Teacher is there to Keep You Humble!

Piano Lessons - January 23, 2019

The Learning Experience

My teacher had me playing an extremely difficult piece of a piece and I had to play it for her in class.  When I did, I thought I did it well, got the notes right, and the music markings, ETC.  After I finished playing, I lifted my hands from the keys and said..."That was awesome blossom!!!"  My teacher responded by saying, "I would just say that I can tell you practiced!"  {In other words it was not awesome blossom.}  I responded by saying, "What, I thought it sounded good."  My teacher responded by saying "You know me by now."  {super honest}

Another humbling experience that same lesson:  
I was practicing a song and finally got a part right that for weeks I had been blundering.  My instructor was like...Yeah Carolyn you finally got it right!  I responded by saying "You're Welcome!"  She responded by saying, I'm the teacher, I'm doing this for you."  {In other words, You're Welcome for having me as your teacher!}  :-)

Piano Lessons - January 16, 2019

The Learning Experience

At piano lessons one day I kept messing up my assignment while playing.  I finally stopped playing and told my teacher I was just tired that day and that was making me ditsy.  My teacher responded by telling me that if that was the excuse that I wanted to make for messing up and not practicing enough she would just go with it.  LOL!

Playing Bach

We were going to have an entertainment night here locally and Meagan J. said she was going to play a Bach Fugue.  I responded by telling her "What, I don't even like to play Bach when I have to!"  Her dad, the great pianist Mark J. immediately said, "That's a terrible attitude!  He then told my little 4 year old niece in whom Mark is about to begin teaching piano to probably next year not to listen to me.  I responded to him by saying, "I just don't like Bach, I'm a Mozart fan.  Mozart has happy music."  If you take piano, you'll know that no piano teacher wants to hear a student say they don't like Bach.  Playing Bach is essential to becoming a good pianist.  Fugues are difficult because one hand is always mirroring the other hand in the opposite direction so to speak.  It is like rubbing your hand on your tummy while you pat your head.  :-)!!!  I told a former piano teacher of mine that I didn't like Bach one time because it made me feel like I was in a box, pun intended, and ended up having to play only and all Bach for one month straight as punishment!  All in piano fun!

Playing Hymns in DAPAC for Real Hands on Training

VIDEO: Performing is a Reward and Display of the Hard Work you've put into Practicing

ABOVE:  AC Fall Semester Recital 2017 at Armstrong Auditorium on the famous Steinway!

BELOW:  A Winter Recital at the Magnolia Moon with my Teacher!

A few fun shots from the AC recital at Armstrong Auditorium

A few fun pics from the Magnolia Moon Recital

VIDEO: Practicing for Magnolia Moon Recital

A behind the scenes practice room pass inside my teachers studio during one of my piano lessons when practicing a part of the song Wedding Day at Troldhaugen for the Magnolia Moon Recital.

Being able to Serve

For me personally, having been trained more in concert pianist mode all of my life means switching over to being an accompanist makes accompanying on the piano more difficult for me personally than playing solo or even duet.  You have to follow a conductor and hope the choir follows him; and if they get off, you have to find where they are and try to cover for them; otherwise the word train wreck comes to mind.

My first time as a FoT accompanist pianist in Lexington, Kentucky

Playing as an accompanist at the FoT in Invermere, British Colombia, Canada

The Invermere Choir