Learning Music

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Busy Season

Any musician will tell you that right after Halloween, we have mere weeks before we are up to our eyeballs with Christmas concerts and party gigs. I'm currently working my Christmas gig repertoire back under my fingers, along with some of the songs from Conservatory Canada's Contemporary Idioms syllabus. Well, I'm finding that it's one thing to stay a couple of pages ahead of my students. It's a complete other story getting their songs up to performance standard.

Note Reading Geography Help

Some of my students are having trouble associating a note written on the staff with its corresponding note on the keyboard, regardless of how many times I say, "The farther it is from middle C on the staff a note is, the farther away it is from middle C on the keyboard."

On Injuries and Piano Practice

One of my students showed up with a swollen finger last week. C injured it during a non-musical activity and after several days, the swelling was increasing. I demanded that she go see a doctor to get that finger checked out. C injured the middle finger of her left hand, which has presented us with the challenge of how to structure practices and lessons.

A New Twist to Ear Training

If you're looking for a way to spice up your ear and rhythm training, try music transcription. Several weeks ago, my student K, a seven-year old beginner, walked in with a CD to share with me. On it are three Indi pop songs he would really like to learn. They are quite catchy. He asked if I would be able to transcribe the notes for him as no sheet music is available.