Technology and Music Lessons
For a few credits each semester in college, I decided to focus on computer science classes to experience a different world than the one inhabited by music majors.
Music Player, Writer, Producer, Author & Teacher
For a few credits each semester in college, I decided to focus on computer science classes to experience a different world than the one inhabited by music majors.
This gets pretty heavy into the circle of fifths. I imagine you can work on bits and pieces of this over quite a long time if this is new to you:
There is an old adage that musicians and teachers have said for a long time – “If you can’t sing it, you can’t play it.”
When I started teaching in Seattle, most of my first students came from friends who were piano teachers. They sent a lot of kids and adults my way who were ready to quit lessons and/or music. The main reason that these students were at their endpoint had to do with creativity (or lack thereof).
This was written a few years back and several student ensembles have played it over the years at Creative Music Adventures. Since many of you who follow these posts/emails are piano teachers, I thought I would share it for you and your students. We’re all looking for fun summer projects and this may fit the bill. Or if you play, it’s always fun to read through ensembles with friends.
Here are PDF’s of the music:
Here is a video version I recorded so you can hear/see the parts (think of this as Jacob Collier Lite):
Here is the audio version:
Here are a couple of different classes of kids playing it (if you have students learn this please post a link to a video in the comments section of the post so we can enjoy their performances!):
Phrasing often gets overlooked when we learn to improvise. This video covers the basics of phrasing on Twinkle, Twinkle and the opening passage of a Mozart Sonata. There are a few splices in the video as the camera kept shutting off – I’m still learning to use the new gear! I hope you enjoy it.
I’m pretty sure I know zero people who didn’t want to quit playing music at some point. Even professionals or hobbyists who are full of joy when we see them play went through their rough patches.
In the beginning, my whole teaching studio at Creative Music Adventures was built on this phone call from teacher friends around the community:
“I have a student who has some potential but they are driving me crazy. They are supremely talented but won’t do anything I ask. Can I send them to you to see if there is any hope?”
While in college I started teaching piano lessons regularly. I could play piano, compose and improvise on a standard college level – but teaching was a whole different animal. Thankfully, I had great teachers growing up and could call upon my experiences with them to help the lessons become productive as quickly as possible. The methods were helpful to a new teacher because they had written out instructions for teachers and students. They also isolated concepts into lesson books, theory books and performance books.