When a student doesn’t want to come….

As teachers, we all have students who want to cancel their private lesson because they are not prepared…they didn’t practice.  When they (or their moms) call to cancel, I tell them this is a slippery slope; one week of not practicing turns into two, and before they know it, they don’t want to come to lessons anymore because their skills have gotten away from them.

I encourage them to come to that lesson anyway; even though they have missed an opportunity for muscle memory growth that week, it doesn’t mean you have nothing to teach them.  Don’t yell at them!  I don’t mean you shouldn’t admonish them, but don’t scare them into not wanting to come back.

Think of it as an opportunity to use their instrument to explore a new facet of music theory, to learn more about the composer of their piece, and yes, to find out just how important that lost week of muscle memory was….I have a lever harp in my studio that I use sometimes in those cases; I strongly believe that transference of skills (i.e.,relation of notes on the piano to notes on the harp) facilitates a deeper understanding of music theory and appreciation.

Stagger breathing

Ok, I thought I was the only one who did this…thankfully. I am NOT!

When I was in high school, I was taught that “stagger breathing” was taking a catch-breath in between words.  A I grew in my craft, it occurred to me that in a choir situation, this could be ominous:  too many repeated consonants, and LOTS of “S” at the end of a word going on…

But how do you fix that?  The answer is easy, but difficult to employ at first because it is soooo counter-intuitive!  Here it is:

Instead of taking a breath in between words, take your breath instead of a word.  You read that right!  Instead of singing a short word or note (the word “the”, for example), pretend you are singing it (for the audience’s benefit)…but in reality, you want to inhale instead!

Now, this needs to be practiced; the technique is difficult at first, if one was trained to take that catch-breath in between words.  Once each individual in your choir becomes more comfortable with this concept, it’s time to make sure that everybody doesn’t take their breath on the same word!

That’s how I found out I wasn’t the only one who used this technique: an acquaintance of mine, Linda, and I were hired as ringers to be the only two altos at a performance.  At rehearsal, I decided to employ “my new technique”…only to discover that Linda was doing the same thing!  And yes, we were taking our breaths (for long phrases) on the same words.  We kept snickering every time it happened; at the break, we sat down to “divide up” the words so we wouldn’t stagger breathe at the same time.

 

And I thought I was so clever….!  Have any of you been practicing this method?

Music Education: Vegetable Soup?

These videos I’m sharing today put a whole new spin on teaching instruments and the orchestra; I believe you’ve got to somehow include this in your lesson plans!  Click here: Vegetable Orchestra

The above video I found on my MSN home page today;  I decided to do some research, and found links to the source: The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra.  For those of you who have your students make their own orchestra instruments, this is a trip!

Here is a sample of their concert work:

An innovative way of making music….as music teachers, finding a way to “serve up” the orchestra can be dry. Our responsibility is to motivate; this is a fine choice for teaching the instruments, and for an extension of teaching “found sound”.  Enjoy!

Unison Singing in Music Education

 I cannot stress the importance of unison singing in music education!  Learning to sing as a single unit is the most crucial skill a music director can teach a choir.  I have heard many choir conductors say, “Now, make sure you really pronounce your words”, but exactly how to pronounce those words is not taught; likewise, I have also heard  “Make sure to put on your endings”.  Well, yes, that is important….but if it’s overdone, or if not enough attention is  paid to formation of dipthongs, we could be headed for a mess.

But let’s first discuss breathing and phrasing; just as there is no way you can teach your choir everything they need to know in a few sessions, neither can I impart the steps of good unison singing in one post.  Teaching your choir how to take a deep, quiet breath without letting all the air go in the first few words will have to wait; today you need to teach them when to breathe…..and by extension, when not to breathe.

Often we hear from our excellent instructors that the breath is everything in music production, no matter what the instrument. They will say that correct breathing, maintaining support throughout the phrase and learning to use the body correctly is the alpha and omega of learning to make music, and I couldn’t agree more.  But when we take the first step in choral singing, we first have to learn to sing, and breathe, in unison….

Music Education and Mr G

I was under a director once, Robert Guenzler, when I was in high school.  After spending a good portion of the first few sessions of the school year in practicing good unison singing, he always taught a piece to the choir in this way:

 

 

1. Everyone was given their pitch.
2. We went entirely through the song (unless we just fell down so badly we had to be given new pitches for the desecrated section) ; we did our level best to sight read the music, even though most of us were newbies!
3. After we finished, Mr. Guenzler would then break the song into its phrases, and teach each voice.

Certainly the song wasn’t wonderful that first time through,. Often at that point we were nervous, and we thought we would never make it sound just right; but after a little experience with the material under his direction, we would
become more comfortable with the piece. 

 

After working on several pieces with him, we gained more and more confidence in our ability.  We also knew that with Mr. “G” conducting in front of us, we would never fall on our faces at our concert; we felt assured that we were in good hands, and that he always had our back.

From Bob Guenzler, I learned how to be a good conductor; not how to “conduct”, that I learned in college.  But he taught me that it is your job as a conductor to make the choir, or any performing group, absolutely sure that they can depend on you to hold them in your hands.

The best part is…I didn’t even know I was learning that!  Being a music educator, at that time, was not part of my plans; but Mr.Guenzler was an influence, nevertheless.  He may not have been the first music teacher I had, but he was definitely one of the best.

Tempo and Music Education

This morning I heard Fred Childs on NPR’s “Performance Today” speak about tempo.  He used as an example Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”; he contrasted two renditions: one was a very slow adagio, and the other quite a bit faster, more of an andante performance.

Tempos can vary from performer to performer; andante to one means a walking pace; to another, it could mean a leisurely stroll with some rubato!  Just take a look for it on YouTube. Try Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven.  This is an example of a quicker rendition of Moonlight Sonata, but it will get you “in the neighborhood” so you can compare renditions.

Interpretation needs to be taught as part of music education.  Of course it’s of no use to fly before you walk; reading the music and playing what’s there is crucial!  But afterwards, students need to be encouraged by their music teachers to express themselves and not just spit out a “cookie cutter” version of a piece.

Advertise yourself to make music

I decided it was time to advertise myself as a performer in order to fill up my private teaching schedule – always a big old question mark this time of year – and I have always found that people like to see you as a performer, as a musician, before they consider you as a music teacher.

So here is a link to www.gigmasters.com, a site I went to to advertise myself:

Singer/MichelleMayer

You may decide that it’s a good vehicle for you to get your name out there.

When to Begin to Read Music I

Students, especially beginners, will often balk at learning to read music.  Oh, learning the musical alphabet may be OK, and knowing how to find middle C on a keyboard is as far as they want to go; sometimes even that is going a little too far.  They prefer to think of themselves as having a “gift”, and that they are a “natural talent”.  Indeed, they might be a natural talent; but that alone will probably not get them very far.

Sometimes getting students to understand that learning to read music is difficult, but it’s vital; vital to their personal growth, and vital to the groups they may perform with.

Michelle