Lund Music Studio

Training a Musical Ear

As piano teachers, sometimes we may forget that we possibly didn’t always have the most magnificent ear for music, and so we may not understand when we have students who cannot “hear” their mistakes, or who feel they are playing something correctly when it is, to us, clearly wrong. I particularly have a hard time with this as I started music VERY early, and was trained to have a good listening ear from the start (I can still pick out notes and tell you what they are without looking at the piano.)

But sometimes, our students honestly think they are doing a good job, and don’t understand when they are not playing things correctly, either melodically or rhythmically. Where does this stem from? Well, it can come from many places. First, if a student has a piano that is vastly out of tune at home, it may be hard for them to hear and identify “wrong” pitches. Second, some young students have not developed a musical ear quite yet, and simply cannot distinguish between one note and another. This also may connect with the third problem, that they have read the music from the book incorrectly, and then practiced it that way all week, and so think their mistakes to be “right,” because they are doing what the book says. If they think they are playing the notes as they are in the book, and have not connected the written music to the heard music, then they will not think that what they are doing is incorrect, because they will think, “I’m just doing what the book said.”

So how do we correct these misadventures in pitch? Well, there are several options. The first is to demonstrate for them. If we are not playing the piano FOR our students every once in a while, we are doing them a grave disservice. They need not only to do, but to listen. Play for them what they just played you, and then play the “correct” way, and ask them not which one is right, but what the difference is. If they can tell you this, then they at least have the ear to hear, and are just confused on what is right. Parents who are vaguely familiar with the piano can do this with their children also. If you have the ability to follow a beginner, parents, then you should be in there helping them when you can (without being too intrusive, of course).

Secondly, it is important to get all piano students to be able to sing just a little bit. They don’t have to be the next Whitney Houston or anything, but see if they can match a pitch singing, and then connect it to the piano by having them sing the note and then play it on the piano. This again reinforces pitch accuracy and ear training, and helps them to develop the ability to hear and correct themselves. Parents, this is again something you can try at home. You don’t even need to know note names. Just play a note, and ask them to match it by singing.

Finally, something I think all piano teachers should be doing, is ear training and music theory with their students. Help them to learn the different musical symbols, and that just like in the alphabet, when different letters make different sounds, so in music, different notes make different and distinct sounds. Play melody and rhythm recognition games, and encourage the student through fun and interesting activities to discover the piano and the sounds it makes.

Through all of these activities, a student should be able to develop a “good ear.” If at first it seems difficult or doesn’t work, I would encourage all teachers and parents to give it time. Music doesn’t happen overnight, but it is a beautiful thing that anyone can learn given enough time and patience. Good luck!

What is a piano teacher’s biggest burden? Tension, tension, tension……
For some reason, what comes naturally to us when we approach the piano is the idea that if we just grip and seize up enough, the notes will just come out. This could not be farther from the truth. What is really needed when one approaches the piano is total relaxation. I would even encourage students to start with some relaxing exercises before they approach the piano. In a previous post, I suggested doing either yoga or tai chi. This is excellent if you are dedicated enough and have time enough to learn and pursue these exercises. However, for the rest of us, here are some basic exercises we can do before approaching the piano:

1. Forward bend: Pretend there is a magnet in the tip-top of your head, and it is pulling you toward the ground. Bend over slowly, vertebrae by vertebrae, until you are hinged at the waist, and your arms are dangling as close to the ground as possible. Once you are bent over, consciously think about releasing the tension in your head, your neck, chest, arms, hands, fingers….wiggle around, shimmy your shoulders, swing your arms, and then slowly, without adding any tension back in, rise up as you came down, one vertebrae at a time.
2. Do a few slow head rolls to release tension in your neck. Go one way first, and then the other.
3. Swing your arms in circles, backward and forward.
4. Shake your hands as fast as you can. Make them really loose and floppy. Make sure not to tense up in your upper arms to accomplish this.
5. Open and close your hands rapidly. This gets the muscles in the palm working and starts to activate the fingers.
6. Wiggle your fingers. Once again, be aware of your whole body as you do this, and make sure you are not tensing up in your upper arms, especially around the shoulder joint. If you find that you have, shake out whatever feels tense again, until you regain that loose and floppy feeling. You should approach the piano feeling almost like a puppet, completely loose, and controlled by invisible strings attached to the elbow.
7. Something to remember: Your hands should never act independently. Just because it is your fingers doing the work, does not mean they should act alone. Fingers are connected to hands which are connected through the wrist to the forearms, which are connected by that loose, floppy elbow joint to the upper arms. The upper arms do not end at what we perceive as our shoulder, but rather at the shoulder bones, which are located in the middle of the back (those two big protrusions in your upper back). Therefore, in order to make your fingers play the piano, you should be thinking about one long, loose, relaxed line that extends all the way from your upper back, through your arms and hands to your fingers. If you are ever at the piano and lose that feeling, give yourself a good shake.
8. Finally, close your eyes and take some big deep breaths, thinking about filling your stomach up with air and releasing it slowly. Think about what you have to do for the day, and consciously think about being relaxed while you do it.

These exercises should lead to an easier, more enjoyable piano experience, and I would recommend starting every day’s practice with these or something similar.

I would first like to cover more of a topic I hinted on yesterday: how to effectively use method books. Some piano teachers swear by “Hanon.” I do not. I think it serves its purpose, but that purpose to me is to work out obvious tension issues and strengthen the fourth and fifth fingers. For those unfamiliar with Hanon, it features pages upon pages of sixteenth note exercises that focus on strengthening different fingers and finger patterns. This can be especially helpful for the student who struggles with fluidity and has a lot of tension developing in their arms. However, we as teachers must be extremely careful in how we assign and use finger strengtheners like Hanon, because if we do not coach ease and relaxation, these exercises will only cause more tension and frustration, not less. I would also not use these books for very beginning students. These are to be used once a student has a firm foundation in music, can read notes with ease, and understands and has the ability to play sixteenth notes. Until this point, these books will only cause great frustration.

This is why I am such a big fan of the “Dozen a Day” series by Edna Mae Burnam. It begins with what is called the “Mini Book” and proceeds up to a “Preparatory Book” followed by Books 1-4. This ensures that any student at any level can start with these books. They should be used as a warm-up to the day’s practice each day. They can be assigned a dozen at a time, as the book suggests, but I prefer to assign three or four at once and really focus in on the skills taught in these.
I also like these books more than Hanon because they cover such a broad range of subjects, including:
Quarter, Eighth, Triplet and Sixteenth Note Patterns
Legato and Staccato Lines
Contrary Motion
Chords
Basic Scale Fingering
Chromatic Scale Fingering
Octave Reaches and Jumps
Crossing of the Hands
Strenthening of the Fourth and Fifth Fingers (just like Hanon, only accessible and fun)
Etc…….
And these books do all of this in a very approachable manner, using the metaphor of bodily exercises to describe the finger exercises. My students tend to find it fun and interesting to try to decide why the writer chose to call a certain exercise something in particular. Also, though it begins at a level accessible even to the most beginning student, it reaches a high level of difficulty (I studied piano with a private teacher for 11 years before college, and we never even got to book four!)

I encourage anyone to pick up this series and try it out. I realize this has been largely an advertisement for “Dozen a Day” but this is because I really do find it a phenomenal series with great benefits for pianists of all ages. I think it is accessible enough to teach yourself, if you are working on your own, and does not necessarily need the guidance of a teacher. So for all of those self taught musicians out there, this is one that is worth the buy! Enjoy!

Plenty of piano teachers out there will insist on giving their students finger exercises, such as scales, Hanon exercises, or my personal favorite, the “A Dozen A Day” piano exercise series. While these are all well and good, and I will devote an entire post at a later date on how to effectively use piano technique and method books, there are so many other exercises that can be done away from the piano, which are vital to the success of a budding pianist.

I am a fan of developing extremely strong fingers, first of all. I also realize that technique exercises are…hmm…what’s the word??? Ah, yes….BORING! The Dozen a Day series does a little more to make exercises interesting by using metaphors involving bodily exercise to describe the skills learned. However, there are also plenty of other ways to increase finger dexterity. You can try picking up a very finger-heavy hobby such as knitting. You could decide to learn to use chopsticks. Finally, for all those looking for a fun game which improves concentration and finger precision, try the game “Operation.” This game was around when I was a kid, so this may date me a little, but I think it is still in stores. The object is to remove objects from inside a “person” lying down on an exam table, using a small pair of tweezers, without touching the sides at all. As I said, this would be a great tool for building finger strength, concentration, and precision, and can be a fun family game on a Friday night.

While it is definitely important to exercise your fingers, it is also important to remain physically fit, and exercise your body. This is the case because when we play piano, we need to have strong and relaxed arms all the way back to our shoulder bones. Tension can build up not just in the fingers, but also in wrists, forearms, and upper body, and so we must consciously think about loosening up our entire body. I feel this is best achieved through calming, focused exercise, such as Tai Chi or Yoga. These exercises serve a dual purpose, in that they loosen, stretch and exercise your muscles, and also calm and focus your thoughts, and so, they are a perfect precursor to a high quality practice session.

Finally, it is crucial to exercise your mind musically. What does this mean? Well, it refers mainly to theory and listening exercises. A good piano teacher will focus on theory for at least part of the lesson, working with pitch and interval recognition, and discussing musical symbols and terms as they appear in music. If you want something to do on your own aside from assigned theory work, try to find some interesting and fun recordings and see how many instruments you can identify. “Peter and the Wolf” is a great beginning orchestral work to use to identify instruments. There are also several music theory game websites, which you can reach simply by “Googleing” “Music Theory Games.” Finally, if you have purchased a Wii for yourself or your children, I highly recommend “Wii Music.” It comes complete with a very detailed and sophisticated theory game, as well as rhythm games, and “jam sessions” in which one can exercise one’s creativity.

So, as you can see, to get the very most out of your music lessons, you should be pursuing different courses of study and music related games during the week. Just as your teachers work hard to bring the very best they have to lessons every week, you can go above and beyond plain old practicing, and as a result, get so much more out of your music study.

Below, I have listed links to several music theory websites I recommend.

Music Tech Teacher

Piano Games

E-Music Theory

You have already learned how to break down practice time, giving an order and structure to practice that will yield the best results.  Now, within that time frame, what do you actually DO (or NOT DO, for that matter)?

DO take every assignment seriously.  Trust that your teacher has given you all this work for a reason.  Music teachers realize our time and yours is valuable.  We promise never to give you “busy work!”

DO NOT let your brain go to “autopilot” during warm-ups.  Warm-ups not only prevent injury, they also help you improve technically over time and make you more nimble and capable.  If your scales never improve to the point where you can begin to speed them up with accuracy, do not expect yourself to be able to achieve accuracy in difficult solo passages.  One leads directly to the other!  That being said, DO NOT spend your entire practice trying to perfect your scales and lamenting that you cannot.  With a little daily focused practice, you WILL improve over time!

DO refer to notes from your lesson while practicing.  It is my belief that a teacher should help you through the week by writing down specifically what you should be working on.  If your teacher does provide you with a notebook, REFER to it during practice.  They wrote it down for your benefit!  And remember, what they have written down should require thought and work on your part!  It is not enough to read through your notes right before your lesson and assume you can “think” those things into happening without practicing them.  (Trust me!  I’ve tried!)

DO use a metronome if your teacher has assigned it!  There…I’ve said it!  The dreaded “M” word.  But metronomes are there for a reason during practice.  They help you find and maintain a steady beat.  Your teacher should also help you learn how to use the metronome.  Begin at a low speed.  You must achieve mastery at this speed before you move even one “tick” up on the metronome.  If you cannot do it perfectly at a slower tempo, you cannot expect perfection when you speed up!

DO NOT, under ANY circumstances spend your entire time running through pieces from start to finish.  You may do so once at the beginning of your practice to target weaker areas in a particular piece.  But once you have found those areas, the key to making them stronger is not to practice the whole thing over and over and just expect it to get better.  Break it down.  Target the tiny bit that is giving you trouble.  Slow it down.  Is it the rhythm that is difficult?  Count it out loud, clap it, and then play it until you can do it at least five times in a row perfectly in just that one spot before you begin to put it back in context.  This method of breaking down and targeting small areas until they are better is absolutely, positively 100% guaranteed to work!!!

And last, but not least, DO always remember that if you are trying everything you can during practice and still struggling, ask your teacher!   That is what we are here for.  But practice should come first.  (This follows the old adage, we cannot help you if you have not first tried to help yourself.) It is always easier to answer specific questions once you have given it your all than to answer that general, “But I don’t get it!”

If you follow these guidelines for practice, and practice daily, you will see results, and so will your teacher!  You will feel a sense of confidence in your ability to practice and accomplishment in the work you have achieved, and you will be rewarded with the ability to challenge yourself to new and more difficult heights!

Now, stop reading and go practice!!!  With the confidence that you know how!!!!!

You know you need to practice daily.  So, being the good student you are, you sit down to practice, and all of a sudden, feel very lost and confused.  ”Okay…I’m here…now what do I do?”  Being told to practice without being told how to practice is like a school teacher handing you a whole textbook and saying, “Well???  Study already!!!!!!”

Now, in our blog on Practicing Daily, we told you not to cram all your practice into one hour-session, but to spread it out over the week, because the practice you do at the end of that long session is not as effective.  This is true, especially for beginning musicians.  Just like athletes who have to work up to training for long periods of time, musicians have to learn to make good use of one minute before they can make good use of 60!!!  Also, keep in mind that  as your body gets tired, you lose technical ability, and may actually hurt yourself by pushing yourself to practice too long.

So, rule number one:  Leave the marathons to the professionals.  Have a beginning practice goal of 15-20 minutes per day.  If you find you are not getting everything accomplished that you would like, and still feel fresh after 20 minutes, then you can begin to add more time.  Concert pianists may effectively practice up to 12 hours a day, but you can bet they started with about 20 minutes just like you!!!

Now, on to the meat and potatoes of practice!  There should be a logical order to your practice time, based on what your teacher has assigned you.  Below, I have briefly outlined a 20 minute practice session from beginning to end.  This outline will be followed by general tips for what to do and what not to do in a practice session.

1. Stretching: 1-2 minutes–Take a moment to shake out your hands, roll out your neck, work out any stiffness in your body.  The more relaxed and flexible you are, the easier practice will be, and the less chance you have of injuring yourself.
2.  Warm-Up:  3-4 minutes–Work on a scale or exercise from a technique book.  This wakes up your body and your brain and prepares you for the more arduous work of practicing solo or performance pieces.
3.   Lesson or Method Books: 5 minutes–Lesson books should be at or slightly above your current technical comfort level.  A few minutes every day should suffice to help you move forward in your lesson books.  Lesson books also typically feature work on one or two ideas/concepts at a time.  Make sure you know what those are and focus on them!
4.  Solo and Performance pieces: 10 minutes–These may be for an actual outside performance or simply to perform during lessons.  You want to spend most of your time here because you want these to be very polished, and there may be much more to work on here (dynamics, phrasing, articulation, pedal if you are at the piano, etc.)

Now you’ve got a basic order for those precious minutes!  Check back tomorrow for the “Do”s and “Don’t”s of practice time. I realize that just because you can put  those minutes in order doesn’t mean you know what to do with them yet!

These days, multitasking is respected, if not expected.  If somebody can accomplish two things at the same time, that’s better than only accomplishing one thing, right?

Wrong.

Multitasking two tasks usually takes more time than it would take to do one, and then the other.  The reason is that multitasking only works if the two tasks require completely different parts of your body.  For example, I can hear music playing with my ears while I am doing a crossword with my hands.

You may say, “Hey!  There’s an example right there!”  Right?  Again, not quite.  The chances are incredibly high that I’m really not listening to the music playing.  The sound is coming into my ears, but I’m probably not focused on the lyrics, or the instrumentation, or anything like that.  It’s just ambient noise.

At the end of the day, doing any task well requires use of your brain.  And there’s only so much that your brain can process at one given moment.  So do yourself a favor and make it easy for your brain to concentrate on that which is most important to you at a given moment.

Apply this thinking to your practice sessions.  Don’t try to sing while the TV is on.  Don’t try to practice your scales on the piano while talking on the phone.  While you are practicing, let your brain think about one thing and one thing only — music.

I’ve been trying lately to get into the habit of making regular entries on our website blog.  I’ve tried such things in the past; usually, I’ll make an entry here, an entry there, and before long, it flounders.  I have finally committed to making daily updates to this one.  In the process, I’ve realized a parallel between the benefit of writing daily and practicing daily.

Too often, teachers (and I know I’ve been guilty of this myself) will tell a student to include a piece of technique or repertoire in their practice, without really talking much about what makes a good practice.  While entire books can and have been written on the subject, one of the most important elements in my experience is making sure your practice is daily, or at least regular.

One common misconception is that it doesn’t matter how often you practice as much as it matters for how long in all.  An example: Many students will “cram” a week’s worth of practice into a single session, lasting an hour or more.  It’s easy to justify this, since you may be spending a lot of time in that cram session!  However, there are several reasons that just doesn’t work as well.

The first is that your mind and body can become fatigued after working for too long.  By the time you get to the end of an hour-long practice, you are probably picking up much less than you would at the end of any fifteen-minute session.  Spreading your practice throughout the week means there’s a much better chance that every time you practice, you will reap the full benefit intended.

Another benefit of daily practice is that it’s harder to put off.  It can be overwhelming telling yourself that you need to find an hour to practice during the week, but you don’t really care when.  A natural reaction to that sort of situation would be to put it off, and put it off, and put it off some more, until you finally realize that your next lesson is in 20 minutes and you haven’t done a thing all week!  If, on the other hand, you plan to practice every day for a smaller period of time, it can be a nice break from the normal daily routine, and something that you both look forward to and begin to feel is natural as you get a practice routine down.

One more reason it helps to practice daily is that you have a backup plan.  Say you’re expecting to get all your practice done in one go, on Tuesday afternoon, the day before your lesson.  On Monday night, you eat some bad fish and you spend all day Tuesday with a bad case of food poisoning.  No way that practice is getting done now.  But if you’ve been practicing slowly and steadily all week, your brief illness isn’t going to completely derail your progress in your lessons.

If you’re still not convinced, give it a try.  Give yourself a week where you commit to practicing for a small period of time every day.  I think you’ll be surprised how great you feel as a musician at the end of that week, and maybe you’ve just started a new habit!