If you can add and subtract and you spend some time practicing, identifying intervals that are written on the staff is an easy task.  Hearing two notes and determining whether they are an augmented fourth or a minor ninth apart is usually tricker, and can be daunting for some students.

To add insult to injury, I haven’t seen a lot in various textbooks that helps a student learn these intervals — since the book usually doesn’t generate its own sound, it will just show you a couple notes on the staff and say, “That is a major third. Learn it. Memorize it.” Okay, great! But how can you figure out what it sounds like?

Aside from the obligatory “practice, practice, practice”, here are some ideas to help you learn intervals. (Some of these ideas have been borrowed from Hearing and Writing Music by Ron Gorow).

Play it. Assuming you’ve figured out the easy part and you know what the interval looks like on paper, get yourself a well-tuned instrument and play the interval in different contexts — by itself, with other intervals, or in musical pieces.

Name that song! This is a common practice, and in fact was used in my first theory course in college. For example, the tritone is the first interval in the melody of both “Maria” from West Side Story and the theme song to The Simpsons. So, if you hear an interval that sounds like either of those songs is about to start, it’s a tritone. This is very helpful for many students, but has its own problems — chief among them being that if you don’t know the song real well, you can trick yourself with this method.

Size does matter. Intervals are distances. So, each different interval has a corresponding different size. Most people (even completely non-musical ones) could tell you that high C is higher than middle C. They could probably go on to tell you that the C above that is even higher than middle C. Easy example, but that’s what you’re doing when identifying intervals. Spend time listening to different intervals and try to hear the difference in size.

What comes next? Tons of Western music is based on formulaic chord progressions and harmonies. Play two notes. Do you feel like you have completed a musical idea? Or do you need to “resolve” it somehow? If so, how should you resolve it? Intervals like the minor second and perfect fourth can feel like they have arrived on a final note, but other intervals like the major second and tritone will feel to most of us like we need to add another note to the end to “finish” the phrase. Familiarize yourself with this tonal nature of different intervals.

Happy or sad? Most students, especially younger ones, are taught that major scales sound “happy” and minor scales sound “sad”. This is a simple way to say the scale has less or more dissonance. Listen to an interval, and consider how the resonance sounds to you. Some intervals like the tritone will sound very dissonant, or clashing, while others such as the major third will sound bright and pleasing.

Drill wisely. Most attempts to master hearing intervals will require a lot of “drill” exercises — hearing intervals over and over again, and trying to identify them. Start doing this, if you haven’t already. But remember to pay attention to what you are doing. If you get to the point where you are frustrated or just guessing randomly, you’re no longer achieving anything. Give yourself a break, and before you come back to the exercises, refer to a book, article, teacher, or friend to get some new ideas to help you.

There is an excellent online ear trainer at http://www.ossmann.com/bigears/

Happy training!

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!

I still remember running my video games through a cassette recorder so that I could listen to the music when I wasn’t playing… in a very real way, it’s an “interactive soundtrack” because you can remember doing things as the music was playing.  I would get a huge kick out of listening to music from Mario is Missing! or Mega Man 3 in the car.

Video game music has come a long way since the days of Pong.  Now, video game music is indistinguishable from film music, and I consider both to be the modern-day popular venue for the orchestral and choral instrumentations of classical music.

Games that are heavy into story-telling feature some truly excellent work — I think the WarCraft series music is enjoyable for any fan of orchestral music, and I’ve even gotten goosebumps from some of the pieces in the latest Mario game!

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of singing with the Houston Symphony Choir in a Video Games Live! concert.  VGL is a touring show that pays tribute to video game music, giving it the sound of an orchestra (along with some killer electric guitar and drum kit) and the energy of a rock concert.  It was an incredible experience for a singer who mostly works with classical masterworks, and one I hope to repeat when the VGL crew comes through Houston next summer.

More information about Video Games Live!

Last week, OverClocked ReMix, a website that specializes in presenting arrangements both electrical and acoustic of video game tunes, released a “project album” called Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption.

This marked another contribution I have been thrilled to make to the genre of game music.  Along with about a dozen other men, I contributed to the Fabul Men’s Choir by recording my voice singing choral parts.  Composer Andrew Luers then took these sounds and layered them together to create a choral sound for his track “Fighting for Tomorrow”, a great and enjoyable piece.

The album itself is truly impressive — a monumental undertaking, comprising over fifty arrangements in various styles of music from the game Final Fantasy IV (originally released for the Super Nintendo in 1991).

More information about this album
OCRemix, the parent project website of this work

Piano is seen as an “activity” much like sports or dance, but it is actually much more akin to learning a language. It takes time, focus, and devotion, and will not happen over night. Whereas in sports, you go to a few practices, then put on a uniform and you ARE an athlete, in piano you must spend months or even years learning the very basics of piano. Pushing notes down on a keyboard like you would push buttons in a video game is not playing music. Playing music comes with a detailed understanding that the notes you push can be combined in many different ways, and there is even a technique to how to push them. Not only that, but music words are in another language. So while a child has to learn the “language” of music (the music alphabet and so forth), and while they are still getting a firm grasp on English, we then ask them to learn and understand words in ITALIAN, too! Again, adults have developed the patience to understand that this will not happen overnight, but children just want to sit down and do it! And woefully, there is SO much to do.

That being said, how do we keep the young student’s interest? Can they actually have a full hour of piano? Definitely. The key to developing this lesson is to vary the activities greatly, and to make the student think that this is a game. (There is serious time, too, but it is interspersed with “fun” activities, and can actually be fun itself if instructed properly.)

You also want to cover a broad range of topics: technique, rhythm, artistry (dynamics and nuances), theory, history, other instruments, etc. Find a fun history book with some activities and a CD of composers’ popular works, and I guarantee the average child will be interested by the stories of composers and their lives. Use technique books that utilize cute and quirky metaphors to describe the exercises. Find not only theory books, but also activities and games. Teach them scales by having them improvise while you keep rhythm. Teach them rhythms that are causing them problems by allowing them to chose from a selection of percussion instruments and making it “hands-on” but away from the keyboard. Have a multimedia aspect of the lesson with computer music games. Teach them songs by memory by having them repeat a song after you, starting with two notes, and adding one until they get “stumped.” Doing these things makes for an interesting and engaging lesson.

All of this will lead to children finding music enjoyable and engaging and hopefully cause them to look forward to lessons. It does, however, require significant time to develop all of these aspects, so the child and parent have to be open to the idea of taking music for an hour. The hope is that what cannot be accomplished in a shorter time period (in which all that can be accomplished is making small strides in technique and lesson books), will be able to be put together in a way that makes students eager to come back. If all that is focused on is technique, and drilling practice, of course young students will have the, “I’m not sure I want to go,” attitude, but if one takes the time to present music as fun and engaging, that is exactly how it will be perceived. This is how we develop a high level of musicianship–not necessarily a concert pianist, but definitely a young person who enjoys and is excited by music.

I would stipulate that music classes are even more important now, in today’s age of information technology. In an age where everything is computer and media driven, children tend to lose the need to be imaginative and creative. They tend to stay in front of TVs computers and video games, and do not exercise the parts of the brain involved in higher thinking skills. Involving a child in the arts cultivates something in them that they may no longer get at home. (Note: I am not saying that all video games are bad, as there are some educational games, and even those that are not can be alright, but largely, sitting in front of a television or game does not provide adequate stimulation.)

Involvement in the arts can do so much for a person that I cannot even adequately elaborate on it, but rather, I have listed below all of the additional benefits of arts education.

-> Increases imagination
-> Improves memory and retention
-> Provides learning through analogy
-> Builds discipline
-> Helps focus on long term goals
-> Develops problem solving skills
-> Increases attention to detail
-> Builds self-confidence
-> Causes students to strive for excellence
-> Cultivates responsibility
-> Develops good work-ethic
-> Helps students apply previously learned information to new scenarios
-> Develops both academic and expressive skills
-> Creates a passion for learning
-> Provides the opportunity to risk-take
-> Develops intuition and insight

Finally, arts competitions and festivals can be so rewarding for children, provide a goal to work toward, and prove to be a rewarding experience for the child no matter the outcome. For even in competition, there is no failure. Children are rewarded and complemented for making the effort not matter whether they have “won” or not. Also, they have gained new skills from their competitive experience, and a teacher would do well to remind them of this.

So we see that music and the other arts provide a vast pool of skills, and should not be neglected. If you are blessed with children, then the next time it is suggested in your child’s school that arts programs be done away with, I urge you to fight this with vigor, and remember some of the benefits that your child would be missing out on.

Chart of Multiple Intelligences

ALL CHILDREN ARE GIFTED AND TALENTED! WE JUST HAVE TO LOOK HARD ENOUGH!!!

Why, in the past, have we assigned labels (”gifted and talented,” “special needs”) to children? It is because we want an easy way out. We want children to be classifiable because it makes our job as teachers easier. Then we can teach the “gifted and talented” kids one thing and the “special needs” another. The problem with this? Intelligence is not black and white There are many areas of intelligence and all people are good at at least one. This means that as teachers we have to spend the time with each child to determine WHICH one. This has made the “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” very popular in the education world right now. I would like to briefly look at what this theory is, how it relates to the arts, and how it can help teachers to better connect with students and students to get more out of their education.

The theory of multiple intelligences divides methods of learning into different categories. Those are “Word Smart,” “Logic Smart,” “Picture Smart,” “Body Smart,” “Music Smart,” “People Smart,” and “Self Smart,” as shown in the chart. I have a few disclaimers to make about this chart. First of all, the theory of multiple intelligences says that different people have strengths in different areas, so everyone’s chart will look different, and have different sections appear larger depending on their individual strengths.

Second, you will notice that “Music Smart” is included in the chart. I do not believe that a child has to be largely music smart to benefit from music. That is the importance of this article. Music teachers should be encouraged by this theory to be attentive and discover each of their students points of greatest intelligence, and then play off of those to create the best possible learning environment. Also, music students should not be led to believe that their music lessons are about obtaining musical perfection. The arts should not be so much about a perfect finished product as they should be about a search for a higher quality of learning and of life through the joy of musicianship.

Though each person’s “Intelligence Pie” is cut differently, and teachers should recognize and play to a student’s strengths, they should also recognize and work on areas that are not as strong using music as the tool to accomplish this. Music can provide means of strengthening weaker areas, as it aids in higher thinking skills such as independent thought, creativity, analysis, and coordination. So, if you have a student who is not particularly strong in logic but is very creative, you should make sure you exercise BOTH the creativity and the logic. A teacher can also help a creative minded student by presenting logic and facts through story-telling, bringing fun and life to an otherwise dull subject.

My goal within this article is to establish the fact that teachers should be aware of and catering to their students’ areas of intelligence. This means that if you have 3 lessons in a row all with second graders, every lesson, upon observation, would be vastly different. For example, the logical minded student will be a very good listener, and can understand facts very easily. However, the bodily-kinesthetic learner will likely be much better at DOING than LISTENING. Rather than spouting facts at this student, the teacher should find a way for the student to actively participate in the learning, DOING something to learn the same information your first student could have gotten by listening.

In this way, a music teacher should be able to provide varied and interesting lessons for all of their students, featuring a unique and customized teaching style. This is what I hope to achieve for my own studio, and by making this information accessible, it is what I hope to encourage in others.

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.

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!

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