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Master Class with Mr. James Agnoson
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I hope your teaching year is going well. Sometimes when you start new classes you wonder about the dynamics between students, parents and myself. This year has turned out to be a delight. Smart kids, excited parents, (they come on time) and for the most part students come ready to play and learn. But hand position and tone is always an issue I repeat week after week.
I was shopping at Hallmark and saw this cute little Spiderman stuffy, his head is just the right size to have a young student place their hand over his head to show how their hand should be in "spider finger position" when they play piano. Spidey is a great success, the boys love him, but by the time they move from Spidey to the piano and start playing all hope of a good hand position is gone.
Then I sat in on a master class with Dr. James Anagnoson, Dean of the Glen Gould School of Music in Toronto. Not only did I come home to the studio inspired but ready to approach my teaching a little differently. Slow Practice, Slow Practice; I knew that but sometimes you just need to hear it again. He stressed body position while sitting on the bench some of my students seem to grow 2 inches every week, I need to help them be aware of how they sit by moving the bench back. Their feet can now be flat on the floor instead of swinging or cross legged (horrors). Helping the student to listen to the tone and quality of a note or passage when played in a hand position that produces it, hence Spiderman's job is sitting at the piano to remind them. Fixing fingering to get a better tone and quality sound out of the piano and playing a passage for them then placing their hand on mine while I play the same passage, helping them to hear and feel their piece. I like to choose a varied group of pieces from easy to hard that will help them accomplish all these things.
And then a little practice incentive to encourage all these things.
In comes Wendy of Compose Create to create the incentive that was perfect for this season. She posted a free resource that has four thermometers on it, each thermometer represents a different goal for the students to accomplish. I'm using it this Christmas season to help students with their Christmas song. Under each thermometer a different aspect of the song that is to be accomplished: articulation, technique, dynamics, artistry, memory etc. You can write whatever is appropriate for a particular child. My advanced students received all four thermometers and the younger ones got one or two. We colour the thermometer each week to show their progress as we prepare for Christmas recital.
I love it when I'm encouraged by attending a seminar and great ideas from other teachers come together to help me be a better teacher.
Have a wonderful teaching season leading up to Christmas and I hope you are inspired by these few ideas.
Have a wonderful weekend
Lois Dicknoether
Solo Time Music Games
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