Autumn Term 2014
Piano practice points and loyalty cards have started again this term with a new theme - piano keys.
The loyalty card was inspired by a scheme called the 40 piece challenge, which started in Australia and is used by teachers all over the world. Here are the benefits!
To support this I have joined pianobookclub.com. Each month a new piano book will arrive in my inbox with a variety of pieces at different levels and some creative music activities. September’s book is.......... A Bag O' Halloween Tricks! Just before half term we will be using the book to have a couple of seasonal activities, so be prepared for a spooky lesson!
The Halloween challenge by Supersonics Piano has started well with about half pupils joining the competition to win iTunes vouchers and t-shirts. I will be emailing all entries by 30th October. I'm aiming for all pupils to earn at least 5 entries and will be uploading recordings of spooky pieces to soundcloud as they are learnt.
The loyalty card was inspired by a scheme called the 40 piece challenge, which started in Australia and is used by teachers all over the world. Here are the benefits!
- It will improve sight reading
- Varied genres of music can be explored
- Easier, short term pieces are balanced with long term pieces at a higher level
- It is a great motivator to practice!
To support this I have joined pianobookclub.com. Each month a new piano book will arrive in my inbox with a variety of pieces at different levels and some creative music activities. September’s book is.......... A Bag O' Halloween Tricks! Just before half term we will be using the book to have a couple of seasonal activities, so be prepared for a spooky lesson!
The Halloween challenge by Supersonics Piano has started well with about half pupils joining the competition to win iTunes vouchers and t-shirts. I will be emailing all entries by 30th October. I'm aiming for all pupils to earn at least 5 entries and will be uploading recordings of spooky pieces to soundcloud as they are learnt.
There are alternatives to the Halloween theme! I have discovered a new British composer, Ben Crosland, and have two of his books available to listen to and choose pieces from (pieces range from about Grade 2-5). Here’s a great way to sample the books and listen to his wonderful music:
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Piano Maestro is a fantastic tool for pianists to improve their fluency in reading and I would highly recommend pupils with an pad to try it out. Take a look at this review. It's free to download and try the first few levels then there are various options to subscribe to unlock all the different levels and music. It is suitable for beginners and those at a higher level as pieces can be learnt or used for sight reading. I've now seen it in action with a few pupils - it looks excellent and really great fun..... perhaps an iPad will be on my Christmas wish list this year!
Finally a word about practice..... I often include practice advice on this page and the start of this term is no different! There is a short but succinct article on this teachers lovely website for parents. I hope pupils will be as motivated with their practice as Amy - my practice prodigy! Amy kept a record of all practice days from September 2013 to September 2014. The result? A whopping 278 days - can anyone beat that?
Summer Term 2014
Excellent news! The end of term is still 6 weeks away but we have already reached my revised target of 400 pieces of music learnt during this year so congratulations to everyone! We'll have to wait and see how high the total climbs.......
To help the total increase further I am asking all pupils to choose a piece to learn from the compositions page. There are now over 15 pieces composed by fellow pupils, ready and waiting. Every piece has been given a level ranging from beginners to Grade 4, so there's something that everyone can play! Please visit the site and take a listen to all the talent on show!
To help the total increase further I am asking all pupils to choose a piece to learn from the compositions page. There are now over 15 pieces composed by fellow pupils, ready and waiting. Every piece has been given a level ranging from beginners to Grade 4, so there's something that everyone can play! Please visit the site and take a listen to all the talent on show!
I will be asking all pupils to choose a Star Piece from those they have learnt this year and record it before the end of term. We'll then have a list of star pieces to recommend and share. The recordings are now being uploaded to soundcloud where you will also be able to download them to your computer.
Exams are almost here for some pupils - remember my exam prep page has resources and practice tips to make the most of the diminishing time! I would highly recommend hofnote to help with aural preparation. For those pupils who have interval recognition in their aural here's a good site that will help: Earmaster
Summer Practice
Before the end of term I will be updating my summer practice page with links/resources and ideas to keep you playing over the summer holidays. As usual there will be a special summer practice sheet you can aim to complete which I'll explain and preview in lessons. One great new resource is the excellent hooktheory site. This is great for learning chords to songs (over 13000 of them!) and writing music too. It's free and chord sheets can be printed for both pianists and guitarists to play.
Before the end of term I will be updating my summer practice page with links/resources and ideas to keep you playing over the summer holidays. As usual there will be a special summer practice sheet you can aim to complete which I'll explain and preview in lessons. One great new resource is the excellent hooktheory site. This is great for learning chords to songs (over 13000 of them!) and writing music too. It's free and chord sheets can be printed for both pianists and guitarists to play.
Practice smileys are still being ticked off with now almost all pupils having reached 75 practice days. Nearly half of pupils using the stickers have added their name to the 100 piano, but please keep going! I wanted to give a special mention to Amy who has almost reached an amazing 200 days!
Looking ahead to next term, Kingston Performing Arts Festival has just published its syllabus for November 2014. You can take a look at their website here. I will be chatting to pupils about the possibility of preparing and entering for the festival over the next couple of weeks. The festival provides a goal to aim for, an opportunity to perform and some lovely pieces to learn. There are usually classes to suit everybody, including duets if you would like to play with a friend! Let me know if you have any questions at all.
Spring Term 2014
The BIG news is that we have already exceeded our end of year target of 300 pieces learnt - the piano loyalty cards have been working really well! I'm going to be ambitious and set a new target of 400 pieces by the end of summer term. There will be plenty of opportunity to pick new pieces with Easter themed music, duets and most importantly pupils own compositions.
Composing Project
I now have a Compositions page on my website - a place to share pupils compositions. Everyone will have the opportunity to include a piece. As this is an ongoing project this term, I will be regularly uploading new pieces. Please visit, listen to the pieces and download sheet music to play.
I now have a Compositions page on my website - a place to share pupils compositions. Everyone will have the opportunity to include a piece. As this is an ongoing project this term, I will be regularly uploading new pieces. Please visit, listen to the pieces and download sheet music to play.
Congratulations to the few pupils who have made it to 100 practice days. Their names are being displayed on a very special and very smiley origami piano made for me by Millie - thank you! Almost everyone has reached 50 and many are at about 75 or hovering just below 100. I'm hoping by the end of this year to have the piano covered in names!
End of term update
Almost everyone is in the Christmas spirit learning carols or seasonal songs! I will try to update my recordings page, especially as my new pupils this term are recording their Christmas music and adding them to the Christmas animations many pupils did last year. To view these, please visit my recordings page or youtube channel.
Congratulations to all my pupils who played at Kingston Upon Thames Music Festival earlier this term. Amy and Lucy achieved a Very Good and Amelia came third in her class - excellent news! Recordings of their pieces can be found on my recordings page.
I have had 2 pupils take exams this term - Conal and Anneka. They both composed their own pieces as part of their Grade 2 so please take a look and listen to their pieces on my talent page and be inspired to compose too!
More good news - we reached 100 pieces learnt on Saturday 9th November. The total currently stands at 171 with a few pupils completing their first loyalty card. Our final target of 300 pieces by the end of summer term looks like an easy target to reach! Almost all pupils have achieved the first practice target of 25 days with a small handful completing the second level of 50!
Congratulations to all my pupils who played at Kingston Upon Thames Music Festival earlier this term. Amy and Lucy achieved a Very Good and Amelia came third in her class - excellent news! Recordings of their pieces can be found on my recordings page.
I have had 2 pupils take exams this term - Conal and Anneka. They both composed their own pieces as part of their Grade 2 so please take a look and listen to their pieces on my talent page and be inspired to compose too!
More good news - we reached 100 pieces learnt on Saturday 9th November. The total currently stands at 171 with a few pupils completing their first loyalty card. Our final target of 300 pieces by the end of summer term looks like an easy target to reach! Almost all pupils have achieved the first practice target of 25 days with a small handful completing the second level of 50!
Loyalty Card
We will be keeping track of all music learnt this year with my new piano loyalty card. As a piece of music is learnt, the card is punched with the aim of "collecting" 20 pieces of music and hopefully more! When a loyalty card is completed there will be a treat to choose from! Encouraging the learning of as much music as possible will help to improve fluency of reading, develop different techniques and try a whole variety of musical genres. As usual, both Halloween and Christmas music will feature this term along with several of my duets.
Last year, our aim was to collectively learn 200 pieces. This was achieved easily, with a final total of 263 pieces learnt by the end of term in July. Our target total is now 300 - I'm sure we'll make it!
Last year, our aim was to collectively learn 200 pieces. This was achieved easily, with a final total of 263 pieces learnt by the end of term in July. Our target total is now 300 - I'm sure we'll make it!
Practice means Happiness!
As well as keeping a total of pieces learnt, we are tracking practice days with the smileys! Each smiley should be crossed off from left to right, with happiness increasing as more practice days are achieved! There are 6 smileys, but if anyone manages a 7th day of practice please draw your own special smiley!
To help motivate regular practice, my trophies will be making an appearance during the term. The first total to aim for is 25 smileys. This will earn the honour of taking home a practice trophy for the week. The trophies will start small and increase in size as the practice total increases. I will also be adding a smiley board near my piano to display pupils names when practice award is achieved.
To help motivate regular practice, my trophies will be making an appearance during the term. The first total to aim for is 25 smileys. This will earn the honour of taking home a practice trophy for the week. The trophies will start small and increase in size as the practice total increases. I will also be adding a smiley board near my piano to display pupils names when practice award is achieved.
Here's a great practice poster I should perhaps display by my piano! In answer to the question, how often should I practice, I should perhaps answer with this quote from the renowned music educator Dr Suzuki: "Only practice on the days you eat".
Essentially, a minimum of 3 days of practice a week is needed to make any progress. For young children it's a great idea to let them show you what they covered in the lesson when they arrive home and memories are still fresh. Follow what is in the notebook, which should always include a warm-up.
The other question I am often asked is how long to practice for. It is far better to practice little and often rather than cram everything into one or two longer sessions, especially for young children. A young beginner should aim for 10-15 minutes or even play for 5 minutes a couple of times a day. By the time pupils are preparing for their first exams at least 20-30 minutes is needed to cover everything.
I'm always happy to give advice about practice during lessons and will always show the best way to practice. How you practice is more important than how long you practice for. Here are a couple of websites with excellent advice:
Classics for Kids - for pupils and parents
Play Piano - for parents
Essentially, a minimum of 3 days of practice a week is needed to make any progress. For young children it's a great idea to let them show you what they covered in the lesson when they arrive home and memories are still fresh. Follow what is in the notebook, which should always include a warm-up.
The other question I am often asked is how long to practice for. It is far better to practice little and often rather than cram everything into one or two longer sessions, especially for young children. A young beginner should aim for 10-15 minutes or even play for 5 minutes a couple of times a day. By the time pupils are preparing for their first exams at least 20-30 minutes is needed to cover everything.
I'm always happy to give advice about practice during lessons and will always show the best way to practice. How you practice is more important than how long you practice for. Here are a couple of websites with excellent advice:
Classics for Kids - for pupils and parents
Play Piano - for parents
Whack it!
This term also sees a return of the ever popular boomwhackers. We will be using my set of boomwhackers to improve general rhythm skills during the lesson. I may also set some rhythm work for practice time and some composing too. More news of that later on in the term.
Listen
My recordings page has been updated to include 2 pieces from new pupils and will continue to grow again over the term. Sharing pupils music and performances continues to be an important part of our lessons. Watch out for performances of pieces from pupils entering Kingston Music Festival and exams later this term.
Calling all budding composers!
Another project I would like to involve pupils in during this academic year, is producing a book of original pieces of music. Last term, Emma and Kate composed pieces as part of their piano exams (which you can listen to on my talent page). I have a few more pupils in the middle of composing for their future exams. It would be lovely to produce a book of compositions for everyone to share. All pupils will be welcome to contribute.
Year ending July 2013
Final Total!
Collectively, all my pupils learnt a total of 263 pieces of music this year. We'll aim to beat that next year!
Brain Challenge update
In the last part of this term we are trying to complete as many of the challenges as possible and reach a new target of 250 pieces of music learnt this year! The brain theme and it's challenges has produced some very creative results this year, including: composing, creating accompaniments, playing with backing tracks, improving reading skills as well as discovering and performing some fantastic music. See the news below to hear the results for yourself! (There will be more music uploaded over the next couple of weeks)
Claygate's Got Talent!To showcase the range of talents of my pupils I have a new page - Talent! - which will include recordings, compositions and sheet music. Please visit the page, which will be updated throughout the last part of this term.
I have also updated my recordings page to include recordings of exam pieces. Please support your fellow pupils who have exams this term by listening and leaving some positive comments! |
Star Pieces
The goal of reaching 200 pieces has been achieved, with the number currently at 229! I'm hoping we'll make it past 250 before the end of term. We are going to make a list of the ultimate star pieces of the year, so I'll be asking everyone to nominate their star piece and record it. I'm uploading the recordings to a Star Pieces set on my soundcloud stream so we can share the music we've most enjoyed.
Summer Exams - Update: visit my exam prep page for practice tips
Many pupils are busy preparing for exams in the summer term. As usual, I will handle all of the entries and paperwork but please take a look at the information below as you need to be aware of entry dates, exam centres and fees. The entry date for all exams is May 3rd, so I will require confirmation and payment of fees during the week beginning April 29th. Please note, entries will only be submitted if pupils are ready and have made enough progress!
Trinity Exam Centres and Dates:
Richmond (nr Kew Gardens): 16, 30 June & 7 July: Sundays only Broomfield House School Broomfield Road, Kew Gardens, TW9 3HS Ewell w/b 1 July: any day, could run 2 weeks Kings Church Longmead Road Epsom KT19 9BU Bookham w/b 1 July: any day, could run 2 weeks URC Bookham Church, Eastwick Road, Great Bookham Initial Exam fee £31.00 Grade 1 fee £35.00 Grade 2 fee £39.99 Grade 4 fee £51.00 |
ABSRM Exam Centres and Dates:
Claygate Church House Church Lane Claygate Surbiton 267 Surbiton Hill Park (corner of Rose Walk) Surbiton KT5 8EN Exam period: 10th June - 13th July Jazz exam period: 10th - 22nd June Grade 1 £35.00 Grade 2 £41.00 Grade 4 £51.00 |
Practice makes progress!
During this part of the term, especially as preparation begins for summer exams, the focus moves to how to practice and for how long. I will be getting out my practice tools and tips to help everyone maximise their progress through practice, but I also wanted to share an article written in a blog by George Bevan, the Director of Music at Monkton Coombe School - How much can you achieve in half an hour? Practising regularly for half an hour wold be absolutely ideal, but not what the majority of pupils actually achieve! His idea is to try and do two 15 minute sessions, which is an excellent and manageable way to achieve the ultimate goal! Even doing two 10 minute practice sessions would go a very long way towards real progress.
Here is a good page for practice tips.
Here is a good page for practice tips.
Trinity Guildhall Piano Exams
"Graded exams and repertoire books designed with the choice and flexibility to allow for varied teaching and learning styles and to encourage students to demonstrate their individuality" (Trinity Exam brochure)
This year I will be preparing pupils for the Trinity Guildhall exams in addition to those currently taking ABRSM. They require the same high standard of performance as the ABRSM exams but provide greater choices in their syllabus, enabling pupils to work to their strengths. For further information, you can visit their site and download the brochure or full syllabus: Trinity Piano Syllabus
Trinity Guildhall exams are internationally recognised, with UCAS points available at the higher grades in the same way as ABRSM. There are no theory prerequisites for Trinity practical exams as musical knowledge forms part of the practical exam.
Local exam centres include, Ewell, Leatherhead and Richmond.
This year I will be preparing pupils for the Trinity Guildhall exams in addition to those currently taking ABRSM. They require the same high standard of performance as the ABRSM exams but provide greater choices in their syllabus, enabling pupils to work to their strengths. For further information, you can visit their site and download the brochure or full syllabus: Trinity Piano Syllabus
Trinity Guildhall exams are internationally recognised, with UCAS points available at the higher grades in the same way as ABRSM. There are no theory prerequisites for Trinity practical exams as musical knowledge forms part of the practical exam.
Local exam centres include, Ewell, Leatherhead and Richmond.
The Big 100!
Congratulations to all my pupils - collectively you've learnt over 100 pieces! I'm sure we'll easily reach our goal of 200 by the end of the summer term.
Star Piece
From all the pieces learnt, one stands out as the overall star piece - Skyfall. From 32 pupils, 20 have played Skyfall by Adele. I've never had one individual piece chosen by so many pupils! We've had solo versions, piano accompaniments (you can listen to Eleanor's recording below) and duets from beginners to advanced.
Winter Term Challenges
Pupils are moving on to the next brain/music challenges: Listen and Read.
Read challenges pupils to learn 3 different pieces independently then perform to me when they are ready.
Listen involves pupils either playing with a backing track, for example Skyfall or with me as a duet. I have found a great site that produces backing tracks to hundreds of well known songs which you can customise by taking the piano part out - karaoke version
Two pupils have completed the listen challenge - Eleanor, who features as the pianist on the complete orchestral version of Skyfall and Amy who chose a lively duet to learn and perform with me.
Read challenges pupils to learn 3 different pieces independently then perform to me when they are ready.
Listen involves pupils either playing with a backing track, for example Skyfall or with me as a duet. I have found a great site that produces backing tracks to hundreds of well known songs which you can customise by taking the piano part out - karaoke version
Two pupils have completed the listen challenge - Eleanor, who features as the pianist on the complete orchestral version of Skyfall and Amy who chose a lively duet to learn and perform with me.
This Is Your Brain On Music!
Did you know that listening, performance and composition engages nearly every area of the brain? This year we are going to complete a variety of musical challenges that stimulate different areas of the brain.
Each pupil taking part will have a sheet detailing their goals. The goals are linked to the corresponding regions of the brain and cover all the elements needed to develop as a well rounded pianist - technique, listening, theory, sight-reading, composing and above all learning as much music as possible!
Each pupil taking part will have a sheet detailing their goals. The goals are linked to the corresponding regions of the brain and cover all the elements needed to develop as a well rounded pianist - technique, listening, theory, sight-reading, composing and above all learning as much music as possible!
Pupil's Playlist
All pupils will also receive a Piano Playlist sheet regardless of whether they are doing the Brain Challenge. All pieces learnt will be written onto the sheet and given a star rating. Favourite pieces will be recorded and uploaded to my page on http://soundcloud.com, with a selection added to my recordings page. I'm also encouraging pupils to recommend pieces by adding them to my wall of star pieces.