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Welcome to my Music Blog

American Music Celebration

5/24/2015

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As we head into Memorial Day, 2015, we will hear some great masterpieces by great American composers. I love listening to these pieces all year long so here are YouTube links to some of my favorites (yes, I love Copland) that you can save to your playlist. A great way to celebrate and commemorate our armed forces. Please share.

Fanfare for the Common Man, by Aaron Copland, New York Philharmonic.

Lincoln Portrait, by Aaron Copland, Narrator:
Katharine Hepburn.


Hymn to the Fallen by John Williams.

Canticle of Freedom, by Aaron Copland for orchestra and voices.

Eternal Father, Strong to Save; a beautiful arrangement for mixed choir and orchestra.


Taps and America the Beautiful, for organ and trumpet; Timothy Moke Trumpet, Georg Masanz Pipe Organ.

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Piano Methods: Traditional vs. Radical

5/9/2015

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There are many ways to learn to play the piano. Especially nowadays, one can surf the Internet and find many options to learn anything, including how to play something on the piano. If one wants to really make piano playing a good hobby or profession, however, the choices are fewer.

After teaching for a fair amount of years, I classify piano methods into two major categories: reading-based and playing-based. I began piano lessons in the second grade of elementary school (US). Most or all piano methods were (and many still are) very traditional (reading-based). This meant I started learning the complex language of music notation from the very beginning. Since it was a requirement that I had to learn to read the notation of a piece before I was able to play it, the first couple of years were filled with super simple and boring pieces that, frankly, I'm not sure I would want to push on anyone.

Was this the best way for students to learn to play piano? I assumed so. All piano teachers in my area taught this way so I also taught this way for many years while constantly trying to think of another, better way. However, I wasn't aware of some important concepts that blow this way of learning out of the water.

Music is a language, the learning of which can be compared to our own language.
How do we learn our language? As toddlers, we start learning words, then experiment with putting them together into sentences. Only several years later do we learn what those words and sentences look like on the printed page - that is, we learn to read. And along the way, we've made many cute mistakes in grammar and pronunciation and that was okay as that's part of learning.


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    Terry Smith teaches piano and voice privately in the Phoenix, AZ area and online anywhere using an innovative approach called "PLAY NOW!"

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