Thursday, February 15, 2024 | Uncategorized

There are so many method books out there for new piano beginners…but I have a favourite! I have recently been recommending “Piano Safari” for my brand new beginners. It’s so versatile. We:

- play fun songs,

- get lots of practice with initial piano techniques through rote pieces and improvisation (so my students can look at their fingers to see what they’re doing - so important!), 

- and get to grips with some finger coordination before reading notation gets too hard. Notation reading is initially intervalic, which me and my students find really logical, and there’s lots of opportunity for my students to use their own creativity. It’s not the only material I use with my new students, but we’re certainly enjoying it 🙂

Tweet

Tuesday, December 19, 2023 | Uncategorized

Lots of my students have been finishing Xmas compositions with me this week. It’s wonderful to hear so much creativity, and it helps with their music theory knowledge too. I have been so happy to hear some magical sounding melodies which really sing out the spirit of the season. My beginners are putting into practice their knowledge of notation picked up over the past few months, and taking it even further in order to notate down exactly what they have imagined the spirit of Xmas music sounds like to them. We’ve been using knowledge of note names, note values, rest values, practising getting their note stems just right, as well as all the other notation language they need to write into their composition, like tempo, dynamics and other musical language to ensure they can share their ideas with anyone who wishes to play their tunes. For my slightly more experienced students we are using knowledge of harmonisation to create music which is rich and full. I wish everyone my best greetings of the season, and hope that you experience some magical music this Xmas, just like I have.

Tweet

Saturday, November 4, 2023 | Uncategorized

I like to teach my beginner piano students pentascales. These are something not everyone has heard of so why do I do this? I’ll explain what pentascales are. They are the first 5 notes of the usual scales we are familiar with learning. This might be anything from C major to G minor. Pentascales are easier to learn than the full scale, and we certainly learn the whole 7 notes of each scale in good time, but for an early beginner, knowing your pentascales has many benefits. The pentascale contains 3 very important components of the key of that scale - the tonic, the mediant and the dominant note. These 3 notes make up the tonic triad and much of the music notation we read is made up of combinations of these 3 notes. Knowing these 3 notes in the most important and most used keys, makes understanding the structure of the music my students are reading easier, and therefore easier for them to learn.

Tweet