MTNA Conference; Pedagogy Saturday: Cracking the Code: Teaching Adults Jazz/Pop

I’m a Scott Houston fan so I was really excited to go to this presentation. I always wanted to see him speak in person and was out of town when he came to Arizona and spoke at the Musical Instrument Museum. Scott Houston is best known as “The Piano Guy” from his PBS show. I know sometimes he gets a bad rap from teachers because of his teaching style, but I look at his style as a huge benefit in the RMM world of teaching. Matter of fact, I have used his materials when I taught a summer workshop to my students on lead sheet reading. They were very helpful and made my job a whole lot easier.

Scott mentioned that he only teaches adults, so this topic is close to his heart and he knows what he is talking about!

He begins by asking why teach adults?

#5 They are Fun

#4 They get your jokes

#3 They like music you can relate to instead of the latest Disney starlet of the month tunes.

#2 Don’t pick their noses then play our piano

#1They are there because THEY want to be…

BUT! They are so…. different!

 

He explains that adults may be nodding “ok” in lessons but here is what they are really thinking…  Here I go again, when can I play a tune?  Adults typically don’t share everything they are thinking. As a teacher our job #1 is to get them playing a tune they like ASAP!

He shared that guitar teachers have many successful adults students because they teach a tune the very first lesson. So the adult student walks away feeling pretty good about themselves and is able to share something with their family and friends from Day 1.

Scott shared some helpful steps to create the same environment of success from Day 1…

-First, start with a few chords in the LH (pretend you a guitar teacher). ”Let’s learn a few chords”. If you want you can even use chord diagrams though there is no need to show the chords notated…yet. (These would be diagrams shown on the keyboard)

-Don’t worry about what fingers to use (have them experiment which sounds the best).

Until they know why it doesn’t work, they won’t realize why it’s important. Let them figure it out on their own. You will have plenty of opportunities to teach the “rest” later. They will quickly figure out that something doesn’t feel right. When this happens, this is a great time to show them a “better” way.

-Relax…  There is no need to show the chords notated, notes, lead sheet, etc… (yet!)

-Have them use their aural skills. See if they could tell you when they should change chords. Have them figure it out by ear. It’s empowering for them to figure that out by ear.

-Have them hum or sing a few tunes they can PLAY along with. Yes- PLAY! Let them experience making music!

 

The second step is to introduce playing a melody line. No music Yet? Start on simple melody and help them hunt and peck. (Forrest Kinney calls this ”Trial and Ear”)

Introduce notation with this justification: You now know you can figure it out yourself. You an always try to hunt and peck a new melody that’s not cheating. Soon they will realize on their own that learning it from music notation can save you a lot of time once you get the hang of it.

***It’s like leading a horse to water if you do it in this order.

Scott reminded us that we can teach notation however we want to. In pop style playing, the notation is the guide, not the gospel…  We play to create, not to clone. (That’s what recordings are for) Play musically!

He then asks, why does notation exists? The answer is simple: there was no other way to record music. He had us reflect on our own playing and chances are… when you feel the most musical/creativity is typically when you don’t have the notation. The only reason notation exists is to get a melody line learned so you won’t need it anymore.

Another tip concerning notation at the beginning is to just stick to the treble clef. It’s all that is needed to read a lead sheet. (unless they request to learn notes in bass clef) Give it to them when they are ready and want it. Teach things only when they are needed.

 

The third step is having them play with hands together. When you have a struggle- first thing is figure out which hand should come down, slow it down a lot.

 

Teaching order for adult students: (different from what many are used to)

1. Play tune student wants to play

2. Learn chords

3. Learn melody

4. Teach something new in context

Snowball gets bigger and students gets happier.

 

Scott Houston just came out with a brand new lead sheet book called Three Chord Songs Fake Book published by Hal Leonard. There are 200 songs using just 3 Chords! Fantastic resource for getting started and help make our students feel successful from day 1!

 

MTNA Conference: Pedagogy Saturday; RMM and Teenagers

I was especially looking forward to this presentation by Will Baily. When I think of RMM I automatically think of adults. While I have been interested in teaching RMM to adults, my comfort level is more with the teenagers.

Will begins with a quote by Brian Chung- ”Value participation as much as performance”

Will explains that RMM is redefining success. I think this is really key to RMM and the reason that some teachers struggle or can be confused with RMM. It comes down to how they define students success. So the summary of this presentation is really how to define and understand what success means in the RMM world.

He reiterates the RMM Studio Mission policy a few times in his presentation: “It is our mission to encourage independent, life-long music makers by encouraging a love for music and a passion for music making, allowing students to play music they choose at any level of proficiency.” He explains… any level of proficiency that is relevant to them that THEY want to play. This is crucial to RMM.

We must redefine success…

In his studio, he has 3 main objectives

• Every students will Have Fun! (a lot of laughter, smiling, games)
• Every student will be Engaged in musical activities. (helping each other…)
• Students will take Ownership of their class as a group (Let’s learn …. next week, I have an idea for a game, a song to learn, etc..)

Teachers should act more as facilitators encouraging an atmosphere of play. To demonstrate this, Will showed a video of his students playing the cup game. If you are not familiar with what the cup game is, just do a search on “cup game” on YouTube and you will find plenty of examples. The cup game is a fun rhythm game using cups.

“Play lifts stress, refreshes, restores optimism, exercises brain flexibility…We are most human when we play.” (Marano)

After we develop our objectives, we must observe the objectives. Will showed a video example of a group directed improv. He had his group compose a black key improv without teacher help. He left the room and they worked it out. He video’d the process without them knowing. After he returned they shared what they came up with. This showed that his students were having fun, engaged and taking ownership.

Will doesn’t leave us hanging and gives 10 very helpful suggestions for facilitating fun. The first one made me laugh because it is so true…

1. Embrace the Chaos. If you have every worked with teenagers or kids in general and you combine them with instruments, the chances that you are going to run across “chaos” is pretty high. So when he mentions embrace the chaos, I don’t think he meant let all _ break loose. It means have fun! Don’t stress about the noise, don’t stress about the “lesson plan”, don’t stress at all, just enjoy the process. He points out that this is a time to “hang out”, It’s NOT a time for preparing for performance. And yes, sometimes FUN can sound like chaos.

2. Embrace YouTube Tutorials. In my studio I will occasionally have students come in and tell me they have learned a popular piece from YouTube. I’ve heard some teachers groan when they hear this from their students. I honestly have no problem with this. I immediately say, That’s great! Play it for me! I think it takes so much more time and effort to learn a piece from YouTube and teaches them different skills then reading the music notation. So I say go for it! Will mentions that YouTube is a great source for students to find THEIR choice of music. That it empowers kids to learn popular tunes on their own and ultimately encourages and supports life-long learning.

3. Embrace Peer Teaching. I love this one. I think it is so important to have opportunities for students to mentor and teach each other. I think they learn so much more when they do, plus it is building future leaders! Will these scenarios happen before, during and after class. They take ownership and they are learning to be amazing teachers!

4. Embrace Technology. This one isn’t hard for me as I’m sure you could guess. We live in a time where technology and the digital resources are second nature for our teenagers. Matter of fact, if you aren’t sure how to do something, just ask one of your students. They will know. Will shares that digital keyboards have amazing voices. He is lucky enough to have Clavinova’s in his studio (has been on my wish list…), but I also noticed in the video that he has a Yamaha keyboard which is what I have in my lab room in my studio. Both have great features that can be used for fun RMM opportunities. Students can sightread with voices (and rhythm) on digital the digital piano, record and play along with midi accompaniments. Use mp3 files from pop tunes and accompany along with chord patterns. Build bands… So many opportunities…

5. Embrace Personal Expression. Isn’t this what music is all about? Will shares that this is the power to set your feelings to music, writing your own songs (and sharing them with others) and expressing your faith through music.

6. Embrace the Dream of Making Music. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy watching American Idol, X Factor, The Voice, etc… Yes, they frustrate me sometimes (don’t even get me started on Nicki Monaj) but they are entertaining. And after a long day of teaching, the entertainment factor is sometimes just what I need. While chances are pretty low that your student will be the next American Idol, many of them have big dreams. So let them dream because when they dream it means they are doing what they love and when they do what they love they they want to do it more and more. Now dreaming doesn’t need to be as extreme as auditioning for a TV Talent Show, but it can mean to let them play in Garage Band as Will mentions, or play around in Finale Notepad and compose or simply share their music with family and friends. The point is to make music.

7. Embrace Practical Application. I don’t think most teachers will have a hard time with this one. But it is a good one to remember. Practical application can be things like accompanying skills, a few other things Will mentioned was to play for church, play and sing at the same time, learn how to read and write a chord chart and learn to read music.

8. Embrace Playing for Sheer Enjoyment. This is also a huge part of RMM. Will mentioned that in their studio they encourage practice, but they have a ‘never say practice’ policy. He goes on and says this is a time for no pressure, freedom to create and improvise. Also it is important to note that there should be no negative feedback from the facilitator or peers.When students make mistakes in class, do not point it out. This can stop the flow, can embarrass.

9. Embrace Group Dynamics. Will asked his students why they like their class. Some comments he received was it was a great place to meet new people, socialization and my personal favorite- “you get to mess around a lot and it’s not all about piano”. Isn’t that a typical teenager response? They just want to have fun!

10. Embrace Diversity. “In the participation model of RMM= Ability Grouping is a myth! Diversity rules!” Will did point out that even thought this is very true, that sometimes personality types work better in some groups than others. (I found this to be true when I hold group lessons)

Will Baily is a co-author (along with Debra Perez) of “Way Cool” Keyboarding and Musical Moments, a series of books catered to RMM students. In addition Will has a website Will Baily Piano Tunes where he has written tons of sheet music that includes mp3 and midi files to use with your students. The subscription is very affordable and I plan on subscribing this Fall. In addition he has a blog that you can check out from his website.

Musical Treasure Hunt (free download available)

One of the activities we did towards the end of Christmas camp on the last day was a musical treasure hunt.

My intention for this hunt was to have them find the gifts I made them in the end. That is how it worked out for Monday’s group. But then Tuesdays group came and it took a different turn. A turn that I wish I would have thought about before. But because it worked so well, I did it for the other groups following. The last clue leads to the answer “piano”. The original plan was for them to find the pirate bear gift behind my drum under the piano. But on Tuesday, right after they figured out the last clue was piano, they all started getting out their Christmas music they were going to play for each other thinking that was the “treasure”. Now why didn’t I think of that?! It was too good so I went along with it and did it for Wednesdays and Thursdays group as well and then gave them their gifts afterwards before they left to go home.

For the musical treasure hunt, I had flashcards and items hidden (not too hard) around the room. They had to answer the clue first and then go find the flashcard or item.

Lately I have found myself making more and more power points for my group activities and lessons. So I made a powerpoint for my musical treasure hunt and wanted to share it with anyone who would like to use it. Of course you can still enjoy the clues with your students even if you don’t use it via PowerPoint. Enjoy!

Musical Treasure Hunt (this link will take you to a separate page. Click on the link and it should automatically download.)

TECH TUESDAYS- Lab material for beginning students

I have been using MLC for my lab times; however I have found it does not have enough material for those beginning in PA Primer or MFPA.  What else can you suggest?  I have an iPhone but not an Ipad…yet!!!

First I wanted to say how much I love MusicLearningCommunity.com!  Christine Hermanson is wonderful and often times will create a game based on a need teachers have in their studio.  I have emailed her several times suggesting games, most of which were a need specifically for my primer students.  Tommy Tiger 2′s and 3′s and Hand Prints were a result of one of my requests.  However I do understand the predicament of finding enough material for our young beginners and primer students.

Besides MLC, I thought I would mention a few of my favorite software programs, apps and free online programs that I like to use in my studio for early childhood music students and/or primer students.

Software:  Midisaurus, Music Ace (or Piano Ace- this is the same software, Piano Ace combines Music Ace 1 and 2), Jumpstart Music and PianoMouse are among my favorites.

Free online resources I like are Classics for Kids (for all ages) and Music Tech Teacher (also for all ages depending on the game.)  Music Tech Teacher has over 130 elementary quizzes, puzzles and games about music students can play.

If you are looking for a customizable note reading drill game, I would recommend Piano Is Fun.

One of my favorite apps for early childhood students is the Music for Little Mozarts app, compatible with both iPhone and iPad.  Of course, you probably would be more comfortable using it during the lesson rather than handing your phone over to a student during lab time.  ;)

Hope that gives you some more ideas of what you can use in lab time with your beginning students.