Personalized Piano Lessons – Cheryl Lollar

SEPTEMBER NOTES

Several of the students have been working on their music for the fall performance this month.   I am so proud of the students and the hard work they are doing to prepare their fall Celebration songs, they are sounding fantastic!  They made some great choices and you are going to hear everything from classical to Halloween music to current hits at the performance, I am sure you are going to enjoy their music.

In October we will study the concept of minor music by playing Halloween songs.  I also use their method book songs and show them how to change the song from a major sound (happy) to a minor sound (sad or scary).  Then we often re-name the tunes to make them fit the new minor sound.  Students enjoy this creativity and it is my sneaky way to keep them practicing in the method books while preparing for the performance.

My students who have chosen not to perform are focusing on continuing in their method book and also adding songs that fit their chosen preference.  One student is playing hymns in addition to their method book.  Other songs played during lessons have been the theme to Harry Potter and the theme to Frozen.

On a personal note, I am also practicing to possibly perform with my son in his senior recital at TCU.  I will play piano while he plays vibes.  We are working on a haunting minor piece in Chopin style.  If we get a recording of us rehearsing I will pass it on to my studio families, I think students will enjoy hearing the song.

HINTS ON HELPING STUDENTS GET READY TO PERFORM

My main goal for the performance is not perfection (because as I will tell them, we are all human and make mistakes) but learning how to polish a piece so a student is confident when they are performing.

If your student is performing, here are some ways to help them prepare:

-Practice practice practice!  Students often feel like they have their song learned and quit working on it at this point.  They will forget it quickly if they do not keep practicing it.

-Play their song on other pianos.  It helps them get used to playing on various pianos, as all pianos respond differently. If they can play on a church piano or neighbor’s piano that would be great.

-Play their songs for anyone who will listen.  If their music teacher at school will let them play for the class, this is very helpful.  Playing for neighbors or relatives all helps because the more they play for others the more comfortable they become with having an “audience”.

-Play for their phone and make an audio or video recording.  This often helps them hear mistakes they do not hear while practicing. It also feels like an audience.

AT THE LESSON

We will do all of these things at the lessons in October.  We will do a video recording of their songs to show them how they are stopping at certain sections or making faces when they make mistakes.  We will go in the house to my baby grand and practice on that piano to get a feel for how a grand piano responds. A few weeks  before  the performance, we make an audio recording of both songs and send it to the parents as this feels like a “rehearsal” to the students and gives them that extra incentive to practice in those last few weeks.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about the performance.

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DECEMBER MUSIC

The students are having a great time learning lots of Christmas music this month.  There is still plenty of learning going on, as we are playing duets, counting, reviewing different positions, and advanced students are being challenged with complicated left hand rhythm patterns and jazz versions of Christmas music.

PIANO PRONTO TEACHER PIANO PLAYING CONTEST

I entered the contest for the Christmas books from Piano Pronto, and won with this entry.  I won a gift certificate for Piano Pronto music and now have bragging rights.  : )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Af3-mSDn8

WINTER BREAK

I will assign that students review old songs during the break, and then play 3 songs for me when they return.  This will give you leverage to encourage practicing during the break, but if your holiday plans don’t include a place with a piano, there will be no new songs assigned so they won’t miss out on practicing songs with new concepts.

No lesson starting Thursday December 17^th.  Lessons resume Tuesday January 5^th.

Our main news is we will soon focus on the fall performance, which I call a Celebration to keep it relaxed and positive.

CELEBRATION DATE

Celebration: (performance) Sunday November 6, 5:00 PM
The performance will be at the recital hall at Houston Piano Company.

houstonpianocompany.com

Participation in the performance is optional, but I will assume a student is performing unless I am told otherwise.   Last year some students chose to perform only one song and this seemed to work for their busy fall schedule.  Students may choose to perform one or two songs. I will assume they are performing 2 unless I am told otherwise.

The fee for the performance is $40.00 per family, and will be included in the Oct. invoice.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! They will choose the songs out of several choices, so they have “ownership” in their songs.  They play one new song, and we learn this first, and then we review a song that they already know (and liked) for the second song.  The intermediate students choose their songs first and then beginners wait until a little closer to the performance as their music does not take so long to prepare. If a sibling or neighbor starts their performance song before your student, don’t worry, we will be picking all the songs for everyone very soon.

Also, there are often specific goals we are working on for the week on their assignment book or posted on “sticky notes“ on their music. I will encourage all students to write how many minutes they practice each day on a chart on their assignment book, to help motivate them to work on their songs.

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

This performance is called a Celebration to emphasize the positive, relaxed and casual atmosphere. The word recital makes students nervous and we want this to feel more like a happy talent show instead of a stoic formal performance. Dress is casual and I usually dress in jeans to make my students comfortable. If a student wants to dress up they certainly can.

You are welcome to invite family and friends. Please let me know if you are bringing a huge group of friends so I can set up extra chairs. We love our audience! The more the merrier! You may want to let your friends know that we let the students play through both their songs so they can keep their concentration, then clap after both songs are finished (enthusiastically, not politely!)

MUSIC

The student must bring their music to the rehearsal and performance, as we do not memorize our music for the Celebration. Loose music must be in a binder that I provide at the lesson. If the music is from a book, make sure to bring that book.

NEED MORE INFORMATION?

Contact me at 832-492-5168

Cheryllollar@yahoo.com

Congratulations to Trent Porterfield who finished level 6!  He joins Laura Gunn and Izzy Thompson who have also finished level 6.  It takes several years of practice and discipline to even get to level 6. Then to finish this set of books a student plays Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin.  They also are introduced to a lot of advanced concepts such as jazz, theme and variations, poly-tonal music, and several tricky key signatures. Once they finish these books they get to choose what to focus on.   Some students continue classical, some start a more intense study of jazz, and some choose to play pop/movie/Broadway music. Quite often it is a mixture of all of that!  I am proud of my all of my students, but I thought it would be nice to acknowledge the ones who have worked hard and accomplished so much.

This past month the students have been playing some fun pop music such as Blank Space, Shake it Off, Uptown Funk and A River Flows in You (a song from Zelda).  We also started a great jazz duet called Snaptastic.  Of course we continue working in our method books, playing duets and working on other piano standards such as Pink Panther and Linus and Lucy.

I continue to record the students as often as possible. Besides the benefits listed last month, it gives them a feel of “performing” which is always helpful as the recorder acts as an audience. They learn to keep going and not stop to fix their mistakes which is a great skill to achieve.

Just a reminder that the last lesson in March will be Saturday March 28.  Lessons will resume on Friday April 24.  For your convenience this information is also on this website’s Calendar page.

December has been a month with a lot of learning going on!  While working on holiday songs, my students have been working on duets, chords, scales, cadences, new hand positions, note-naming, and counting new rhythms.

My last day of teaching is Friday Dec. 19.   I will resume teaching on Wednesday Jan. 7.  I have learned not to expect the students to practice due to all the vacations/visitors, but just in case they want to play piano during the break I have assigned something appropriate for their level, such as playing from their favorites binder or from a supplementary book.   I do not assign “teaching” songs so if they do not have a chance to practice it will not affect their progress. I have told them all to come back and have 3 songs ready to play for me, so if parents want to use this to encourage them to practice this will give the students a goal. If a student comes back to the first lessons though and tells me they have not had a chance to practice that is fine, I will not be surprised, and we will just get on with the learning in January.

I wish my lovely families a holiday season filled with peace, joy and great music.