Posted by: clariniano on: May 4, 2012
Most people, especially if they never took music lessons or didn’t take them seriously, think that there are only a very few careers for people with music skills: performing (usually as part of a professional orchestra or famous solo performer) or teaching music at school and/or private lessons. However, there are several more careers that [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: May 2, 2012
In my opinion, unequivocally, YES. Now, some fellow music teachers may disagree. I have been experimenting with using it with beginning students in their first 3-6 months of study. The results so far have been excellent producing beginning students who play with a solid sense of rhythm. First, it gives students EXACT targets they need [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: May 2, 2012
Some people say that it’s easier to master musical skills when you start as a child. But there are examples, especially in learning more advanced concepts, that can be more easily mastered by teens and adults. In my case, I greatly improved and mastered many of my musical skills as an adult, or at least [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: April 20, 2012
Many people think that musical giftedness is a single ability, such as perfect pitch or being able to play tunes by ear. Yet, the reality is that there are several types of giftedness in music, some skills even having subcategories. While some skills are required for most if not all successful musicians, others are required [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: April 12, 2012
Much has been touted about optimizing children’s musical development by providing a conductive environment for music play and learning. Here are ideas I have collected, some from other sources, but many that I thought of on my own. Have a piano in the home, and let young children experiment with it under supervision Provide good-quality [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: April 2, 2012
Many people who are not working in the arts believe that many people who are in the arts really are “starving artists”. Yet, I have found that almost all of my artistic friends, especially the musical ones, are living a decent to comfortable level, some that even have a home that they own instead of [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: April 2, 2012
(note: my parents, especially my dad, are guilty of most if not all of these) Threaten to break their instrument. Especially if it’s owned by the school, which you will be responsible for damages. Threaten to pull them from private lessons or their ensembles for ANY reason. Fail to go to their performances. Fail to [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: April 2, 2012
Strange as it may sound, my parents didn’t want to hear my practicing. My dad once or twice even threatened to break my instrument. (and it was not my own, it was the school’s, and I had wanted my own instrument since I was 16, I even asked for one for my 16th birthday!) I [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: April 2, 2012
A couple of days ago, my husband told one of his relatively advanced piano students, who is 14 years old, to practice while he was marking her theory assignment, which the theory assignment was part of her preparations for her advanced rudiments exam early next month. To his surprise, the student was practicing the tough [...]
Posted by: clariniano on: April 2, 2012
After the first few weeks to few months of learning, many children practice less, or not at all. Here is a collection of tips that I have mostly gotten from parents of my students on how they get their children to practice. The one that most frequently came up as a practice incentive is music [...]
