March Photo Challenge – but first, an introductionBeing a podcaster, I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that I enjoy listening to lots of podcasts. Lately, I’ve been bingeing on James Clear. Although James is not a podcaster, (he’s a blogger and you can find him at JamesClear.com AFTER you finish listening to my podcast!) he is invited to guest on many podcasts, especially those about productivity, habits, fitness, and entrepreneuring.One podcast I listened to the other day focused on one of James’ blog articles, “The Difference Between Professionals and Amateurs.” You can read the whole article here. He starts the article with this paragraph:I’ve started to notice (partially because of my own failures), that there is one skill that is so valuable that it will make you a standout in any area of life, no matter what kind of competition you face.Then James spends some time setting up a great storyline to draw the reader into his article and wonder, “What is that one skill that is so valuable that it will make you a standout in any area of life?” For the purposes of my podcast, and because I’ve read the article, I will jump ahead and give you the answer.The ability to show up every day, stick to the schedule, and do the work — especially when you don’t feel like it — is so valuable that it is literally all you need to become better 99% of the time.This is great Shelly, but what does it have to do with my piano kid and a March Photo Challenge??One of the biggest challenges piano parents face is motivating their piano kid to get to the piano to practice.For a child to succeed at piano, they must follow James’ advice. They must show up every day, stick to the schedule, and do the work.James Clear admits that he wouldn’t have become a blogger if he hadn’t committed to posting a blog post on a consistent basis. He chose to write every Monday and Thursday. He didn’t write only if he felt motivated. He wrote because it was scheduled and he was committed.I have found the same thing to be true with my podcast. If I had only learned about podcasting and dreamed about podcasting and thought about doing it one day, that day would have never arrived. Instead, I determined to publish a podcast every Monday. Some are better than others but I am learning as I go and making gradual improvements. (It used to take me two or three hours to edit a 30-minute episode!!)I learned how to podcast by watching Pat Flynn’s free YouTube Tutorial “How to Start a Podcast”.Do you have a topic you’d like me to cover on the podcast? Please let me know about it in the comments section or by emailing me [email protected].The same thing is true for your piano kid. They will learn to play the piano by playing the piano. The problem is that sometimes telling them to go practice is met with reluctance if not outright resistance. That’s where the March Photo Challenge can help.The March Photo Challenge can give you and your piano kid a new, fun reason to get to the pianoThe various prompts that Dawn Ivers and I put together will give your child a new incentive to sit down at the piano. They will also spark some ideas for creativity. Here are a few ideas for some of the prompts.Day 20 – Lento (a musical term indicating a slow tempo) you can photograph part of your child’s...

Ten Books to Read with Your Piano Kid

Welcome to the Piano Parent Podcast show notes for Episode 080. Every tenth episode features a list of ten things to help you in your musical journey. Today’s episode is one of my favorites: Ten Books to Read with Your Piano Kid!

Click here to listen to the other Tenth Episodes.

Thanks to my co-host and fellow book lover, Dawn Ivers for offering her top picks.

Book One

Children’s Book of Music DK Publishing

(Reference book for all ages)

We like this book as it serves as a great reference for piano students to learn about musical time periods, types of music, and listen to great music. You can study a few pages at a time and enjoy different parts depending on what you interests you.

Here is a YouTube video of Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”

Book Two

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue Anna Harwell Calenza

(Picture book with listening CD for ages 6-9)

This book gives the backstory behind the composing of Rhapsody in Blue. The more history I learn about a topic, the more interested I become. This book tells an interesting story with lovely, colorful pictures.

Gershwin’s masterpiece was featured in Disney’s Fantasia 2000. I just love this video!

Book Three

Nina: Jazz Legend and Civil-Rights Activist, Nina Simone  Alice Briere-Haquet

(Short picture book for ages 4-8)

In addition to telling the story of Nina Simone, this book also conveys the idea that music is for all people and dreams need to be taken care of. Highlighting the subject matter, this book uses lovely black and white illustrations. A moving book for children and parents alike, just in time for February’s Black History Month.

Nina Simone was the recommended musician that Nicola Cantan referred to in her teacher interview in Episode 071.

Book Four

Becoming Bach Tom Leonard

(Picture book for ages 4-8)

A beautiful first book written by illustrator, Tom Leonard. Even if you aren’t interested in music, the book is worth a look for the illustrations alone. This book features patterns which are a mainstay of music while telling the story of Johan Sebastian Bach.

These Bach pieces contain lovely pattern-based melodies that you and your piano kid might enjoy.

Bach Cello Suite in G

Prelude in C for piano

Book Five

Hear Music, Play Music, Read Music

I was reading this article on Psychology Today about whether music is a universal language or not.

Here is the checklist I found at the National Institute of Health. You can compare your young child’s development with the typical progression of skills.

Music is a language in the sense that it helps convey emotions by changing pitch, rhythm, and tempo.  Like any language, it can be learned by hearing and experiencing before it is read or written.

Piano lessons often get this progression backward. We, teachers, tend to gravitate toward reading music, using books.

Here is the episode I mentioned, Episode 075: Piano Doodling.

Tips for Supplementing Hearing and Playing Music

Listen to music in the car

Sing in the car

Listen to Episode 010: Ten Ways to Encourage a Love of Music

Attend Concerts

Sing at church and have your child involved in the church children’s choir

Attend school musicals and concerts

Watch these fun YouTube videos from Episode 040

Give your piano kid time to babble or doodle at the piano

Let them “Get SMART” with their music (Episode 036 and Episode 039)

The saying “See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil” has been popular in my family. Here is a silly picture that was taken with my father and Tracy when we visited the Ice sculptures at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas a few years ago.

I’d like to extend a warm welcome to the following new subscribers to the website: Cametra, Susan, Luis, and Nistha. Thank you for being here!

Thanks to eRinehart 93 for leaving this nice review on iTunes, “Getting some great value from this podcast as well as insights into the piano parents’ mindset…”

Save this chart for the March Photo Challenge:

This week is one that I look forward to every year. It is the week where I rehearse with local band students as they prepare for UIL Solo & Ensemble Contest.

I love meeting the students and seeing them hesitant to play our music together at first. Later in the week, we are more familiar with each other and are able to follow musical cues better. Finally, when we meet with the judge, I hope to be a source of support and confidence for them so they are able to perform their very best. It is exhilarating!

However, along with the excitement comes the responsibility of learning pieces that might not fit my normal tastes and interests. I have to learn to play music that I might not like or at least don’t like until I get to know it more.

I like to give my students a choice

One thing I like about Piano Adventures, the piano curriculum that I use is the variety of music in every unit in the lesson books. I often have a specific piece that I call a “for sure” piece, meaning they need to make sure they practice that piece. They are free to choose one or two of the other pieces to learn as they match their personal preferences.

Sometimes we must learn music that we might not choose on our own

I have a student preparing for the UT Tyler Piano Skills Festival. She is learning two pieces that fit in the required range for her division. They may not be pieces she would have chosen to play for her own enjoyment but they are pieces she needs to learn for the festival. We’ve got to find a way to connect to these pieces when there isn’t an intrinsic, immediate connection already.

Later this spring, several students will be preparing for the Texas Music Teachers Association Convention Ensemble Teams. The piece for each ensemble is chosen by the director. Though the director certainly aims to select music the students will enjoy, there is no guarantee that every student will love that piece at first play-through.

How Can You Connect with a Piece You Don’t Like?

To learn How to Approach a New Piece of Music, listen to Episode 008.

Study the music away from the piano – before you play, take a good look at the score. Notice repeats, accidentals, key signature changes, time signature changes, etc. Make note of any possible pitfalls that might slow down your ability to perform the piece well.

Give the music a slow play-through – slowly play the music. You could play one hand at a time or one line at a time. Slowly and carefully start acquainting your hands with the musical notation.

Listen to the music – YouTube is a valuable resource for listening to performances of many (not all) of the pieces your student is learning. If they are playing the music correctly, listening gives them assurance that they are on the right track. Listening also helps them hear nuances of the music that their eyes might miss. Be an active listener – follow along with the music as you listen. This teaches your piano kid to be a more discerning listener. They learn to see expression and articulation marks in the music and listen for them in the performance.

Discover the History of the Piece or the Composer – learning the “back story” can often help your child make a personal connection with the piece they are studying. (I love the backstories of the songs I researched in

Valerie Altman is a piano teacher from New York. She knows what students face as they work to sight-read new music and try to find time to practice. She encourages her students with lots of genuine praise.

Tell us your personal piano story as well as how you chose piano teaching as a career.

When I was born, my mother looked at my hands and said I had piano fingers. They were pretty long when I was a baby, although they are now pretty short haha! I received my first toy piano at the age of 1 like I’m sure many children do, but by the time I was 5 (my mom says I was 3…hard to believe) I was teaching myself to play by ear. My father taught himself to play guitar by ear in his early 20s and he will also dabble with the piano. We were unable to afford lessons until I was 10, but that didn’t stop me from begging! I took lessons for 8 years (until college where I focused on voice) while also doing choir, performing in 4 theatrical performances a year, writing and recording my own music and studying advanced placement music theory. Music was just in my soul! I studied voice in college and then music education. I had the desire to perform and work in a school, but through a lot of life changes, I realized that teaching lessons one-on-one was what I enjoyed the most. I wouldn’t have it any other way!

 Teaching lessons is something that feeds my soul just like music did when I was growing up.

Were you a good student? 

I say yes and no! I tell my students stories about myself as a student and how I used to lie about practicing and that my teacher always knew when I was lying even before I played sometimes! My mother always tells this one story….she was going out to run an errand and told me to practice while she was gone. I said “okay” but of course I was busy watching something on tv. Before I knew it she was home and I panicked. She came in and asked if I practiced to which my response was “yup”. My mother looked at me and said “the keyboard is put away…you never put it away…you’re lying”. Caught! Haha. After the first year or two as I felt more confident in my reading (I had trouble learning to read so learning to read music was also a struggle) I began to practice more and of course, once I started learning pieces that I wanted to learn…I would constantly practice! I was (always have been) always polite and asked lots of questions. I had the desire to play but lacked the drive when things got tough…not unlike a lot of my students now.

When I got my first piano, things changed for me; I felt more excited to play.

What is one thing you often say to your piano students?

I am not a particularly strict teacher. I don’t scold my students if they don’t practice! However, I always tell them “if you don’t practice, you won’t get better”. The big thing I tell them is “practice makes PROGRESS” (not perfect….ever) and I always remind them that they have the capacity to do ANYTHING!!!

Listen to this episode for tips on finding time for regular piano practice:  Episode 55 Let’s talk about practice

Is there a common struggle your piano parents deal with? How do you help them through it? 

The parents do struggle sometimes when the kids aren’t practicing as much. Sometimes I feel parents are more willing to quit for their kids than the kids are. Fortunately, we have always been able to sit and discuss and the kids always pull through. I am very open in communications with my parents and I have to say that I hit the jackpot when it comes to the families that work with!

What keeps you motivated as a teacher?

The progress of my students. When they finally finish a piece or even when I get there and they are just happy to be playing….that’s motivation enough!

Do you have a favorite piece that you enjoy teaching your students?