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In Home Lessons
In-Home
lesson are a great way to conserve your time and energy taking the kids to lessons for more important things. This also creates a positive piano experience. Imagine
the difference when the piano teacher comes to you... (MisterEvan
is always available to give lessons at his very well equipped in- home studio, with playstation, games and
waiting room!)
Rapport and Laughter with my Students
How serious is the
average 5 year old? Not very.
The number one goal of any teacher should be and needs to be rapport. Every student is different.
One of the great joys of teaching is to find out how each young person relates,
then reach to that level where they can say to themselves "Hey, I get this!"
How is this
done???
Well, building confidence is the start. Truly, a lot of parents have grown up "under a yardstick"
of a neighborhood piano teacher. If parents had experienced lessons differently, the entire view of learning piano would
change. Building confidence and enthusiasm needs to be goal number one. Learning will happen when the confidence precedes it. How can anybody learn if they are feeling 1 inch tall? That is why praise to the sky, stickers, and sense
of humor, are an important part of my teaching tool box. Laughter is an integral part of my teaching
style...no matter what age my student might be!....and I am serious about this! Most young students need to be rewarded extrinsically. They
are not ready to accept inner rewards that we as adults take for granted. That is why I give rewards partly as a game (which young
students love) and partly as an honest reward for a job well done. My own son is a great reader because of the attention and
prizes I gave him for sounding out new words...I use the same principles with all my young piano students just because that is something they understand. Kids need
rewards...I respect
that... it is something that works.
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Easy Piano Lesson Quotes from MisterEvan:
1. "Middle C is the same on
the page for both hands...stem goes up for one and down for the other! 2. "It took me thirty years
to figure out that fingers of the C scale going up, are the same exact finger numbers going down!" 3.
"The C scale fingering is: 123 HOP 12345" 4. "pinky
goes on g" 5. "It takes 3 chords to play 90% of music." 6.
"Heart and Soul is a great way to learn 4 of your chords" 7. "There are 7 letters
on the keyboard....ABCDEFG...that's it!." Click Below to listen to
misterEvan's arrangement of America the Beautiful
Sing to MrE's America the Beautiful
What's in a Song?
What
would it be like to have shared song with a neighbor in the community?
Well, just 50 years ago piano bars were the mainstay
in a variety of public places and we did just that. The general public sang these songs together, danced these songs
together.
Now it would seem that most young people have little idea of American Music.
All the songs
once known, are lost.
For example, I ask my students whether they know Oh Susanna,
and they say... "No". That something missing is part of the
fabric that holds our uniquely American culture together.
When there was common song there was...well
there just was more in common. The piano was the
instrument that represented that togetherness as a culture.
People would sit around the piano bar an request songs.
Usually the musician was someone of real ability and talent...Our culture had a real respect for performance and good
music.
I think what we might be asking ourselves is... how can we bring some of this
back?
Perhaps these questions shed some light, from a pianistic point of view, on
some of the challenges we face today as a society and culture. E.S.
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