End Year Letter 2023

  Monday, September 18, 2023 | Term Letter

Goodbye until January

What a year, phew! Parents and Students, thank you for supporting me this year during my pregnancy. Thank you for working so hard. We had an extremely good year regarding work covered and progress, I stand amazed at the results. Students who entered for competitions received brilliant results and one student even got 100% for a recital programme at WCVE. I am so extremely proud.

What to do for the next three months?

Contact Dr. Urvi Drummond for online master classes if you wish to do so: urvi@thepianopod.co.uk

OR

Apply for lessons at a teacher of your choice just until December.

OR

Practice on your own.

The most important is: DON’T STOP PLAYING.

Please also go to your lesson notes on TUMEC to check if I suggested something specific to practice. I will switch off TUMEC’s portal from 1 October to 31 December so please check before it closes.

Is there something exciting to practice for?

Yes! There will be an online concert at the end of January when classes start, to showcase the pieces you’ve practiced between October and January. Pieces must be polished and on a good tempo. Anything from John Thompson to Ministeps to exam pieces are acceptable. Come on, get going!

Where can I find my reports, term letters, detailed information regarding lessons, fees, competitions and exams?

Go to Google Drive and click on shared with me. There will be a ‘studentname piano shared folder’ where I save ALL your music information. Inside this folder is:

1. Your Personal Music File

   1. contains your reports, entries, videos, results and certificates for competitions and exams.

2. Piano General Information

   1. contains beginner notes, valuable practice guides, term letters and information regarding exams, concerts and competitions. 

Where can I find lesson notes, my calendar, meeting links and recent news.

On the TUMEC portal. If you can’t find or remember your sign in details let me know.

It is really essential to be able to log on to TUMEC so that you can stay up to date with what is happening. Please let me know if you have any problems.

October - December events

Regular performance opportunities for all

Weekly assemblies.

This is a wonderful performance opportunity for anyone who is ready to perform. Competence, excellence and confidence are required here. Ask your school and music teachers about this.

Play during music class

Ask the teacher at your school if you can play for your class during the music period.  

Bi-weekly home concerts.

Home concerts are the absolute best way to get used to performing. Family and friends get together, organise some snacks and enjoy a piano performance. Students can play short easy pieces for this. Remember to always introduce yourself and your piece to the audience.

Informal home performances.

Great when friends come to visit. Play something for them, every single time they come. Run to the piano and simply play. Nobody needs to listen, you can simply play in the background.

Competitions: CAF and WCVE for all levels, SASMT for advanced.

Competitions for those who can play pieces with confidence. Mrs Maree will be in contact with students who are ready.

Exams: Only for those who are ready.

The first exam happens approximately 2 years after beginning with lessons. Each exam level takes 18 months to complete on average depending on each student's personal practice schedule and discipline. 

THE MORE YOU PERFORM THE MORE YOU WILL GROW, DEVELOP AND ENJOY THE MUSIC JOURNEY!

PARENTS EVENINGS

Proactive parental involvement is absolutely necessary for piano lessons to be successful. Please organise termly or annual meetings with me to discuss the past musical year and goals for next year. It is highly recommended to do this. Here we talk about your child's progress, the expectations of piano as a subject and how you can reach goals successfully.

Enjoy!

Have a great term.

Warm regards,

Heylene Maree 

The Ultimate Practice Guide

THIS IS THE SECRET

PRACTICE UNTIL YOU CANNOT GET IT WRONG

How to practice daily in order to stay musically fit:

Students should be able to comprehend and apply the explanations of each section below since we do it in class every week. Let me know if you need help to understand it.

1) Sight reading (SR): If you are focussed and intentional this will take 10 - 15 min. Learn and practice 2 short pieces in John Thompson or Ministeps every 2 - 3 weeks until it's perfect. Practice and repeat two bars a day (with all dynamics, articulations and utmost musicality from the very start) until the song is learnt then put it together. So, a piece of 8 bars should take you 4 days to learn. Then another week of repeating and detailing it until it's on a good tempo (not too slow or fast) and until you can play it with ease. Play it for your family when you're done and send me a video.

 

2) Technique: If you are focussed and intentional this will take 10 - 20 min. Scales / skip exercises / Dozen a Day / Hanon / Schmitt. One or two scales a day, repeat 10x or until you cannot get it wrong.

3) Repertoire: If you are focussed and intentional this will take 10 - 20 min (7 minutes per section). Exam/competition pieces and exercises. ALWAYS PRACTICE WITH UTMOST DETAIL, ARTICULATIONS AND DYNAMICS EVEN THE FIRST TIME YOU TRY IT OUT. 

Learning a brand new piece:

Listen to good recordings of the pieces often! On your way to school, when you prepare food etc.

Repeat practice two - three bars per week (separate then together 10x) with absolute precision regarding dynamics, rhythms and articulations until all notes are learnt. For a piece of 32 bars it will take 3 months to learn to play slow and smooth from beginning to end. Now, another 4 - 5 months will be needed to detail and polish the piece and to get it on tempo. 

Detailing and polishing includes the following:

Identify problem areas in each piece.

Divide the problem areas into short sections of no more than two or three bars each, and circle it. Do at least one circled problem section of each piece per practice session.

Repeat practice these short two bar phrases at least 10 times each day for about 4 days or until you feel comfortable with the notes and movements and until you cannot get it wrong, then move on to the next problem area for about 4 days. Practice these sections legato, staccato, high, low, soft, loud and with different rhythms to really get the hang of it. Use all tricks we do in class. When problem areas are sorted play the piece as one at a slow tempo (66bpm) with the metronome. Increase the tempo by 4 beats per minute every day until you reach the desired tempo.

4) Exploration: Play something you like either by ear or from sheet music / Play a known song in a different key (transpose) / Improvise and be creative / Make theory work practical on the piano / Analyse and figure out chords of a song you like while you listen to it etc.

5) Aural and Chord practice: If you are focussed and intentional this will take 10 minutes. Play diatonic chords and sing solfa (Do Re Mi) exercises (once you've received instruction).