I cannot tell you how many musicians I hear from that feel overwhelmed. Many of them know how to play by rote (from books) but they feel as though they have a huge mountain to climb to be a real world musician. Let me explain what I mean by “real world musician.” Colleges churn out musicians by […]
Tag Archives: pedagogy
I live in the Atlanta, a very urban and ultra-competitive place. Atlanta has grown up a lot over the past ten years. When I first got here, it was incredibly shallow because of all the money. Somewhere along the way, the money dried up and now people have become a bit more grounded. I like […]
I would guess most of you are taking the summer off from your piano lessons and if you are parents, are giving your children the summer off. I think that is a healthy thing. I let my children take the summer off except for Kelsey on violin.
In church, there has to be a balance between doing things well and giving new musicians a chance to develop their skills. Both are important and unlike baseball, church does not the luxury of minor leagues to develop those musicians.
In the last two posts, I have pointed out some weaknesses in the way music is usually taught in our culture. Today I want to give you some thoughts on how to overcome those weaknesses.
There has been a lot of feedback over on Facebook in regards to my last post, and it made me decide to write one more post about what I see as the problem before I get to the solution. While I appreciate those that have given their opinions and love their passion, a few statements have been made over there that I strongly disagree with.
My wife and I spend $4,000/year on music lessons for my four children. That may sound like a lot but my guess is many of you parents are right there with us. At $80-$120/month for 10 months a year, you can expect to spend $1000/child per year.
For those of you taking it easy today, consider reading this article about Bach: http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/110177/bachs-music-back-then-and-right-now
Someone was over at the house when I was practicing yesterday and noticed me repeating a 4-bar phrase over and over for a long time. Later on, she asked me how she could get her children to practice that way. As it turns out her children are like almost all children; they practice by playing songs all the way through and rarely stop to practice on problem areas.
There was once a boy named Timothy who lived in a country far away.
From an early age, his parents wanted him to be a famous painter.
I did a masters class last week, and covered a few of the concepts I have been writing about here on the site–using 7ths and the ii7-V7-I progression. I was impressed with the knowledge of the students, but after an hour or so, I was still getting a lot of blank stares. It reminded me […]
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