Bad Bowing is Contagious

There are still a few things that make me want to roll my eyes and giggle as a teacher.  Simply because I’ve been guilty of doing the same things.  Bowing well it’s a wasteland of poor etiquette.  I remember my teachers telling me over and over that I needed to give a good bow.  That I was telling the audience thank you for listening to me play the piano. 

Last Saturday I took my students to a local assisted living facility.  This was a very informal event but a chance to hone our skills before the big winter recital in a few week.   Before we began, I reminded the students to bow after each piece.  Then one of my more bowing conscientious students gave us a demonstration of what a proper bow looks like.  Off we went to the performance.

The first round of pieces was somewhat dubiously played but perfectly bowed.  The second round started and the playing was better but the bowing was headed down hill rapidly.  After about 4 half-hearted bows, a student made a break for it with only a head nod.  I had to interrupt between students and remind them that I expected correct and polite bows.  Then we were back on track.

It seems like if just one student slacks off in the bowing department it sets off a chain reaction.  We will be practicing a little bit more before the winter recital. 

A Return to Lessons

Brunner Studios in Mint Hill, NC, will begin the fall semester on September 10.  Hopefully everyone has had time to get those school schedules settled and is now ready to either resume or begin music lessons.  Brunner Studios offers piano, voice, oboe, theory, and music history lessons.  Tutoring for AP Music History is also available.  We will be having recitals and performance opportunities throughout the year. 

Please call  or email and ask about scheduling a trial lesson to decide if Brunner Studios is the right musical home for you or your student.

My Baby…Grand That Is…Was Sick

Nothing like a sick piano to make a piano teacher break out into a sweat.  Last Monday one of my students was playing a Chopin Nocturne.  Since this student can a time be little gung ho with the arm weight, I recommended trying the Una Corda.  It was a good effort, but didn’t produce the desired results so we moved on to other ideas.  The next thing I knew the piano was sounding a bit odd and the student said that the und corda pedal was not working correctly.  Oh boy.  Sure enough it was stuck in the ‘on’ position. 

Tuesday morning I called my wonderful tech to set an appointment.  The soonest he could come out was next Tuesday.  That was a week of odd sounding lessons.  I thought it was interesting that some students noticed the strange sound and others didn’t.  I many have to explore that issue.  So the tech finally made it out today.  Turns out that it really was a case of being stuck.  A little Teflon power later and we were back in business.  The tuning was in pretty good shape so other than some minor adjustments it was a quick fix.

Come back later this week to find out which group of my students has had the best long term success based on what time of year they started lessons.  The answer might surprise you