I'll send you a Zoom link, a list of learning materials required for the first lessons, and suggestions from colleagues on setting up Zoom audio and a picture on where to set up your camera. 

See you in class. 

​David

You play primo. 

Learn your part, put on headphone or ear buds and play along. Remember YouTube videos can be slowed if required. 

Have fun 

​David

I'm looking forward to the section on ornamentation in Mozart. Always a tricky proposition. 

​David

4 hours of practice: No Grinding.

Top 5 tips for practicing any musical instrument
​

1. Have everything organized before you begin. Materials ready at hand. 
2. Listen to the music you are learning to play. Mark your scores.
3. Record yourself as you go along. Always know why you are repeating a passage in practice.
4. Warm-up
5. Auxiliary studies hold the keys to your eventual success: ear training, theory, sight-reading, score analysis. 
6. Bonus tip: Find a supportive enthusiastic group of fellow students to hang with, either in person or on-line. 

Playing

• Repertoire retention: Review a piece each practice from your list.
• Lesson assignments

Listening to Jazz 

• Form analysis: Who, what, when questions.
• Instrumentation: What, what, when questions
• “What’s going on here?”
• Watch Youtube videos of Jazz Transcriptions
• Suggested materials: How to Listen to Jazz by Ted Gioia

Ear training

• Transcribing licks. A lick a day transposed into different keys.
• Transposing exercise
• C jam blues in 12 keys
• Autumn leaves learn it in another key. Try in the key of F. By ear, or by writing it out.
• Suggested materials: Perfect ear App or Music Theory Pro

Jazz History

• Reading jazz history and checking out the recordings on YouTube. Each month study a different decade of jazz. Research a jazz history outline online and head for YouTube. See also Jazz History by Ted Gioia.
• Watch Youtube videos of Jazz Transcriptions

General and Jazz Specific Theory

• Key signatures, intervals, transposition, scale/chord construction.
• Suggested materials: Music Theory Pro for drills, Alfred’s essential music theory is good as are the RCM theory books. But it all depends on where you are starting at. You can ask me for a recommendation based on my assessment.

Jazz Sight reading

• Piano music: play simple stuff, use a slow metronome.
• Lead sheets
• Chording
• Suggested materials: Your fake book: open and play. Or RCM sight reading books. Again, it all depends on where you are starting at. You can ask me for a recommendation based on my assessment.

 Piano Technique

• Major scales
• Bebop scales
• Broken 7th chords: Major 7, dominant 7, minor 7, minor 7b5, diminished 7th in 12 keys. Play a maximum of 2 keys a day. SLOW IS FINE.
• I play classical piano music to keep my hands in some kind of shape. You might benefit from this as well. Or, you could play written jazz arrangements for piano. The idea is to keep the hands alive, as jazz piano study is brutal on piano techniques because we spend so much time play single note lines and left hand chords. 

If you would like some help, call me. 

​David
​

Being able to recognize the forms within a Baroque Dance suite, by ear, will be helpful. 

This will get you started on your listening journey. Enjoy. 

When I take on a new piece of music of any complexity I will go through some or all the following steps. My goal is to have a clear artistic impression of the piece before I begin. 

1. Compare the different scores available to me.
2. Seek out professional recordings.
3. Print the music as I will be marking it up. 
4. Study the form and phrasing of the work. Sometimes, as in the Telemann I will mark in the phrasing. 
5. I will consider the era in which it was written for clues on possible interpretations.
6. I translate any unfamiliar terms I find in the score.
7. I might consult other sources to explore the style and era of its creation. For the Sonata in C, I enjoyed re-reading the section on Haydn ornaments in the book below.
8. I will listen to multiple professional performances and mark on the score ideas of interest. I often will slow down a recording to hear how the artist plays their ornaments. 
9. I might consult with a colleague or my piano coach as well. 

In short, I will have a clear set of ideas, those I discovered and my own, to explore as I now start to "learn" the piece. I will share these with my students.

If I can help you discover intriguing world of classical music, please call me. 

David

1. Scrolling scores
2. Fugues voices on separate staves
3. Sublime playing by a former weight-lifter Kimiko Douglass-Ishizaka
4. Sublime compositions

Bach's WTC would be one of the 2 music books I would take with me if I was to be exiled to an island. 

David

Links: ​Sound Ways of Knowing: Music in the Interdisciplinary Curriculum : Janet R. Barrett Claire W. McCoy Kari K. Veblen : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Know more than the notes. Exploring the questions of sociological context, compositional techniques, recorded history and more will add depth and sophistication to your playing and security to your memorization. 

Click on the picture for more, or for the "science" click the link. 

Here is a simple example:

1st Movement of Sonata in F minor op. 1

Who created it?
Beethoven, German Romantic era composer 1770–1827
When and where was it created?
1795 Vienna Austria
Why and for whom was it created?
Dedicated to his teacher Joseph Haydn. Apparently it was his first publicly published work.
What does it sound or look like?
Dramatic opening rocket type theme of the tonic, then dominant chord announces that there is a "new kid in town". Great dynamic contrasts throughout the movement keep us focused. A composition of a young man.
What kind of structure or form does it have?
Classic Sonata Form
What is its subject?
The interplay is between the 2 main themes in the exposition and their development through many key centers. 
What is being expressed?
Youthful exuberance, drama and compositional skill demonstration of the classical era style.
What techniques did its creator use to help us understand what is being expressed?

• Sonata form
• Tonic/dominant harmony
• Melodic development

David

I'm going to check out Yann Tiersen today. An artist I'm not familiar with. This book is a favorite with many adult students. 

​Restarting piano after a 4-decade hiatus? How to get started.

The hands will be slow. But they will improve. Patience is the key here. An analogy: You were at 18-year-old track star back in the day. You buy a pair of expensive running shoes, the kind that promise speed, endurance, and youth. First day out, you run 10K. It is glorious, next day you can’t move. Shoes go in the closet; you are back in front of Netflix. Oops, you’ve made a tactical mistake. Try this instead.

1. Tune the piano.
2. Find a sympathetic coach/teacher.
3. Buy an anthology of classical piano music, the kind that covers a range of performance levels.
4. If you haven’t already, start listening again to classical music.
5. Take a course on Classical music appreciation. There are lots of online opportunities: YouTube, Great Courses, Community College etc.
6. Play a few scales, sight read a simple piece. Avoid a Chopin ballade if the fingers have been resting for 40 years.
7. Fifteen minutes, maybe 20 1st day and each day for a week.
8. Each week at 10% to the duration of practice.
9. Investigate the Pianist magazine, a wonderfully affirming resource for adult piano enthusiasts.
10. Dust of a theory book and review.

Have fun, if I can help, call me.
​
David

My decades old copy of Opus 821 by Czerny. Still on the piano. 

When I want to work on my tone, I go here. When I want to work on the different physical moves required in piano performance I go here.

This work covers all the keys in very short 8 measure exercises. I'm able to work on finger independence, arm weight, rotation, octaves, staccato, legato, portato, drop, thrust, dynamics, balance, and tone. 

Last weekend I attended the National Ballet of Canada's performance of "etudes". It is a 45 minute ballet of bar moves and set pieces to the etudes of Czerny. It was fun to recognize many of the pieces. It was instructive to hear the music interpreted by the dancers. 

Click here for a free copy:  https://imslp.org/wiki/160_kurze_Übungen,_Op.821_(Czerny,_Carl)

Happy practicing. 

My go to podcasts. I listen in the car on my way to classes. One reason I bounce through the door on arrival. 

• Drummers Resource by Nick Ruffini 500+ podcasts, I've listened to them all. Many more than once. My favs? Michael Carvin #55 and #159 How to practice. Benny Greb #52 How to practice: funny and informative. His description of his one hour practice technique is priceless. Kenny Washington #204 Explores his deep knowledge of jazz history. And finally the irrepressible John Ramsay #254 "approaching music as a lifelong endeavour".  Find it all here:               http://www.drummersresource.com/podcasts/
• You'll hear it by Open studio "Jazz musicians Peter Martin & Adam Maness give you daily tips on how to develop as a jazz player. Listen for a combo of actionable advice and occasional humor"  I met Peter a couple of years while attending the Roma Summer Jazz Workshop, he was teaching piano. Great guy, knows what he is doing. Some of my favorite episodes are the episodes on how to learn, how to practice, how to improve your ears. Searchable here: https://www.openstudionetwork.com/podcast/ 
• "Crushing Classical podcast is an ongoing series of provocative interviews with musicians who are pioneering a new path in the classical music genre." Fireside chat #40 explores the relationship between behaviour and goal attainment. Helpful advice and stories for us all. 

Best, 

David Story

1. Having an identifiable sound in the tonal quality of your playing.
   
2. The speed, evenness, and clarity of execution in your technique.
   
3. The ability to play with consistently accurate time and feeling of pulse.
   
4. Your choice of tonal material in improvisation.
   
5. The spirit and drive of your playing. The emotional feeling and vitality comes from your conviction of rhythm and pulse.
   
6. The melodiousness of your lyricism.
   
7. The depth and variety of your repertoire.
   
8. Your ability to navigate,with integrity, a wide range of repertoire (vehicles) without losing effectiveness.
   
9. The quality of your inventiveness, creativity, originality which demonstrates your innovation.
   

Found on pages 77 & 78

I highly recommend this book to all my Jazz students. 

Cheers,

David

"The Musician's Way a guide to practice, performance, and wellness" by Gerald Klickstein

I'm engrossed in this book. It is packed with ideas, which I will share over the next few weeks. There is a link for additional material at www.musiciansway.com

Overview

1.      The five practice zones

• New Material: absorbing the artistic and technical content through precise practice, slow tempo
  
• Developing material: refining interpretation, increasing tempo, memorizing
  
• Performance material: reviewing the interpretive and technical particulars, maintaining tempo and practicing as performance
  
• Technique: honing your skills so you don't make a fool of yourself
  
• Musicianship: sight-reading, ear training, improvisation

2.      Planning your practice 

• Have a plan, work the plan
  

3.      Staying healthy and sane

• Musicians are notoriously out of shape which combined with anxiety from their ambition and crazy deadlines leads to all sorts of health problems, including injury
  

Cheers,

David Story