David Story, Online Piano Lessons from Toronto
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Tips, free lessons, and inspiration

Organized practice spaces

4/29/2020

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"Have a plan, work the plan" Sage advice
A plan is great if you can find your materials when it's time to practice. A plan is great if you can have some quiet alone time to focus and have fun. 

Here are ten tips on one aspect of success: an organized workspace. 
  1. A tuned piano
  2. Good lighting
  3. All books and music within reach
  4. A pencil and eraser to mark the scores
  5. A journal to make notes
  6. Your teacher's notes from class
  7. An audio recorder (your phone will do)
  8. Phone is in airplane mode
  9. YouTube is ready for reference
  10. You've made a general plan on what needs immediate attention

Have a productive session.

​David
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Immersive listening: a key component of music study

4/23/2020

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A wise teacher said, “we are who we listen to”. Another slightly more jaded teacher asserted that all students want to play want they hear in their heads. And unfortunately, they already do. Ouch  

Building your repertoire of sound possibilities come from repeated listening to the same tracks over an extended period. How much time? Until you find yourself humming along.

Try this:
  1. Build a playlist of say 20 pieces or so. I suggest younger professional players under the age of 40. They see the world in a different way if you are younger or older. Time to shake it up a bit.
  2. Just play it everyday in the background until you are singing along.
  3. Next week created another playlist and repeat.
 
Happy listening.
 
David

PS: as you can see the screen shot above shows a combination of younger and legacy players. 
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How are students dealing with virtual lessons?

4/14/2020

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Before the current crisis about 1/3 of my student body had their lessons online. Now it is everyone.

I've lost 3 students. Two lost their jobs, one didn't like online lessons. We all look forward to resuming once the virus moves on and they get back to work. Five new students have been added in the same timeframe. 

I now meet my music coaches online now as well. Today with my "classical coach', last week with my "jazz coach". Every week with my drum coach. 

I believe a number of students will remain online after the crisis lifts and the others will resume as they were.

If I can help you,

Call me.

David  
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How to spend 90 minutes or more practicing jazz piano

4/13/2020

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An Ideal Practice Session
  1. Listen to a classic piece of jazz to get in the mood.
  2. Warm up with scales, jazz chords both solid and broken, and for advanced players arpeggios, All in a logical and thoughtful manner. Don’t rush through this step. Use a metronome.
  3. Practice a jazz etude from a jazz theory book or YouTube video.
  4. Play over a feel-good piece of your repertoire before getting down to the difficult work. Remind yourself of your progress to date.
  5. Practice transposing a simple lick into as many keys as you know.
  6. Spend a little time analysing a jazz standard, mark the form and the ii-V progressions, noting which keys they relate to.
  7. Pick a tune from your repertoire to focus on. Play the melody with a recording, trying to mimic what you hear. Better yet learn a melody by ear.
  8. Play through the broken chords on each chord of the piece.
  9. Practice the scales associated with each chord.
  10. Mimic the recording again.
  11. Practice comping the chords first with a metronome, then with the recording. Transpose as needed.
  12. Listen to some more jazz.
  13. Sight read chord progressions from your fake book.
  14. Finish up playing some completed repertoire to keep it fresh. Record this portion of practice and listen back.
  15. Don’t follow this list in order, bounce around.
Have Fun,
​
David Story
 
 

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How does the teacher practice?

4/9/2020

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How does the teacher practice?

Good question. So, here goes.

I do the following things on a regular basis:

  • I have piano coaches with whom I meet monthly for both classical and jazz piano pedagogy studies.
  • I have a drum coach I see weekly.
  • I listen to music podcasts about coaching, customer service, marketing, and music pedagogy.
  • I participate in numerous online groups involved in professional music and pedagogy.
  • I practice my instruments almost daily. I usually rest on Sunday.
  • From time to time I play in a professional setting.
  • I attend live music events most weeks.

I do the following things on a yearly basis:

  • I attend summer music workshops around the world: USA, Canada, Italy, and Poland so far.
  • I take a music holiday and attend concerts around the world. Last trip over New Years was to New York City.
  • I attend professional conferences in the USA and Canada.

How do I practice in my studio?
  • I have overall lifetime goals in both the piano and drums.
  • I have yearly goals which are posted in the studios.
  • My studio spaces are well organized, it is easy to get started.
  • I record much of my practice.
  • I use a metronome.
  • I rehearse with my peers weekly.
  • I follow the direction of my coaches/mentors/teachers, but I also initiate things on my own.
  • I work on the following areas:
    • Technique
    • Etudes
    • Sight reading
    • Repertoire
    • Ear training and Transcriptions
    • Score study
    • Metronome work
    • Theory
    • Student work
  • I journal my progress in various ways
 
If I can help you, feel free to call me. 

Best regards,

David
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Playing duets, sharing the joy of playing with your children

4/8/2020

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Parents are dusting off their rusty piano skills and now playing daily with their kids. What a opportunity the lockdown has given them. 

Some of them are one finger players, so they play whole notes with one finger.

Some of them were accomplished musicians, their playing reflects their growing confidence as skills return. 

Most are somewhere in between. 
​
This situation will be over soon enough, the opportunity will be gone. I say take it, it will bring added joy to your life and fond memories. 

David
Here is a video of a parent getting ready to accompany their child at the upcoming Zoom piano recital.
​
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Deep Listening

4/8/2020

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Consider:
  1. Notes
  2. Dynamics
  3. Articulations
  4. Tempi
  5. Balance
  6. Cadences and phrasing
 
The ability to discriminate these individual elements will help you play more expressively.

Here is an exercise:
​
  1. Find a quiet space
  2. Headset
  3. Score
  4. Pencil
  5. Professional performance
  6. 1st run through, just listen
  7. 2nd run through, note the dynamics. Pay attention of the melodic direction and dynamic changes. Does the music get louder when the melody rises? And, vice versa? What happens to dynamics at the cadence?
  8. 3rd run through, note the articulations: legato, staccato, detached, accents of various types.
  9. 4th run through, note the relationship to tempi changes to phrasing and sections. Does it speed up or down? Is there a pause between major sections?
  10. 5th run through, notice the relative loudness between the melody and accompaniment.
 
Happy listening.
 
David
Picture
Beethoven's messy scores. Wow!
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Repertoire Review: Building your program

4/8/2020

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Building a program is selecting the pieces for your exam. Here is an ideal situation:
  1. You select your best pieces from each list a few months before signing up for an exam date. Then polish. 
  2. The pieces chosen need to have different tempi and dynamics Not all FAST and LOUD or worse SLOoooooooow and soft. You get the idea. Variety makes for a balanced program which will be well received by the examiner. 

Best of luck, 

David

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Ear Training for Classical Musicians

4/7/2020

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Ear training gives you the ability to conceptualise what you hear, nothing more. There are countless phone apps, YouTube videos, and social media hustlers, and books promising results in short order. Unless you are in possession of perfect pitch and deep prior experiences listening to music, this will take some time. I am 48 years in. I am still working on it.


Ear Training for Classical Musicians
  1. The ability to hear a cadence in a recorded or live performance.
  2. The ability to distinguish dynamic shading.
  3. The ability to hear intervals, chord qualities, scale qualities when listening to music.
  4. The ability to internally hear and then execute with poise and beautiful tonal balance and articulations.
  5. The ability to remember repertoire.
  6. The ability to sing in pitch
  7. The ability to practice solfege
  8. The ability to internally hear tempo and manipulate it for dramatic effect.
  9. The ability to place your part in the ensemble
  10. The ability to correctly hear the tempo before you start.

If I can help you, call me.

​David Story
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Ear Training for Jazz Musicians

4/5/2020

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Ear training gives you the ability to conceptualise what you hear, nothing more. There are countless phone apps, YouTube videos, and social media hustlers, and books promising results in short order. Unless you are in possession of perfect pitch and deep prior experiences listening to music, this will take some time. I am 48 years in. I am still working on it.

Ear Training for Jazz Musicians
  1. The ability to hear the form of the piece so that you do not get lost.
  2. The ability to recognize which instrument is playing what.
  3. The ability to hear intervals, chord qualities, scale qualities when listening to music.
  4. The ability to count rests.
  5. The ability to follow a chord progression.
  6. The ability to imitate short “licks” you hear in a solo.
  7. The ability to control your tone and dynamics in relationship to what is going on around you in the band.
  8. The ability to practice solfege
  9. The ability to internally hear and then execute beautiful tonal balance and articulations.
  10. The ability to remember songs. This is closely aligned with music theory.
  11. The ability to hold a tempo steady in the middle of a performance.
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Ear Training for Jazz Students

4/5/2020

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1. Listen attentively to music. A lot. Ask yourself, "what is going on here?"
2. Listen to a particular solo or piece of a solo until you can sing it. Then find it on your instrument.
3. Sing intervals.
4. Sing broken chords
5. Sing the bass roots of your pieces in time and on pitch.
6. Listen to more music.
7. Record yourself, listen back.
8. Record yourself playing scales with the metronome. Listen back.
9. Record your next band practice, listen back.
10. Sing everything you learn in your theory studies. 

David
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Ten things to do after the pandemic

4/4/2020

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  1. Go hear some live music. 
  2. Go to the music store.
  3. Play music again with our friends.
  4. Resume in person music lessons.
  5. Get off Facebook and go outside.
  6. Resume scheduling piano exams.
  7. Plan the next recital for the kids.
  8. Plan the next jazz trio workshop for the jazz students. 
  9. Have coffee with colleagues.
  10. Have a beer with my jazz mates.
  11. Plan an eight hand piano afternoon for my classical adults. 

This will pass, 

​David
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Ten things piano students can do while stuck at home

4/2/2020

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  1. Practice the piano
  2. Listen to piano music
  3. Catch up on theory
  4. Catch up on ear training
  5. Watch piano recitals on YouTube
  6. Compose some music
  7. Create a balanced piano practice regime
  8. Play duets with a family member
  9. Practice piano technique
  10. Read a biography of a famous pianist

Have fun, this will pass.

​David
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How to Create a Walking Bass Line in Jazz Blues

4/1/2020

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This is just a start for pianists. The bass lines created by professional bassists will be more sophisticated that what I've given you here. But this is a start.

These techniques will create a simple left hand walking bass line in Blues. The principals can be used in Jazz standards.

To discover how these lines were created, do the following. 
  1. label each note in the bass clef by its position in the chord: measure 1 is root, 5th or 1,5. Measure 13: root, 3rd, 5th, 3rd or 1,3,5,3
  2. In measures where the bass is moving by step, label the distance between notes as W or H (whole step or half step)
I play the left hand one octave lower than written in order to keep the hands separated for better texture.
​
Have fun. 

If I can help you further, please call me. 

David
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    You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail.
    Charlie Parker

    Author

    I'm a professional pianist and music educator in West Toronto Ontario. I'm also a devoted percussionist and drum teacher. 

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  • Homepage
  • Tips, Ideas, Stories, Free Lessons
  • Adult Lessons
  • Jazz Workshop #Eleven March 5, 2023
  • Contact form, fees, calendar, policies
  • Philosophy
  • Testimonials
  • Children's Winter Concert 2023
  • My Story
  • Student awards and compositions
  • Classical downloads
  • Classical outline for beginners
  • Jazz downloads
  • Jazz outline for beginners
  • Video Library of Piano Techniques
  • Breakfast Piano Minute
  • Books, Apps, Websites, Music
  • Ear Training and Sight Singing Resources