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It occurs to me that I’m occasionally guilty of telling students they need to use a metronome without having taught them how to use one. It’s the musical equivalent of handing someone a chainsaw and expecting them to cut down a tree. Pretend for a moment that you’ve never used a chainsaw. Now imagine that someone walks . . . → Read More: Here, Have a Chainsaw! I had a rather interesting discussion with an editor yesterday about a new collection I’ve written. The book is a set of elementary level pieces, and I’ve been thinking a lot about a quote from the Russian writer Maxim Gorki. Apparently, on being asked how one should go about writing for children, his response was “the . . . → Read More: Composing for Kids Something I’ve noticed in elementary literature is the practice of rhythmic augmentation. Since elementary students (Primer – Level 1 in Piano Adventures, for example) haven’t been introduced to 8th notes yet, composers and editors will write a piece using quarter notes instead of 8th notes and then choosing a very brisk tempo. So a piece like “Twister” . . . → Read More: Rhythmic Augmentation I often take a “landmark approach” in teaching note reading to my students. I begin by giving them six flash cards – Bass C (2nd space on the bass staff), Bass F (4th line on the bass staff), LH Middle C (middle C on the bass staff), RH Middle C (middle C on the treble staff), . . . → Read More: The Landmark Approach |
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