Using technology to teach piano
First, my setup:
1) I teach on a digital piano (not a great one, but it's what I have available in the music store where I teach)
2) I have a 10-year old Mac (Powermac Tower - 266 MHz PPC processor running MacOS 9.2.2) that has 2 midi interfaces.
3) I also have a small sound module (a very old Emu SOundEngine that sounds pretty cheesy, but works)
4) Software includes Band in a box, Finale (from 1994), Opcode EZVision, and Opcode's Studio Vision
What do I do with it, in lessons?
1) Record the student using MIDI into EZVision, which is faster to setup than Studio Vision. They can hear themselves. Sometimes I'll bring teh parents in as well. I'll also transfer the midi file down to my "real" studio, convert the midi into audio, and email the resulting MP3 to the parents as a surprise.
2) Use iTunes (version 1!) to play some jazz or classical piano tracks. One of the students was learning a piece (titled something like Sugar Rag) - so I played a "real" ragtime for them - a recording of a Scott Joplin piano roll. IT started a conversation about what they were hearing, and what each hand was doing..... and how they could do that with enough practice.
3) I've also been using the setup to create new music for some of my other activities, when I have some downtime. This is the advantage of standard midi files - they can be exported on the old Mac, and pulled up into Traktion for further editing on my new Mac... or even a Windows machine.
4) I'll also create a quickie drum track, have EZVIsion loop it, and use that as a fancy metronome for the student to paly to. If we're feeling adentureous, I'll crank up Band-in-a-Box and have it do an even fancier drum track.
There are a few ideas. Got any others?
Labels: . piano teacher, macmusicguy, piano technology
My, how technology has changed Music Appreciation
At the risk of sounding like an old geezer...... this came to mind as I taught my last Music App class of the semester.
My first Music App classes were taught using LPs - the CD had only just been introduced, and of course new tech takes FOREVER to weasel its way into educational settings. Finding particular passages was a royal pain, and seriously interrupted the flow of the class. Cassettes were more portable, but didn't sound nearly as good (we had a bad cassettee deck).
Fast forward (ahem) several years. Today I used video from YouTube, video I'd stashed on a server, a CD that I'd collated myself froma variety of sources to use in teaching, and my iTunes library from the computer down the hall - audio streamed over the network - all to demonstrate jazz.
This makes for much less downtime in class - but demands far more prep time outside of class.
A Music Career? This is a career?
Thoughts on the morning before heading down to Georgia Southwestern to perform a recital with
Rebecca Lanning:
I've been playing piano for 40 years - professionally for over half that (Nope, I ain't as old as that makes me sound). I find it interesting that even though I have a Masters Degree in Piano Performance, I've been paid to play "Classical" less than a dozen times over that period.
Rock-n-roll, jazz, country, wedding..... tons of times. Classical, not so much.
This may indeed be a comment on my skillset or level of playing - I decided early on that I didn't want Classical to be my entire lifr, and that is required if you are going to make a living at it (I didn't want to live in NY or Chicago either).
It also may be a comment on what I'm good at - being a musical chameleon. I've done Classical, yes - but also jazz, rock, country, misc. wedding stuff, pop - and performed on piano and multi-keyboards of various ilks - and been on about a dozen recordings (including one that was nominated for a Grammy). I've even produced two albums with my band at church (
tom&co).
And I teach - both privately and in a college.
So I guess it is a career - at times seriously aggravating, at times seriously wonderful. Two weeks ago I was playing in Storm Lake, Iowa with the Joey Stuckey band playing pop/rock originals - tonight in Americus, Georgia accompanying a phenomenal Mezzo-Soprano in every style from Lieder to 20th C. to TinPanAlley.
It ain't boring!
Labels: acoustic piano, georgia, keyboards, macmusicguy, maconmacguy, music career
Putting music "out there"
This is my latest thing to try - putting my music "out there" in the marketplace. Now, I'm nowhere near "signing a label contract" - nor am I interested in that. For that matter, a label wouldn't be interested in what I do anyway, so it all works out!
I've put tracks from the two
tom&co albums into snocap - so anyone can purchase and download tracks from both albums.
Seasons has been available since 2003 at
cdbaby. I placed
Brethren - our first album from 1999 - on
cdbaby in the fall of 07, but didn't want to make it available digitally because two of the tunes are covers. The amount of paperwork to keep track of when selling covers online is more trouble than its worth fro may particular project. However, using Snocap means I can pick and choose which tracks are available, which is nice.
So this is yet another experiment in using technology in music. It has the added benefit of being able to tell the tale to my music classes, and makes things interesting.
You can never tell what I'll put up in my Snocap store. As of this writing it's only tom&co stuff, but there will be different things down the road.
Labels: macmusicguy, music, music technology, snocap, tomco
Uses for a website
This might sound like a stupid entry for a blog, but I had a conversation with a piano teacher who was wondering just what use a website is for a piano teacher. After all, the reasoning went, we're teaching PIANO - not technology.
That type of thinking misses the point. Technology isn't a reason to exist, or a career, or a hobby (at least in this instance) - it is a tool. A tool primarily for communication.
So here are some (admittedly quick and off-the-top-of-my-head) benefits of a website for a piano teacher:
- Marketing - use it as an online brochure. "Hey, I exist, and I teach piano in (your locale here)." You do have to do some search engine stuff - or you can pay an outfit to do that for you (I wouldn't).... or you can just put it on your business card. The card acts as an intro, and then the site gives more detailed information.
- Studio policies - put your studio policies online (mine are here. They aren't very formal, but they are functional.)
- Take payments for piano lessons online - using Paypal. It's decently inexpensive, and CAN make it easier for your parents. Yes, there's a charge (the expense runs about 3% - but that's tax deductible if your are running your studio like a business.) See my payment page here for an example.
- Sniff out cool online music training sites and share them with your students - ear-training, music quizzes, etc. are ALL available online.
- Share music with your students. I have a version of Chopsticks I use that does NOT use standard notation. It's great for new kids who don't read yet.
Labels: piano teacher, why website
