Workshop Q&A - repertoire levels

There are many vivid discussions after my Jan workshops. This one tops the list.

Q: What are the repertoire levels?  It was asked by many novice teachers.

A: I have addressed this question in my FEB workshop Comprehensive Curriculum Program in which repertoires levels are one of the determining factors to assign students to an appropriate level. It is such crucial knowledge to require for teachers! Without this understanding, students often suffer from learning a piece that is too difficult for them to master the technique or too easy that they get bored with it very soon.

The good news is that there are many outstanding resources such as CCP or adjudicated events repertoire guidelines and anthologies that can help solve these problems. To summarize:

In general, there are about 10 levels/grades of 4 stages at the pre-college classical piano studying:

• Beginner (Preparatory - level 1); Elementary (level 2-3); Intermediate (level 4-7); Advanced (level 8-10)

• Standardized curriculum exams such as RCM or ABRSM are graded based on these stages of development. However, there are discrepancies among various grading systems.  

• Examples of famous piano masterworks correspond to the levels: Kabalevsky's op. 39 Clowns is at RCM and ABRSM level 3, Beethoven For Elise is at RCM level 7 (Intermediate), and Debussy Clair de Lune is at RCM level 10 (advanced).

• When in doubt, it's best to use anthologies like RCM Celebration Perspective Series (prep-level 10), and Keith Snell's Piano Repertoires 

Here are two "teaching repertoire bibles" that can guide you to have a better understanding of the levels of repertoires.  

• Pianists Guide to Standard Teaching and Performance Literature by Jane Magrath - This is a must-have book that provides an invaluable resource of piano literature from Baroque through Contemporary periods.  The difficulty levels of this book are ranged from beginner to early advanced repertoires like easier Beethoven piano sonatas.

• Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire, Fourth Edition by Maurice Hinson and Wesley Roberts - Comparing to Dr. Magrath's pianist's guide, this book is also a repertoire survey but meant for advanced and professional pianists. Like the pianist's guide, it includes all periods of piano compositions with brief descriptions and levels of difficulties.

Want more? visit my teaching resource page for more info.

 

Piano Pedagogy Practicum Class for Teachers!

This "practicum" class offers a practical approach to teaching and is designed especially for piano teachers. In this class, the participants will receive in-depth information and solutions to common issues on specific topics and levels.

For example, one of the classes is the continuation of my most popular workshop "Fundamental Techniques for Beginner and Elementary Students and Beyond." This class includes techniques, dynamics controls, articulations, practice strategies, and musicianship drills. It addresses the following subjects but not limited to:

• How do I fix awkward hand position or bent joint?
• Why are the fast passage notes sounded uneven or having unison problem?
• Why can't they play musically? 
• Why can't my students practice correctly?
• How can I improve my students reading or counting ability?
• How do I choose repertoire to motivate students?

Class format:

• Siting limitation: each class will only accept 3-4 participants only to address individual concerns with the benefit of small group discussion
• Time: 75 minutes session
• Location: Sunnyvale studio, CA
• Length: Three consecutive weeks per topic/level concentration. Participants will have the opportunity to review and experiment what we have discussed in the class during the following week

Please contact me 408.675.9896 for detail information and enrollment. 

Workshop with composer Mr. Dennis Alexander

It was always a privilege to meet with the composer or the concert pianist in person and gain the insights of their compositions and performances. Monday was no exception! Thanks to my local chapter CAPMT Santa Clara Valley, we had Mr. Dennis Alexander as our featured guest and clinician. He shared his newest publication "Nocturns" as well as teaching tips and stories behind his composition inspiration.

Mr. A is a very expressive performer, like he said, "romantic at heart", which resonates with my strong belief in playing music with expression. No matter what kind of techniques we try to teach to our students, they serve as means to fulfill the musical purpose. In my conversation with Mr. A, he talked about how he choreographs physical movements to help students play more expressively. He also demonstrated using a body leaning movement to add more arm weight when playing big sound.

Talking about rhythmic counting, Mr. A emphasized the importance of counting out loud when playing! Totally my teaching philosophy. As many of my professors have addressed, if you can't count aloud when you play, you don't know the rhythm well enough nor develop the rhythmic pulse in you. He also offers ideas such as tapping the rhythm with the "practice version" of the CD to gain a thorough understanding of the piece.

Here are a video of his Chopinesque Nocturn and photos highlights!

Feb CAPMT Pedagogy Workshop in San Jose!

Look forward to presenting an informational session "The Nitty-Gritty of Comprehensive Curriculum Program." This workshop is FREE to the public, NO registration required!! There are refreshments and coffee provided in this gathering. 😋

This session will share insights from two international and two CA state CC programs that help teachers to explore their options and determine which CC is best suited for their studio teaching and students' level.

Highlight: It will include comments and views from the examiners/evaluators!! 


Date: Wednesday, 2/28/2018
TIme: 9:30 am
Location: San Jose Greene Music
Host: CAPMT SCV Chapter

Photos from CSUEB Piano Pedagogy Symposium

Thanks to Dr. Omri Shimron and fellow presenters Gail Lew and Lynda McManus, we had such a nice turn out and a group of enthusiastic teachers and students! It is delightful to see that we are getting pedagogy events hosted in the Bay Area and raise the awareness of Music Education!

Presenters and the host: myself, Omri, Lynda, and Gail

Vivid discussions after the symposium!

 With a group of young teachers who are founding a non-profit DPAC organization for music!

Turkish Bazaar - explore repertoire (late elementary)

Many of my students loved playing this late elementary piece because of its unique oriental sound and fun chromatic scales! I have included this one in my YouTube Performance and Practice Series (PPS) and you can find it in the RCM Celebration Series Repertoire level 2.

CSUEB Piano Pedagogy Symposium in Hayward CA!!

Here is another exciting pedagogy event host by California State University East Bay on Jan 20, Sat 2018!! It is FREE and opens to the public, please join us if you are in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here are the event schedule and information. This Symposium includes topics like:

• Studio Business - Lynda McManus
• Contemporary Music Materials - Gail Lew
• Effective Teaching Strategies that address fundamental techniques, practice quality, and music apps - my session

Hope to see students and teachers join us for this educational event!