• Adult Music Study
• How many times do you have to repeat a musical concept before it's "permanently" learned?
• Music 'makes the brain learn better'  
• Learning Piano
• Performance Tempo vs. Practice Tempo
• Physics of the Keyboard
• How your brain learns to play piano - Help it help you!

Adult Music Study

Progress is never entirely in a forward direction! 

Regression is a natural component of the learning process.  And adults are notoriously critical of themselves.  Relax and enjoy each forward step you experience, and be patient w/ the setbacks.  Walk away when you get frustrated, and try again later.  You never know when it's going to be a good performance or a bad one.  However, if you have a good practice method, you will get more consistent as the years go by.  And you do have to wait for a couple of years to get the perspective you need to really understand how it's going to work.  See the same process at work in other endeavors, like learning Spanish.

The idea behind the voice lessons is you learn the practice method, and then you just apply it to any song.  It's really hard to stick w/ voice lessons, because a student is never satisfied w/ how he or she sounds!  Hang in there.

How many times do you have to repeat a musical concept before it's "permanently" learned?

At least 7. That's why the better theory workbooks present a new concept, then reinforce it 6 or more times through the book, like the "Just the Facts" series.* Piano students often get frustrated when something they played correctly "just a minute ago" now sounds like a train wreck. Adult students are especially critical of their abilities; making mistakes in music can even make them doubt their intelligence!

Remembering theory facts is another source of embarrassment for students. They think (or their teachers expect) that they must remember, for instance, that the major scale pattern is Keynote-Whole-Whole-Half-Whole-Whole-Whole-Half, after just one lesson. The truth is, no student permanently learns any fact or skill after just one lesson!

In fact, psychologists say that a fact or skill must be repeated about 7 times before it's stored in your permanent memory, and at least 8 times before you can start applying that new knowledge or feel that logical connection. Ok - some people will need only 6 repetitions to make a permanent memory, and some people will need 10 or more. You never know. Try it - study a new fact or skill on 7 different days, and see if you can still remember it a month later. The point is: playing it right once doesn't mean you have it down.

That's why I ask my students to do "correct reps." A rep is a repetition. Just like in body building, reps are needed to build up and condition muscles. In piano playing, the muscles are quite small, but they still need conditioning (especially your left hand). Body builders also have to use the "correct form," which means performing the exercise correctly, or else it could injure them, or build a muscle other than the one they thought they were working on. So playing music correctly every time is supremely important. Otherwise, your fingers will remember how to play it wrong!

There is such a thing as "muscle memory." Piano players use muscle memory every time they play a song that just seems to play itself. Has this ever happened to you? You don't have to think about every note, or even a whole section - it plays automatically. Your brain's memory is like a muscle, too: the more you use it, the stronger it gets. That means the way you learn a song determines how well you'll remember it, and how well you pay attention to a theory fact and store it in your memory will make a difference as well.

Learn your music and theory facts methodically first, and give your "muscles" enough "reps" to put the information into permanent storage. You'll be happy with the results.

*Just the Facts: a Music Theory Workbook, by Ann Lawry, Bks 1 through 12, MusicBag Press, PO Box 866953, Plano TX 75086-6953 http://www.musicbagpress.com/prod-jtf.php. This series prepares a student for TEXAS music tests. There's a separate series for CALIFORNIA's music test.

Music 'makes the brain learn better'  

From the BBC, Sunday, July 27, 2003. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3095807.stm  
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The hours spent mastering the violin or piano are worthwhile - music lessons boost children's memories.  
 
Researchers from Hong Kong have found children who are given musical training have better verbal memories than those who have not had lessons.  
 
They say their findings could help people recovering from a brain injury as well as healthy children.  
 
Psychologists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong studied 90 boys between the ages of six and 15.  
 
Half had been given musical training as members of their school's string orchestra and had received lessons in playing classical music on Western instruments, for up to five years.  
 
The rest, all students at the same school, had received no musical training.  
 
Stimulation  
 
All the children were given verbal memory tests, to see how many words they recalled from a list, and a visual memory test for images.  
 
Those students who had been given music lessons recalled significantly more words than the untrained students, and generally learned more words with each subsequent test.  
 
They were also able to retain more words than the other group when tested 30 minutes later.  
 
And the longer the boys had been receiving music lessons, the better their verbal memory.  
 
However, no differences were found in visual memory between the groups.  
 
The researchers suggest music lessons stimulate the left side of the brain, which also controls verbal learning.  
 
A year after the first study, the researchers studied the orchestra students again.  
 
Of the 45 original students, only 33 were still receiving lessons.  
 
They also studied 17 children who had started music lessons after the initial study.  
 
The beginner's group initially showed poorer verbal-learning ability than the more musically experienced boys.  
 
But after a year, they showed significant improvement in verbal learning.  
 
However, the 12 boys in the original group who had stopped having lessons showed no further improvement, though they did not lose any of the abilities they had gained while they were being taught music.  
 
Parental interest  
 
The researchers, led by Dr Agnes Chan, said giving music lessons to children "somehow contributes to the reorganization [and] better development of the left temporal lobe in musicians, which in turn facilitates cognitive processing mediated by that specific brain area, that is, verbal memory."  
 
She added: "Students with better verbal memory probably will find it easier to learn in school."  
 
Dr Alexandra Lamont, lecturer in the psychology of music at Keele University, told BBC News Online that research into the effect of music on other abilities was often complex and contradictory, and the Hong Kong study was important in adding new information to the debate.  
 
But she added: "Research has shown that children who have extra music lessons often come from higher socio-economic backgrounds, and their parents are therefore more likely to be better educated and take more interest in their children's development.  
 
"These children may simply be making better progress because they are getting more help and encouragement. If this is the case, we would expect to see similar improvements in other academic areas such as mathematics.  
 
"In comparison, visual memory is not seen as such an important academic skill, which could explain the lack of differences between the groups."  
 
She added: "These results give us more information to consider, but we urgently need more research to know more about what it is that is having an effect.  
 
"Music is an important and enjoyable activity in its own right, and many researchers working in this area strongly believe it would be dangerous to promote music only on the basis of the other skills it can bring."  
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The research is published in the journal Neuropsychology.  
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Learning Piano

How long will it take me to learn how to play the piano?
There is no average time to learn anything.  The understanding always comes long before the ability to implement a particular concept, but some people learn slower than others because of self-doubt, learning disabilities, lack of time to practice, distractions, or confusion.  Success for adults students is harder to predict because a) I don't know how much previous experience they're bringing to the table, b) childhood lessons, even a brief period, make a big difference in adult motor skills on piano, c) some people have almost no time to practice, and some have entire days off where they do nothing but play piano!, d) people either question what I teach them (therefore learning deeper but more slowly) or accept it w/o question (therefore learning faster but not in depth sometimes).  The key is to have faith in yourself, know that you CAN do this, and to stick w/ study, even if it’s sporadic, so you don't lose what you learned. 
 
How do you learn how to compose?
It’s helpful to know how to read.  You must learn all your chords (major, minor, dominant sevenths, etc.).  Then you learn how to harmonize (what chords go w/ what measures of a song).  Then you get a composition workbook that has you complete a very short song that's been started for you.  It's all melodies.  Then you work on chord progressions and how to fit melodies to them.  Improvisation is another skill you learn thru another workbook that I've written.  During this process, we work on full-scale compositions.

Don't you need talent to play the piano?
"Talented" people learn faster because they are more ambitious (Carnegie Hall, fame and fortune).  But "talent" in any subject usually means a person starts out with an intense interest and the time to devote to the subject.  Most people want to learn piano for their own pleasure, as a hobby.  Everyone can learn the skills needed to be a good player.  It's a matter of time and commitment.  Music is something you can study and enjoy your whole life -- there's no deadline for achieving any level of competence at music.  It's not a competition; it's a way to enrich your life.  Enjoy whatever level you occupy at any moment.

Why can I play a piece perfectly one day and not the next?
Physical skills are variable from day to day, and from morning to evening.  Playing perfectly also depends on concentration, which is variable.  Playing in different surroundings is a distraction. So is playing by yourself vs. playing in front of other people. 

The goal is not to play every piece perfectly every time; rather, have a goal of enjoying the music and expressing yourself.

I get so discouraged when I see people play piano who are much better than I.  How can I feel better?
Realize first how much more time and experience the “better” player has than you.  Then realize that anyone with the desire and time to devote to music will go as far as they wish.  It’s just a matter of time.

How long should I practice each day?
It’s better to set a goal for a practice session than to set a certain amount of time .  When the goal is reached, either set another goal and meet it, or step away from the piano and work on the next goal next time.  Your goal could be to perfect the first line of the song.  This goal could take just a few minutes.

What if I play a section over and over but it never gets perfect?
After you throw the book across the room, go get it, and analyze why you’re having so much trouble with that section of music. The first consideration is you were probably trying to play it too fast – practicing at performance tempo.  That rarely ever works.  Slow WAY down, just a few times through.  The second consideration is that your section is too much to work on at once.  It’s not unusual to narrow down a trouble spot to discover the real trouble is just 2 or 3 notes.  Practice just those 2 or 3 notes.

The problem is that students expect a piece of music to perfect itself by running through the piece from beginning to end a number of times.  That rarely works either.  You’re better off using your time, however short, to work on specific measures of a song.  It’s like ironing a shirt.  The shirt is full of wrinkles, and you iron out one part of the shirt at a time.  Sometimes you even create a new wrinkle with the iron.  Don’t iron the whole shirt over again!  Just concentrate on that wrinkle.  Try a new approach, as if you’re sprinkling extra water on the wrinkle.  And GO SLOWLY.  This is where patience pays off.

TIP FOR SHARPS AND FLATS
Keep a colored pencil or two on the piano.  Color/highlight/circle all notes in a song that are sharp or flat.  William Buckley Jr uses a red pencil to color sharp notes and a blue one to color flat notes!  This method of reminding yourself when to play a black key is superior to drawing a sharp or flat sign next to each note, because excess pencil marks in your music just makes it harder to read.  Color stands out, but doesn’t add to the confusion.  Avoid highlighter markers; they have a tendency to both bleed through the page, and fade over time.  Also, they’re not erasable!

Performance Tempo vs. Practice Tempo

Adult students have a tendency to “practice” a piece at full speed, the speed at which they hear the song in their heads.  That’s a bad habit.  You can’t run before you can walk.  You can’t pick up a new dance routine by jumping in and watching everyone’s feet for just a minute.  You need someone to take you aside and show you the steps in slow motion a few times. 

And, adult students have a tendency to stop at performance tempo, and never attempt the song any faster than they hear it in their heads.  This means they are always playing at the limit of their ability.  This is extremely risky, since if you get nervous, you will automatically try to play the song faster than you’re comfortable doing, and you will “crash.” 

Therefore, learn a song in sections.  Practice each section at a very slow tempo, then speed up gradually to performance tempo.  Then exceed performance tempo to test your coordination and skill.  (It’s fun to see how fast you can play – kids do it all the time!)  If you can play it correctly at a faster speed than you need, then performance tempo will feel relaxed and easy./p>

Physics of the Keyboard

The A above Middle C is commonly tuned to 440 cycles per second in the U.S. and many other countries.   (Some countries use 435 or 445 or other frequencies.) A “frequency” is a number that counts the number of vibrations, or cycles, a string makes in a second.  Each higher octave vibrates twice as fast as the lower one.  That means that the A above A440 is tuned to 880 cps, and the A above that vibrates at 1760.

By the same token, the A below middle C vibrates at 220 cps, the A below that at 110, and the A below that at 55.  Going down an octave makes that note a frequency half as fast.

Disclaimer:  These frequencies are approximate.  A piano tuner “tweaks” each note to make it conform to a standard that is not exactly precise, mathematically.  But we’ve gotten our ears used to it.

My point is this:  notice the range between the A440 and the A880.  It’s a distance of 440 cycles, spread out over the 12 notes in that octave, right?  Now notice the range between A110 and A220.  It’s a distance of only 110 cycles, spread out over the same 12-note distance.  Therefore, the frequencies assigned to the notes between A110 and A220 are pretty close together, compared to the frequencies assigned to the notes between A440 and A880.  Still with me?

When there’s not much distance between frequencies, that group of notes tends to sound more and more the same.  That’s why the lower notes on a piano sound muddy.  The high notes on a piano sound more bell-like and clearer, because there’ s quite a bit of distance between one note and the next.  

Low keys on the piano vibrate the long strings in the piano, and high keys vibrate the short strings. If you chop a string in half, it will vibrate twice as fast as its original length.

How your brain learns to play piano - Help it help you!

Learning how to do something is really allowing your brain a chance to focus on what you want done and then teaching it, by making a concentrated effort, how to do that thing correctly.

You might suppose you learn piano by making an effort to learn notes, time signatures and so forth. But, how do you, once you get started, actually learn and remember how to play those keys? And, once you get really good, how come you forget all about how you learned something when now it seems you just, "Know it"?

The thing is you don't actually learn how to play piano; your brain does the learning and keeps the memory so that you can later play without even giving much thought to how or what you are doing. Even better, your brain actually doesn't much care what you learn. It, odd as it may sound, mindlessly stores information and plays back what you taught it when you want the piece to begin. (So, be careful how and what you do with yourself!)

What happens in learning is that you focus, (or, your mother focuses) your attention and effort towards learning piano. You sit down and start looking at the music and tapping out the notes one at a time. Under your breath you may be muttering, "Ohhhh... Myyyyy... Darhling... Er... Darling.... Er... Cle-Cle-Cle... men-time... Er, tine...." as your fingers plod along following your eyeballs following the notes on the page.... As you go along in your efforts you consciously compare the song you've heard a million times to the stuttering efforts you're making of the song.... Been there, did that, right?

While you are aware of your efforts, your brain is also responding to your act of focusing on this task. It routes the inputs from the page, your mutterings, your ears, the notes you hit, and how your fingers feel - out there on the keyboard - to a specific area of the brain that has to do with finger motor skills. This task, to your brain, falls into an area that handles things like knitting, sign language, and so forth: finger stuff.... Over time, your efforts cause your brain to create a new subroutine of finger actions that eventually, with enough practice and correction, begins to sound like a recognizable and hopefully pleasant bit of music.

In neurological terms, the repetitive actions of your fingers have caused your brain to create a special area inside your skull to handle just this piece of music. "Clementine" gets hard-wired into your brain and can now be played back without very much thought at all on your part. You think, "Clementine" and you hit the first note. Now, "domino fashion" all the other notes follow... "Da-da-daa-DA-da-da-DA-da..."

How this happened was that your brain tracked the nerve inputs from your fingers, noted the corrections made, and created an efficient record of what you want done. Your piano memory of this song is an actual place in your brain matter.

Brain surgeons and scientists have long figured out that if you stimulate certain areas of the brain with an electrode (basically, "hot-wiring" your brain to "do" something) a patient can smell, see, hear, and recall things just as a result of the electrode stimulating some brain cells. This song is organically stored in your brain!

These organic subroutines are automatic when fully learned and free our conscious minds up to do other things. Playing piano and looking around becomes as "easy" as riding a bike while talking, or, driving while singing to the radio. Once the subroutine has formed, you don't have to concentrate on doing the thing as much as you used to...

Notice, however, that learning how to ride a bike the "normal way" doesn't make us able to do stunts on the bike without additional practice. Nor can we drive in reverse as easily as we can drive forward - without additional practice. For even old skills, all changes require us to go back to teaching the brain a new subroutine, even if it is a variation of an existing subroutine. And, this kind of skill only goes one way. Starting in the middle of a piece is difficult, and playing it backward, without lots of practice, is simply impossible unless you've got some really strong subroutines in place to do that sort of thing already.

As discouraging as that might sound, consider the cool part: once you have it, you've got it. And, it is easier to learn something similar than something completely new - most the time. Once you've spent enough time getting your subroutine in place, you'll have an easier time speeding up, slowing down, or jazzing up a piece you "know" so well.

What this says about learning is that you don't really learn things. You show up and get started and your brain does the work of keeping track of your efforts. You just have to give it a chance to learn. Practice often, ask questions, focus on getting things right, get enough sleep, eat right, study in a place without lots of distractions - and let your brain handle the rather simple task of learning a few notes of music at a time until you have an entire song, or, book of songs built into your mind for playback with your fingers.

And, go back and review what you have already learned. You've heard of "Use it or lose it," right? Well, your brain is part of a living thing and brain cells and connections come and go... Plus, priorities change... Your brain may get busy with something, like a new job or raising kids, and start borrowing time and energy from other areas to focus on other activities. Subroutines deteriorate for a number of reasons, but you can keep what you know in good condition by practice and review.

You never really loose everything, but you can lose enough of something you once knew to get discouraged about relearning something. So, save yourself some time and trouble and refresh those subroutines from time to time.

Learning is a natural thing and guaranteed to work if you go about it the right way, long enough, for your brain to get things set up to create the results you want. Your brain doesn't care how smart you are, or, how tall you are... It really does one thing at a time (without subroutines) and only about as good as you train it. But, if you train it well, you can "make" beautiful music no matter who you are, where you live, where you went to school, how old your are, or, how you feel about politics...

Just give it, and yourself, lots of opportunity to do good - and you'll get it!

MUSICIANSHIP

WHEREAS, nearly everyone makes New Year’s resolutions sometime in his or her life, and

WHEREAS, many piano students resolve to do better at practicing and attending lessons regularly, and

WHEREAS, many piano students want to cancel their first lesson of the year because they “don’t want to waste the teacher’s time” because they haven’t practiced,

THEREFORE, as a piano teacher, I want to offer you some encouragement.

When you resume study of any subject after a break, there’s bound to be a feeling of regression or rustiness.  Not only is this normal, but it gives teachers an opportunity to help you develop your musicianship.  Musicianship is what else you can do as a piano player besides play the notes in front of you.  Theory and review are important tools of the musician.

AND, when you review what you’ve learned, it not only shows you how far you’ve gotten, it reinforces those facts and skills.  It doesn’t even matter how long it takes to review what you’ve accomplished; it’s always time well spent. 

AND, you can improve those review pieces and take them to a higher level of understanding or performance or both!  Back when you first learned a piece, getting the notes and fingerings and rhythms right were 90% of the task.  Now that you have some perspective on them, you can notice what aspects of playing are still a problem, and which aspects are easy now.

AND, you can play around with a piece that’s easy, using the definition of “play” that means “to have fun with.”  Play an old piece either too fast or too slow, or accelerate as you go.  See where you “crash”, and laugh at yourself.  Play the old pieces with extreme dynamics.  Go for extremes in volume changes or accents.  Play the piece with the wrong rhythm, or change the time signature (make it a waltz!) or the key (play it in minor!) or in the wrong register (play it way up high so it sounds like a music box).

AND, knowing more music theory lets you make sense of what you’re playing, giving you the broader picture.

SO, I want everyone to have a broader perspective on their piano study and a happy, healthy new year!