Lesson 1 - Getting Started

Our Set-Up: Since my teacher is in Canada and I am in the United States, we meet via video-conferencing software. In this case, Google Hangouts, which allows me to simultaneously record my lessons for archival purposes. Additionally, we had to search long and hard for a method to exchange currency. Luckily, Paypal has an awesome system for that! I have set it up so that my iPhone camera is aimed horizontally at my hands from near the keybed and my laptop is situated behind me catching part of my hands from the other side and my body overall. The laptop camera is also our main form of communicating during the lesson.

On Practice - Of course with the excitement of a new project, I started out of the gate with a lot of enthusiastic practice leading up to my first lesson. However, the few days before were a holiday weekend, so that put a big damper on my presentation at the lesson. Since then, I have found practice on the weekend nearly impossible. Practice during the week is no easy feat. Practicing at home provides many distractions of household chores and cooking to do, so I practice at my job where the piano is better, but I am often squeezing it in between administrative duties and the lessons I teach. Every time I embark on a performance project, my empathy for the student struggles of practice increases. Yes, of course, I still expect for them to accomplish a lot throughout the week, but everything is in context. It’s difficult to find quiet, focused and productive practice time at the Piano when you have 1-2 scheduled events every day of the week and a weekend chocked full of social events and activities. It’s difficult to truly “shut the door” and focus on the music in front of you.

Our topics in the first lesson

1. Arpeggios
2. Rowley Agitato, Op. 42, No. 18 (#1 in the Etude Book)
3. Kabalevsky Etude in F Major (#2 in the Etude Book)

On the Lesson:

My teacher is very encouraging. It helps that I have some musical understandings to work from. A lot of our work is spent refining and clearly articulating strategies for executing very aesthetic, subjective and artistic aims. For example, she suggests the very clear suggestion of “keeping the wrist high when the hand is tucking arpeggios and keeping the wrist low when crossing.” From an anatomical perspective, this makes a lot of sense. And I find throughout the following weeks that this very simple instruction helps students to automatically make an adjustment for more flowing and legato arpeggios. Another example is in Agitato. As a seasoned musician I find myself using more advanced pedaling techniques to create the soundscape for which I am aiming. She challenges me by saying, “Now, articulate exactly what you just did.” Her point is clear, it wasn’t executed conscientiously and there is no way I could quickly and clearly instruct a student how to replicate it. Sometimes we need to simplify the strategy for a more successful and a more musical performance.