Tag: music reading

HOW MUCH PRACTICE TIME?

HOW MUCH SHOULD I/THEY PRACTICE?

I am often asked this question by parents or students. Practice amount is different for each student. When a parent of a beginning six-year-old piano student asks, I suggest that 10-12 minutes per day is reasonable. They should not practice alone but rather with a parent to help guide them. With most of my six-year-old students, I have a parent attend each lesson and work “along-side” them. In this way, they get to share the experience while their child is growing musically.  The children gain reading and playing skills much more quickly and really enjoy the process. The parent also learns to play a little and so it is a win-win. Since the amount of music given is very compact and does not need intensive practice, the amount of practice time is quite short.

When a student is at about the 6th month mark and is 7-10 years old, increasing the time to 20 minutes is appropriate. Each student is different. Some can thoroughly learn the material in less time and others need more. I love when students break up these sessions into two practices as they retain more and learn faster.  See my blog “Practice by Taking a Break.”

For pre-teens through adults, I recommend 30-60 minutes. Attention spans are longer and great work can be accomplished if practicing appropriately. Use your time well.

Really think about the music and work in small chunks or phrases. Adding vocal warmups, scales and/or finger exercises should start your practice session. This will add some time but will be extremely beneficial in the long run. Unless you are striving to be a concert pianist or professional singer there is no need to go beyond this.  Some very talented students will want to spend a couple of hours per day if time permits. I practiced two-three hours in high school quite often. Sessions were longer in college.

Note: If you are a beginner adult, you should not be at the piano longer than 15 minutes at a time. Your hands need to build strength. If you over practice, your hands might ache. To avoid this, practice in small sessions until the little muscles in your hands get stronger.

 Practicing should be enjoyable. If you are frustrated by a section, step back and study it. What is the key? How many beats per measure? Can you count the rhythm? Can you play separate hands or sing it a cappella? Do you have a command of all notes, dynamics, articulations, phrasing and fingering? In piano, it is more often than not, a fingering issue that causes the break down in the rhythm. Do not just try to sing or play through with mistakes. Your brain will remember the errors and those are difficult to break. Do not hold your breath.

Stand and take a break. Each time you come back to the passage it will be easier. Respect the process and you will become a wonderful musician.

Laurie Beth Frick

What Is the Best Age to Begin Singing Lessons?

There is a difference between formal vocal lessons and singing for fun. Singing in childhood helps to develop aural and rhythm skills. I started singing to my children invitro and never stopped. They could sing in harmony by age three. By five my youngest had developed an amazing sense of pitch and could play an instrument by just picking it up and blowing the correct notes. Singing helped them develop a great sense of pitch and rhythm. (Steady beat is one of the most important skills children should develop.)* I also believe it also helped with creativity.

For formal lessons on average, (for most children,) age 11 is a great time to develop proper vocal skills. The voice cannot be pushed though as it does not fully develop until late teens or early twenties.

Having said this, proper singing can be developed at any age. I have students that did not start lessons until mid to late adulthood and have developed to a high level. So age 11, in my opinion, would be the earliest to begin formal training.

Performing in musicals, singing in school choirs, taking lessons and possibly working toward competitions are all important.

Several of my voice/choir/theatre students have gone on to perform on Broadway and one has a Tony. One of my students is a prolific folk singer and has many awards and albums to her credit. I have had students go on into opera and perform at La Scala or the Met.  Several are musical theatre/pop/jazz/blues singers and instrumentalists and make a great living doing what they love.

Music reading is so important if a student is serious about being a singer. Developing a sense of pitch, intonation, breath support, tessitura, and rhythm are all important. However, being able to read those rhythms, pitches, dynamics, languages and other symbols are key to being a good musician.  I highly recommend serious students study voice and another instrument like piano, guitar or both in order to learn to read music, understand music theory and truly become a fine musician.

Laurie Beth Frick

*Steady beat – Researchers link ability to keep a beat to reading and language skills

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2013/09/the-importance-of-keeping-the-beat/

MAJOR KEY DETECTIVE GAME

or “What Key Am I Playing In?”

When I was first learning to sing and play the piano, I would look at a piece of music and get overwhelmed as to how to figure out the key signature. For those of you unfamiliar with this term, the key signature is basically the scale (or series of consecutive notes) that the piece is written in. The composer adds raised notes (sharps – #) or lowered notes (flats – b ) to help you know which keys to play or sing. The key signature comes at the beginning of the piece right after the clef sign. (Treble clef, or Bass clef).  There are other clefs but not for voice or piano.

Question: Ok. So how do you figure out this important but somewhat elusive scale?

Answer: Look at the last note of the piece. “Really?” “YES!” “Why?” Well, 99.99999% of pieces end on the first note of the scale that the piece is written in.  “Ok, then what do you do?”

Go back and look at the key signature. Sometimes there are no accidentals (#, b) so the piece is in C major or the relative minor which is “A” minor.   Adulting is hard but being a kid = so much harder!

“But what IF there ARE #’s or b’s!!!@%!!”     I would get really upset.

“Don’t cry Laurie” I might tell my young self.  I can explain but it will require being a detective and playing the MAJOR KEY DETECTIVE GAME!!  (Cue HERO music!)

Note: Now, review the lines & spaces of the treble clef to play along.

(Spaces – FACE  /  Lines – EGBDF)

FOR MAJOR SHARP KEYS – Remember, look at the last note of the piece. Then look at the key signature. If there are sharps – (#), then go to the last sharp to the right. Go up ½ step to the next key and name it. Does it match the last note? If so, that is the first note and name of the key/scale.  If not, it is the relative minor. (I will explain minors in another blog.) Can you find the answer?

Answer:  the last sharp to the right is on the 4th line of the treble staff so it is D#. Go up ½ step to E. That is the major key. (E major) See if it matches the last note of the song. Did you find it?

FOR MAJOR FLAT KEYS – If there are flats – (b) in the key signature, then the second flat from the right is the name of the key (if a major key.) Just name it.  Does it match the last note? Great! If not then it is also the relative minor key.  What is the answer?

Answer:  There are 3 flats. The second flat from the right is Eb. Is the last note an Eb? If so, that is the scale the piece was composed in and there are 3 flats. EASY PEASY.  You are now a: Drum Roll –               “MAJOR KEY DETECTIVE!”                   Thanks for playing. 😊

Laurie Beth Frick

Music Sight-Reading Game

The Music Sight-Reading Game

When I was in high school, I was a pretty decent pianist. However, I was not a great sight-reader. I remember being asked to accompany the choir during one of our rehearsals. I had never seen the score before and I was overwhelmed with trying to keep up with the conductor.

When I was accepted as a piano performance major to the University of Michigan, I took a sight-reading class by the renown Karen Keys. (Such a great name for a pianist!) I learned that you never look at where you are, but rather where you are going. You also read intervals (not notes) and rhythms simultaneously. As a teen, I tried to understand this “method.” It took quite a while but it finally kicked in. I treated the method as if it were “a game.” I spent a great deal of time trying to “win” against myself. I actually hear the music before I play it now so that it moves along without mistakes or pauses.

Personal note: When I first met my husband, he said that I sight-read music better than most people in the world played. I will always thank Professor Keys and my own belief that I could learn this skill/game.) It was also incredibly useful during my many years teaching in public education while accompanying for my choirs, soloists, musicals, etc.

So, here are the rules to begin the LBF Sight-reading Game:

  • chose a piece one or two levels below what you can presently play well. Look at the key signature.

Note: (I have made several of my students take the key signature “oath.” It goes something like this: “I promise to always look at the key signature before starting to play a piece, so help me.” (I always answer, “Yes, I promise I will help you.” I know, bad music teacher humor.) 

  • Now, study the piece for large intervals, complex rhythms or weird symbols. (i.e. characters that might jump out at you unexpectedly!) cue: scary music
  • Review any key changes, meter changes or clef changes.
  • After a few minutes of this, start counting a slow tempo. You do not need to play “up to tempo” when sight-reading at first. However, you do need to “keep the tempo” and play all the way through the piece. If you make a mistake, keep counting and just skip the one, two or three beats of notes that you missed. You can come back and work on the piece later.

I promise if you do this consistently and keep your eyes moving at least one or two beats ahead, you should grow in your sight-reading abilities. This method also helps you to learn your repertoire much faster. You should spend much less time practicing the same pieces over and over and be able to learn many more pieces. Oh, and remember to have fun!  After all it is “just a game.” 😊

Laurie Beth Frick