Category: Blog

Choosing an instrument to purchase can be a difficult decision for students, from beginner to advanced. There are many factors that go into choosing the piano or keyboard that will suit your needs. Modern music technology has made affordability less of an issue but it’s still important to avoid getting a poorly made instrument that can add an unnecessary obstacle to learning.

This depends on your situation, space and budget. There are piano teachers that will insist you MUST have a real acoustic piano to learn on. This is simply not the case. Having a nice digital piano is better than a cheap or poorly functioning upright. Acoustic pianos are wonderful if budget, space and noise level aren’t issues. Unfortunately, they are not always a realistic option for city dwellers. Making a good choice may require compromising between what you want and what you need.

The piano is a universal instrument. If you start there, learn your theory and how to read, you can go on to any other instrument. -Eddie Van Halen

We’ve created the following chart to help in your decision between a piano, digital piano or small starter keyboard. The small starter keyboard is only offered as a temporary beginning option for those that need it and not recommended as long term practice instrument. A general recommendation for both piano and keyboard purchase is to go with a well – known brand at least one step up from the entry – level model. Pianos and Keyboards are complicated instruments that end up flimsy and not very functional if you buy the cheapest available model and brand.

Features/Issues	Piano	Digital Piano	Small Starter Keyboard
Purchase Cost	New – $3000 – $100,000 Used – Free* to $3000 may be hard to assess condition without technician	New – $400 – $1500 Used – $300 – $1000	New – $100 – 300 Used – $50 – 100
Moving Cost	$100 – $600 Depending on upright or grand and also flights of stairs involved	Minimal to none – possible to move by self.	Minimal to none – possible to move by self.
Repair Cost	Varies, older pianos are more likely need repairs	Unusual	Unusual
Tuning	$100 – $200 twice a year	No Tuning Needed	No Tuning Needed
Space requirement	Differs by model but at least: Uprights – 58” long X 2.5’ depth Grands – 4’11″ to 9’ plus space for bench	Differs by model but at least: 52 ” width X 12” depth	Differs by model but at least: 37” width X 14” depth
Mobility	300 – 1200 lbs not easy to move, requires bonded professional piano mover	30 – 70 lbs easy to move	10 lbs easy to move
Space Requirement	Differs by model but at least: Uprights – 58” long, 2.5’ depth Grands – 4’11 to 9’ plus space for bench	Differs by model but at least: 52 ” width X 12” depth	Differs by model but at least: 37” width X 14” depth
Volume Control	No – may limit playing hours ** Practice Pad installation can help	Yes Adjust volume knob or use headphones	Yes Adjust volume knob or use headphones
Action: feel of keys being pressed down and how they spring back up again	Dependent on piano model and brand. In general usually better than most digital pianos.	Poor – Good Dependent on model and brand. Better models have better action and feel good to play. Cheaper models often sorely lack in this area.	Poor Not recommended as sole practice instrument over long term. Ok for very beginning note reading, playing chords or theory. Not possible to work on technique (other than hand position) on this instrument.
88 keys	Yes There are some pianos that have less than 88 keys. Although they take up less space than most uprights, they still take up more space than a digital piano and are usually not great instruments.	Yes There are models that have less but if you’re going to spring for a digital piano, the difference in price is negligible. The size difference is marginal so there’s no much space saving.	Some have 88 keys. Many do not. Not recommended with less than 61 keys since it is not practical for most music. Even so, 61 keys is outgrown fairly quickly by most students.
Weighted Keys: the resistance required to press down keys. Graded refers to the upper range having less resistance than the lower range the way it occurs on an acoustic piano	Naturally part of the mechanical nature of acoustic pianos. Can vary depending on brand and model. Keys in the upper range generally have less resistance than the lower range. Grand pianos have more heavily weighted keys than upright pianos.	Be careful of ‘thumpy’ or ‘flimsy’ feel. Extremely dependent on model and brand Most keyboards in this category don’t have weighted keys. You can instantly tell from the shallow key depth	OK for very beginning note reading, playing chords or theory. Not possible to work on technique (other than hand position) on this instrument. Be careful. Some keyboards claim to have weighted keys but are so lightly weighted that they don’t feel anything like real keys. Also never mistake “velocity” for weighted keys, as this refers to response of keys to the pressure applied to keys during attacks.
Sensitivity: how keys responds dynamically (louds & softs) to pressure	Good – Very Good Dependent on piano model and brand.	Dependant on model and brand. In general digital pianos have better sensitivity than other types of keyboards but usually less sensitivity than most pianos.	Poor – Ok Most models will respond to some louds and softs but there isn’t a lot of subtlety. Ok for very beginning but not suitable for working on in depth dynamics and musicality.
Midi Allows information to be sent and received between instruments and computers. Used for recording programs.	No There are midi triggers you can install on a piano but it’s expensive. (thousands of dollars)	Yes – Either through MIDI USB or through standard MIDI ports. Major brands and models all have midi capability. No-name brands may not.	Yes – Either through MIDI USB or through standard MIDI ports Major brands and models all have midi capabitlity. No-name brands may not.
Polyphony – How many keys can be pressed down at one time and all still continue to sound. Becomes an issue when using sustain pedal.	Not an issue. Pianos have strings that are struck by hammers and continue to ring until the string stops vibrating.	Good – Very Good Should have 128 note minimum polyphony. Beware of no-name brands that often cut corners in this area. Keys on a keyboard trigger samples of each note. More notes being held or played at the same time require more processing power. Once the maximum amount of voices (notes) in the polyphony are reached, the keyboard will cut off held notes.	Not great but good enough for beginners. If only 61 keys, you need a minimum of 64 note polyphony.
Ease of Resale/Resale Value	Good pianos hold value well and can be resold without losing a lot. However, it is not always easy to find a buyer, especially when there’s a moving deadline.	There is a demand for used 88 key digital pianos but in order to sell, it needs to be priced enough below a new one that there is an advantage to buying used.	Not as easy to resell unless super cheap. However, it’s easier to store and can be used for practice when traveling.
Outgrowing Instrument	Not an issue since all essentials needed to learn from beginner to advanced are present. Exception: Concert pianist who needs a finer instrument cable of more nuance.	Not an issue if a decent 88 key model is purchased since all essentials needed to learn from beginner to advanced are present. Exception: Concert pianist who needs a finer instrument cable of more nuance.	Student may quickly outgrow the number of keys, lack of sensitivity, and action. Continuing to practice solely on a beginner keyboard beyond the beginning stage can allow bad habits to form and don’t allow work on musicality or technique.
Key size Refers to the size of each individual key not how many keys the instrument has Not an issue since all essentials needed to learn from beginner to advanced are present.	Full Size	Full Size	Full Size Make sure keys are not ‘mini’. Muscle memory and dexterity will be formed with smaller distances and will not transfer to a standard keyboard or piano..

* Occasionally it is possible to find pianos being given away for only the cost of moving it out of its present location, which can cost several hundred dollars at least. As is the case with every piece of older equipment, pianos can have issues that are not obvious and are more expensive to repair than they are worth. It can be difficult to dispose of a piano if you get stuck with one that won’t hold a tuning. Since moving a piano costs several hundred dollars, even piano rebuilders or charitable organizations may not decide it’s worth the effort. Free pianos can be wonderful for both the person that needs to get rid of it and the person that receives it, just be sure to bring along a piano technician to ensure that it is functional. Practicing on a piano that won’t hold a tune or has keys that don’t work can be an obstacle to learning.

** Practice Pads can be installed on most pianos for a few hundred dollars (some come already installed). This puts a layer of felt between the hammer and the keys to reduce the volume of the sound. There is no volume control but it can significantly reduce the volume. It does affect the tone of the piano giving it a muted sound.

Piano Purchasing:
If you’re interested in purchasing a piano, we recommend the following book as a resource for your due diligence before investing in the right piano for your home.

The Piano Book: Buying and Owning a New or Used Piano

Keyboard Purchasing
See blog topic “Buying a Keyboard for Piano Lessons”

I once asked my classical piano teacher, “What pieces should I learn?” I think I was feeling like in order to be a good example for my students I needed to complete some specific list of repertoire. She was a concert pianist so I really expected to hear a list of pieces I must know in order to deserve to call myself a piano teacher. I was pretty surprised when she said, “You couldn’t learn all of the great music if you tried. You should choose music that you love. You’ll be more motivated to practice.” She knew that when you tackle something that is challenging you need to have a strong desire to stay at it in order to finish it and master it.  She also reminded me that I had a huge list of things I was dying to learn and only so much time. It’s a shame to waste that time slogging through things out of obligation instead of love. Most people that take lessons don’t have music as a job so I think this is especially true for the majority of students. I don’t mean to imply that you should only do the things you want to do and not the things you need to do. I am suggesting that you can use your desire to play specific music as a way to motivate you to learn the skills you need.

There is no reason why music you love can’t be a vehicle for learning. Each piece of music has lessons waiting inside of it, whether it’s technique required in order to play it beautifully or theory embedded that reveals how it works. Seeing the skills and knowledge related to music in action makes for more powerful learning. A deeper level of understanding happens when you can see the purpose of learning something. That’s one of the things that I love about music. When you put in the work, it gives you the instant gratification of being able to play a piece.

Make sure that your teacher can actually teach you the style or skills you need. EXAMPLE:  I often get students that want to play and sing pop songs and had a previous teacher that was giving them official sheet music from publishers. Even though the teacher clearly wanted to help the student learn the music they wanted, they were trying to approach it with the wrong tools. Learning how to comp with chords using a chord/lyric sheet or lead sheet is the best approach for a play and sing situation. Reasons why:

1. Seeing song form laid out in clear groupings allows easier memorization and a better understanding of how songs work.
2. Trying to do two things at once is hard enough; singers need to be able to put their primary focus on the singing not on reading through eight pages of a detailed piano part.
3. It’s unnecessary and usually not desirable to have two parts doing exactly the same thing. Sheet music (unless it says ‘transcription’) is not specifically arranged for piano/vocal which means that the melody which is intended for the singer is ALSO worked into the piano part.  Publishers do this to try and make the sheet music work for as many purposes as possible so they so they can sell the same thing to as many people as possible.  If you listen to any pop song, you’ll notice that the piano does NOT duplicate the melody along with the singer. The piano’s role in this situation is to support the singer not step all over them by playing their part over the top of them.

Music really needs to be arranged for the instrumentation it’s being used for to work the best. The arrangement that will work best for a piano solo is not going to be the best arrangement for a piano/vocal or for a full band. This is all to point out that the tools and skills for one kind of music are not exactly the same for all music. You need to have a teacher that understands what you’ll need to learn to do the music you’re interested in.

 

I often remind my students (especially adult students!) to remember why they’re at lessons. Most people, even kids that may not have chosen to do lessons, have music that speaks to them and a desire to be able to play an instrument and ENJOY it. If it’s turning into drudgery, it’s time to change things up. Look for new music and make sure that you have a teacher that inspires you and cares about what YOU want to get out it. It’s your lesson!

The ‘pursuit of happiness’ is the dreamy, American idea that if ordinary people work hard to improve their lives they will be happy. Our schools encourage us from the time we’re little to “follow our dreams”.  We expect happiness will happen when those dreams are achieved but it turns out that maybe that it doesn’t.

When I was very little, I remember being happy at the smallest things and hopeful about everything.  As I got older, I felt the natural childish joy being extinguished as the weight of responsibility made me grow up before I really wanted to.  I would escape into a book, music or various forms of creativity for moments of happiness but otherwise was passing time meeting my obligations with this future promise of happiness.  “I’ll be happy when….”  I wondered if losing happiness was a by-product of learning to be a responsible adult but I really didn’t want this to be true.  I had this sense that happiness could be a choice in how you perceive the world and that maybe it was something that I could teach or pass on to my child or my students.

One of the reasons music became a crucial part of my life was because it was always this pocket of happiness that I could dip into.  I couldn’t even really understand why it made me feel so good; I just knew that it did.  I felt like there were some clues on how to be happy waiting there to be figured out. I first became aware of the Science of Happiness, reading “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi over 15 years ago. It immediately made me start making connections between the way I feel inside music and happiness in general.  It seemed to lead to the conclusion that we can choose to be happy and got me to thinking that music might have a unique ability to help get us there.

The science of happiness studies what makes people happy and the results seem to be pretty consistent.  People are happiest when they can be in the moment of what they’re doing and less happy when their attention is divided or the mind wanders. Psychologist and author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls this phenomenon “flow”, which is a state of complete absorption within an activity where sense of time or other concerns completely go away.  Others might describe this state as ‘zen’, ‘in the zone’ or ‘in the moment’.

Matt Killingsworth is a happiness scientist who studies the causes and nature of human happiness. He says in his TED talk that people are substantially less happy when they’re mind-wandering.  He gathers data through a smartphone app he developed called “Track My Happiness” (http://trackmyhappiness.org). Users respond to periodic texts throughout the day and answer questions about what they’re doing and rate their level of happiness at that moment.

1. How do you feel? Rate from very bad to very good.
2. What are you doing?
3. Are you thinking about something other than what you are currently doing (mind-wandering)?

Killingsworth says in his NPR Ted Radio Hour interview that when he analyzed data across all activities that people are universally more happy when they are fully engaged in the activity and not mind-wandering.  The big question that NPR’s Guy Ross asks Killingsworth is, “How do you get to that ‘in the moment’ place?” Killingsworth’s answer: “That is the million dollar question.”  At this point in the interview, I’m practically jumping up and down because I feel like I KNOW the ANSWER to this question.  MUSIC!

There are some people who seem able to achieve this state easier than others.  There are many activities such as gaming, sports and learning where people report achieving this state but MUSIC is unique because it also has the ability to be a FACILITATOR for getting to that ‘in the moment’ place just by listening to it.  It can be the activity through the playing, practicing and learning of music or it can help get you into the mood of the activity you are doing.

Listening:  If you choose music that fits the state you are trying to ‘get in the zone’ with, it puts you there effortlessly allowing you to laser-focus in on the thing that you need it for.  A perfect example is exercising.  Put on some heart-pumping music and you are primed and motivated to get in the zone and work out.  An example at the other end of the spectrum is relaxing music that forces you to slow down and let go of the day.  Pretty much any mood you want to create, you can with the appropriate musical choice.  There’s an app called ‘Songza’  that curates playlists depending on mood or activity. The app’s success is based on music’s universal power to affect our moods.  People have been using music to alter moods and focus concentration and involvement in activities for as long as music has existed.  It’s been used in meditation, religion, war, celebration, romance, exercise, dance, film.  The list goes on and on. Think about it for a moment and imagine any of these things and the music that would go with it. Then imagine those same instances without the music to go along with it. All of those things lose their immediate power to be immersive without music.

Practicing/Playing/Performing:  The power to be in the moment becomes even stronger when you become involved in the doing of music.  In this case the music isn’t just helping you get and keep in the groove of the activity you are doing, it is the activity.  Because Music is a picture of time going by, it requires you to be in the moment or it doesn’t work.  Music is a deep and diverse subject that can not be fully mastered in a lifetime allowing it to continue to provide new challenges and new excitement. Csikzentmihalyi names nine component states of achieving flow (below). The “doing” of music can easily engage all of these.

1. Challenge-Skill Balance:  Balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur. If too difficult it results in frustration, if too easy it results in apathy.  Music works well for this because it can be enjoyable to perform at many levels of difficulty yet always offers new goals, challenges and excitement.  I still get just as excited about learning a new song or piece of music that I love as I did decades ago when I began learning.
2. Merging of Action and Awareness: All of a person’s relevant skills are needed to cope with the challenges of a situation allowing their attention to be completely absorbed by the activity.  Performing music takes a balancing act of paying enough attention to guide action while at the same time trusting muscle memory and mental memory to do it’s part.
3. Clear and Compatible Set of Goals: An activity has a clear set of goals and rules for action that make it possible for the participant to act without questioning what should be done. In music, this is very clear. Music is written out with clear notation rules guiding how to read as well as theory rules describing how music works.  You may have goals of improving skills and level of difficulty or being able to play specific pieces or even just to express an emotion or idea.  Although there can be other goals in music, these are basic ones that universal.
4. Immediate and Unambiguous Feedback: You can tell right away how well you are doing or if you are improving. In music, while practicing you get the immediate result of being able to play a piece of music or being able to play it better.
5. Concentration on the Task at Hand: The clearly structured demands of the activity impose order and allows one to forget about unpleasant aspects of life or allow worries to intrude on consciousness. Music engages conscious and automatic skills at once and often emotions as well allowing the performer to lose themselves in the ‘doing’ of the music.
6. Paradox of Control: The sense of exercising control in a difficult situation with a lack of worry about losing control or fear of failure.  In music you can tackle a challenge and make mistakes with no major life failure or injury.  You can work at it until you conquer the area where the mistake happens.
7. Loss of Self-Consciousness: When an activity is thoroughly engrossing, there is not enough attention left over to allow a person to consider the past, future or be preoccupied with one’s self with distracting thoughts or irrelevant feelings. A person invests their psychic energy in part of a system that is greater than oneself which creates a sense of unity with things outside of themselves. Playing music and especially playing music with others achieves this easily.
8. Transformation of Time: Person is absorbed in the ‘doing’ of the activity and loses awareness of time going by. Playing music can be so absorbing that time disappears.
9. Autotelic Experience:  A person performs acts because they are intrinsically rewarding, rather than to achieve external goals. Music is a perfect example of something that feels worth doing for its own sake and not for any external goal or reward.

Why does music work? Bodies naturally try to match with their environment. With music the environment is sound and it travels not just around you but through your body. The speed of the music affects our heart rate, breathing and pace of activity. We feel the sound vibrate areas throughout our bodies.  Brains react to physical stimuli that trigger different regions of the brain to take control.  Different areas of our brain are designed to take over depending on what is needed. Fear kicks the amygdala into gear if there is a threat with a fight or flight response. The left hemisphere of our brain takes over when we need to engage logic. The right hemisphere of our brain is the intuitive. Music seems to launch our brain into the part of our brain that lets go of time and experiences intuition and inspiration.

Dr.Jill Bolte Taylor, a Neuroscientist who suffered a left hemisphere brain stroke describes her experiences and links them with what is known about the right and left hemispheres in her book, ‘My Stroke of Insight’. One of the striking realizations she has while immersed in her right hemisphere with her left hemisphere not functioning was how she felt emotionally as time and self-preoccupation disappeared. The right side of the brain where inspiration, intuition and religious experience all live, created a sense of euphoria and transcendence.  I immediately recognized the state she was describing as the state I experience when listening to music that I connect with.

Music seems to have a power to instantly transform our mood and allow us to shift to that euphoric right brain state. I believe it also is a great facilitator for getting into the state of ‘flow’ whether to be in the ‘flow’ of doing music or to enhance the ‘flow’ of some other activity. I like to call this mood-shifting. Although we can choose our actions, it is much more elusive to have control over our mood and how we feel emotionally. Mood-shifting can be used to change gears when immersed in negative emotions or as a way to work through those emotions in a healthy way. Being able to shift our mood to whatever state we need to be in to be motivated to do an activity and experience ‘flow’ is a huge advantage. This makes music uniquely qualified to aid in the pursuit of happiness. Engage music. Happiness achieved!

Suzan Stroud
Founder-Treblemakers Music School
Author- Treblemakers Piano Method Series
Full Time Piano Teacher 20+ years

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Sources:

‘Simply Happy’ TED Radio Hour

Ted Talks ‘Dan Gilbert’

‘Flow’  by Mihalyy Csikzentmihalyi

‘Finding Flow’ by Mihalyy Csikzentmihalyi

‘My Stroke of Insight’ by Dr.Jill Bolte Taylor

www. pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/Mihaly-Csikzentmihalyi/

1. So much amazing singing. As a singer, I’m often disappointed in the singing when I go to musicals.  Usually there’s one or two singers that are great and even then they aren’t always given the material to really shine.  I really loved the writing, both script and music. ‘Waitress’ was a dream for singers. Singer after singer blew me away.  Sara Bareilles’ voice was breathtakingly beautiful and emotional. Caitlin Houlahan as ‘Dawn’, Charity Angel Dawson as ‘Becky’, Chris Diamantopoulos as ‘Dr. Pomatter’, and Christopher Fitzgerald as ‘Ogie’ all gave stand-out vocal performances that gave me chills.  I was high on gorgeous voices by the time it was over.
2.  Vocal harmony and orchestration.  The musical is full of beautiful vocal harmony and sparsely orchestrated for rhythm section rather than   orchestra.  It really created a clean beautiful background that allowed the vocals to encompass the audience and soar.
3. Those Skies!   Backdrops of gorgeous skies complete with power lines behind each internal building scene transported me in a way that just having the internal rooms could have never accomplished.  I believe it’s supposed to be set in the south but it could just as easily be the midwest in the summer. I felt my heart skip a beat as I missed my own midwest skies.  
4. The Pie! Jenna experiences her life through every pie concoction she imagines and bakes.  It holds all her dreams, feelings and connection to others. The first song is called ‘What’s Inside’ which highlights the way that Jenna is closed on the outside but has all these rich feelings she keeps hidden inside.  Maybe my connection to this was made even stronger by own memories of learning about baking and life from my own grandmother just like Jenna learns from her mom. Added bonus: They pumped pie-smell throughout the theater for extra effect!
5. Lovable Characters and Dialogue.  Almost every character got huge applause at the end because they each had a moment where you get to know them and love their quirkiness, personality and humour.  The only actor who didn’t get a lot of applause at the end was poor Earl.  I gave him a few shouts.  He deserved it for a job well done of making the audience dislike him and forget that this is an actor playing an unlikable guy named Earl.  Come on people, Will Swenson deserves some props here!

There is an attitude among many teachers that they should only teach students that have a natural aptitude and diligently practice. I hear parents say, “Well, maybe music isn’t their thing” after they’ve had an unsuccessful experience with music lessons. Having taught piano lessons several decades, I disagree with this premise. If the majority of students are not successful at learning and quit within months maybe the problem is not with the students but in how the subject is being taught. I’m going to say something radical here: Everyone can learn to play an instrument. There are a lot of benefits to learning and having music being part of your life. Music is universally powerful which is why almost everyone feels a connection to it. Not every kid is cut out to be a rocket scientist but we don’t just let them abandon math and say maybe it’s not their ‘thing’. It’s still worth learning for the benefits and skills it brings to their life even if they won’t make a career out of it. This is also true of music. I think not only a change in how music is taught is called for but also a change in attitude.

What attitudes do we need to change about teaching music?

1. It’s okay that most people quit music lessons in the first year. This shouldn’t just be accepted as the way things are. If as a whole, teachers are failing to the get MOST students past the first crucial hump of learning, then some reflection needs to happen on what could be done better. We should be focusing on getting more successes and not only giving attention to ‘good students’ and letting the rest weed themselves out. This makes me sad when I think of how many students could have learned but quit thinking maybe they weren’t cut out for it. It shouldn’t be all on the student. Teachers are paid experts in the room that should be figuring out how to get learning to happen and how to help ease students past obstacles that can be common points where students give up and quit.
2. Students quit lessons because they weren’t willing to work hard enough, didn’t want it bad enough or didn’t have musical ability. Most people are capable of being musical, learning and enjoying playing an instrument. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Lessons need to inspire students so they want to be there. Information and material need to be taught in a way that allows students to be successful in learning and able to play music that is satisfying to them. Unlike many other things, music has the reward of instant gratification built into it. You work on a passage of music which leads to being able to play the whole piece at the end. It also important to work on building skills that allow students the independence to learn and play new music. Once some basic skills have been learned it should be easier and more enjoyable to learn new things but if students don’t get past the first level they won’t discover this.
3. Students would learn if they would just do what their teacher told them to do. Learning is so much more successful and profound when the student is on board with WHY they should do something. Teachers need to be salespeople for ideas. Students don’t always understand what teachers are asking them to do or aren’t sold on why it’s important. Teachers need to be prepared to explain things a lot of different ways and sell students on why those things will help the student do what THEY want with music. Even if a student wants to take something on faith, it’s hard to get motivated to do something if you can’t see it’s purpose.
4. Students can’t learn or progress if they don’t practice.Most people are not highly disciplined or self-motivated. Especially young kids who don’t do anything on their own yet. It’s not logical to expect that suddenly they be “responsible” about this one thing. You can certainly hope to inspire practice by getting students excited about playing music they love or giving them advice on practicing, but nagging is not effective except in getting students to quit. It’s true that practice is going to make progress happen faster but lack of practicing shouldn’t make progress non-existent. It does, however, mean that how things are done in the lesson need to change.  If the whole lesson plan relies on the student practicing on their own time and they’re not practicing, the plan is designed for failure. Teachers should focus on taking a few notes, concepts or chords and doing lots of activities and songs that use them. Build skills that can be used to do new things while giving plenty of fresh things to do so that it doesn’t get boring or feel discouraging. Focus on building a solid foundation that can be added to over time. Often times as things get easier, students start going to the instrument more on their own.
5. Every student wants to be a concert pianist or performer. Students come to lessons for many reasons. Learning plans need to be tailored to what the student wants to get out of it, even if they don’t know at first. Sometimes, it’s a process of exploring until they discover what really excites them. The student may want to play and sing pop songs, play classical music, play jazz, learn to improvise or write music. They may or may not want to perform in front of others.  Each of these goals and motivations have different skills and priorities needed.
6. Anyone can teach. Teaching is a talent just as much as playing an instrument is. Teachers need to not only have something to teach but have the gift to teach it. Just like learning an instrument, teaching needs to practiced with the goal of constantly improving. It isn’t enough to want to teach, it takes the ability to communicate, break things down, explain things in many different ways, inspire, organize information, earn trust, relate to students, problem solve and lead by example.

1. One-on-one lessons should have learning plans tailored to meet students goals and pace; not be a pre-packaged process where the teacher teaches everyone exactly the same way with the same music. Students are often taught in a way that is not only unexciting but isn’t designed give them the specific tools they’ll need to do what they want to do with music.     
2. Obstacles holding each learner back need to be evaluated and focused on first. Whether this is building focusing stamina, managing frustration, playing in time, using good fingerings, understanding concepts, dexterity, note-reading, etc. Sometimes until the main obstacle is removed, learning can’t happen. For instance, if the student gets frustrated easily and resists repeating things, it’s going to be hard to get traction. There are strategies that work. Teachers need to be invested in learning how to deal with a multitude of issues so they have tools ready to address problems as they happen.  
3. Teachers need to get better at actually diagnosing what is holding students back instead of assuming students aren’t trying or aren’t listening. You can’t address a problem if you’ve misdiagnosed what’s wrong. Learning to pay attention to the information that students give by their actions, words and body language gives valuable insight.
4. Teachers need to build trust so there can be an open, judgement-free dialogue with students about what they are experiencing and how they are feeling. Students often don’t want to disappoint their teachers or admit things that may make them feel stupid. They don’t have the perspective of seeing other people’s learning experience, only their own so they don’t know a lot of struggles are common. I much prefer students being honest about what they like, what they want and how they’re feeling.  Otherwise I have to rely on instinct and guessing. I want my students to be happy and successful in reaching their musical goals.
5. Don’t assume that just because something looked easy for a student to do that it FELT easy for them. I recently saw a teacher arguing with a student about how easy something was for them.  The student didn’t want to play the part again and said, “It’s too hard.”  The teacher said, “You just did it. That was so easy for you!” I know the teacher had the best of intention, but that student was giving them valuable feedback that they were ignoring. That’s an opportunity to get to the bottom of why that felt hard to the student. Is it because they have a low focusing stamina and haven’t learned yet that repetition is part of learning? Is it that they were using their working memory to do too big of a chunk and it felt mentally taxing. It often can look like a student has something automatic before they’ve truly mastered it. Students don’t fight the easy stuff. If they’re giving pushback, there is a struggle there somewhere. A lot of teachers or parents will immediately jump to the conclusion that the student is just being difficult or lazy.
6. Teachers should focus efforts on working within the boundaries of what they have, not what they wish they had. Assume most people will practice very little or not at all. This means adjusting goals to make sure progress can happen in the lesson. Yes, it can be done! Take concepts you want to master whether it’s a note-range of reading or a set of chords and do as many activities and songs as you can with those in it. This way the student is mastering a skill while not being stuck on the same song for too long. Months on the same song without progressing doesn’t feel good for teacher or student.
7. Put the focus on what the teacher CAN control which is making progress during the lesson instead of on what happens with students when they are at home. It’s very difficult for teachers to change what happens in the home environment.
8. Learning strategies need to be adjusted to work with how people actually have music as a part of their lives instead of how teachers wish it was. Method Books are still being used from 50-100 years ago and even newer ones are still following the same format as the old ones. We’ve learned a lot about how to learn, memory and how the brain works since then. That information should be being used to create curriculum that is more effective. Today’s student is also not the same as a student 50 years ago. Today’s kids have a lot of commitments and choices competing for their time.
9. Make reasonable goals that can be maintained over the long haul.  Although learning the piano is most successful when it’s approached as a long term project, it shouldn’t be a burden or drudgery. Music should add to student’s lives not add guilt or unhappiness.
10. Don’t expect students to do the ‘hard work’ at home. Tackle the hard stuff in the lesson where they have support and guidance. They will be more likely to practice it if they can already do it when they walk out of the lesson.  Playing it during the week will solidify the learning and make it automatic.
11. Learning an instrument shouldn’t be all discipline or all love. The all-discipline approach tends to drive the joy out of learning while the all-love approach accomplishes very little real learning.  It needs to strike the balance between the two.  
12. Learning music should be a combination of structure and freedom. Students need to have the structure to build a good foundation and understand how music works but freedom also needs to be nurtured. Musicians stop having ideas when they’re discouraged or corrected every time they try to do things their own way. I’ll give an example, I was working with a young drummer the other day who is just beginning. I gave him a specific pattern he had to play every time during the A section of a song (which I was playing along with him on the piano). Then I told him he could do whatever he wanted in the other sections. Did he do a lot of things that didn’t make sense?  Sure, but he also did some things that were pretty musical and got the satisfaction of being creative. Down the road, the conversation can begin about how to recognize the idea gems and develop them. What works, what doesn’t and why.

What am I personally doing to contribute to music education?

• Changing lives one at a time through the students I teach.
• Mentoring other teachers to help broaden their perspective and add new tools to their teaching skill set.
• Creating Content for teachers, parents and students to make learning engaging and effective.
• Writing to educate on both music and learning.

Hybrid pianos represent an exciting new option for piano buyers. The technology is still fairly new, but hybrid pianos give the best of both worlds when it comes to pianos and keyboards. There are still few models to choose from and they are still relatively expensive but I believe they are poised to take over the market as musicians and teachers discover and work with them.

Pianos and keyboards will still exist because they fill specific needs but hybrid pianos fill a huge need that many people share. Many people want a piano but face space or noise issues. Families or musicians buying an instrument to practice on have traditionally had to make compromises. The sound and feel of an acoustic piano are quite appealing for many people, but there are practical issues to consider.

• Physical space requirement (even uprights)
• Heavy and expensive to move
• Upkeep – Needs regular tuning and maintenance
• Environmental sensitivity – Temperature and humidity changes affect pianos
• No realistic volume control
• Expensive

Digital pianos are a kind of keyboard designed to more closely replicate the feel of playing a piano while solving the volume and space issues that make a piano a difficult or unrealistic option in some circumstances.

Digital pianos have gotten increasingly better and manufacturers have done an amazing job recreating a piano’s sound with sophisticated sampling technology. The main area where they still struggle to match a piano is in the moving parts of the action and keys which create the feel of playing a piano’s keys. Beginners are less likely to be affected by this difference but as students become more advanced and nuanced in their playing it can start to matter. Still, the advantages to having a digital piano can be compelling.

• Not heavy – Anywhere from 30-75 lbs – easy to move around even with just one person
• Space-saving – Very slim profile, only a little bigger than the piano’s keys
• No Maintenance – Don’t need tuning or other maintenance
• Volume Control – Through speakers or headphones
• Connectivity – Access to music software for notation, recording or virtual instruments
• Affordability – Usually less expensive than piano

What Exactly Is A “Hybrid Piano”?

A small piano cabinet containing physical piano action with sensors on the hammers that trigger a sampled piano sound through speakers instead of hitting strings and being amplified by a soundboard. Hybrid pianos have taken the effort to get the speaker wattage and placement right creating a beautiful sounding experience for the player. The piano sampling is nuanced and beautiful allowing each section of the piano to showcase the ideal sound in that range and to replicate the different ways a player may strike a key changing in volume and tone.

Why Hybrid Pianos Are Amazing

You are actually playing an acoustic piano’s keys and action but now have:

• Volume Control-through speakers or headphones
• Slim Profile- saving space
• Very Little Maintenance – No tuning required or repairs to strings or soundboard. Regulation of action may be required occasionally (3-5 years).
• Very Little Sensitivity to Temperature and Humidity – No strings and soundboard mean that environment won’t affect tuning. (The action could be affected causing sticky keys.)
• USB MIDI Connectivity-to-computer
• USB Connectivity is a huge advantage if you want to do any recording. This gives the ability to edit with MIDI, allowing notes and rhythms to be changed, and then output to a high quality audio track from the keyboard’s line outs.

The only downsides of the Hybrid Piano are:

• Still expensive relative to Digital Pianos (MSRP upwards of $4000, though street price will be lower)
• Weight. About half the weight of a piano (from 170 – 240 lbs), but not easily moved on your own

Casio, Yamaha and Kawai currently make hybrid models. I got a chance to play them all in Japan recently and was so excited that we decided to get one for our studios at Treblemakers. They are not widely available in the U.S. yet but Cunningham Piano in King of Prussia, PA offers them with fantastic pricing.

Cunningham’s excellent reputation as a piano seller and rebuilder is well-deserved. I bought my piano there years ago and have sent quite a few families their way as I feel like they really listen and try to offer options that match students priorities and needs while still offering a good deal. Our recent visit to Cunningham proved them to be every bit as good as their reputation..

Casio’s Celviano GP-500 was the initial reason for our visit because of its balance between features and price. The sampled Bechstein sound when I played it in Japan had me in love, but after sitting and playing the Casio Celviano GP-500 and the Yamaha NU1, the full piano action of the Yamaha model won me over.

Over the years, I’ve had both Yamaha and Casio keyboards and have liked specific lines and models in each brand, but there are certainly positive and negative features in every product line.

Casio’s Celviano line has a partial action with some plastic parts and counterweights instead of the full action inside. It’s still a huge leap beyond the current digital piano lines and is a little less expensive than the Yamaha. But you do get what you pay for, and the full action of the Yamaha NU1 was simply elegant and a joy to play in comparison to any other Digital Piano I’ve ever played.

For our studios, the relatively small price difference was not worth the compromise on a major feature for such an expensive piece of equipment or instrument. The Yamaha also carries a few models that have a grand action inside (the NU1 has an upright action) but I felt like the price point on it made it less appealing. You could get an actual grand for the same money.

Casio Celviano GP-500

Casio Celviano GP-500 Action

Yamaha NU1

Yamaha NU1 Action

Kawai CA97B

Kawai CA97B Action

Definitions:

Sampling: The process of recording each note on an acoustic instrument to create a realistic sound. Many recordings are taken of each note to make it respond and sound like a real instrument would sound capturing the physical differences in how the note may be played.

Soundboard: A large wooden plate in a piano that amplifies the sound when the strings vibrate on it.

MIDI: Stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. This is the programming language that sends information (what notes are sounded, when, how hard etc.) from a digital instrument  to the computer. When it plays back, it triggers an instrument inside the keyboard or a virtual instrument in the computer that replicates the performance using the information captured. Has more editing options and takes up less memory than recording audio sound waves of an instrument.

USB MIDI: Ability to transmit MIDI information using a USB cable.

Regulation of Action: Adjustment of the moving parts inside the action of a piano that allows the keys to be played evenly and smoothly. Can eliminate unwanted sounds such as rings or buzzes and reduces wear and tear from parts rubbing.

Virtual Instrument: An instrument sound generated within a computer that runs inside a computer program.  It can be a sample (recording) of an instrument or synthesized (machine-created by algorithm). Often runs as a subprogram inside another piece of music software such as a music recording or notation program. It’s sound can be played (triggered) by a keyboard or other instrument connected to the computer through midi.

This one of the most common debates I see amongst musicians, teachers and hobbyists and one of the most common questions I get as a teacher. The question I get is usually, “Which is better?”  I’ve noticed, however, that usually the asker is looking for confirmation of their already held position. There is a lot going on in this seemingly simple question and I want to honestly go over what I see lying under the surface that causes people to have such passionate positions on both sides and knee-jerk responses to the opposite viewpoint.  I DO have an opinion on it and I think it may be worth hearing my story to understand how I came to the position I hold but first let’s address some of the things that are unsaid under the surface.

Playing by Ear:  People who can play by ear are born with some innate musical talent that others don’t have. This really gets to the heart of why people get so hung up on this. People like feeling like they were born with a magical gift that makes them special. I’m not going to lie, there is something a little magical about it in the same way that some people have a natural ability to draw. I also think that it just looks easier. This skill can be taught but even those that can naturally play by ear need to develop their ability or it will be limited. The cases that don’t require development are the ones that people get misled into thinking are possible without there being a cost.

Everyone has heard stories of autistic people that have a lot of difficulty functioning and interacting with other people but can play an entire symphony just by hearing it once. Both of those things are actually related to filtering; in one instance it manifests itself as a deficit, in the other as an amazing gift.

The executive functioning part of the brain is responsible for handling the sensory information that comes in, helping to store it, access it later and string it together in the present or during remembering to create a seamless perception. One of it’s most important functions is to manage what we pay attention to. This is designed to draw our attention to dangers that we need to react to for survival and allow attention to be focused so tasks can be completed. Autistic individuals have difficulty with this filtering. Their brain tries to focus on everything at once causing the them to get overwhelmed, especially in over-stimulating environments. It’s also why some autistic people may be able to notice every part of the orchestra at once.

For the rest of us, our executive function automatically filters incoming stimuli to make us pay attention to one thing at a time in the orchestra. In general, the thing that draws our attention the easiest, is whatever part is loudest. Conductors and Audio Engineer/Producers and highly nuanced Performers know this and use loudness to highlight musical parts and ideas drawing the listener’s ears and attention throughout the piece. Extreme expressions in individual traits affect both the upsides and downsides which is why average trait expressions create better balance.

One of the upsides to playing by ear is that it allows you to hear something and replicate it if you don’t have the music. This is great when you need a specific instrument part that may be hard to find the music for. A lot of songs on the radio may put out sheet music that’s arranged to fit a lot of different needs but won’t have the actual instrumental parts written out.

The limitations are that players often can’t figure out things that outside of their experience playing. Part of playing by ear is an internal recognition of an idea that has been experienced before. Another downside is that players will often need to listen before being able to play. Many audition, studio and performance opportunities require the ability to be able to pick up and play music on the spot due to practical cost issues. It is expensive to rent space and pay the professionals involved. Players may be able to jump in improvise if they’re playing with others but if a part is specific or solo it will require listening before playing.

Playing by Reading:  People who don’t read music are being lazy and not disciplined enough to learn to be musically literate or go through a proper music education.

It’s a long-time tradition that those who have done the hard thing get prickly and defensive when others try to skip steps and don’t have to go through the trials they went through. Learning to read music fluently is not an overnight process. It takes a lot of time and effort and anyone who’s come out the other side definitely deserves respect for perseverance.  Piano music in particular has many notes and ideas happening at once which makes reading difficult especially as music gets more complicated. Discipline and commitment are worthy traits to develop.  People can only get so far by just relying on their talents alone and must work hard in order to reach excellence.

Reading music is a practical skill that allows you to read new music you’ve never seen or heard before and jog the memory of old pieces. It allows musical ideas to be written down and transmitted easily to others. One of the dangers of ONLY learning to read and not working on ear skills is that players often don’t learn to improvise. They get used to having everything mapped out for them. Learning to make choices on the spot is a skill that must be practiced. The other downside to having music all written out is that it is harder to see song form and harmony. The player can get lost in the linear way the details are laid out and fail to see the big picture. Having an understanding of how music works adds to a player’s ability to interpret the music.

Both Playing by Ear and Playing by Reading are valuable ways to experience and understand music. Most people tend to have more aptitude towards one or the other so the opposite approach feels more difficult but it’s worth working on both for the advantages that each give. The two skills are compatible and both part of being a well-rounded musician.

I had a natural ear and when I began taking piano lessons. My teacher didn’t notice that I wasn’t actually reading the music. She would play the song I was going to learn for the week so I knew what it sounded like. Because my ear and my memory were good, I wasn’t actually getting any reading practice of notes. My playing and my ear grew more over time but my reading skills were nonexistent. When I got a more advanced teacher, she didn’t notice that I wasn’t reading either. When I got to music college, it started to become a problem. I could understand concepts and play very difficult things, but my lack of reading skills really slowed down how fast I could learn things, write out music or sometimes follow discussions. It was more difficult to tackle reading skills at this point but it definitely opened up new capabilities that I wish I had earlier. I discovered I do best at reading when I can translate what I see on the page into something I recognize and know by sound. As I got good at reading music I started to understand how playing by ear and reading are linked. In order to play by ear, you translate something you hear into a visual shape on the piano. In order to play by reading, you translate the visual shape you see on the page (which is the same shape on the piano) to a sound you hear. It’s pretty silly to think the translation is somehow better in one direction versus the other. They both output to the sound you hear in the end.

It’s recital season!  It’s the perfect time to talk about stage fright and performances gone wrong.  Chances are there are a certain number of performers and students right now that have just went through a rough performance and are feeling terrible. Even if this isn’t you right now, anyone that performs eventually has to deal with a moment where they’ve frozen on stage and have been unable to play something.

Over the years I’ve seen partial fails and spectacular fails. When the performer doesn’t manage to recover and it turns into more than a momentary bump, it can be traumatic and cause the student to never want to perform again. It is always my goal to prepare my students so they avoid a bad experience (especially as their first!) but also teach them to be resilient enough to handle it if it happens and keep it in perspective.

Some people will only experience stage fright occasionally while others struggle with it constantly. When stage fright is chronic, it can be much harder to overcome. The reason is simple, the behavior becomes practiced and creates a self-fulfilling loop that can be very difficult to break out of. Certain personality types can be more prone to stage fright than others. Building positive experiences around performing early and often allow even those that might not have a disposition naturally compatible with performing able to make it an enjoyable part of their life.

Although the reasons people experience stage fright and how severe it is might be different, what happens in the brain is pretty much the same.

What happens in your brain when stage fright kicks in? The brain has different areas that take primary control depending on what is needed. The amygdala is a part of the brain that is designed to take charge in an emergency allowing quick fight or flight response. When this happens, other parts of the brain are disengaged sending all resources to the amygdala allowing speed and reaction that could be life-saving. Imagine the captain of a starship who has encountered a threatening vessel. “Redirect all non-essential power to the weapons (or engines)!”

In an emergency, there isn’t time to deliberate over how serious a threat is which is why fear can cause a response that is out of proportion to the trigger. When a performer gets stage fright, the amygdala has kicked in even though the threat is not life-threatening. The performer can not access memory because all non-essential functions have been shut down. They face a blank slate as they try to recall well-known information. When this happens, it can really undermine a person’s trust that their own mind is working the way it should. Guess what? It is functioning EXACTLY the way it should. Rest assured, you’re brain is totally ready to save your life. Now that you understand that, we need to get to work making sure that you learn how to keep your amygdala from being set off every time you perform.

How to Avoid Stage Fright

Learning how to get rid of the FEAR that allows the amygdala to kick in is the best strategy for battling stage fright. There are strategies to still be able to perform through stage fright but that isn’t ideal because you’re operating on suboptimal mental efficiency. Ultimately, you want to be able to not only perform well but also ENJOY it. At the very least you want to not have it be gut-wrenching torture every time.

Build and Utilize Muscle Memory. Muscle memory is an automatic function that is also necessary for fighting or fleeing. Often times performers may be able to keep on going while they’re frozen in fear as long as they allow muscle memory to take over. If a performer has to think about what their body is doing in order to play the piece, they haven’t programmed the muscle memory needed to allow the body to go through the motions automatically.

An important part of utilizing muscle memory is getting and staying in the right frame of mind to allow muscle memory to do it’s job. I always compare it to running up a flight of stairs. Most people have built the muscle memory to run up a flight of stairs easily as long as they trust their muscle memory and let it work. However, if you think about the steps or motions required to run up a flight of stairs as you are doing it, you will always trip. I’d say try it if you haven’t but I don’t want to be responsible for anyone falling down a flight of stairs so maybe just trust me on this one.

Practice performing under pressure.  Record yourself. This naturally puts you in a self-conscious state without actually being in front of an audience. You can also perform in front of just a few people at a time making the stakes lower. Just the act of performing more regularly can help desensitize you. This will also help you:

• See how performance ready you are BEFORE going in front of a big audience. Learn how to judge what level of preparation needs to happen in order to perform smoothly nine times out of ten. Notice areas that are slow or not as smooth while you are hyper-aware. When you are lost inside your own experience of doing something on your own, you perceive time differently than in a setting where you are aware of others. Our perception of time can speed up or slow down when internally focused but in music time needs to happen steadily.
• Build confidence that you can get through performances successfully. If you are confident that you can perform successfully consistently, you will probably stop feeling terrified. Being terrified of performing can cause you to perform badly, therefore confirming that you should be terrified creating a loop that’s hard to break out of.

Remove the expectation of perfection. Before the recording age, performers and listeners didn’t have the expectation of perfect performances. As people got used to hearing recordings where every nuance of the performance was the same time after time, there became an unrealistic expectation that people perform like machines playing back a recording. Musicians spend hours to craft and edit perfect recordings. They rarely happen the first time through which is what you are expecting in a live performance. Live performances are never exactly the same which is part of their beauty but also means that sometimes things go better than others.

Practice getting and staying in a state of “flow”: One of the most difficult skills that performing music requires, is marrying automatic functions with guided thinking. Trusting muscle memory while also making conscious choices need to be balanced perfectly in order for great performances to happen. This balance is a state of mind that many athletes and performers will refer to as ‘being in the zone’. It has also been referred to as ‘being in the moment’ or ‘flow’. Chances are if you’ve ever had a perfect moment where you are lost in the doing of music you’ve experienced this. Performers need to practice getting and staying in this state.

Put performance in the proper perspective. Ask yourself the following questions.

Who dies if you fail?  That’s right! No one. Music is about emotion and expression. Music performance doesn’t have life or death consequences unless you’re in that scene from the ‘Goonies’. In case you don’t know it, the kids have to read notes and play them on an organ in order get past a booby trap.  If they hit wrong notes, chunks of the floor drop out from below them. Too many mistakes and they plummet to their death! Luckily, this doesn’t happen in real life.

Are you strong enough to survive a failure? Life is full of failures and are part of how we learn. If you want to be good at things or try new things, it’s important to take failures in stride and learn what you can from them.

Possible things we might learn from performance failures:

• Piece Not Committed to Muscle Memory
• Weren’t Prepared Enough
• Mental Focus of ‘keeping in the zone’ Needs Practice
• Unrealistic or Unhealthy Perspective is Adding Unnecessary Pressure
• Need to Build Confidence
• Need Practice Performing Under Pressure
• Need to Perform More Often

Don’t make performance more important than it is. When you give something too much importance it can become a nemesis that looms over you feeling impossible to beat. It’s good to care about the quality of your work but caring too much can cause you to lose perspective and cause unnecessary anxiety. Develop a mantra that makes sense to you and tell it to yourself when you start to get anxious. Recognize what is getting in your way and stopping you from relaxing and enjoying it. For me, I can get caught up in worrying about being perfect or living up to other people’s expectation of me. As a teacher, I feel like people expect me to be perfect and that I should set a good example. Now, as soon as I get to the good example thought, I remind myself that being a good example means showing grace under pressure by picking myself up and carrying on even when I’m not perfect. I also remind myself that I LOVE being immersed in music and sharing it with others. When I’m focused on what truly motivates me to do it, I’m able to let go of the other stuff.

Why perform at all? Not everyone needs to be a ‘performer’ to have music in their life but it is beneficial skill to learn that can be used in lots of other areas. The opportunity to share what we love is satisfying. It’s also great way to set deadline oriented goals and showcase our progress. Exercising the self control, focus, healthy perspective and discipline of preparation that performance requires certainly makes us better versions of ourselves.