Diploma congratulations!

Congratulations to Liz Seward who has passed her Dip ABRSM in Piano Teaching. This diploma involved a piece of written work on an area of piano teaching, playing and explaining how to teach grade 6 pieces, a Quick Study at sight of grade 6 standard and a Viva Voce on just about every aspect of the written work and teaching! Liz did really well and is going from strength to strength as a teacher.

Congratulations also to Josephine Southon who has passed her DipLCM in piano performing. Josie managed this at the same time as taking her A levels and passing her grade 8 flute! She intends to go to university to study music.
Performing diplomas are professional qualifications and although they are a possible next step after grade 8, they are a significant step up and include a 15-20 mins programme of performing, a written programme, a viva vice and a quick study or sight reading. Teaching, conducting and accompanying diplomas are also available. Any diploma entails a serious commitment in time, practising and preparation. Josie has done seriously well!

End of year round-up and exam congratulations!

Congratulations to Daisy, Leo, Elinor and Ben who took their Prep Tests and ABRSM Grade exams. Daisy and Leo had lovely Prep test reports and got them presented in The Cathedral School Achievers' Assembly last week. Elinor achieved a high merit for her grade 4  and Ben got a distinction for his. Hooray all round. If you want to know more about ABRSM exams click on this link: http://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/#

Well done to all of you who have played, progressed, performed and enjoyed your piano playing this year. Do look at the previous post on Holiday Piano Ideas and have a think about what you would like to achieve next year.

Many thanks for all the lovely comments, cards and presents you have given me but especially thanks for making my job such fun! Have a great summer.

Holiday Piano Ideas!

Holiday Piano Ideas! for when you are bored or just want to explore music and the piano a little bit more.

·        Play a concert; choose an easy piece, a well-known piece and a fun piece. You can invite family and friends and design and print a programme for it.

·        Find out about one of your favourite composers. Write a potted biography of them and include: their dates of birth and death, where they lived, 3 interesting facts (did they like a certain food, have red hair etc), what kind of music they wrote, what instruments they wrote for or why you like their music.

·        Try some of the ideas here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3DHQxvhiWDfVGFoWHNQVnFuWkE/edit

·        Look ahead and try the next pieces in your book, listen to them on Spotify or YouTube and Do It Yourself!

·        Try getting ahead with music theory- look on my Pinterest Boards for games to help with this: http://pinterest.com/fionalau/boards/

 

·        Find a piano playing friend and play some easy peasy duets with them

·        Teach your parents or your younger brothers and sisters an easy tune from your first books.

·        Go to a concert- there are some Proms for children and some free ones!

·        Try a new instrument- recorder is cheap and easy.

·        Compose a tune for piano based on one of your favourite pieces.

·        Find some new cool piano apps, try them out and come back and tell me all about them.

·        Teach yourself to play a favourite TV or film theme tune by ear, or crack Happy Birthday!

·        Video yourself playing a piece and upload it to YouTube or send it to me and I will put it on my blog!

·        Visit somewhere musical in the holidays- Handel House in London or a famous concert hall, write a newspaper style report or blog about it.(send it to me and I will put it on my blog)

·        Enjoy your Summer!

A huge thank you!

A huge thank you to everyone who performed last night on piano, harp, cornet, flute, clarinet, violin or voice. You all did very well and I enjoyed hearing you play. Thank you as well to parents, grandparents, siblings and friends who accompanied, encouraged practice and delivered everyone to lessons and rehearsals.
Our hosts, The Salvation Army, were very impressed and asked if they could invite the older members of their congregation next time, so let me know what you think about that. More people to applaud sounds good to me but have a think and tell me your thoughts.
Once again thank you for a lovely summer's evening of music.

Summer Piano and Instrumental Concert

Concert Details:

On: Friday 21st June
At: The Salvation Army Hall, Baddow Road, Chelmsford (parking available nearby in The Meadows car park)
Time: 7.30-9pm
Admission: £1 per non-playing adult, 50p per non-playing child

All welcome, including performers families, and past and present pupils.

If you haven't yet confirmed that you are playing, please ring or email me asap so that I can finalise the programme.
On the day: remember your music, wear what feels reasonably smart and comfortable and enjoy playing the lovely Kawai grand piano and the great acoustic. I look forward to hearing you play!

Grade Exam Preparation

Grade exams occur every term and while they aren't the be all and end all of playing the piano, they are a good way to measure progress, to explore new repertoire and to perform.

These guidelines are for parents and pupils:

1. Practise every day: I suggest a minimum of 30 mins for grades 1-3, 45 mins for grades for 4 and 5 and 60 mins for grade 6 +. Parents will need to remind and supervise. What to practise will be in the piano diary.
2. Don't forget your scales and arpeggios etc: Use the scales in a jar method, a tick box chart or the scales tricks list.
3. Make sight-reading a part of your daily practice: play from your official books, play from your earlier tutor books and play duets, songs, hymns, anything and everything!
4. Practise aural tests via either ABRSM's Aural App, e-musicmaestro's aural training or Hofnote.com.
5. Listen to your pieces, read ABRSM's exam tips and look at sample exams on their YouTube channel http://gb.abrsm.org/en/exam-support/audio-and-video-resources/
6. Practise performing: play to your friends and family, record yourself, come and play at my concerts and get togethers, volunteer to play in assembly and in church.
7. Plan the day of your exam; how you will get there, what to wear (including the right shoes for pedals) and what you will eat when etc.

We will work out a countdown and have a mock-test so that you are as well prepared as possible. Higher grade exam pupils may also have the opportunity for a short practice session on the exam piano.
Results usually come within 2 weeks and then you can celebrate!

At the piano with Fiona Lau

I am delighted to appear on Fran Wilson's fascinating blog, The Cross-Eyed Pianist. Fran blogs about all things piano and interviewed me to find out what makes me tick:

http://crosseyedpianist.com/

It was very interesting for me to think about and answer Fran's questions and it made me wonder how my pupils and their parents got into music and how they would answer some of the questions. Feel free to share your thoughts with me.