Understanding Music & Musicality with Sachin
On the day we recorded this video, Sachin worked on this piece at home for a few days and it was time for us to work on the musicality. If you have watched Praveen’s video below about sight-reading, you can now realize that Sachin does not look at his hands very often and focuses on the score and the music in this video. This is the time when fingers take care of music as a well developed automatic skill which allows the students be able to concentrate on the artistic side of understanding and performing music. Musicality is the most important skill who defers any performer from a young promising artist.
Sachin started to take lessons two years ago. His sight-reading skills improved so well that he can almost read any music in his level at first sight. He completed 1st and 2nd levels of ”Piano Adventures” piano course books easily so I decided to continue with one of my favorite adult course book by John Thomson. In two years time, Sachin not only improved his playing technics in piano but developed a very good understanding of music. Piano education needs and teaches patience as well. The award is outstanding when the students get to this level after a few years. After this point, students have fun even more and begin to feel and understand music. The way they feel art and life in general reaches to a higher level that, it has a strong influence on their personalities as I experience. Reaching this level is fun but also requires hard work. Parents’ support is extremely important. Sachin’s and Praveen’s parents are following their progress very closely and encouraging them to practice outside our lesson hours. Usually, if parents sit and listen to their children’s performance at home, even this makes a big difference when they come back to me the next week.
Developing Sight-reading with Praveen
Praveen started to take piano lessons with me when he was 4 years old with his little hands. The first year we built a perfect relation with music together. He learned the keys as we played with his toys on the keyboard. He learned notes while we drew them with colored pencils. His soldiers (his fingers) are getting stronger each year and now music is a part of his life. He loves to play and eager to learn more. That is my top priority in teaching.
In this video, we practice sight-reading on a new piece. Sight-reading is the skill to read music on sight without preparation. This is a piece he has just started to practise. Students should focus more on the score than their hands. Not doing so usually causes the loss of concentration as the eyes frequently move between the hands and the score. Therefore, I usually cover my students’ hands with a paper or cloth, so that they will only focus on reading and practice this skill. Fingers often know how to take care of the rest, once they are placed in their correct positions.
Yunfang
Yunfang is 6 years old. She is very talented and very much musical like her sister Yunshan. I want to share how quickly she learns just in a few weeks. She extremely enjoys piano lessons, which makes me more exciting while tutoring her. She practices even her sister’s higher level pieces after finishing her own! When she makes a mistake, even before I tell her, she remembers everything I taught her, she stops and corrects that. She also has a potential in teaching music in the future. I have no doubts that Yunfang will be very successful in a professional music career as well as her sister. Therefore, I am giving them ear training and solfege lessons to help them be ready for this from the very early ages. I’m proud of you Yunfang, if you continue to practice like this, the whole world will be listening to your music in the best performance halls.
Yunshan
Yunshan is 9 years old. She is very musical and very talented like her little sister Yunfang. She reminds me my childhood. She understands music by nature, she takes her piano lessons very seriously and I’m very happy to see she practices often and very carefully. Her heart is full of beauties, music, and arts. This is her soul. Of course, this reflects how she touches the keys and how she makes music on the piano. She is also a talented artist. You should see her drawings, they are amazing! When I teach special students who ask for more about music, I become even more eager to teach everything they need. Musical talent is a gift. It should be detected at early ages and must be improved with the help of a professional. I’m so proud to have Yunshan among my students. I’m willing to help her to be very successful if she chooses music as a profession. I’m sure I will listen to both sisters playing piano in the future, as an old man sitting on the very front seat, dreaming about our first lessons.
Levon
This is Levon’s second lesson on the piano. He has already learned all of the notes on the treble clef. I’m proud of him. Technology enables “Blended Learning”. Blended Learning is a combination of classroom learning with online learning and also is an engaging activity for the students. Both Levon and I are having so much fun while working on his piano skills together. It is very important for me to build this relationship between my students and music because once this connection happens, learning flows so easily. Music will also become a lifetime experience, a best friend in their lives. I’m so happy to see that it is already happening for Levon.
Praveen
This is my youngest student Praveen. He is also one of the cutest. He is currently getting familiar with the keyboard. We have prepared the grand staff in this video together, and Praveen has promised to color it for me. Besides music, one of the things he has learned so far is patience and concentration as well as self-confidence. Good job Praveen, I’m proud of you!
Sachin
Sachin is the brother of Praveen. He is a very fast learner. He quickly memorizes every piece and is getting very good at reading the notes now. I enjoy using technology during my lessons which make them, even more, fun and Sachin is a very big fan of these. Since the last 20 years, I have been researching on educational technologies and I believe in innovation in education very much so I am very open to using new technologies while teaching. With the additional support of some music apps on the tablets, I can follow my students progress anytime, and I can send feedbacks even I’m not there with them. The app itself is listening to them as they play and shows their mistakes instantly. Sachin and Praveen especially find this exciting and they always try their best to get better points. I hear them still playing even when I am about to leave.
Thank you Sachin for your support in this and inspiring me.
Madelyne
Madelyne has been taking piano lessons for 5 months now. She enjoys piano very much as well as singing. She has begun to write her own songs at age 8 and I see great potential in her. So I sometimes ask her to write new songs when she passes her turn to his mother Margarita. As mother and daughter, they are traveling to my studio from a long distance as they are true lovers of music. I truly admire this. Madelyne often likes to compete with her mother and also she is eager to play her mother’s (adult) piano pieces. She is very good at it I must say. Actually, the first video is taken when she was playing from the adult’s book!
Thomas
Thomas wants to study music as a career in the future. He is in 8th grade and has been taking piano lessons from me for more than a year. He has finished two piano books and I have decided to start an adult book with him. He is very good in playing the notes at first sight and usually this is not an easy skill but can be earned with hardworking. So Thomas does working hard! He also plays drums and xylophone at school. He is very interested in music theory and I spare some time to teach him theory. Her sister has always been a good audience of Thomas so now she has begun to take lessons too. In this video, I was introduction Thomas the “Yousician app” for the first time.
Emily
This is Emily. She is 11 years old. We have been practicing piano with her for a year now. For this video, we have decided to dim the lights and make her feel like she is in a concert in front of her fans. She is so musical, you can hear how she feels the music and lets it move through her fingers into the piano.
In music education, it is very important to help students understand the music deep in their hearts. My approach in teaching is instilling interpretation as much as the teaching technique. Emily, I’m very happy with your successes thus far. You have a wonderful future in music.
Echo
Echo (Yankı Tem) is my son. He is 18 now. He has just graduated from NSA (Nashville School of the Arts) He is the guitar player on the right. He is following the same path I followed. I also started to play in a high school band before going to the university. I am proud of you Echo and I am a lucky father!
more videos are on the way…