Piano Accompanying: Not Just Performance but Service

  Several weeks ago my student played a duet with me during a church service. She is a beginner musician but plays with feeling and thoughtfulness. She had the melody in both hands and I played a accompaniment. Her gift of service was well received and fortified her confidence in playing the piano. My daughter-in-law felt I had taken her advice to heart. "Children need to know why playing the piano is useful." Her words ring true and make it worth the effort to find opportunities to use my student's emerging skills.

  In my church this month the congregation is singing Christmas carols fifteen minutes prior to the service beginning. Two of my students, who attend the same church, are playing carols with me as accompanists. They are new to this skill and I have been singing with them to help them learn to follow another musician. Will they play perfectly? Probally not, but the leaders of this church understand the need to groom the next generation of church musicians. Abiding a few mistakes is a small price to pay for the huge reward of having volunteer, amateur pianists ready to assist a group and to provide music.
  You may have other musical venues to train your students, but I see the most consistent place, for those students who are in my church, is the prelude and postlude times in church meetings. They are not in the spotlight and I "break them in" as duet accompanists with me. Then later I can assign them a time to prepare music for the entire prelude or postlude period.
   I am a volunteer organist and am very vocal about music. Those leaders who organize music see the wisdom in my requests and I have support from them and from their parents.
   I can give credit to my responsibility as a church musician for my staying active in piano lessons for ten years. These opportunities to use my skill made me practice.

Dancing at the Pumpkin Party

   Dances are a huge portion of the repertoire in piano pieces. I often ask my students which they think came first, dancing or music When I taught Kindermusik Young Child the curriculum called for learning circle dances. I had a small space to work in but I found my 4-7 year-old children loved dancing  My MFPA Lesson Book  B has a cluster of dance music right around Tucker's Secret Life. There is a boogie, a bop, and a folk dance. My goal at this younger Pumpkin Party was to prepare my students to accompany these dances. I taught them to start with an introduction to ready the dancers.Then the challenge was playing smooth enough for us to sing and dance with the accompanist. This is not easy for these 5 and 6's. It required weeks of practice on these songs. But it worked and it was the best activity of the hour.

  We danced around a big gathering drum which represented a birch tree to the piece "Russian Sailor Dance". We moved right, then left, and finally stopped and beat the drum through the second line of the song. Tucker was all over the boogie dance. He had some smooth moves.

   I brought back the game Mr. Music which everyone loves and introduced the quarter rest. In the game asking for a rest or being told to rest meant you could not move from your spot. Ah, to have a bit of power is so stimulating.Thanks to T. who was my student helper for one if the parties.

Pumpkin Party Group Lessons

    I am taking all the songs around "Pumpkin Party" to the bank in two weeks time as this becomes the theme for group lessons.

   I hope this is entertaining for you as I review my plans.. I value all my blogger piano friends who give me their great ideas.
   Title: Pumpkin Party
   MC: Tucker
   Goal: Review patterns from A-G
            Let everyone play a piece
            Expose the students to accompanying
            Share some pumpkin cookies
   Agenda:
            Sing Pumpkin Party with one child playing
            Have Tucker greet each child and give each of them a ticket for the A train
               bound for Piano Adventure Land.
            Get on the "A Train" with one child playing- circle dance
            Find the missing patterns around the room
            Each child plays their pattern on the piano, the keyboard, or the I-Pad Piano
            Tucker shares his secret life
            Sing while one child plays
            What are the dogs dancing?
                    A-B Bop- circle dance with one child playing
                    Russian Sailor Dance- with one child playing
             Match the notes- Call out a note name and everyone tries to touch the
                note card in the middle with their mini spatulas
             Have a pumpkin cookie

     Invited: Five MFPA students

                 Tucker, you are an inspiration!