It was an all adult teaching day. It was a great day. If I can help you, please call me. David #scirabin #modernism #improvisation Scriabin reimagined by a jazz pianist. Scriabin Prelude op. 16 no.4
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I practice piano and drums daily, except Sundays when I rest. Recently my student Barb asked me, "how do you practice?" Here is my answer.
Have Fun. David Story Revised October 2022 Here are some of the things I’m considering in a post-pandemic world. It may be helpful for your situation too.
Best regards, David Revised October 2022 It depends.
It depends on your prior musical experiences and expectations. If your desires are modest, YouTube will work. But if you desire to achieve some level of musical competency you will need a teacher. Teachers provide objective and knowledgeable feedback. Teachers guide you through a proven curriculum that has been successfully followed by countless students. And when the going gets tough, and it will, a teacher will support and inspire you to keep going. If that sounds like the help you need, call me. David Revised October 2022 Sometimes we all need a break. Maintaining the years of focused attention required to master an instrument is overwhelming. I deal with it by occasionally taking a "timeout" to contemplate my goals and to recommit to my project of mastering percussion. I take a "timeout" once or twice a year, but rarely for more than a week. David Revised October 2022
This guy did the work and then fearlessly put himself out there.
David Revised October 2022 With a reduced teaching schedule, it is time to catch up.
David Revised October 2022 A rudimental etude I've been teaching drum students this year.
See you in September. David Revised October 2022 A new student favorite that debuted at our zoom recital yesterday. Breakfast piano minute: An fantasy on an Austrian Folk Song from a slightly disheveled pianist.Errors give feedback. Some errors are obvious, some are in disguise, and some are hidden from us.
One of the most effective way of dealing with errors of execution is to step back and listen to your practice recording making notes of errors, misinterpretation, and omissions. Then consider the following.
The picture above is from a book I highly recommend called "The Musician's Way", Best, David Revised October 2022 Background. I learned piano haphazardly as a teenager. When I attended Berklee College of music the piano teachers never talked about “playing” the piano, only what to play. Later in my professional work as a commercial musician the playing demands were not too strenuous. Skipping ahead. In my early forty's I spent a summer in Santa Pola Spain with a small keyboard and a book of Bach WTC book 1 and Chopin Waltzes. Every afternoon after lunch while the world took a siesta, I would explore the music on this tiny sixty note plastic keyboard. It was a magical experience. Upon returning home, I started asking around for a piano teacher. Leon Karan’s name came up a few times, so I called him. He answered with his warm Russian accent. Yes, I will see you. An appointment was made. “Mr. Story, please play for me a c major scale.” Gritting my teeth and tensing my body as hard as I could, I dug in and roared up the piano. He looked at me sympathetically. “Please play your piece for me.” I’ve no recollection of which piece I played but I do remember his concerned reaction. I was humbled. “You are of course going to do your ARCT?” “My what?” “ARCT, you are a piano teacher. You have a duty to your students.” Four years and five thousand hours of practice later, I graduated age 47. It was the most difficult and rewarding thing I’ve ever done as a musician. It was truly a marathon, but to mangle my metaphors, I felt like superman. If you'd like to feel like superman/woman, call me. David Revised October 2022 Tension is the enemy of speed. At some point you will have to practice fast to play fast. Will it be pretty? No. But it will get better. Try this. After mastering the piece at a slow tempo, isolate a single phrase or section and start speeding it up, pausing between repetitions to catch your breath. I've demonstrated this in the video below. The faster I played the D major scale, the lighter my touch became because tension is the enemy of speed. As Jamey Aebersold pleaded one day to his jazz campers. "Don't practice everything slow!" David revised October 2022 "Spending winters in the sunshine, reading, playing golf and socializing seemed a wonderful way to spend retirement. With both of us being music lovers, our sound system is always on all day with great music ranging from Classical, Jazz and some pop. But I felt something was missing and it wasn’t snow. My wife encouraged me for years to take music lessons. I was not too keen because my memory of lessons was the Nuns whacking my fingers with a ruler insisting, I keep my lazy fingers off the keys; that ended in 1958 when I got my Grade 8 piano. But the seed was planted. I decided to look on the net for a music teacher near Burlington and came across David’s website. This really looked interesting. During our cocktail hour that night, I said – when we get back to Burlington, I am going to take Jazz lessons from this David Story guy. On April 23, 2013 my life changed.
Of course, I thought I would be rattling off Jazz tunes within weeks; grief! As time progressed, I realized how complex Jazz really is, especially soloing; how do they do that? Practice, practice, practice every day and soon I started to see the tunnel – no light yet! After a few years of toil and trouble, something that sounded akin to music emerged; I encouraged my cousin to take lessons from David. Then, 4 years ago, David encouraged us to attend the Jamey Aebersold Summer workshop in Louisville. There we were for 6 days: 2 old guys, jamimg in groups, attending classes and intense listening, from 7am to 10 PM. Hardly time for a Scotch closer at night! At last, all those lessons from David were clicking into place like a Rubik’s cube. We went back the next summer and did it again. Then, David encouraged me to try and get a group together to Jam. The pressure was on; my 2 songs would not cut the mustard. More practice. An advert in Kijiji did the trick; we ended up with an exceptional drummer, bass, guitar – and me. We met every week for 3 hours until covid. My lessons continue. The Jam will continue after we all get our shots. I am still amazed at what some practice along with amazing guidance and encouragement from David has done for my life and continues to do so. Not bad for an 80 year old!" Gary. Update October 2022: Gary is still at it. He's been playing jazz, in multiple bands, each week now, for years. Go Gary! David Revised October 2022
This is a sample from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. Title, composer, level. Hey Jude Beatles Prelude in C JS Bach RCM 5 Sonata in C 1767 Haydn RCM 5 Atacama Wynn-Anne Rossi RCM 2 Take the A Train Strayhorn Sonatina in G Clementi RCM 4 Quiet Lagoon Jon George RCM 2 Chopsticks Mexican Jumping Beans Serenade Franz Schubert Saving the best for last Air Supply Sonata in F Mozart RCM 9 March Dmitry Kabalevsky RCM A 1st Gymnopedie Eric Satie RCM 8 We Are The Champions Freddie Mercury and Queen Dundas Blues Boogie Woogie David Story Menuet en Rondeau Rameau RCM 2 Sneaky Sam Melody Bobar RCM B Sonatina in G Thomas Attwood RCM 3 Charlotte's Daydream Pieter de Graaf Intermezzo in A minor Brahms RCM 9 Cathryn goes to Hollywood David Story Bouree in F Telemann RCM 7 Etude in D minor Czerny RCM 3 St. James Infirmary Trad Jazz Sonatina in A minor Bender RCM 3 Study in D major Swinstead RCM 8 This is one interpretation among many possibilities. I have marked the right hand legato and the left-hand quarter notes staccato. These staccato notes would be a 'wet' staccato, or "portato". Slightly detached but marked to give the music some forward momentum. James Maddox presents a lovely rendition that closely resembles the edit above. He does place less emphasis on the broken chords of measures 9 and 16 though. Enjoy David Revised October 2022 These are short, charming, easy pieces for levels 5 and 6. Q: What can harpsichordists teach pianists? A: How to pace the music. Listen to the subtle flexibility in the flow of the music. In the second video the performer talks about these works. Enjoy, David Revised October 2022
Revised October 2022 Rankings:
What can I do for you?
In short, I will present the material to you in a logical fashion, according to your specific circumstances, using a variety 21st c. multi-modal techniques and provide you with weekly feedback. Call me. David (Authors note I own more than one hundred drum books, listened to hundreds of hours of drumming podcasts, and subscribed to jazz and drum education subscription services promising great masterclass from my jazz heroes. I live on YouTube. Furthermore, I own too many drum sets, snare drums, cymbals and drumming paraphernalia. So, I understand your plight, frustrations, anxieties, and determination.) Revised October 2022 A partial list:
Adult Exam preparations for May and June 2021 1 RCM Prep A 1 RCM 1 1 RCM 3 1 RCM5 2 RCM 7 3 RCM 8 1 RCM 10 Revised October 2022 I'd forgotten how interesting and satisfying writing a fugue can be. (The fugue's subject was inspired by Billy Joel.) This performance is a computer rendition. To be playable with two hands I'd need to transpose the left hand starting at mm. 8. If you would like some help with music theory call me. Best, David Revised October 2022 |
You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail. AuthorI'm a professional pianist and music educator in West Toronto Ontario. I'm also a devoted percussionist and drum teacher. Categories
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