The Brain and Music; Listening and Studying the Piano

Psychologists and educators have written about the brain and music for decades and decades, and the subject has really picked up speed, largely due to the author/neurologist Oliver Sachs with his book "Musicophilia: Tales of Music and The Brain", published in 2007.

If you google "benefits of studying the piano" you will see pages and pages of articles, all with great information about the how the brain interacts and develops whilelistening to music, and learning to play the piano, or any musical instrument, or singing. This is from Keynotes Piano Studio in Tallahasse, Florida: "A piano student learns to read two lines of music, use both ears, arms, legs, feet and all ten fingers, with the brain giving each body part a different assignment to perform simultaneously. No other activity allows a child to exercise all of these skills in such a constructive manner.  Piano lessons, therefore, develop coordination in both mind and muscles, which transfers to many daily activities. This includes improved hand-eye coordination, greater enjoyment and ability in sports, and the full use of both left and right sides of the brain." Go to their website and you'll find links to articles on a MIT study, an article on enhanced verbal skills, an article on how musical training affects brain development in young children and much more.

This site, "Cooper Piano Studio" in Atlanta Georgia, has gathered information in a blog post from May, 2011 titled "Top Ten Ways Playing Piano Makes You Healthier and Smarter", and is definitely worth reading.

The website of The National Piano Foundation has several articles, and they have added something that some of the others have not: listening! Listening is a very important aspect to learning music, and it is also extremely beneficial in so many ways. This is from an article on their website: "Kids are ready to begin making music even earlier than you may think. Before then, there are benefits to just listening. Hearing music stimulates the mind, improves the mood and brings people together." I like that last part..it brings people together! From my point of view as a composer and performer, I can tell you that the experience of listening to music is enhanced greatly when you share that with other people. As a performer, I know that the act of making music becomes a "deeper" experience when I feel everyone in the performance space is really listening. It's wonderful to hear from audience members after a performance who tell me how much the music moved them, made them feel happy, lifted their burdens of the day, or as one audience member once told me...he saw all kinds of colors after listening to a solo performance of mine.

I had a discussion with a good friend of mine about the experience of listening to live music, and what that does for the performer, and even more so, what that does for the listener. He responded the next day with an article from The Daily Kos:"The ghosts, joys and obsessions of seeing it live" by Laura Clawson (4.20.2014)  Ms. Clawson says: "When you get down to it, being part of an audience is a collective experience we don't most of us get on a regular basis, and it can heighten the immediacy of the performance itself. "

So imagine how listening to music with your child, with your whole family, and how that can bring everyone together. Listening is not only great for the brain, it's great for the soul.

Here is a list of what parents can do, from an article titled "Your Child's Lifetime of  Music"  from The National Piano Foundation.

• Make music a part of your home.
• Expose your children to different types of music. Go to musical events, listen to the radio, enjoy musical performances on television, play CDs — there are lots of ways to explore the world of music.
• Make music as a family. Maybe you’re an accomplished musician with a gift to pass on to your kids; or maybe you can pass a rainy day making your own instruments out of coffee cans, broomsticks
  or water glasses. It’s fun either way.
• Encourage and support your children when they become interested in playing an instrument.
• If you are a musician in your own right, be a model for your children. If you’re not, you can learn together!
  
  And lastly, if you want to skip all of the reading and just watch a cool 4 min video on the brain and music, check this out...it says it all!
  

Solo,Piano-NYC

This is the story and the short 5 minute film called Solo, Piano. I just became aware of this today, and decided I need to post it here on the piano studio blog.
The story is from the Gwarlingo blog...which I highly recommend...
http://www.gwarlingo.com/2012/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-homeless-piano-a-short-film-by-anthony-sherin/

This five-minute short, Solo, Piano – N.Y.C,  by New York-based filmmaker Anthony Sherin caught my attention a few weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to purge the images from my mind since. To me, Sherin’s piece, and the Op-Docs series as a whole, is the perfect way to tell a story online. These short films are both intimate and personal and offer glimpses of everyday life that we would otherwise not be privy to. In other words, they’re the very antithesis of big-budget, commercial filmmaking.
Sherin discusses Solo, Piano – N.Y.C  in more detail on the Times website:

“Making this film was pure serendipity. After a January snowstorm in New York City, I decided to do some work on another film, in my home in Washington Heights. But as I approached my desk, I thought I heard a piano plinking. I looked out the window and saw a piano on the curb below. I was mesmerized by the pattern that emerged. Passers-by would slow, stop and play. Some played well. All day long they collected and dispersed, and into the night they measured, shoved and deliberated the piano’s fate. (If it stayed on the sidewalk, the city could have issued a fine.) I was riveted. Pianos have histories. No one who stopped seemed eager to leave it behind. Their thoughts were obvious: Can we take it? Who abandons a piano? Is it worth anything?

I eventually started snapping stills and thought I would end up with just that — a lot of stills. To my surprise, I discovered after 24 hours that I had captured a story with a beginning, middle and end. My friend Art Labriola created an original piano score, and I had a film. It has screened at several festivals, and I’m pleased to share it with the world on Op-Docs.”

The film.....

http://youtu.be/YuOcqjtHTeI

Happy Birthday John Cage! World Listening Project 4'33" Goes Global

Today is John Cage's birthday, he would have been 100 years old. The group World Listening Project is coordinating a worldwide celebration of his composition 4'33". And why am I talking about this on the Piano Studio Blog? Because one of my students, Isaac Liu, performed this piece at the New School University back in April, for our MusicCircus event. This was a collaboration between the

Eugene Lang College, The Mannes College and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, which is where I teach.  John Cage taught experimental composition at the New School from 1956-1961, which is also what I teach. My class last semester was a special edition of Composers Forum, entitled, "Composing Outside of the Jazz Box". My students composed pieces based on structures that Cage used, Ives, Pauline Oliveros and many others. They performed these pieces on the MusicCircus event, and Isaac, who is 8years old, performed 4'33" at the close of the event, while a film was shown of John Cage performing 4'33" in a park with hundreds of people looking on. Everyone cheered at the end, it was absolutely wonderful!
Also on that day, one of my former piano students came by for the performance, Max McKee, along with his dad the wonderful bassist Andy McKee, who also teaches at the New School. Max is a student at Bard College and is studying composition with Joan Tower, and..Max won the ASCAP Young Composers Award this year for his composition "Double Helix" which you can listen to here.  It is a beautiful piece composed for string quartet, and performed by the Iris Quartet.
What a day that was for me, my New School students bursting with creativity, my young piano student Isaac who bravely performed in front of college students, professors, visiting artists, and then the surprise visit from Max, who also helped me arrange music stands as we talked about his ASCAP award. All of my teaching environs happening in one day, at one place, in the space of a few hours, it was very satisfying! For me as a teacher, it's one of the best outcomes, watching my students express themselves with the music that they love.

Friday night, Sept 7, the New School presents "The New Music: John Cage Centenary Concert" featuring Robert Ashley, David Behrman, Alvin Lucier and Chris Mann. The concert is at Tishman Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th Street, and admission is free! You can learn more about this concert here.

So why would an 8 year old want to perform 4'33"? Well, it started with his older brother Allen, who has been obsessed with this piece for some time, probably because their dad told them about it. And who wouldn't be obsessed? It's the subject of a worldwide celebration today, where people all over the world are performing this piece. From September of last year, Isaac was insisting on getting the score for 4'33". I told his sister Hannah, who I also taught (taught for many years, she is now a Freshman at Brown University), and she bought the score for him as a present for Chanukah. He proudly brought in the score, and we surfed Youtube together, watching all the performances we could find, and tried different approaches. Meanwhile, I showed Isaac some prepared piano techniques, which he was thrilled about because he has a spinet and I have a grand! In the end, he decided on the David Tudor approach, and John Cage approach, which is to open up the score, pull the keyboard cover down, and time the silence. At the end of each section, Isaac opened up the cover,turned to the next page, and pulled the cover down again. Here is Isaac's performance of 4'33"!
If you have problems watching it from the blog, go to...http://youtu.be/hZAcHZZmeqQ

The Life of a Piano Teacher........part 1, Judith Shaltanis

When I started this blog, I reached out to a few of my piano teacher friends and of course one of my former piano teachers, to be a guest blogger-which is our first guest blogger, Judith Shaltanis. I'm not sure if I can call her a former teacher, because she is still teaching me-teaching me about new piano methods and ideas for students who need special help. She will call or I will call and we'll trade stories about our teaching life and performing life. When I decided to open my own piano studio in Brooklyn in 1984, I traveled back to Iowa to be trained by her in the Lo Kno Pla method-which I still use today. Judith was one of the first piano teachers to be trained by the author of that method-Ruth Stevenson Alling. It's now taught all over the country and in Canada. I feel very fortunate to have learned that method-because it gives such joy to all of my beginning students-regardless of their age-and that I still have a wonderful and evolving relationship with "my teacher" who is also now my friend and colleague. Here's her story........

In my life, the day usually starts at 3:15. No, that is not when I roll out of bed, but when I must be ready, dressed and excited to meet the first after school piano student. Most days that student can walk from the nearby elementary school, which means a part of the lesson is telling me about their school day before we can get much piano teaching done.

After almost 50 years of this routine, it is difficult to imagine any other life. I know, 50 years ago I didn’t have to worry about 401k’s, health insurance and retirement portfolios, that was to be the concern of my husband. Those were the days when very few women worked outside the home, and teaching piano was not outside the home. The first years of my teaching career were in a small Nebraska town. At that time I thought 20 students was a full load. Little did I know how I would change that perception!

After two short stays in small towns, our family settled in suburban Des Moines. I have three sons; two were born shortly after moving to a new town; so I wasn’t teaching yet in that location. However, the third one was born after a day of teaching 10 kids. I had made arrangements to have substitute teachers for the youngest students for a “maternity leave”, but I can remember teaching high school girls with a nursing baby. Yes, babies can sleep through piano lessons. I would schedule daytime adult lessons during nap time. During the after school hours I always had a babysitter. The sitters could be younger, after all I was still in the house, and my boys enjoyed the variety of sitters. I just closed the door to the studio, and the rest of the house was theirs.

The biggest change in my teaching came after I learned how to teach the LoKnoPla method. This unique approach allowed me to teach two students at the same time, one on each piano. This also allowed me to expand my studio, and eventually I taught as many as 60 students per week. LoKnoPla is a wonderful way to begin students. The student plays recognizable music with two hands all over the keyboard from the first lessons. It also allows the teacher time to decide which traditional method would be the best fit for the learning style of each student.
I no longer teach two students simultaneously. You need to stand to be efficient at that, and my old bones can’t manage standing for long periods without pain. But, here lies the beauty of being a private piano teacher. I can sit alongside some of the neatest young people in Iowa and watch them develop musically. I can keep somewhat current by listening to their vocabulary and their personal musical preferences. I can introduce students to others who share their love for the piano, and nurture those friendships through group piano activities. I can feel the love of a child for their teacher, and the gratitude of their parents that they are learning a long cherished art. Being self-employed, I can schedule, and afford, built in vacations. I can maintain long-term relationships with families. Yes, I have taught children of former students, and most of the kids I teach now are the age of my grandchildren. Who needs a retirement check in the mail when you can get all these perks and earn that retirement check weekly? It is probably a good thing that my husband of almost 50 years still seems to provide me with those other retirement benefits. I cannot imagine a more fulfilling life.

Piano Recitals and their other lessons.......

Student piano recitals-some quiver at the thought-others revel in the memories. I am happy to report that our piano recital was a huge success and a wonderful evening shared by students, families and friends-and-this lovely piano cake made by a mother of a student! And it was scrumptious!

I'm very proud of all of my students, for they have practiced countless hours, worked on their music, come to their lessons and re-worked their music and then had the courage to get up in front of their fellow students, countless family members and friends to present their music.

This year we had a wonderful array of music, everything from folk songs, to rock, blues, boogie woogie, classical, romantic, contemporary, broadway, pop and jazz. There were pieces of music that everyone knew, to surprising arrangements of familiar works, to new pieces of contemporary music. As I peeked at the audience (while keeping one eye on the student's music), I saw parents nodding their heads and tapping their feet to not just their own child's performance, but for all the other students. I think that speaks volumes to how music really does touch the soul, and to the wonderfully compassionate group of people that are a part of my studio.
It is every teachers dream to see the dreams of others fulfilled and for their dreams to be acknowledged by their family and community.

Psychologists say that when young people express themselves through the arts it instills confidence and makes them feel better about themselves. I totally agree with that assessment. But I think there's a lot more involved. I believe that studying music and performing music puts you in touch with your humanity and the humanity of others. It instills compassion for the one who is performing, because we know how nerve racking that experience can be. It instills a sense of community, because we have all come together to witness the courage of others to share their musical endeavors. It instills a yearning for learning as you listen to a new piece of music that you might like to try for yourself, which in turn opens your mind to new experiences.

And finally,it instills acceptance. Even though we may have dropped a note here or there-the applause is just as loud and we can accept ourselves and others for who we really are.

Thank you students and parents for a wonderful year of teaching. I learned a lot from all of you. And as I always say to the parents, it is a privilege to be a piano teacher and to be part of the growth of your children.
With deep gratitude,
Diane

Music for the Soul Concert Series/Sat Feb 5th/ Jean Rohe and Rogerio Boccato

I am thrilled to be producing a concert for one of my former piano students-Jean Rohe and her friend Rogerio Boccato who is a wonderful Brazilian percussionist on Sat Feb 5th 8PM at Allwood Community Church in Clifton, NJ.
Jean is an amazing young woman who is not only a brilliant songwriter and wonderful vocalist, but she also plays many instruments, French Horn, mandolin/guitars and of course the piano.

Jean started piano lessons with me when she was in the fifth grade and continued on through her junior year in high school. Her brother also studied with me and is a very fine vocalist as well.

I remember that with Jean we did the usual piano repertory and then one day she brought in a lead sheet for the song "Orange Colored Sky" and told me she was working on it (as a vocalist) but would like to be able to play and accompany herself. I told her that she would have to switch gears and learn about chord symbols and how to build them, how to play them and sing at the same time-and she said yes-that's what she wanted to learn. Somewhere in her sophomore or junior year of high school she wrote the music, recorded and released her first cd with another vocalist friend of hers. After that, it was Smith College,then the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music and the Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts-where she graduated with degrees from both and was chosen as the speaker for the graduating class for all of the schools that year-some of you may remember her speech which was nationally covered by Keith Olberman, The Huffington Post, to the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival Shure Vocal Competition 2nd place and audience choice awards, to a 2009 Blue Mountain Center Artist in Residency, to traveling around the world and being an activist for human rights and the environment.

I always tell my piano studio parents that being a piano teacher is a privilege. I am usually the only teacher they have for so many years continuously, and I get to watch them grow up. From the adorable cute elementary school age, to the hormonally charged junior high years, to the "I'm ready to learn about the world" high school years and if I'm really lucky onto young adulthood.

It all starts with "these are the white keys and the black keys and can you tell me how the black keys are grouped?" Or maybe, "this is the bass clef and this is the treble clef, your left hand plays the bottom staff and your right hand plays the top staff and middle C is right in the middle-just like it is on the piano"-and away we go. Through all the different styles of music and the readiness and maturity to learn different styles of music. No matter how everything ends up, as long as they can read the music, play the piano and express themselves through the music of their choice, I am happy, I feel as though I have done my job. It is the proverbial "icing on the cake" when I get to pay back that privilege by doing something like this-producing a concert-life is good!

And I just want to add a shout out of thanks to her parents Ann and Jimmy who are also wonderful singers, who faithfully brought her and her brother to the lessons and to the recitals. Wonderful things happen when parents are dedicated and supportive-we piano teachers can't do it without you!
To learn more about both of these wonderful performers you can go to Jean Rohe and to Rogerio Boccato

Music for the Soul Concert Series presents:
Vocalist Jean Rohe and Brazilian Percussionist Rogerio Boccato
Sat Feb 5th 8PM
Allwood Community Church
100 Chelsea Rd
Clifton, NJ 07012
973.777.6360
$10 donation
Meet the artists after the concert and light refreshments
http://www.allwoodcommunitychurch.com/

Listening To Music

This fall marks the beginning of my 29th year of teaching people how to play the piano. So much in our world of has changed and all of those changes have naturally affected the world of music. But the basic elements of music are still true and the piano is still the piano.

The way we listen to music has seen a dramatic change. It’s a 21st century version of Pythagoras’s belief in the music of the spheres when we summon for the music on our cell phones and computers- it just appears out of the universe-quite remarkable actually. But are we really listening?

My childhood listening experiences ranged from church choirs, school choruses, band concerts in the parks and parades, and professional musicians who performed in school assemblies. I remember those great television variety shows of the 60’s and 70’s-always lots of music there and of course PBS-which really brought culture into the home-very important when you’re growing up in a semi -small town in the Midwest.

My favorite listening experience was with my Dad. On Sundays, after Sunday dinner, and after any chores that needed to be done, my Dad would take a break to sit in his chair, close his eyes and listen to music. This was also known as “don’t bug your father he’s taking a nap time”. But I would hang out on the couch and listen too.
When he realized that I was enjoying the music he would tell me who the performers were and the name of the composition and if there were any special stories-something like when he first heard the song or if he saw the performers in concert.

When was the last time you really listened to music? No multi-tasking, no computer, not in the car while driving, not in the shower? We learn so much when we listen intently to music and our brains truly enjoy being able to be free to following the phrasing, the rhythms, the tempos, the harmonies or no harmonies, the textures and timbres. Not only that but every time we listen to a “new” piece of music our brains carve out new pathways and that really makes it happy!

Our hearts identify with the emotions while recalling a memory or a wishful dream. Some of us see color or imagine stories. Some of us take a nap and are entertained by fanciful dreams and some of us solve the problems of the day. Some of us get so inspired by the music that we get up and get going with a new idea on a project we’ve been meaning to start or finish.

If you are a parent with a child who is studying music, imagine taking one afternoon a week-maybe an hour or a half hour-and that becomes listening time with your child. Tell the story about the music, who is performing it, what instruments are on the recording-maybe the song has a special significance in your life. Then just lay back and listen-totally uninterrupted. And when “music listening time” is over-don’t grill your children about whether they liked the music or any other questions for that matter. They’ll tell you if they want to-and besides-you’re breaking the continuous dreaming in the brain that is still processing what it just heard-and might want to keep thinking about it-just to see where that goes……