Teacher Dreamaurora - Piano Q&A
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Chattyirena:
Still very young; fingers can still grow a lot more. Anyway an exercise that normally teachers use to determine if you can move your fingers independently is this: put your hands on a table and curve it like how you play piano. Then try to lift each finger one by one while maintaining the curves on other fingers. Not all fingers will be raised equal heights, but you should be able to lift all the fingers independently.Hi Dream Aurora,
My DS is 4.5 years old... -
Dreamaurora:
Thanks
Still very young; fingers can still grow a lot more. Anyway an exercise that normally teachers use to determine if you can move your fingers independently is this: put your hands on a table and curve it like how you play piano. Then try to lift each finger one by one while maintaining the curves on other fingers. Not all fingers will be raised equal heights, but you should be able to lift all the fingers independently.Chattyirena:
Hi Dream Aurora,
My DS is 4.5 years old...
I will try this out with my Ds
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Dreamaurora,
Thanks. I will continue to work on the curved fingers and have a chat with his teacher. It’s hard for the parent to insist when the teacher doesn’t! -
MummyThreeStreams:
To be fair to your child's teacher , it's kind of 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation. On one hand, children may not understand the importance of curving the fingers and correcting them may frustrate them. But yet if don't remind and correct them they may still play like that in higher grades. So I can understand why many teachers don't bother to correct young children; unless the parents are knowledgeable about piano, noone will notice anyway.Dreamaurora,
Thanks. I will continue to work on the curved fingers and have a chat with his teacher. It's hard for the parent to insist when the teacher doesn't! -
Dreamaurora
hi, my girl currently is at Grade 3 level and her sight reading is very good. but one problem , don know why she always forgot to play the sharp notes or flat notes ? can advise how to help her on this area ! -
sunflower2005:
Hmm, first you must acknowledge that your daughter's sight reading is simply not good enough if she keeps forgetting to check sharp and flat. Its kind of like saying someone is a very good driver but often forget to signal or check blind spots.Dreamaurora
hi, my girl currently is at Grade 3 level and her sight reading is very good. but one problem , don know why she always forgot to play the sharp notes or flat notes ? can advise how to help her on this area !
Anyway, I always ask students to check for the sharps and flats first and say aloud to me the notes affected. Then I will ask them to put their fingers on the said black keys so they can remember them visually. Then afterwards they can proceed to play the sightereading piece. You will need to keep reemphasizing this in practice until it becomes an automatic habit. -
Dreamaurora:
oh.. ok
Hmm, first you must acknowledge that your daughter's sight reading is simply not good enough if she keeps forgetting to check sharp and flat. Its kind of like saying someone is a very good driver but often forget to signal or check blind spots.sunflower2005:
Dreamaurora
hi, my girl currently is at Grade 3 level and her sight reading is very good. but one problem , don know why she always forgot to play the sharp notes or flat notes ? can advise how to help her on this area !
Anyway, I always ask students to check for the sharps and flats first and say aloud to me the notes affected. Then I will ask them to put their fingers on the said black keys so they can remember them visually. Then afterwards they can proceed to play the sightereading piece. You will need to keep reemphasizing this in practice until it becomes an automatic habit. currently I need to keep reminding her to look for sharps and flats b4 starting to play.
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Dreamaurora:
My boy ’s teacher uses a ball. Very similar concept to the fruits.. also remind him to form hands like tunnels so cars or trains can pass under. To remind him, I sometimes used like eraser toys shaped like trains or dinosaurs or other animals at the below the keys. On the wood part of piano.
Still very young; fingers can still grow a lot more. Anyway an exercise that normally teachers use to determine if you can move your fingers independently is this: put your hands on a table and curve it like how you play piano. Then try to lift each finger one by one while maintaining the curves on other fingers. Not all fingers will be raised equal heights, but you should be able to lift all the fingers independently.Chattyirena:
Hi Dream Aurora,
My DS is 4.5 years old...
It's often due to physical maturity of hands. My son had to stretch his fingers when he started learning before 3yo. But now at 3.5yo, he mostly curves his fingers. I suspect the hand and fingers develop with exercise(practice ) too. -
The concept of "key" is important when it comes to remembering the key signature. Play through the scale of the key the sight reading is in, that’ll reinforce the key signature. At Gr 3 the hand position may not fixed as sometimes the hand is required to move to another register or another set of notes. This is when the key signature tends to be forgotten. So when a move is being called for, remind the child, "no baggage is to be left behind".
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jce:
The concept of \"key\" is important when it comes to remembering the key signature. Play through the scale of the key the sight reading is in, that'll reinforce the key signature. At Gr 3 the hand position may not fixed as sometimes the hand is required to move to another register or another set of notes. This is when the key signature tends to be forgotten. So when a move is being called for, remind the child, \"no baggage is to be left behind\".
True. This is why I like ABRSM's new books 'Joining the Dots'. Unlike other sight reading books, they go through all possible key signatures required for the exams. I also like their ideas of using improvisation exercises to get the students to think in the key signatures.
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