Music Mnemonics

I saw this on Facebook today:

It was linked on one of the music pages I follow, with the question, "What acronyms did you use to remember the lines and spaces?" Here are the ones my first piano teacher taught me and that I still use with my students:

Treble clef lines - Every Good Boy Does Fine
Treble clef spaces  - FACE
Bass clef lines - Great Big Dogs Fight Animals
Bass clef spaces - All Cars Eat Gas

Over the years I have come across many others. One popular alternative for the treble clef lines is "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge." I have also heard "Good Boys Deserve Fudge Always" for the bass clef lines. I think if you are going to use one of those you had better not use the other one--they are too similar and easily confused. For the bass clef spaces I have also heard "All Cows Eat Grass." If you took music lessons growing up, what mnemonics did you use? Feel free to leave your favorite in the comments.

Just Play

From time to time my husband likes to tell a story to his young music students. Usually he tells it before an upcoming performance. It consists of advice that was given to him by his college piano teacher before he gave his Master's recital. I have always thought it was great advice for musicians. More and more I am coming to see how it is great advice for life. The story goes something like this. (When my husband delivers it to his students he approximates the accent of his Russian piano teacher. You will just have to imagine that part.)

"Phillip, in this world you have friends and you have enemies. No matter what you do, your friends will love you and your enemies will hate you. So if you give bad recital, your friends will say, 'Oh, Phillip, it is not your fault! You are fine pianist! You just need better teacher!' whereas your enemies will say, 'That Phillip--he is no good. We knew he could not make recital, even with such an excellent teacher.' But if you give great recital, your friends will say, 'Phillip, we knew you could do it! You are great pianist!' whereas your enemies will say, 'Look at what that teacher did with Phillip! She is miracle worker. He was nothing and she made him something.'

"You understand, Phillip? No matter what you do, people will see you how they want to see you. Your friends will still love you, and your enemies will still hate you. So, don't worry, Phillip. Just PLAY!"

Great advice. Now if only I could follow it.

Maestro in the Making

This video was taken last week at our fall piano recital. It was Evan's second recital. I love the smiles between songs. I also love how he is loving piano. Our school routine has been jettisoned of late as a result of many changes in our household, and piano lessons have not been as regular as I would like, but Evan continues progressing on his own, paging through his books, learning songs far ahead of where he is "supposed" to be. I'm quite impressed with his note reading--it is usually one of the more difficult things to develop at this age, but he is totally getting it. As for rhythm, well, we have a little more work to do there. This kid marches to his own beat.

I hope you enjoy "Electric Bass," "The Singing Donkey," and "Little Indian Lance."

(Aside to my husband: we need to do a better job of cleaning up the music area before recitals!)

Piano Recital, Nov. 7, 2010 from Cheryl on Vimeo.

First Piano Recital

I know. I'm his mother, head over heels in love with him. But this is one of the cutest things I've ever seen. I guess I'm doubly proud since I'm not just his mommy but his piano teacher as well.

I had planned to have him play only two songs, but he decided that he wanted to play four. The prerequisite was that they had to be memorized. As you can see, he obliged.

I told him he only needed to bow at the end of all the songs but that between them, while people were clapping, he should smile. As you will also see, he took that advice very much to heart.

Make sure you watch to the end. You don't want to miss either the big finale or the grand bows.

First Piano Recital from Cheryl on Vimeo.

When in Rome . . .

Today as I instructed one of my piano students in a certain musical concept, he was reminded of something similar he had heard today from his choir director, who also happens to be my husband. (This young man, poor dear, gets a double dose of our household on Mondays). Attempting to process and connect the two pieces of information, he asked, "Oh, you mean like Cantor was talking about today? That linguini thing?"

Linguini? The Cantor does like his pasta, but I didn't remember him talking about linguini when I attended rehearsal today. I puzzled over this for a moment; then it dawned on me that my student was probably remembering another Italian word.

"Are you thinking of tenuto, Robert?" (Nor his real name.)

"Yeah, that's it! Tenuto!"

Tenuto, linguini, ritardando, lasagna, accelerando, crescendo, spaghetti, fettucini, allegro, fermata . . . no wonder my student was confused. It's all the same, really. Especially when you've had a long day at school and supper is looming!

Piano Playing

No, he's not really playing yet. But he sure is cute, isn't he? Even with the poor hand position.

Today's Memo

Warning: vent mode ON.

If you are a parent whose child takes music lessons (or lessons of any kind) with a private instructor, please keep in mind that your child's teacher, as much as he or she may enjoy working with your child, is not doing it for sheer recreation but because the income earned is a necessary part of the household budget. So when you are late with a payment, not only your teacher but your teacher's family suffers the consequences. And when there are two piano teachers in the family with almost 20 students between them, and more than half of those students are late with payments in the same month, the consequences for that family rise from the level of merely inconvenient to significantly stress-inducing.

If you are one of those really cool parents who always pays your child's private lesson teacher on time, you're my hero! Keep it up!

If on the other hand your child's teacher is currently awaiting your payment, please take care of it now. And if you value that teacher, please don't put him or her in the position of having to scramble to meet bill payments or sacrifice his or her dignity by begging you for the money you have committed to pay for his or her professional services.