The Piano Practice

"I have finally become very good at piano because of you...I doubt that any other teacher would give as much time, devotion, and incentives to their students as you do to yours." --B. Burgess

Many students quit taking piano lessons between year four and five. A few of the reasons include:

1) Boredom with curriculum

2) It's a "solo sport" - most everything else a student participates in includes friends

3) Involved in too many extracurricular activities

4) Lack of parental support

To encourage continuation of lessons, Lorie has developed a three year, rotating piano curriculum. It is as follows:

YEAR ONE: Back to Basics

* We study the four musical periods and their composers - Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary - students play a piece in each period.

* Scales, Technique and Theory are utilized in every lesson - Computer games are used occasionally to test a student's knowledge of the above.

* Two recitals are held during each year.

- The first includes pieces chosen from the first two musical periods;

- The second consists of pieces from the last two periods.

YEAR TWO: Original Compositions

* For late elementary level students and higher, the first five months is spent learning how to compose music. What better way to learn theory than its practical application! Using the Roland Digital Piano, we can add other instruments to the piano part if desired. We compose four pieces - one in a major key, one in a minor key, a four part harmony piece for the more advanced students and also a duet. The compositions are then put on CD, a piano book is created and made available at the recital held in February where all students play their compositions.

* The second half of the year focuses on solo pieces from other composers which are played at the final recital

YEAR THREE: DUETS AND ENSEMBLES (This will be the course of study for Fall 2010-2011)

Lorie's studio is transformed this year to include a total of three pianos. Each student is paired with another to learn a duet. After individually practicing their respective parts, they come together once a month during "group" lessons to practice.

For the 'ensemble', each student is also assigned to a group, based on ability. An ensemble is a 'piano' piece that uses instruments found in an orchestra (up to 8) - one student might be the violin, one a French horn, one a percussion instrument. They also come together during the once a month group lesson to work on their collective piece.

The duets and ensembles are performed at the end-of-the-year recital.

Each student also works on a solo piece to be performed at the end of the year.

By changing the curriculum on a yearly basis, boredom is greatly reduced if not eliminated, each student gets to make friends with the other students and they have something to show for their hard work - the CD and piano book of original compositions every three years.