Taylor, may his memory be eternal

Several years ago I was blessed to work with a talented teenager who loved to improvise and create at the piano. Taylor was spectacular! For about 3 years, Taylor would come to his lesson, sometimes have something to show me, sometimes I would give him a couple of themes to work with and develop. Off the top of his head, he would weave themes in and out, smiling, sometimes he'd get so tickled with himself he'd laugh out loud. He would play for 30 minutes straight, improvising and creating. We talked about chords and scales and how to get his fingers to play blues scales and funky riffs fast, but he had no interest in learning to read music. His mother, a gifted pianist herself, an amazing reader, tried to coax me into spending more time helping Taylor learn to read. Taylor didn't want to learn to read. Taylor found great joy in improvising and creating and he was brilliant! I learned so much from Taylor about so many things. When Taylor graduated from high school, he played in bands, played dinner music in coffee shops and clubs, learned to play the guitar, continued writing songs . . . He loved music! Several months ago, Taylor, at the age of 21 was killed in a tragic car accident. It was a terrible day for me. I cancelled all my classes. My heart ached for his family, all talented musicians, themselves, and wonderful people. These things just don't make sense. My first thought was, I was so glad that I had encouraged him to improvise and create - to be honest with who he was as a musician. The joy he brought to so many through his music; and the joy that music had brought to him in his short life. The LETTING GO of what I, or anyone else, thought a well-rounded musician should be, allowed him to be the brilliant musician God had created him to be! Taylor, may his memory be eternal.

Let Go! Have Fun! and Make Music!

Fall classes are in full swing here - kids running in with smiles on their faces - parents happy - kids happy - grabbing headphones - experimenting with voices on the digital keyboards. We don't have a practice policy in our studio. We use a phrase borrowed from my friend, Matt Perez, "Play what you love and love what you play!" As RMM teachers, if we're truly going to allow this experience to be about what our students want, regardless of their ages, we must LET GO! I have students in my adult classes who only play what we play in class, during our class. At home they play from Fake Books, Hymnals, Classical Anthologies, Reader's Digest compilations, or whatever else is appealling to them. When we developed Way Cool Keyboarding for teenagers, the experimental materials stayed at the store so the kids couldn't play them at home. At home they looked up tutorials of all kinds and downloaded Yiruma tunes. When they came back to class we played Way Cool together - they learned - they played - they had rewarding musical experiences each week - they loved music and loved piano. . . and they still do. It's our job, first of all, to guide our classes to LOVE MUSIC! In a relaxed, FUN environment we help them develop reading skills, chord playing skills and technical skills so they can go home, play what they love, and love what they play!

Oh Yeah! I'm a little bit COUNTRY!

Check out the Tune of the Week, "Don't Mind If I Do" on WillBailyPianoTunes.com! Also, check out the tutorial on the the Tutorial page of the website! I live in Western Nebraska about 20 miles from the Wyoming border. That's right, our folks like the country western music. One of the principles of Recreational Music Making is allowing your students to play music they love. Well, our students love country western. So here is a tune that satisfies that love. "Don't Mind If I Do" has a cool country lick that repeats itself several times. The tutorial demonstrates how to do the slide. Hope you and your class has a blast with this tune! Happy Playing and Happy Teaching!

Notes? Chords? What to do?

Our kids and teen classes started this week. Crazy! While waiting for their class to begin, the teens grab sheet music off the rack and play and sing. O yeah, it's noisy in the piano store. Playing from the chord charts and singing the tunes; all at the same time. Mana, her name itself is a long story, a wonderful story, not tonight; grabs a piece of sheet music off the rack and runs to a piano, opens the score, and says, "I can't play this, there aren't any notes." What she means is, there aren't any chord symbols. You see, our kids know that to perform a piece of pop music authentically they must vamp chords and sing the tune. They know you never double the melody with the keyboard part. My Russian-trained teacher used to say that music is simple, only scales and chords. He was exactly right! Pop music is simple: vamp the chords - sing the scales. Check out the new, partial tutorial, "Set Fire to the Rain" by Adelle on the Tutorial page of www.WillBailyPianoTunes.com for some ideas. Happy Playing - Happy Teaching!

Creating the Environment

On the drive to town today I was thinking of a quote by the late, great Frances Clark. I'll try to get it close, "Telling is not teaching. Teaching is creating an environment in which learning can take place." Casual, fun, encouraging creativity and discovery; this is the kind of environment that promotes learning, sharing and community. As we do our lesson plans we need to be thoughtful of each individual student in our class and the class as a whole. The balance of discovering new tunes and techniques, and enjoying things we can already play with ease; this balance is also an essential part in creating that environment. In RMM classes, learning is merely a byproduct of creating a positive musical experience and building community! Have fun preparing for the your classes! Happy Playing! Happy Teaching!

Qualifying Transfer Students using WillBailyPianoTunes.com

For only $5 a month you can have access to 15 tunes - at a variety of levels - TODAY! at WillBailyPianoTunes.com. On Monday, August 27th you'll have access to 16 tunes, since a new tune is added each week on Monday! As many traditional teachers will be adding new transfer students to their studios, it is difficult to determine exactly where these students are in terms of pedagogy. Instead of spending lots of money on books or programs trying to figure out where these students are, $5 will buy you unlimited downloads of sheet music files, sound files and tutorials as you try to figure out your new students. In the meantime, these tunes will be FUN! and MOTIVATING! and will make their new teacher look like a superstar! After a month, if you like what you see, you can continue paying $5 a month, or, for $30 a year (only $2.50 a month)you can continue using these tunes for motivation and as supplemental pieces in a classical curriculum. We want our students to be well-rounded, functional pianists, who love music and love playing the piano! Happy Playing and Happy Teaching!

Improvising - Playing by ear - Chord Charts, and other off-the-page Ideas!

On the Tutorial page of WillBailyPianoTunes.com are short tutorials that provide some guidance in approaching off-the-page playing and teaching. By the off-the-page I'm talking about improvising, realizing chord charts and playing by ear. I often hear teachers say, "Well yeah she's playing great, but I'm not sure she's reading a note". Terrified the student will play fluently and beautifully, but won't be able to sight-read at performance level or sight-read at all. Being able to read music is so important! I'm not worried that piano teachers aren't aware of this fact and are great at teaching students to read. However, guiding students to learn to hear music, and to play what they hear, is just as important; may even be more important! For most teachers it's not because they don't believe this, they're just not sure how to get started. Take a look at the tutorials and try them out yourself. Then, try them out with students. I hope you'll find big smiles and instant success. You'll also be impressed when a student returns playing AND singing along with the mp3 files. (Notice the direct link to purchase the mp3 files directly above the tutorials.) Have a Great Weekend Everybody! Happy Playing! Happy Teaching!

Attention RMM Teachers - Creative Ideas?!

Any creative ideas you'd like to share with other RMM teachers?!  Would love to hear what you're doing!  I know some of you - and I know how amazingly creative you are!  Don't be shy . . .

Beverly Hills - Tune of the Week

Check out Beverly Hills on the the Tunes page of WillBailyPianoTunes.com.  We've used this FUN tune in our kids classes, teen classes and adult classes.  You'll notice there are chord symbols written above the score.  For ideas on how to create a keyboard band with this tune, look at the tutorial on the Tutorial page.  The discussion shows how to play the chords, one way to break the chords up, suggestion for voices, ideas for bass guitar and quick easy how to play a drum part on the keyboard.  After the band feels comfortable playing together, discuss texture as it relates to the different sections of music, try strings and electric piano in different octaves.  Then, have a couple students add the solo (written) part.  There are endless creative opportunities with this tune. 

Happy Playing!  Happy Teaching!

Bruno Mars and Grandma

Check out "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars on the Tutorial page of WillBailyPianoTunes.com!  In June a grandmother brought her 12 year old granddaughter (Jessica) to her RMM class on Thursday night.  This is an ambitious class playing out of Musical Moments - Reflective 3.  Since Jessica was just sitting watching, I decided to take a chance and teach "Just the Way You Are" with F5 chord in the RH and changing bass notes in the LH (see tutorial).  Already had the mp3 file since we'd been using this in the Way Cool Kids Classes.  What FUN!  Jessica's eyes lit up as she discovered she could do this with no previous piano lessons!  This adult class had a blast with this music, even though it was music from Jessica's generation.  When grandma left, she had tears in her eyes when she said, "Thank You."  I'm the one who is thankful everyday to be an RMM facilitator!  Happy Teaching!

Fresh New Piano Tunes

Piano Teachers are always looking for Fresh New Piano Tunes.  Check out WillBailyPianoTunes.com where new Tunes are added each week!  All of the Tunes on the site have accompanying mp3 files and MIDI files.  Members of the site are able to download the Tunes as often as they want and have access to teaching tutorials.  The tutorials teach students/teachers how to play pop tunes by chord and give ideas for improvisation.  As you prepare for the fall, take a look at WillBailyPianoTunes.com!

Happy Teaching!

Opa! - Tune of the Week

Our adult classes have had so much FUN this week with "Opa!" - one of our students last night said they haven't had this much fun since "Circus Phantom."  If you're not familiar, "Circus Phantom" is a RH, five-finger exercise found in Musical Moments, Way Cool Keyboarding and Way Cool Keyboarding 4 kids (you can access these materials from the Books page on the WillBailyPianoTunes.com website). The tune itself is a duet that seems to talk back and forth between the 2 parts. Set in Greek sirtaki - dance style, "Opa!" starts out slow - complete with clapping measures - then, POW! "Twice as fast"  hold on to your hat, back to the beginning - this piece moves.  (Suggest in the beginning weeks - RH only on the repeat.)  Your fingers will actually dance in this piece!  Have Fun and Happy Teaching!

     

Tune of the Week

WillBailyPianoTunes.com is now offering a "Tune of the Week".  Every Monday morning piano teachers and piano students will wake up to a new motivating piece to start their week.  This can be found on the "Tunes" page of the website.  Also, check out our new payment plan - $5 a month for unlimited PDF downloads and unlimited Mp3 and MIDI sound file downloads.  (Also, still available is the $30 a year payment option - breaks down to $2.50 a month.)  Check out the "Tutorial" page for quick ways to teach pop tunes with chords and ideas for improvisation.  Feel free to contact me, Will Baily, on the "Contact" page of site.  "Blog" your questions and teaching ideas or feel free to call me (my personal cell number is on the "Contact" page.)  Happy Teaching!