Recreational Music Making (RMM) allows students to play music they choose!

It's been an interesting week . . . First of all, I met 3 wonderful kids from Boston. They were here in town visiting their dad whose a physician here. He'd asked me to give them a few lessons during their visit. I'd hesitantly agreed. After listening to the 15 year old play. I asked how long he'd had lessons - 5 years. He was playing out of Faber Book 4. I could tell his heart wasn't in it at all. So I asked him what music he enjoyed and what music he'd like to play. He looked at me very seriously and said, "Whatever music my teacher wants me to play. My teacher in Boston is very busy and if we don't complete our assignments and play the music she assigns she'll drop us from her studio." He'd never even considered what music he'd like to play since this process was all about his teacher's wishes. Then, later in the week I received a phone call from a mother who'd seen the signs on the building offering FUN Piano Classes! She stated that she wanted her daughter to take lessons from me but, get this, she didn't want the lessons to be fun and she didn't want her 13-year-old daughter to have any say in what she played. She needed me to be very strict so that her daughter would be afraid and would practice diligently. At first I asked, if I was being pranked (I have a reputation for being a random abstract 'hippie' teacher). She assured me she was serious. I then, asked what consequence I should punish her daughter with if she didn't comply with my 'strict' wishes. She answered - threaten to drop her from your studio. After a 15 minute long conversation, where I shared my philosophy of loving music as a motivation to play more music, she agreed to meet with her daughter and I for a heart-to-heart conversation. No expectations . . . just a sit-down conversation. Okay, just one more . . . A new private student started this week. I could tell this 11-year-old boy was suspicious of this whole idea. I asked him what kind of music he liked. "Rap". Any song in particular? "The Fighter". I asked if he'd like to learn that tune. "Sure!" We went to the computer - $1.29 for the mp3 file - brought it back to the Clavinova 605. We proceeded to learn a pattern by ear from the file. His face glowed. He said, "It's kinda hard to get my fingers to move." I took out "Way Cool Keyboarding" and said, "this book has a bunch of fun exercises to get your fingers strong so you can play the music you love." My philosophy of sharing music has been challenged this week . . . and I find myself embracing the ideals of flexibility, dynamic environment, joy, generosity for diverse aesthetic tastes, love for music and FUN! My goal will always be to facilitate dynamic musical experiences!

Welcome to Now Playing Piano - A Recreational Music Making Center for pianists of all ages

This has been an exciting week! We started moving into the center the week of July 22nd after completing an extensive renovation of a 3,000 square foot building. The pictures above show the storefront, the reception area and last weeks piano camp kids. We had 10 new students who came to camp every day Monday through Friday. On Friday the kiddos played a short concert for their friends and family (35 attended). Afterwards we had a pizza party. One of my students from an adult class made cotton candy for the kids. What a fun week! Not only did we sign up all 10 of these students for classes in the Fall, we signed up 3 students who came to the celebration! When we make music FUN, they will come!