Jillian has two lessons under her belt now

Hi everyone. Sorry for the blog silence. Busy, busy times.

We're underway with the piano teacher. To review, she is a woman who attends our church; we learned about her through the church grapevine, met with her, talked to her on the phone about the logistics, methods, and goals of her piano instruction, and decided to go with her through June. She teaches Monday through Thursday, from 3:00 to 8:00 PM, in 30 minute sessions. Jillian's appointed time slot is Monday, 6:30.

Like the woman who taught Jillian's first set of lessons, PT is a very nice woman. And there the comparisons end. PT is very outgoing, and talks a LOT. Curiously, this has had a resonant effect on Jillian, who is normally very reserved. After just two 30* minute sessions, Jillian has discovered her inner extrovert, who wants to show off and tell stories. For those of you who know her, you'd be surprised at her demeanor. She's almost giddy at piano lessons. You know, like a typical 6, er, 7 year old.

* - In theory, the lesson is 30 minutes, but nobody has booked the time slot after Jillian.** Since there is not a hard stop at the top of the hour, and since nobody is banging on the front door to say "Off the bench, my turn", that means we've tended to linger a little extra longer each of these first two lessons.*** Monday, in fact, we didn't leave until 7:25.

** - Yes, I am fully aware this creates an opening for me. Quiet, you!

*** - At no extra charge!

PT's instrument is an Emerson Baby Grand. As you know, I am no expert on these things, but I'd estimate it to be maybe 60, 80 years old. It sounds like it is in good shape. PT says the touch is a little firmer than most, but apparently Jillian isn't having any trouble with it.

At this point, PT is in an evaluation stage with Jillian, discerning what she can do, what she can't, strengths, weaknesses, that sort of thing. As she moves through the lesson, she takes moments to tell me what she is doing, and why she is doing it. As with our visit to the Suzuki teacher back in December, it is almost embarassing to have the teacher engage me while teaching another... but I understand her motivation. It might otherwise seem they're sort of all over the place, playing pieces from Jillian's old Schaum book, from her new Bastien book (Primer B), and various sheets of music we've had laying around. From these activities, PT has concluded the following about Jillian's development on the piano:

• She's quite good at translating printed notes into keystrokes, but...
  
• She's just OK at reading notes. Better on the Treble Clef.
• She needs work on counting and rythmn.
  
• As I've mentioned before, she can be creative with finger positioning. This is a mixed blessing, in that over time, she'll have the flexibility to do what she needs to do to play a difficult passage. But for now, we need to be sure that she CAN play using prescribed fingerings, so that needs some work.

In sum, she's off to a good start, but there are some foundational things on which Jillian's first teacher may have been overly permissive. We need to get those things on par with her strengths before we can make serious progress. Therefore, some of Jillian's first assignments seem trivial to her, but we're encouraging her to focus on the subtle points she's supposed to take away from them, like counting and finger position.

PT also knows what I'm up to in terms of the piano. She's even offered to split Jillian's lesson into a 25/5 ratio, giving me the last five minutes to play something, and/or ask questions. Thus far, we haven't been able to manage that, since, as I wrote earlier, the time seems to have gotten away from us each week. (Did I mention PT talks a lot? Well, she does. Not that there is anything wrong with that...) I'm considering asking for that 7:00 PM time slot, but money needs to loosen up a little first. Which could happen in the next month or so; stay tuned. I had I Due Fiumi ready to play for her, as part of determining where I am at, and how best to progress. Had I played it for her, it probably would have sounded something like this:

i due fiumi 1-5-2009 - Aw2pp

Which is to say, passable, with a couple of errors (you'll hear them) but probably not good enough for a PW ABF Recital, and not nearly as good as Anthony B's or Monica's recordings of the same piece. But still not bad for me. (And I really like the Pianissimo virtual piano!)

Back to PT. I think the odds are REALLY good that we're going to stay with her for the time being. Years, in fact. It's difficult, but possible to envision a scenario in which we might outgrow her. Her strength is not so much teaching piano / music per se, but rather in the Cognitive Development area, where she has a Master's Degree. (She's played piano her whole life, but only had five years of lessons herself. By her own admission, she's no virtuoso.)

And to answer Mom3Gram's question, yes, I think Jason will take lessons from her, too, probably starting in the Fall. And Jillian? Our little extrovert can't wait for her next lesson. She's making marks on the calendar for every day she practices. She gets up in the morning, puts on the headphones, and plays her assigned pieces. She loves it. Really, isn't that the point of all this?

Oh, and she is already excited about playing her recital piece in June. Who knew she had THAT in her?


- Aw2pp, who is Sooper, Sooper Serial about ManBearPig.

Jillian's Lessons start Monday at 6:30

As much as we would have liked to get started in the Suzuki method, the thought of fighting rush hour traffic for an extra 25 minutes each way was too much to overcome. So our new teacher, a woman who attends our church and lives 1.7 miles away, has taken on Jillian as her newest student. Our new Piano Teacher (henceforth, PT) has, including Jillian, 35 students under her care. She teaches 30 minute lessons continuously, 3:00 - 8:00 PM, Monday through Thursday, and had only three openings. (I think a couple of her advanced students sit for more than 30 minutes... that, or she mixes in breaks periodically.) Jillian's weekly slot is Monday at 6:30 PM. We're very excited.

At this point, I am not considering signing on as student #36. We'll see how it goes with me sitting in on Jillian's lessons first. I still think, at some point, I am going to have to get my own teacher. Sue says the same thing every time she comes over to the piano and watches me attempt some unnatural jump. Now is just not the time.

Piano teacher update, v 2.0

The whole fam-dambly met another prospective piano teacher yesterday. This woman attends our church, and was recommended by numerous people, including members of our worship team and the pastor himself. After a bit of sleuthing (remember, we're new to the area and church, and don't know everyone yet*), we finally found her after the service, and talked briefly with her.

* - Yet. Give us Sue time.

Yes, she gives lessons.
Yes, she is taking new students.
Yes, she has a new session starting January 5.
Yes, she also takes adult students.
Yes, she'd allow me to attend Jillian's lessons, if I don't sign up for my own.
Yes, she lives nearby.
Yes, she's available to talk more.
No, she didn't want to talk more that moment, as she was staffing a sign-up table for Compassion International, and didn't want to mix business with missions.

So we owe her a call. We like what we know so far.

Piano teacher update

We haven't yet committed to the Suzuki teacher we met last week. Our only pause is the distance. So in the meantime, we're still evaluating some closer options. The question is this: do the compelling aspects of the method outweigh the cost of driving 30 minutes, or potentially more, given that her available time (Thursdays at 5:30) means driving through rush hour traffic?

The answer is, of course, that it depends. If there are closer teachers, who also teach on a very nice piano, who are also very nice, we may eschew the drive. So there is one woman in our church who we're trying to get in touch with, who may or may not be taking on new students. And another woman in town, recommended by friends of friends.

In the meantime, Rowan took the opportunity the other day to remind us that we need to talk to prospective teachers about a package deal.






- Aw2pp, who made his first snowman in 35 years (give or take) this morning

Update on the Search for Jillian's Piano Teacher

We visited a potential piano teacher (for Jillian) this past Saturday. At 12 miles (about 30 minutes) away, she was the nearest teacher we could find on the Suzuki of Americas website. Sure, there are closer teachers that do not employ the Suzuki method, but I’ve talked with three different people, one former student (hi Discopalace) and two parents of Suzuki students about their experiences. These conversations have persuaded me that the extra few minutes are worth it. After trading a couple of emails and a phone call, potential piano teacher (henceforth “PPT”) agreed to meet us, and asked us to sit on a lesson she would be conducting for a little girl about Jillian’s age.

Saturday arrived, and at 8:30 AM, so did we, at PPT’s house. When we opened the front door, we stepped immediately into her medium-sized living room, dominated by a beautiful, giant rosewood Kawai RX-3. It was an absolutely gorgeous piano, alongside a small, 61 key Yamaha digital, which I later learned was for PPT’s use, to accompany students during lessons. Every wall that didn’t have a window was covered by bookcases, floor to ceiling, and every bookcase was full. Plants hung in front of the windows; Jillian says there were 18 of them, and I’ve learned not to doubt her on this sort of thing. In the rest of the room, there was seating for 6 in the form of a couch, a loveseat, a chair-and-a-half, all arranged in a C shape around the piano, along with an old organ, the kind with pedals to blow air through. All this in a room about 15’ x 20’. Crowded enough for you?

I wanted to get there early, to talk to PPT about Jillian, our expectations for a piano teacher, and logistics in terms of lesson times, dates, and practice requirements. PPT had another agenda. She’d barely shaken our hands before handing over all sorts of documents about the Suzuki method, books that are required, recital information, and that sort of thing. Before she’d totally finished her pitch, her student came in, accompanied by her father, bowed*, and began her lesson. PPT continued talking to us as the lesson began, explaining what they were working on, where her student was in the learning process, and how the little girl had progressed in her 18 months of lessons. It felt sort of uncomfortable to be the focus of attention; but neither the little girl nor her father seemed to mind. Jillian sat by me for the first 15 or 20 minutes, but eventually the ants in her pants prevailed, and she started wandering over to the piano bench to get a better view. I could tell she wanted to play, but we never got the chance. The next students (a brother / sister combo) came in before the lesson was over, and really crowded the place. We thanked the little girl and her dad for letting us watch their lesson, thanked PPT for her time, got our coats, and headed home.

* - “Bow to your sensei! Bow to your sensei!” (Bonus points to anyone who gets the reference without clicking on the link.)

There are several aspects of the Suzuki method that appeal to me. The first is the requirement that parents, whether they are musicians or not, attend all lessons. The reasoning behind this is that when the child is home practicing, the parents should reinforce the points emphasized by the teacher. I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. Of course I’m excited to do this, even though Jillian has sometimes refused my help in the past. But I am also excited to listen to the lessons for my own sake. Two lessons for the price of one! (Hold that thought.) But there is also the aspect of monitoring the lessons, hearing the teacher for ourselves, and watching the improvement over time. Jillian’s first piano teacher did not allow us to sit in on the lessons. And we never felt like we got good information about how things went, either from Jillian or the teacher. “She’s doing great! Keep up the good work!” The first couple of times, this was nice to hear. After hearing it every time for weeks, it became aggravating. Now we’ll get to see and hear the lessons, instructions, and progress for ourselves.

Another thing: once a month, the teacher gathers all her students for a collective lesson / recital. I could see a lot of value in this. First, there’s the whole social aspect of meeting other like-minded kids and developing long-term friendships with them. But also, hearing others play the same pieces you did, giving them their own personal but still technically correct touch… that’s gotta be instructive. Suzuki people sure seem to think so. Then there is an actual formal recital every three months. The goal here is to throw the student in front of people often enough to where performance anxiety eventually melts away. Perhaps that’s overstating it… the anxiety may never go away, but perhaps its manifestation decreases over time, with experience.

Finally, back to this two lessons for the price of one thing. The folks who came in as the lesson concluded were a mom and two children, a boy (about 10) and a girl (about 13). They are both students. She asked "Who wants to go first?" and though we left before we heard the answer, this intrigued me. Turns out she gives a small family discount for multiple students from the same family. Remember, Jillian was teaching Jason piano. In future years, Jason, Rowan, or Joseph might also all have piano lessons. If Jillian goes through the method, she can shepherd any (all?) of her younger siblings who may do likewise. After all, she'll have already played the pieces herself.

I asked Jillian what she thought of the experience. Of course, I expected her to like the piano and the teacher, who seemed very nice and supportive. I did not expect her to be excited about the public performance aspect of the Suzuki method, which she was. What’s more, in addition to the group lessons and quarterly recitals, you also periodically go in front of judges to play standard Suzuki pieces. They rate you on some sort of point system, and offer suggestions for improvement and future growth. Over time, as you accumulate points, you get some sort of Gold Cup, and then start with the next grade. Upon completion of that, you get a larger Gold Cup, and so on and so forth. Of all the things she could have been impressed with or excited about, it was this aspect that fired her up the most. Well then.

We haven’t signed up yet. There is one other teacher nearby. Although she isn’t a Suzuki teacher, friends of friends have gone to this woman for piano lessons for years, and speak in hushed, reverend tones about what a good teacher she is. We may go meet her too, and then make a decision.

One way or another, expect Jillian to start her lessons in January.

- Aw2pp, who, in a shameless ripoff of popular iconoclastic Chicago blogger Mimi Smartypants, is going to begin signing off on his posts

Meeting a teacher Saturday morning

Just a quick FYI, Jillian and I are going to meet a prospective piano teacher Saturday morning. She is a Suzuki teacher. We chose Saturday because she'll be giving a lesson to a 7 year old girl then, and she invited us to sit in.

If I were her (and/or if I were the student), this would freak me out a little... perfect strangers evaluating the proceedings, to decide if they want to plunk down a bunch of money for lessons. But this is, apparently, not uncommon, so we'll go with it.

Jillian's Piano Teacher Search Continues

We finally did get a list of piano teachers from the school's music teacher. I don't have it in front of me, but it was a surprisingly long list of names. I'd say, oh, 80 or so. Then, hand-written on the last page was something like this:

"I don't know any of these people. But I do know (insert name), who is not on this list. I think she would be a good one to start with."

Before going any further, let's review Jillian's list of requirements for her piano teacher, as described here: She (there's already an implicit requirement) needs to be nice, and not old. Ok then.

After a bit of phone tag, we (well, Sue) finally got to talk with the suggested person. After a short conversation, it was agreed that Jillian was too advanced for this teacher. Yes, that's correct. Too advanced. Turns out the nice, young-ish sounding lady was more of a music teacher, specializing in flute, but willing to dabble in some introductory piano here and there if the need arises. Jillian has already learned everything this woman would have taught, and now we're stuck with going back to the long list of anonymous names, trying to divine which, among them, is nice and not old.

Jillian has not played much piano lately. I think she's gone as far as her toolset will allow, if that makes any sense. That is, her skills have allowed her to play a set of pieces, including her own, and she's stuck in that place until she gains more tools.