Look At That Motorcycle

“We are the music makers,
    And we are the dreamers of dreams”

-Arthur O’Shaughnessy/Willy Wonka

It’s my 8th birthday and I’m jumping out of my skin in anticipation of what might be behind the enormous piece of plywood my parents have carefully placed across the entrance to our living room. “We’re waiting for Grandpa to get here,” my mother cheerfully says, as the seconds continue to tick by, ever so glacially. 

My grandpa FINALLY arrives, walks across the kitchen, peeks behind the plywood, and exclaims “Oh my, look at that motorcycle in there!”  I assumed from the look of annoyance on my mother’s face that he’d given away the surprise, as I tried to pretend that I hadn’t heard him. 

I could hardly contain my excitement- “I’m getting a motorcycle!!!”  I immediately began to speculate as to how many girls the only eight-year-old boy in his school could pick up.

The plywood was pulled back and they had me close my eyes, as they led me slowly into the living room.  Images swirled in my mind. “Was it dark blue… or even better… shiny red, with gold sparkles?  What color is my helmet?!?  Do I get to wear cool boots and leather gloves?!?!?”

Suddenly, they stopped me in the center of the living room.  The moment of the big reveal had come!  “OK, open your eyes,” I heard someone say.  I opened them. There, sitting right before my eyes, was…. a piano. 

I did my best impersonation of an excited boy, but I suspect that the look on my face revealed a less-than-enthusiastic response from what my parents had hoped for.  It took a while for my mom to forgive my grandpa for having built up my expectations, but it took absolutely no time at all for me to realize that I’d been given one of the greatest gifts anyone could ever receive:  the gift of making music at the piano.

The piano and I have been best friends ever since, always there for me whenever I needed to express whatever emotion required expression in any particular moment.  In fact, there’s never been a time when I didn’t walk away from playing the piano not feeling at least a little more alive than when I’d started.

My goal is to spark that same lifelong passion for making music in my students, whether they wind up doing it in a professional capacity, purely for the sake of enjoyment, or they simply need a friend to turn to who will always be there and will never let them down.  

Since everyone learns differently and has different musical interests and goals as to what they want to achieve, I carefully tailor my teaching methods to the learning styles of each individual student.  I especially enjoy teaching students with special needs (or “special gifts,” as I prefer to say).  

But regardless of the type of student, the common element is a desire to give students a fundamental understanding of the language of music, so that no matter what style(s) they want to play, whether by ear or via the printed page, they know what it is they are expressing.

Making music is, after all, and above all else, about communicating in a way that bypasses the head and goes straight to the heart, which is why, like Sondheim, I consider teaching to be the sacred profession. As Oscar Hammerstein said, “By your pupils, you’ll be taught” and at the end of the day, I find my students to be my greatest teachers. 

Who could ask for anything more?

The Piano As An Extension Of One's Self - Part 1

Part 1: Video Games, Athleticism, And The Keyboard

Growing up I was into sports…and video games. From basketball to martial arts, I always proceeded to balance it out with a healthy dose of Mario Bro’s or Ninja Turtles.  For every minute spent sweating on the court or in the dojo, I had equal if not more time invested seated on a rug with a controller in my hands, my gaze riveted to a TV screen, my body contorting in hopes to make the characters on the screen move with me to avoid imminent death. One was three dimensional and the other quite two dimensional, but both were very much mentally stimulating, so I rarely, if ever, saw much difference between them, nor saw a need to discern between the two.

They were the Ying and Yang of my day until eventually there came a point where I continued to improve at videogames but plateaued at sports. Much to my chagrin, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't force myself to jump higher, or run faster (and the more I strained, the worse it got), but in videogames, I could always refine my movements to be quicker and more accurate, and so a disparity arose that grew with time.

My young mind didn't have the insight or analytical skills at the time to realize something that was not revealed to me until much later, after graduating from college: in videogames, it is not so pivotal how you press the buttons physically—what your legs are doing, whether your shoulders are raised with static tension if you’re breathing well—as the game/avatar does the majority of that work for you, but in sports, the how of running, jumping, passing, kicking, or what have you, is where the true skill lies, what the majority erroneously call “natural talent”.

The new Michael Jordan documentary lays this out pretty clearly, as they make it evident that Michael was not innately good at basketball, losing often to his brother and performing averagely his first years of high school, but what Michael had on top of his unparalleled grit, determination, and competitive spirit was what dancers call “poise”.  A graceful and elegant bearing to his person that promoted balance and equilibrium throughout his body which in turn gave him that suspended quality when he would jump through the air to dunk the ball (hence earning him the moniker “Air” Jordan). 

Growth in any skill is always slow and steady, but it is poise (or rather, the continued maintenance of poise, for we all have this beautiful freedom of movement when we are young children) that gives us that extra lift after years of hard work and study, adding exponential growth to our skill curve and potentially catapulting one to be the best in their field.  Great examples include Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams,  and yes, pianists like Arthur Rubinstein. Poise is both physical and mental, and as a term applies so aptly to the world of piano and piano technique, as playing a keyboard instrument is, in my opinion, the ultimate hybrid between sports/martial arts and video games. 

Such a statement begs the question: “what importance does poise have to an instrument that is seemingly so nonathletic?” and even more importantly, “how does one continue to regain poise that they may have lost through years of screen watching and reading/writing, while learning a new skill as complex as the piano keyboard?”

We have only just touched on this idea of poise as it relates to making music and playing the piano, but I hope this primer will set the stage to explore this concept in further detail in a way that is more relatable to a majority of people. I look forward to diving deeper into this concept in my next blog post and breaking things down!                                                           

Semesters Are Coming Fall 2020

Why Change To Semesters?

Our biggest goal is to help our students achieve their goals. We want our students to thrive and become the musicians they dream of becoming! In order to do that, it is important that we hold them to a higher standard than those who are standing on the fringes, casually interested in the piano. We are asking our students to step up so that we can step up as well!

We care deeply for our teachers and we want to see them flourish. We believe it is important that our teachers have students who show up, do the work, and improve. Our teachers deserve consistency in their schedule as well as the satisfaction of a student who makes real improvement. As a teacher, it is so heartbreaking to put time and energy into a student to only have them quit 2 weeks later. We want our teachers to have the experience of a lifetime with students who are all in and ready to go the distance!

How Will It Work?

There will be 3 semesters per year - Spring, Summer and Fall. Each semester will be 16 weeks long. This will include 14 weeks of lessons and a 2-week vacation at the end of each semester.

There will be two recitals at the end of each semester (1 online and 1 in-person).

All students will be required to commit to the full semester.

We will have open enrollment for one month prior to the beginning of each semester. Once the semester starts, enrollment is closed until one month prior to the next semester.

All current students will automatically be enrolled in the next semester unless they choose to drop out.

What Will Be Changing?

No more vacation allowances. Instead, students, and teachers, will have a 2-week vacation at the end of every semester.

No more month to month agreements. We expect big things from our students so we are asking for a bigger commitment. Students now must commit to a full semester instead of going month to month.

A new focus on recitals. We want to give our students the chance to show off their hard work. We also want them to have a clear goal to work towards. The focus of each semester will be to get our students ready to perform at the recital at the end of each semester.

What Will Stay The Same?

Weekly, private one-on-one lessons. Students will still have private weekly lessons (online or in-person) with one of the top professional musicians in St. Louis!

Same schedule. Your lessons will still be at the same time on the same day every week.

Our online portal. All of our students will still have their same account in Teacher Zone with access to lessons of their videos, lesson assignments, chats with their teachers and much more!

When Does The Next Semester Start?

Our fall semester will start in September. Enrollment opens on August 2nd.

Why people quit taking piano lessons

Starting piano lessons is really fun. It’s always really exciting when someone starts. They get excited and see the possibility of it all. They dream about all the songs they are going to learn how to play. They picture themselves playing at the next family gathering and everyone singing along.

And we, as teachers, can see the hope in their eyes. It is such an inspiring and fun time for any student as well as any teacher.

But the inspiration and excitement never last forever. Those are just chemically induced emotions that go away as soon as the chemicals dry up. And the chemicals always dry up eventually. What is left after the initial inspiration wears off?

Reality. And the reality is this…

Learning anything new is hard

Learning the piano is hard. Learning anything is hard. And it takes a lot of time and effort. I think the number one reason people quit taking piano lessons is they start to see how hard it really is. Once they realize it is going to take some time and effort, they become overwhelmed. The voice of self-doubt starts to kick in and they begin to doubt that they have what it takes to stick it out.

The truth is they do. We all do. But many times we let that voice become so loud that we can’t hear the truth anymore. Once that voice is yelling in our ear, we will do anything to make it stop. This is when most people quit. Quitting makes the voice stop.

But there is another way to make it stop. And that is by NOT quitting.

The voice goes away either way. By running away from it or from facing it and yelling back. So many people choose to run away. It’s easier. It’s quicker. And then they can move on to the next thing they hope will bring them the happiness they crave. But those of us who stick it, get to feel something that these other people don’t.

Victory.

Victory shuts the voice down for good. It closes the argument. It allows you to settle into the life you have chosen. It gives you the freedom and solace from the wariness of constant searching. If you are continually searching for the next best thing, you will never find it. If you constantly live in the mentality of “I’ll be happy when…” you are by definition damning yourself to a life of unhappiness.

If you give up when it gets hard, you will never experience the good part. The victory. The victory is what causes the inspirational and fun emotions to return. The victory is where we all crave to be but tend to give up or let ourselves off the hook right before we get there.

Simple, but not easy.

The answer is simple but not easy. The answer is don’t quit. Don’t give up on something that you cared enough about to look up how to learn it, reach out to a stranger to teach it to you, and then give that stranger some of your hard-earned money to show you how to do it. You would never put that much effort into something that wasn’t really important to you.

If you took all these actions to get here, don’t give up on yourself now. The good part is coming. It is closer than you think, but you will never find it if you keep bailing right before it happens. You need to yell back at that voice of self-doubt and tell it you are doing this no matter what it takes. It will shut up eventually once it sees you are serious.

And then you will be able to settle down and get to work. Even more, you will be able to enjoy the work because you will know why you are doing the work. You are no longer teetering between giving up and sticking it out. You have made the conscious choice to go on.

Our promise to you.

Once you make that choice to go on, it is only a matter of time until you finally experience the victory you have so badly craved. It’s all up to you. It’s all in your mind. And we are here to help you along every step of the way. We won’t give up on you if you promise to not give up on yourself.

Why The Piano Is So Much Cooler Than Any Other Instrument

That’s right. I said it. The piano is way cooler than any other instrument on the planet.

That doesn’t mean I don’t love all types of musical instruments, because I do. I actually used to play trumpet in my younger years and I loved it.

I love my brother and sister musicians and have huge respect for anyone who learns to play an instrument well, so please understand this blog post is all in good fun.

I can’t play the guitar, at least not very well. And I sure can’t play the trombone, so hear me when I say that it takes time and dedication to be good at any instrument. Every instrument is needed to make the world of music the full and wonderful place that it is.

So that being said, here is why the piano is better than any other instrument.

Why The Piano Is So Much Cooler Than Any Other Instrument

1. The piano is the only instrument that is laid out horizontally instead of vertically. It is easier to see what you are doing and understand what is going on. The guitar is vertical. Wind instruments are either vertical or use valve combinations. Most instruments tend to be very confusing at first. But the piano makes sense. You can look at a piano and start to see the patterns. You can see the black note pattern of 2 and 3. That’s why I think the piano is the best instrument to learn first. It’s not just because I am a piano player. It’s because of the way it is laid out which makes it easier to understand and learn music theory.

2. It is super easy to play the piano. Anyone can do it. You don’t have to worry about the proper breathing techniques. Or proper mouth placement. You can just bang on the keys and music comes out. Now, that’s not to say it doesn’t take some time to learn how to make the piano sound good. But to create a sound on the piano is pretty easy compared to other instruments.

3. You can’t play the piano out of tune. As long as the piano has been properly tuned by a professional, you will play in tune every time. There is nothing you can do in your playing to make the piano sound out of tune. I can’t think of any other instruments like that. With the guitar, you have to make sure your fingers are placed right in the center of the tabs. With wind instruments, there are a million things that can cause you to play out of tune like breath support, proper embouchure, your mouthpiece, etc. But with the piano, you just sit down and play.

4. The piano makes you a one-man-band. More than any other instrument, you have everything you need in the piano. Your left hand can cover the bass and rhythm. Your right hand can cover the harmony and melody. You don’t need any other instruments to make a full sound. That’s why you see a lot of piano bars around the world. Have you ever seen a guitar bar or a drum bar?

5. Piano players can play two things at the same time. With piano you have two hands, each playing different parts. Piano players have to be able to read bass clef and treble clef. We can do it all. It’s true that guitar players use both hands, but one is only for strumming or picking. Drummers are for sure the kings of rhythmic coordination, but still, they don’t have to read notes, only rhythms. With piano, we do it all - rhythm, harmony and melody. Left hand and right hand. Bass clef and treble clef.

The best place to start.

I could go on and on but my main purpose for this blog post is to show you all the wonderful qualities of the piano. If you are thinking of learning more about music, or you have a child that you want to expose to the world of music, I highly recommend starting with the piano. They may move on to other instruments down the road, but starting with the piano is going to give them a huge jump start.

What if I don’t want to buy a piano?

The one thing that can be challenging with the piano, is buying and making room for an actual piano. But I have good news for you. With all the amazing technology in the world these days, there are some amazing keyboards out there that sound and feel just like a piano. These keyboards are easy to move, easy to make room for and always stay in tune.

I actually made a Keyboard For Beginners guide. It will give you my top 5 suggestions for really affordable keyboards that sound and feel great. Hit the button below to get the guide for free!

Whatever instrument you land on, I can’t wait to see where it takes you. There is nothing like being able to play a musical instrument. I may be partial to the piano, but the truth is you can’t go wrong. Just pick one and get started today.

How to trick your brain into thinking you have practiced something longer than you have

Learning to play piano is not just about showing up to your piano lesson and playing some scales. Most of the learning actually happens at home when you practice. And really, the majority of your learning happens in your brain when you are sleeping.

Let me explain.

Have you ever had the experience where you are trying to learn something really hard on the piano. You figure if you just practice long enough, you will be able to do it, right? After an hour or so, you start to hit the wall. You start actually making more mistakes than when you started?

How can you actually be worse at something after practicing it for an hour?

When you practice, you can only practice for so long straight until your brain starts to shut off. We’ve all experienced it. We start getting sloppy, making more mistakes.

It’s because your brain has not had time to process everything you just practiced. Our brains are busy keeping us a live during the day. Telling our lungs to breathe, our heart to pump blood, taking in information, telling our hands and feet to move.

When our brains shut down for the night, that is when they finally have a chance to process all the other information, like all the practicing you did.

Most of our real learning happens in our sleep. Your brain needs some peace and quiet to connect all the dots. To create new nuero-transmitter connections and to solidify into your body and soul all that you practiced.

That is why when you come back to something the next day, you feel refreshed and you can play what you practiced just a little better than the day before.

Yes it does take a lot of repetition to get good at something. But it also takes a lot of downtime. There is no way to rush that process. Well, there is one way.

What is “Spaced Repetition?”

The answer is Spaced Repetition. All this means is having multiple shorter practices spread out over time instead of one long practice. It means doing 10-15 minute practices followed by breaks. These breaks can be minutes, hours or days, but the breaks are crucial. The breaks allow your brain to process all the information and in doing so, they actually speed up your progress.

You could compare this to a HIIT workout. These are all the rage in the fitness world right now because they work great and take a fraction of the time of a “normal” workout.

In a HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) workout, you do short bursts of high-intensity training followed by short bursts of recovery time. Each burst lasts 30 seconds to a minute. You do this cycle 4 or 5 times and your workout is done in 15-20 minutes.

And here is the best part - these workouts work! They have been proven to do just as much for your fitness if not more than a lower intensity, longer workout.

Practicing piano works the exact same way.

When you do hard cardio for shorter intervals, you are tricking your body into thinking you have worked out longer than you have. When you practice piano in short bursts more often, you are tricking your brain into thinking you have practiced more than you have.

Here is what to do…

Instead of practicing for hours and hours on end, try practicing something for 15 minutes. Then walk away for 15 minutes. Come back and practice it again for 15 minutes. Break. Repeat.

This process over a few days will trick your brain into thinking that more time has gone by than actually has. It will make the connections quicker. And suddenly you will be able to play that thing like you have been playing it for weeks or months. You basically sped up the process by getting your brain to process more in smaller chunks.

Say you are getting ready to play a recital and you only have a few days to get a very hard passage down. Is that even possible?

If you beat your head against the wall with super long practices, you will just get frustrated and you won’t be able to play it that well. But if you practice smart, and give your brain the rest it needs, you can absolutely learn something hard in only a few days.

It totally works.

Give yourself a break.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of hours of practice sometimes. But you just need to know when to walk away and give yourself a break. This is especially true if you are just practicing one little part of a piece or a riff over and over. If you practice for hours, that is fine, just make sure you mix up what you are practicing. Take breaks. And get some sleep.

I am giving you permission to practice less. I am giving you permission to take more breaks. Now it’s up to you to try it and see if it works. I think you are going to like the results.

And your brain will thank you for it.

Why You Should Practice Piano While Watching TV

A few weeks back, we talked about why you should practice piano with your eyes closed. If you haven’t checked it out yet, be sure to give it a read HERE. Now let’s talk about another technique I’m a big fan of.

Practicing the piano while watching TV.

I don’t know how many piano teachers will tell you to practice in front of the TV, but I’m going to go out on a limb and tell you to do it. Maybe not every time, but there are some times it is appropriate. Let me explain.

Repetition is your friend.

A big part of learning any new skill is repetition. With piano, we need to do some things over and over and over again. The reason for this is that we are training our muscle memory to kick in. If we do something enough, it becomes automatic. When it becomes automatic, we don’t have to think as much about what we are doing. Once we are free to think of other things, we can focus more on the other parts we are playing.

Does your family hate you yet?

We see this show up a lot with left-hand techniques. There is a chord progression I teach my students called The Dance Progression. The biggest hurdle to overcome when playing this progression is the syncopation between the left hand and the right hand.

The left hand is just playing a repetitive bass line of constant eighth notes. The key to getting this whole progression down is to practice the left-hand part a lot. I mean a lot a lot. Like obsessively. If your family or your roommate doesn’t hate you yet for playing it so much, you aren’t practicing it enough.

Once you get the left hand down and muscle memory kicks in, then you are free to focus more on the right-hand part and start getting the syncopation down. But that won’t happen until the left hand is on auto-pilot.

TV to the rescue…

A great way to get this left-hand part down is to practice it while watching TV. This does two things.

1. It is a monotonous thing to practice, so the TV distracts you and keeps you entertained as you play this left-hand part over and over again

2. Playing this left-hand part while watching TV trains you to play it consistently while focusing on other things. It helps kickstart your muscle memory. When it’s time to add in the right hand, you will be much more prepared because your mind is already used to keeping the left hand going while you do other things.

I highly recommend this TV technique for super monotonous passages that you are having a hard time getting down. Don’t get me wrong, at first, you need to focus on the part to make sure you are playing it right. But once you have the idea down, turn on the TV and take the repetition train to obsession town!

Repetition is the answer to 90% of the questions I get from my students. If you can’t play something it’s only because you are trying to play it too fast or you haven’t practiced it enough. That’s pretty much it.

I get it, though. Sometimes it’s hard to sit down and practice something over and over and over again. It gets boring and frustrating. It’s definitely not easy and that is why everyone is not a great piano player. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from A League Of Their Own:

“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”

But there is good news. There are a couple of things we can do to make it a little more manageable. One is to practice in small chunks of time. And the other is to turn on the TV while you practice the most repetitive stuff.

This week in your practice time, try it and see if it helps. And at the very least, you will be able to get caught up on all your favorite shows. If you can get better at the piano at the same time, then it’s a win-win!

Piano Lessons Online

The internet is an amazing tool. It has become a crucial part of our daily existence. I mean, can you imagine the world with no internet?

Me neither.

I have used online tutorials to learn so much about music, marketing and more. YouTube alone has supplied me enough information to get a doctorate in multiple subjects.

Whenever I want to learn how to use some new software, I go to YouTube. Whenever I have a question about business or marketing, I go to YouTube. Knowledge is power and all the knowledge we can handle is right at our fingertips.

Can you learn how to play piano through YouTube videos?

There is certainly no shortage of piano tutorials on there. If you want to learn how to play a chord or figure out a specific voicing in a song you love, YouTube is a great solution.

Sometimes more does not mean good. Sometimes we can be oversaturated with information. There are so many different piano how-to videos on YouTube, how would you know where to begin? It’s extremely overwhelming.

I have had many students come to me because they tried to learn on their own but soon became confused and stressed out by all the information out there. It seemed like to large of a mountain to climb on their own. They also needed someone to encourage them and keep them accountable. YouTube won’t do that for you.

Look, we just can’t take in every video on YouTube. No one has that kind of time. So what is the answer?

We need a guide. We need someone who has been down the path that we want to travel to show us the way. We need someone to put the chaos into order. We need a plan. And we need accountability.

And that is what a great piano teacher can do.

I love the internet. I love YouTube. But I also love my mentors and coaches who have guided me along life’s path. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them and I will continue to have teachers in my life to help me sift through all the information that google leaves on my front door. With the combination of a good teacher and all the information the internet has to offer, I know I can conquer the world. And so can you.

If you are having trouble wading through the chaos of YouTube piano videos, we can help. Hit the button below to get some more information about piano lessons in St. Louis.

P.S. Do you think STL Piano Lessons should offer online piano lessons?

Piano Lessons Near Me

Have you heard of this new thing called “the internet?” It’s all the rage in Europe. ;)

One of the best things about the internet, is finding products and services we need so quickly. I don’t even remember how we did that before the world wide web, but it is pretty amazing.

All you have to do is type in the thing you need with the words “near me” and you will get hundreds if not thousands of suggestions.

Need a new lawn mower, it’s there. Need a pizza STAT, it’s there. Need piano lessons for your kids, it’s there!

Before I start sounding too much like an old man and start asking you to help me program my VCR, let me get to the point. If you type into a search engine the words “piano lessons near me” you are going to get a lot of great options. In any city, you will find so many great teachers. And I know this is no exception in St. Louis.

St. Louis is a vibrant music town. It’s one of my favorite things about this city. The musical history alone is so full and robust, let the alone the current scene we have today. There are a lot of amazing musicians in this town, and what do most musicians do during the day?

They teach.

We are blessed with so many great music teachers and STL Piano Lessons is proud to be amongst them! And while some schools offer many different types of instrument instruction, we focus solely on piano because we want to be the best. It’s important for us to have the best teachers in town. And it’s important for us to value you as a student and to do all we can to help you reach your musical goals!

So the next time you type in “piano lessons near me,” know that we are proud to be a part of those search results. It can be an overwhelming process finding the right teacher, so we hope you will reach out to us with any questions you may have. We are more than happy to help you find the perfect teacher, whoever that may be.

Be sure to take full advantage of this whole internet thing. I think it may just be a fad like fax machines and cell phones, so who knows when they will take it away. Better enjoy it while you can!