SEPTEMBER 08
Peery Piano Academy CALENDAR
The entire PPA calendar for 2007-2008 is posted on our website, www.peerymusic.com, ‘Mountain View’, ‘Calendar’

September 2                   Lessons begin
September 22-26            Showcase and Share/TM Class Week

October 20-24                Showcase and Share/TM Class Week, Parent Focused

November 17-21             Showcase and Share/TM Class Week
November 25-29             Thanksgiving Break, no lessons

December 22                  Winter Break Begins, no lessons

OTHER EVENTS AND DATES
September 9                   registration opens for NMC exams.  Deadline is October 21
September 21                 Application due for MTAC recital held on 10/12
September 27                 Application due CAPMT Piano and Ensemble auditions

October 10                     US Open Application Due.  Go to www.usomc.org to apply
October 12                     MTAC Student Recital
October 15                     Application due CAPMT Bartok Competition.  Go to www.capmt.org/site/programs.htm#also_see, for application
October 15                     Application due CAPMT Honors Auditions.  Go to www.capmt.org/site/programs.htm#also_see, for application
October 21                     Deadline for RACE exams held in December
Go to www.nationalmusiccertificate.org to apply
October 24                     Application due CAPMT student recital held 11/15
October 25                     Application due for MTAC student recital held 11/16
October 25                     CAPMT Piano and Ensemble Auditions

HABITS CLASS MAKEUPS AND ABSENCES
Absences and Makeup possibilities are posted on our calendar online.  Spots available are marked ‘(Student Name) Out’.  Any ‘Out’ spots that do not have a corresponding ‘(Student Name) In’ are available for makeups.  Please email Missi at info@peerymusic.com to let her know if and when you will be absent and what available spot you would like to take for a makeup.

STUDENTS RECEIVING THEIR PEERY CERTIFICATION…
Tessa Cowley Level Two Practical and Muscular
Nicholas Way Level One Muscular, Practical and Musical

PRACTICE PARTNER TIP
Don’t set a specific time limit for practicing, but do set a specific time limit for practice periods.  For example, give a student in school grades K-1 20 minutes to sit down and accomplish everything they can.  At the end of 20 minutes give them the same amount of time to break.  Then back at it for another 20 minutes.  When kids know they have a time limit, but also know they can’t quit until they have finished all of their practice items they will spend their practice periods more effectively.  We recommend a 20 minute practice period for grades K-1, 30 minutes for grades 2-4, 45 minutes grades 5-6 and 60 minutes grades 7 and up.

Do you have a tip that would help another practice partner?  If so please email Missi and we’ll post it in the next announcements.

FROM THE DIRECTOR – Questions and Answers
This month I thought it would be useful to include a few of the questions we have received over the past month with the answers from our Master Teacher.

Q:  The Peery class format is so unusual.  Wouldn’t my child do better with more one on one time with just one teacher?

A:  NO!  Why the Peery system is able to teach a conservatory, concert artist level curriculum to all types of students is because of our unique class format.

The Peery class format
The  Peery program started out as a conservatory level, concert artist program used only for those committed to practicing 2 hours minimum daily.  Our goal was to make this high level training accessible to all students.  To do this we tried many different formats including:
-    private lessons with a master teacher
-    private lessons with an assistant teacher, once a month with master teacher
-    small groups of 4-6 taught together
-    no technology

Through our many trials we discovered that the structure and curriculum we offer currently with a combination of one on one instruction, with technology in a small group setting gets the best results.  That is why we offer it to our students!  If there was a format that worked better we would use it!

HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE HAVE TRIED OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS OF DEVELOPING WHAT YOU EXPERIENCE TODAY
Private lessons
With the exception of the last 8 years, the Peery curriculum was taught in private lessons only.  Through this experience we found private lessons using Peery to be too intense for most students and parents.  To succeed it required a commitment of practicing 1-2 hours daily for both practice partner and student. Most kids and parents burned out after the first few months.

Small Groups taught together
In small groups taught together we found that the momentum of always moving forward was good, but ultimately some students in each class were left behind as not all children moved at the same pace.  These kids became discouraged and overwhelmed.  It also did not allow the teacher enough time to focus on the muscular habits sufficiently and some finished all Habits levels without the Habits skills.

Using technology
Without technology the teacher took part of the lesson time to do extra sight- reading, ear training and theory work.  We found these to be very time intensive activities, taking up almost half of a class or lesson.  In private lessons of 30 minutes (young students can’t focus one on one for much longer than this) there was not sufficient time to cover all these activities in each lesson and so the items were rotated – heard one week, and not the next.  This worked well for kids with 2-3 years of lessons under their belts, but was not consistent enough for beginners.  We also found that kids enjoyed working independently and were more motivated by the results (getting a high score) from a computer than getting a mark or page crossed off by a teacher.  Theory is complete drudgery as a written workbook but is very fun as a computer station.  With the station format the kids are able to stay focused for a longer period of time because they are consistently changing activities, allowing for more activities in each class period.

EACH CLASS STATION IS VALUABLE
To view the only valuable time at the class as being the musical and muscular station is setting your child up for failure in the program.  While some stations may be more relaxed or fun than others, every station offers training that is essential to your child’s understanding and enjoyment of music.  If you present it to them that the other stations are not as valuable and shouldn’t be taken as seriously they will not be productive during the class, will not come to class focused and prepared and will not achieve the results that the Peery system has proven to achieve time after time.

THE PEERY CURRICULUM
Along with our structure, our strength is in our curriculum.  You have at your disposal through the workbooks and the video lessons every lesson of the Peery Habits program.  You are NOT coming to class to have a lesson!  The lessons are in the workbook.  I cannot stress this enough.  The sooner you are able to understand this and take charge of your experience with the workbook and video lessons, the more successful your student will be.

You ARE coming to class to show what you have been working on throughout the week, to get passed off and to receive any words of advice or encouragement going forward.  The workbook is set up so that you can go through as many lessons per week as you can.  They are all there, waiting to be practiced! Please feel free to go forward and control your own pace.  Your Guide will help advise if you are going too quickly.  So push forward!!

The Peery system is in fact set up so that it could be done without a teacher at all.  However, we all know that when we are held accountable on a regular basis we are more likely to do the work.  It is also helpful to student and parent to get another set of eyes and ears at the class to help support what you may already know, or to discover a detail that you might have missed.

CONCLUSION
The Peery system is a unique program that breaks almost every paradigm of traditional piano study.  I believe we are starting a NEW paradigm with our program that:
- expects and delivers results
- sets up students for success (no more, “I took lessons for 8 years and all I can play is…)
- offers every student the highest level of training in the most accessible way

I am excited to be on this journey with you.  I appreciate your support and commitment to your kids and the Academy and I know we will continue to achieve great things!

Q: How and when is the student supposed to learn how to read music?  Right now, it seems like I (the practice partner) am reading as best as I can, and she is memorizing the assignments.  Is there some way or book or methodology that we can use to teach my daughter to read music?

A: The Peery Habits program is set up that muscular and musical exercises are to be memorized and the practical assignments teach the students how to read.

In the case of muscular assignments – the student should be looking at their hands – not the music, focused on good position.

In the case of musical – the pieces are well beyond what they can read at this point, but not what they can play.  Here we can focus on how they play and focus on fine musical details.  The musical pieces should be memorized or learned by ear by listening to the cd.  The students really shouldn’t be looking at the music ever.  It is for the parent’s reference only.  Of course this varies from student to student and their strengths.  If they can read the music they can use it for a reference, if they can’t, no problem.

The practical assignments are designed to teach the students learn how to read. The practical assignments include:
-    Celebrate Piano L&M and Solo books (Peery Habits Levels 1-3)
-    Computer work – Sight reading station and Theory station (Peery Habits Levels 1-3)
-    Note flashcards (Peery Habits Levels 2-3)
-    Interval reading exercises (Peery Habits Levels 2-3)
-    Theory fundamentals (Peery Habits Level 3)
All of the above materials are essential to the student graduating the Peery Habits program as a good reader.  To skip over any would result in less than desired results.

In choosing the materials used in the Peery Habits program many method books and computer software programs have been tested for use by the Peery curriculum including Bastian, Faber, Hal Leonard, Alfred, Thompson, midisaurus, Aurelia, Alfred theory, SoftMozart, and Mibac- and we have found the materials we use to be the best for teaching students the language of music and teaching them how to read.

You should think of learning to read music like learning to read words.  Reading must occur a little bit every day in order for the skill to develop.  This is why Peery students are assigned 2-3 new Practical pieces each week.  By staying on the same pieces for longer than this they are definitely memorizing and not reading.  It would be like reading the same book over and over again.  Pretty soon the kids have the words memorized, but are not necessarily reading.  The weekly material must be new and within a level that is accessible.

It is also important in this process of learning to read that the pieces should NEVER be played for the student, but the student should be figuring them out by reading them.  Practice partners can help at home by pointing out:
-    if the note is moving up, down or staying the same
-    how far away the next note is – step, skip or repeat
(kids who learn to see note relationships as listed above instead of note names are better readers)
-    starting finger number
-    starting position
-    rhythm, you can count along while the student plays, or have the student clap and count
The Practice Partner can even play with the student by playing their part or the duet part.  But NEVER play for the student.  Young students have great ears and as soon as they hear it, they will try and do it by ear instead of reading it.

By the end of the week most kids have the practical pieces memorized, just because they have great memories.  It’s hard to avoid.  So it is especially important that during the first few days of learning the new piece they are reading, that they are not copying it or doing it by ear.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the translation process – of turning symbols on the page into actions on the keyboard – clicks in at different times for different kids.  It’s a brain development issue.  You might feel your student is just not getting it and then one day – a light turns on and she’ll have it!

Q: we have a question about the fingers for March and Run part C.

In the music sheet under each of the last 3 notes it is written 1 2 3. I had assumed that these were the left hand finger numbers.  But when we looked at the video we saw that Mrs. Skousen uses left hand fingers 3, 4 and 5 for those notes, which makes sense with the position of the notes in the staff compared to the note that uses left hand finger 1.

Do the numbers in the music sheet mean something else?

A: The numbers at the end of March and Run are a suggested fingering like you assumed.  As with all fingering you have to take into account the sound you want, the shape of the player’s hand, the speed of the piece etc.

In this case, the suggested tempo on the music is MUCH faster than what Peery Habits One students can play evenly and accurately.  Taking this in mind the 345 fingering I use works well with the slower tempo and slight slow down (ritard) at the end.

Typically 345 are the weakest fingers in the hand, especially when played in that order.  At the faster pace using 345 could result in a soft, uneven ending, so the editor suggested to shift the hand and play it with fingers 123, which are the strongest fingers in the hand in that sequence.

So either is acceptable.  I chose 345 because it doesn’t require a hand shift and still sounds strong at the slower speed.  Most students are able to achieve the same result.

If you have found this section useful, please keep the questions coming!  Email Christie@peerymusic.com and your question could be included in future newsletters.