| Hillock Canada Diary No.36e |
| In December, we, Westmount Piano Studio, hold the annual student recital
without parents called The Piano Party. The reason for not having the parents is to encourage students to be independent and experience less pressure. Yesterday three groups of almost same age played piano and violin and guitar. Students who participated were from 4 years to 13 years old and everybody attended alone except one. We will play the recital one more day for advanced students. The first group was for about an hour and all of the students listened very quietly to the others. My students played in the first group (beginners). They had practiced one to three weeks. The students drew lots to see which one went first. When their turn came, they bowed and said the name of the music and then they played. Some of them were too shy to do this. About half of students were beginners and they played with their teachers. It was interesting to hear the different sounds of the various teachers. Their sounds stimulated me and as soon as I arrived at home, I tried to play the piano to create same sounds. The students live in Canada but most of them are immigrants from Belgium, Poland, Holland, India, and Japan etc. It was very interesting to hear the different ways of teaching of the 8 teachers. ・Playing very softly without lifting fingers high to make beautiful quiet sound. ・Singing is as important as playing the piano. ・Playing very precise as the method teaches. ・Playing with vitality of rhythm. ・Playing louder sounds with arm weight. Each teacher’s priority is different. And that reminded me to recognize what is luck from me and what is possible for those little children. Of course the music of the program was full of variety, jazz, classic, song, popular, traditional song and the methods for students were also different. It was one of the most impressive student recitals in my life. All of my students, even very young one talked to me at the next lesson about this recital what they felt and were impressed by. They were not only proud of themselves playing at this recital but also listened to others. S, who is 4 years old, is very interested in many things in the studio. She usually wants to do one after another and she can’t stay at one thing more than one minute. But at the recital she sat in the first row and listened very quietly to all the students. Finally when her turn arrived, she said that she will play ‘Twinkle Little Stars”. And she made everybody laugh that instead of bowing to the audience she bowed to the piano. So I improvised this song playing fast and slow, loud and soft. She followed my performance with 3 fingers each hand. At the next lesson she said that the party was fun and interesting. She sounded very satisfied. C, who is 5 years old, was hard to teach at the beginning, as she could not practice at home. To keep her interest in piano we tried many things. When she got beautiful shoes with spangles, we composed a song together. With “Twinkle twinkle twinkle twinkle beautiful shoes” which was sung by the other students, she played ‘C-B-A-G-F-E-D-C”, it went well at the recital! And she played one more piece “Snack” by Gillock. At the next lesson, she said “ I would like to play like S “ and besides she became enthusiastic and friendlier than before. And I found that when she is happy, she wrinkles up her nose. J, who is 6 years old, comes to the piano lesson with her mother who helps and encourages her. She was the one who came to the recital with her mother. I was worried if she could go to play the piano by herself. Unnecessary worry, at her turn, she stood up and went to the piano and play “brother john” and “Waltz” by Gillock. She played with a very clear touch. She is a kind of perfectionist and practicing at home, she often was frustrated, so after this recital, she was going to have a break for a while. BUT at the next lesson J and mother said “We are not sure if we really want to have a break. J wants to continue the piano lesson. Everybody played so well and we were very impressed.” I was very happy to hear that. P, who is 8 years old, started the piano lesson just 3 months ago. I was afraid that she wouldn’t be shy to play among the younger student, because she had to play such simple pieces. She chose “Santa Clouse coming to town” and she practiced very seriously and she succeeded! The other piece was “Flying Carpet” by Gillock with using dumper pedal. She looked like a real pianist! At the next lesson, she asked me about S’s performance whether she could read the notes. I found that S’s performance impressed people a lot. And P became more enthusiastic to learn how to play the piano. L, who is 5 years old, played F# and G as bells’ sound with “Jingle Bells” and “Boating” by Gillock. I wondered if he would forget to move octave higher. Useless worry, he played very well. At the next lesson, his mother asked me if I have the score of “Jingle Bells” which he played. I am sure that he was very proud of his performance and he talked to his mother about the recital. L said, “ I gradually understand the piano! I would like to come for the lesson next week.” but he will go back to his home country Holland next week. Y and N, who are 6 and 8 years old, are from Japan. They came to Montreal about a year ago and go back to Japan on next March. Y played Rollin’s pieces “Blues Train” and “ Jazz Around the Clock” by ear. I worried if she could play the double third sequence with her small and soft hands, but she could play almost perfectly. When I chose “Summer Time Blues” for N, I sang with the words for this piece, so she could catch up this triplet slur rhythm very easily. Then she played “The Glass Slipper” by Gillock. At the lesson, her mother and Y danced with N’s performance, since then she improved the waltz tempo very well. I was very happy that people complimented all students’ performance and especially when I heard the compliments about those Japanese students as we are Japanese and that I could meet them through music in a foreign country. One more I was flattered is that I could hear more pieces of Gillock, Rollin and Mier by another teachers’ student too. I am happy that I had a chance to introduce Gillock and his friends’ music in Japan and now I would also like to do it in Canada. Today, it is easy to Xerox music for piano lesson. But students will be surely having some memories of the piece and the composer also has. So we should keep the music, not copy, and make the collection of our music lesson history. Rollin calls it “Lifetime Library” Isn’t it a nice name? As I also work for the publication of music, I think as music lovers it is very important to have original music books and support living composers’ and hope publishers will introduce us to more new pieces and then our music library will be richer. |