What I Cover in Music Lessons

Curriculum:

Here at Local Music Lesson we offer a rich musical program. Our lessons are designed to equip students with strong musical knowledge in addition to beautifully and skillfully coordinate their instrument. Our vast curriculum includes repertoire of various musical genres and eras, theory fundamentals, history lessons, improvisation, sight-reading and ear-training, performance skills, strong piano and violin technique and many more. Our full-scope musical program helps to develop a much deeper appreciation of musical instruments and sounds as well as extensive understanding of the universal musical language. As a music teacher, my job is to introduce my students to the depths of music and help them to become musically well-rounded and literate and be able to match up to their musical counterparts.

Theory:

As previously mentioned, music is not only the sounds you hear or the instruments you see. Music is consisted of a lot of structural fundamentals which we refer to as musical theory. A commonly asked question is, What is theory? Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. Music theory is frequently concerned with describing how musicians and composers make music, including tuning systems and composition methods among other topics. Music theory also consists of the rich vocabulary we use to describe certain tones, tempos, funky rhythms. When studying and learning musical theory, one is also learning a new language! Most of Classical music theory originated in European countries such as Germany, Italy, France, as well as Russia and Greece. Most musical terminology is basic vocabulary terms used in a particular language like Italian or French, etc. Musical theory is the underlining formula upon which musical sounds are built and played together.

Sight-Reading:

Another fundamental aspect of learning and studying music is learning how to sight-read. What is sight-reading? Sight-reading is the skill that one obtains to help them read and perform (music) at sight, without any prior preparation. Sight-reading is a critical part to musical growth and development. Just like working out a physical muscle for strength, musicians train their brain to be able to read and play advanced repertoire through the exercise of sight-reading. Through this technique, musicians are able to quickly spot patterns written in their music, as well as identify what key and time signature they’ll be playing in their piece. Sight-reading practice helps to strengthen the ability to feel the rhythm and get the general direction of the melodic notes and harmonic lines just by looking at the music. As a music teacher, it is my duty to prepare students to become better musicians through such exercises. Even sight-reading as a growth exercise requires preparation such as: memorizing key signatures, familiarizing yourself with various types of rhythm patterns, knowing your scales, etc. Sight-reading in general is the ability to read the language of music from the get-go.

Ear training:

Similar to sight-reading, ear-training is also a critical exercise for musicians. Ear training is a type of musical study in which musicians learn to identify pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, solfège, and other basic elements of music, solely by hearing. When listening to music, we hear various pitches, chords, intervals. All of these sounds could be identified through the practice of ear-training.

Performance:

Regular recital performances are a huge part of our studio. Our performances act as deadlines for students to learn their pieces in a timely manner, preparing their best performance for a recital. Recitals also help students to show and strengthen their artistic ability as well as demonstrate all of the musical knowledge that they have gained during their private and group lessons. Performances are also a way to encourage students to challenge themselves to completing a large task (such as learning and memorizing a lengthy piece) and performing it comfortably in front of an audience.

I’m sure that at one point in your life time, you had seen a musician perform on stage. Each and every musician has his or her own styles, characteristics, and variations as a performer that separate them from others. Musicians are trained to be able to withstand the pressures of a larger audience, such as at Carnegie Hall, or to simply feel comfortable performing in front of their friends and family in a small group setting. As a musical performer myself, I have the experience in playing for different types of audiences and I can teach you to comfortably perform in various settings as well. In my lessons, I will be teaching students how to gather themselves for a performance, preparing both physically, mentally, and emotionally. “In terms of brain development, musical performance is every bit as important educationally as reading or writing.” - Oliver Sacks.

Repertoire:

Musical repertoire is undeniably the largest and most important aspect of musical studies. I offer a large variety of repertoire ranging from the Baroque era to Post-Modern era and everything in between including Classical period, Romantic period as well as Contemporary and Lyrical. A wide diversity of music composed by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, and other infamous composers of different time periods will be presented. Students will be challenged to learn short and fun pieces on a weekly basis as well as “long-term” projects that will take a bit longer to learn. Short-term (weekly) pieces will help the student move forward quickly and learn a large chunk of repertoire in a short period of time. The long-term projects will be more challenging pieces that will require more in-depth studies and development of higher level life skills including time management, patience and grit. In addition to Classical music, I offer a wide-ranging assortment of Christian Hymns. I also encourage my students to learn to perform with one another (as duets), and assign music that suits this style of musicality.

Give me a call today to further discuss details of our fun and educational music program!