ensemble playing

Showing 1 - 10 of 12 results in ensemble playing

Piano Ensembles

Has anyone tried doing piano ensembles within your own studio? I have come across Susan Staples Bell Music, in which she composes music and then has a group of students work together. It sounds like fun but wondering how far through would the student need…

Playing with Other Musicians

I’m realizing something is missing in my musical life. I want to make music with other musicians (apart from just my studio students). What do you all do to express yourselves musically in the community? I’ve always mainly played in educational/church settings. Now I’d rather…

Blues Ensemble Approach

This is a question about The Blues Improv Program. When we get to The Ensemble Approach Project #15, when you use the Bishop Chords or 13ths in the LH and the Blues Scale in the RH, my students say it doesn’t sound good when we…

Mirron and Jazz Program Pieces‏

I have a student who is flying through the steps in the Jazz program. He can play the Mirron as a piano solo (with exact rhythm), with Jazz clue 1 and 2, and has almost completed all of the “dropping in” exercises for the the Mirron using just…

Accompaniment Workshops

I would like to arrange for an accompaniment event for my students to play with a small band (drummer, bass, guitar, singer). It seems that at least one teacher has paved the way with this type of event, and I’m open to suggestions as to…

Accompaniment Performance ‘Workshop’

Carry Madison and I hosted an Accompaniment ‘Workshop’ at our studio yesterday and we wanted to share because it was so wonderful! A few months ago I started playing on the Worship Team at my church and had such a great time that I realized…

Advantages of Shared Lessons

I meant to mention this when I first wrote last week about the advantages of shared lessons, in case anyone was wondering: there were a few items from that video brainstorming session that I purposely left out. Here’s why: Wider possibility of teaching venues More…

Ensemble Playing with Jazz Clue 3

I’ve got an online student powering through Jazz and about to start JC 3, who lives in the locked down city of Melbourne. I don’t have much experience myself with jazz ensemble playing and I want her to have fun with this. I’d like some…

What Jazz Means

I need to start jazz clues soon with a number of students. Help me understand what we mean by “jazz” and how it differs from the accompaniment things (playing all types of chords, variations) we’ve already been doing. I believe Neil talks about perceptions of…

Ideas for families to share music

A mom of one of my special kids mentioned yesterday how much fun they are beginning to have as a family playing together and the music conversations happening between siblings and parents. I have three students from this family, and the mom is a traditional…