"Should I take summer lessons?" Well... It depends! =)

With summer around the corner, I want to let you know that lessons are available! But should you take summer lessons? Well… It depends! On how you feel… Read on!

Kim in Quebec playing piano in the summer

You should consider a break from lessons if you think any of the following:

1. “I’m mentally fatigued. I love my instrument, but I feel like I’m at my limit for cramming things inside my head.”

2. “I have summer activities and then school year learning activities!”

3. “I’ve worked hard this school year! I’d like a break!”

4. “I want to spend the summer playing fun songs in my level, and just play around without thinking about whether I’m progressing.”

If you feel any of the above, then you should take an honest break, feel completely awesome about it, and come back in the fall refreshed and ready to go! If you don’t, then you risk burning out! Yes, we do work you hard throughout the school year!

Summer lessons are for those who feel any of the following:

1. “I’ve worked so hard to get here, and I don’t want to break my momentum. I want to keep progressing if possible, and see no reason to stop!”

2. “I just started piano. I’m not feeling particularly mentally fatigued.”

3. “I want to learn more! And more! And keep learning! =D =D =D”

4. “I have lot’s of time to practice. I want to take advantage of this!”

5. “I want to take a guitar exam in August.”

If you’re in between or a bit of both, we can work with that! If you want to take only a 1 month break, that’s cool too! Or a biweekly or a lesson now and then can be beneficial to your progress if you just want to do your own thing, and then want live feedback once in a while on how you’re doing. Summer is super casual!

~Kimberly Wong

Owner

Volo Academy of Music

Online Lessons: What your teacher needs from you

So you’re set up for online lessons. What do we need to prepare? Either take a pic, scan, or CamScan of the following, and send it to northpeacepianoonline@gmail.com.

1) Last week’s lesson notes.

2) The sheet music for songs that you’re working on (books AND fun songs)

3) Any Technique sheet you’re working from

4) Sight Reading:

Non-RCM students: Day 1 page of your next unit.

RCM students: The last few pages with Rhythm Reading tests, Sight Playing tests, Clapbacks, and Playbacks.

5) Theory: Your completed hw assignment and the next 2 pages.

6) Improvisation (if applicable): Current and the next assignment of your Improv Etude.

See you online! =)

Online Lessons - How does it work?

Online lessons could be where we go, but how do they actually work? Let me walk you through it.

Before the lesson:

• If you’ve taken lessons before, or are transitioning from in-person lessons, your teacher may ask you to email to northpeacepianoonline@gmail.com the last lesson notes or pages of what you’re working on. This is so that your teacher can see where you left off, and have a baseline to pick up from.

• We can do a tech check if you’d like - just to make sure that everything’s working as it needs to and the device is positioned as needed, audio and video are working as expected, etc - and to take any mystique out of doing online lessons. Let us know if you’d like this!

• The student and instrument should be in a quiet place and time where they are unlikely to be interrupted during their lesson (in a room away from siblings playing, etc). 

• Set up your device. If you want to see how, see this blog post.

• For those who are in a Conservatory program, they should listen to songs in their book beforehand when it’s time to choose a song, so that they know what they want to work on. This saves lesson time to actually work on it.

• Have all your materials ready 5 minutes before the lesson (sheet music, notebook/notes, pencil, pens, device fully charged or plugged in, turned on) so that we can get started right away.

• When it’s time for your lesson, your teacher will call you.

During the lesson:

• You will go through the lesson. The student / parent will be marking in the books. The teacher will instruct/show you how to do it.

• The teacher will write notes and either send you a CamScan of this week’s notes or it will be in a Google Doc. We will have a shared online folder with you to keep everything organized. You’ll be able to access that for practicing.

• The student / parent can also feel free to write notes!

• If the parent is usually present during in-person lessons, we’d recommend them to be present during online lessons. If they’re not usually present, we’d prefer that they’re at least around the house so that if any techy issue comes up, there’s an adult to mitigate it.

After the lesson:

• From time to time, your teacher may ask for a pic/CamScan of the pages the student is working on.

• Like in-person lessons, we’d recommend parent involvement and for you to look through the online notes and support the student.

There are new exercises that have been made possible by the creative and now rapidly growing online music learning community that it will be possible to take part in! Online assignments and challenges are fun and engaging for students, especially those who spend a great deal of spare time on technology as is, making it a creative and inspiring experience instead of just consuming technology.

If you’re wondering how exactly to set up, see this blog post.

As always, if you have any other questions at all, feel free to ask!

Online Lessons

If you haven’t already,

for live online lessons!

Online lessons are easy to set up, and they can work just as well as in-person lessons (even better, in some ways). In the US, many studios have gone fully online, and have been experiencing favourable results with uninterrupted music education. We have young beginners as young as 4 years old doing fantastic in online lessons, and I personally know a handful of (award-winning) RCM Level 7, 8, and 9 students who’ve opted for and been enjoying online piano and voice lessons for the past few years. The Royal Conservatory of Music and Conservatory Canada both do their piano exams online. And it turns out, setup easy! Here’s how:

Or you can use a chair or bar stool. You can also set up your tablet this way.

Prepare Your Device

You already have the equipment you need to do online lessons. Basically, your instructor just needs to be able to see and hear the student during the lessons. Your smart phone will work as a bare minimum, but bigger screens work better, so if you have an iPad or a laptop, we would strongly prefer that. Make sure it is charged or plugged in during the lesson.

For piano, your device will need to be placed near the end of the piano so we can see the student’s hands on the keys. We’d like to be able to see the student’s face as well if possible. So, you’ll need a stool or a small table to place your device on. A bar stool would likely be close to the right height. You can also stack boxes or books on top of a chair to elevate it to the right height.

Ipad or phone setup with a camera tripod and ipad/phone mount.

Setup with music stand

That’s it. You’re ready.

Setup with phone

In this blog post, I explain how it actually works.

for live online lessons!

Update from June 2020: If you’d like to see some real student setups we’ve seen, check out this —> Instagram post!

What kind of keyboard should I get for piano lessons? And where should I buy it?

These are 2 top questions that I get when students start piano lessons. In our opinion, practicing at home is as important as attending the lessons themselves. If you are going to invest in lessons, it will go a long way if you reinforce the learned concepts regularly, especially practicing right after the lesson.

Having said that, it’s a great idea to get a digital keyboard. Besides the benefit of saving space and more portability compared to an acoustic piano, they don’t require tuning or continuous humidifying, so are much lower maintenance, and nowadays, they make keyboards that feel and sound like a real piano. If you live in Canada, I would start at Long & McQuade music store. They have a great selection of both new and used instruments. They have fair prices and warrantee on their used gear. They don’t make commission, have amazing service, and fair prices. I deal with them every time I need an instrument, new or used. I would call a branch and tell them what you need, which brings me to the topic: What to look for!

Look for a basic full sized (88 keys) keyboard with weighted keys and hammer action (that makes it feel and sound as much like an acoustic piano as possible). A great beginner keyboard is the Casio CDP-S100, which sometimes, Costco carries the package deal with the bench and pedal. If not, you can get it off Amazon and buy the bench and pedal accessories separately, which drives the price up. You can also ask for it used at L & McQ, or new, if they carry it). This ZHRUNS digital piano is also up there for beginner keyboards. It has . its own “stand” and pedals (all 3 pedals too) as it’s a digital piano, not just a keyboard, making it one of the best value based on quality and price. It doesn’t come with a bench, but you can get one new for under $50, like this Greenpro cushioned bench.

Most keyboards come with at least a few extra bells and whistles (different sounds, modes, MIDI, etc, but unless you’re looking to record, they’re not essential to our purposes for piano lessons). Check that it the keyboard you choose comes with at least 1 pedal (the damper pedal). If not, I’d recommend buying one in addition to the keyboard. If they’ve been playing some songs with pedal, they’ll really miss it if they don’t have one!

Costco has some decent (new) digital pianos, and their usual Costco return policy means that if anything breaks down, they’ll take it back / exchange it for you. Places to shop for a used keyboard include Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, and Craigslist. I’d choose Long & McQuade (or a music store) over FB Marketplace and Kijiji because it’s more of the wild west that way - and because of their warrantee on used instruments.

Once you find your basic keyboard, you should be set up for quite a few years! :) If you have any further questions, as always, feel free to reach out to me!

If you’d like to see how to set up for online lessons, read —> this blog post!

~Kimberly

Owner

North Peace Piano

Pirates Theme - the top-requested Fun Song of all time by our students

“Fun Songs”

(requested by our students, outside of their syllabus) are our favourite things to teach! It’s all about these! After all, music should, first and foremost, be fun! =) We pick fun songs in the next level for them because we know they’ll do it! ;) (Eg. Hate counting out loud? Don’t want to learn different chord inversions?… Don’t want to sight read…?! They’ll do it for the fun song!!!) Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the top-requested from students at our studio (along with the Mario Theme), so I’ve looked for music for this one in all levels. A few months ago, I came across this version, and thought… “This looks like a fun time…!” This grown-up fun song is intense, and is every bit as challenging (technically and artistically) as the ARCT pieces, possibly more. But like anyone, I HAD to do what it takes to do it!!! ;) I made it a goal and learned it to play at our year-end student recital!

Recital June 2019!

Yesterday, we had our Year-End Recital 2019! It was a fantastic display of talent! The performers and MC’s rocked it! We’re so proud of them all! This was also our biggest recital yet - there were close to 50 performers. Usually, there are about 28. It’s such an huge honour as their teacher to be playing such a big part in not only their musical development, but helping them gain confidence, work ethic, and other skills to succeed to their potential in life. We are expanding to another location in Spruce Grove as well as to Stony Plain for the fall!

The audience was so full!

North Peace Piano Teachers! Kelaila (left) and me (Kim, right)