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Free Report: Good Practice Habits...The Way I Teach It...

Enter your information below to get your FREE REPORT on GOOD PRACTICE HABITS... The Way I Teach Them....

The questions, parents always ask -- finally answered, light brought into the mystic dark of How LONG DO I NEED TO PRACTICE to get results?

You'll get your own copy delievered directly to your e-mail inbox, a $30.00 value yours FREE!

Piano How To

The importance of a solid piano foundation for any creative composer

I thought of taking the time and commenting on the importance of a solid piano playing foundation for creative composers. Many students come to me as child proteges writing their own music but NO PIANISTIC SKILLS or tonal foundation. This is a heart break time after time. These creative geniuses are 12 - 14 years old, sometimes semi professional, and no technique to fall back on. Quite amazing that they can actually play their own songs which are often quite difficult to play!
Time after time, have I tested these fingering charts. The complete manual provides giant, easy to read fingering charts for All Major, parallel harmonic, melodic and natural minor scales. No note reading skills are required. The schematic of black and white keys, with accurate finger numbers and note labels is all you will ever need to work technique correctly. Working technique off fingering charts is the logic way to go about practicing scales foundation: do not bother struggling withe note deciphering while working those fingers. Learn to sight read with sight reading books and learn technique with the Play Piano in All Keys fingering charts. This is your very logic approach.
Also included are all I-IV-V Major and Minor Triads, inversions and cadences and all Arpeggios (Root, 1st, 2nd inversions)
Once any pianist has initially mastered the basic Major, Harmonic, Melodic, Natural minors scales, the cords / cadences and Arpeggios, there is only a "better" with repetitions. But the foundation has been set accurate and that is of greatest importance.
And if you are one of the many adult students, who wants to advance and finally "get the scales and technique", this book is a must. All keys including black keys are included.
Be creative and learn to play in all keys.

Arts Alive - August 28, 2010

Arts Alive - August 28, 2010
Shakespeare in the Vine -- this is a great podcast with Sheila Ryle - good luck to Macbeth!!!!

Steinway Society of Riverside County

Steinway Society of Riverside County: "2010 Festival Winners"

Ranen Unger Hicks Junior Winner 2010 will be performing November 14. Please, enjoy his performance.

Pianists demonstrate accomplishments

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/community/photos/article_fcec6d32-9ee7-5623-9ad3-fbaa65b5c2ee.html

I am happy to announce that we could publish a few words in The Californian on 8/22/2010. Everyone worked very hard to get this far. It is nice to see the local news acknowledge our young pianists.

Now on Kindle: Major and Harmonic Minor Scales, The Way I Teach Them… using Fingering Charts

If you are looking for a great book, available on Kindle, that teaches about learning, practicing all Major Scales and the parallel harmonic Minor Scales, look no further. If you are looking for results, if you want to really get through the wall of scales, here is a manual for you.

The fingering Charts use large numbers for the finger numbers and large letters for the notes (no note symbols, only letters), so you can relax into paying attention to your technique, curving the fingers and working pulse with the metronome. The many chapters describe the structure of scales in detail in an easy to comprehend language. Technique and how to relax into the keys is also covered; how to play without error; how to train your mind to get from the very beginning to accomplished sounding scales. Scales are the foundation of playing piano. They train both sides of the brain and co-ordination. When you start reading notes, your fingers are already trained and the reading translation – playing process is greatly facilitated.

Over the last 10 years, my students accumulated over 500 gold medals (I stopped counting) – but we just recently had 26 in the Guild auditions and everyone had to perform scales. And this is how I could take my students through these exams. These practice instructions work with any students, any level and skill.

Please, enjoy this book:

Major and harmonic Minor Scales, The Way I Teach Them... Using Fingering Charts

National Piano Playing Auditions 2010 Results

Hello all:
I am happy to announce our Piano Guild auditions are finally complete. All students testing higher than Elementary B with a National (10 piece) or International (15 piece) program performed scales - musicianship phases and most chords / cadences and arpeggios musicianship phases as well. I used the book "Play Piano in All Keys" fingering charts to prepare these musicianship phases. And all I can say, I could not have been able to get everyone through their preparations if I would not have had this manual at hand. The students worked their phases and just turned pages. Accurate, traditional fingering - for the first time, as a teacher, could I relax - accurate fingering in all scales is so hard to achieve. But my students did and they were happy and so was I - what a great feeling (for me) to provide such an essential piano playing fundamentals book. Even the late Intermediate and Preparatory (for College) students could benefit from using the scales charts. Never before could I get "clean" scales fingering in 4 octaves - all Major and parallel Minors. This year it was a breeze!

Congratulations to all my students who worked hard setting their goals and achieving them. 10 and 15 piece programs are not easy, regardless how you look at it and everyone who put their mind to it completed it with many commendations and solid performances, all from memory. All National (10 pieces) and International (15 pieces) programs are Gold Medal programs; the 5 piece program is a Bronze Medal. We had a total of 26 Gold Medal programs and 1 Bronze Medal program. The Specials category is for those gifted young pianists who are able to play repertoire in a higher category than expected for their age.

Congratulations to everyone working so hard, staying focused and dedicated:

Riverside, CA May 21, 2010: Judge Beatrice Mosburg:

	Name	Number of Years in Guild auditions	Number of Years National Winner	Classification	Program	Number of pieces performed
1	Jothy Yogarajah	5	5	Intermediate E	National	10
2	Thulasi Yogarajah	5	5	Intermediate A	National	10

Temecula, CA June 6, 2010: Judge Ana Stahl:

	Name	Number of Years in Guild auditions	Number of Years National Winner	Classification	Program	Number of pieces performed
3	Chloe Lovato	5	5	Intermediate B	National	10
4	Sai Sivapalan	8	8	Preparatory Special	International	15
5	Shalini Nair	9	9	Preparatory B	International	15
6	Cynthia Nguyen Phan	4	4	Intermediate Special	National	10
7	Kathleen Nguyen Phan	4	4	Intermediate A	National	10
8	Stacey Nguyen Phan	4	4	Elementary Special	National	10
9	Ranen Unger Hicks	5	5	Elementary Special	National	12
10	Sierra Rupnow	5	5	Intermediate C	National	10
11	Brittany Durgiah	6	3	Intermediate A	District	5

Escondido - Sand Diego, CA July 8 and 11,2010 judge: Ann Vanderschaaf, TX

		Number of Years in Guild auditions	Number of Years National Winner	Classification	Program	Number of pieces performed
12	Thien-Sa Luyen	1	1	Elementary A	National	10
13	Thien-Sam Luyen	1	1	Elementary B	National	10
14	Bret Paddock	7	7	Preparatory B	International	15
15	Cassiopea Bostan	2	2	Elementary Special	International	15
16	Robechelle Mina	1	1	Elementary A	National	10
17	Rossale Mina	1	1	Elementary A	National	10
18	Roxanne Mina	1	1	Elementary A	National	10
19	Anais Perkins	2	2	Intermediate A	National	10
20	Shanti Ryle	9	9	Preparatory D	International	15
21	Mitchell Johnson	5	5	Intermediate F	National	10
22	Patrick Xu	1	1	Intermediate Special	International	15
23	Kelly Rausch	4	4	Elementary E	National	10
24	Song Nguyen	3	3	Intermediate A	National	10
25	Andrew Vu	4	4	Preparatory A	National	10
26	Nessa Vu	4	4	Intermediate B	National	10
27	Victoria Vu	4	4	Intermediate B	National	10

Sincerely, Eva

MTAC Convention July 2 - 5, 2010

Hello all:
The past weeks have been incredibly hectic. Besides the Guild auditions, I had the opportunity to introduce my books "Play Piano In All Keys" Scales, Chords / Cadences, Arpeggios Fingering Charts and Workbooks in the Music Teachers Association of California Convention, at the LAX Marriott.
Four days of meeting with teachers whom I had not seen in many years, talking about my books almost non-stop,... it was exciting and fun. Several teachers looked at my work and told me, that's exactly how they were teaching and hand drawing scales - now they just didn't need to hand draw the scales, chords / cadences fingering charts any more; they just purchased the complete fingering charts book. I cannot wait to hear from teachers how they could integrate the book in their teaching curriculum and what results they could achieve. So far the feed back was very positive.

"Play Piano in All Keys": From the first piano lesson to playing fantastic1

Hello all:

Playing Piano in all Keys is EASY!

For me, as a teacher, I will always ask the question: "How do I get my students to a proficient level as quickly as possible?" - and I truly believe, the missing link is in the early start, the very beginning months of learning to play piano.

I used to, just like every other piano teacher, start with one or the other method book, attempting to teach the basics of LEARNING NOTES and PLAY A LITTLE. Or simplify playing pieces, just to start playing immediately. After 10 years of literally taking students through over 200 10-20 piece programs in the National Guild auditions, I have updated my strategy.

I feel the first weeks and months while a new student (any age and level) starts to learn to decipher baby pieces, learns the musical symbols (notes, Grand Staff, rhythms,...) these are the most important times. There is nothing wrong with this way of starting a piano student, everyone works that way, one way or another.

BUT - THERE IS A BETTER WAY!

Learning the musical symbols takes time. Many teachers opt to "teach" one little piece a week, the progress is marginal. students after 2 years of lessons play in the second level method books - and are still struggling with weak fingers.

THE MISSING LINK:

Simply put, you must train fingers, fingers must be taught to move, the motions of the arm need to be taught, how to relax the forearm and the shoulders must be taught. THE MOTIONS of PLAYING MUST BE TAUGHT! This has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SKILL OF READING NOTES. Frankly, reading notes will only be an initial hindrance to fully focus on the motions of PLAYING. How are the motions of PLAYING PIANO taught? You must learn the basics of scales, arpeggios and then chords / cadences.

I remember, when I started my piano lessons. The lesson book was either too easy or too difficult (The Beyer Preparatory School) - I had to learn notes to play, I had to immediately learn key signatures to play in other keys. I was extremely frustrated when I had to put hands together and read notes at the same time. And all I wanted was to play really well. 48 years later, today, I have resolved this issue. "Play Piano in All Keys" is the answer to this problem. EVERY STUDENTS ANY AGE CAN LEARN TO PLAY and play accurately.

How does it work?

Yes, at the same time we start playing the usual way with some method book or another - they all teach the same things from day 1 on - at the same time we take time to only focus on the motion of playing. I use fingering charts that teach which finger goes on which key! Yes, we start with the white keys, simple: RH finger 1 on C, finger 2 on D, finger 3 on E, finger 1 turns under on F, finger 2 on G, finger 3 on A, finger 4 on B, finger 5 on C. Now, we go down: finger 4 on B, finger 3 on A, finger 2 on G, finger 1 on F, finger 3 turn over the thumb on E, finger 2 on D, finger 1 on C. The charts are set up, so you can see the finger number in HUGE LETTERS. The white keys are white, black keys are black. OK, C Major is on white keys.

Then you learn the left hand, the same way.

This way, you are ALLOWED TO FOCUS ON WHAT IS IMPORTANT! MOVING YOUR FINGERS! Concentrating on which finger goes on which key, the co-ordination of right hand - left hand once you play hands together! The added difficulty of READING IS REMOVED! Finally, a way to start playing, to start practicing the motions and know you are doing it right!. No, you do not need to have piano lessons for a year to play the C Major scale finally.

And by the way, the moment you can play 1 octave C Major, you are adding the second octave in C Major hands separately, then together. YOU ARE WORKING THE FINGERS! Fantastic! From day 1 on! While you are learning to "read" the musical symbols.

And in order to keep your mind from getting bored, as soon as you have mastered the C Major scale, you are moving on to playing the C Harmonic Minor scale! The E key becomes the E flat key and the A key becomes the A flat key! Same motion, same fingering. Within a few days, you can play two scales. Then you can add arpeggios, a little finger gymnastics - very easy, learn the motion of the thumb turn right away. EASY!

The charts also teach immediately the correct name for the next key to play. you will not accidentally mis-name the scale keys F, G, A, A sharp, C,... no, you learn immediately to see the note names correctly: F, G, A, B flat, C,....

"Play Piano in All Keys" includes ALL Major, Harmonic Melodic, Natural Minors SCALES AND ACCURATE FINGERING, ALL PRIMARY TRIADS, INVERSIONS, I-IV-I-V-I cadences in root and 1st and 2nd inversions and all Tonic Major and Tonic Minor Arpeggios in 3 positions. All enharmonic scales are included!

What are the results: Usually after 6 months my students can play all whites keys 4 octave scales in slow and medium speeds which in a conventional way is learned in the 6th or 7th year of playing. And typically, since they learn to move the fingers and practice right - left co-ordination, their reading skills come along quickly, because the physical motions are already rehearsed. After 1 year of lessons my 9 or 10 year old students test in Level 3 in the MTAC Certificate of Merit (TM), a 4th year exam, besides their National Guild 10 piece programs (that include scales, chords / cadences and arpeggios). And they practice 20 minutes - 1 hour a day.

I wish, I had had this book to learn piano when I started to play piano almost 50 years ago, it would have made all practicing, all Conservatory requirements so much easier.

All the best and let's PLAY PIANO! Eva

TVMTA Young Pianist Competition June 5, 2010, Results

I am happy to announce our Studio winners.

6^th grade and below category:

Ranen Unger Hicks received 2^nd place performing the Chopin Waltz Op 64 No 3

Cassiopea Bostan received an Honorable Mention with a new piece. She performed the Clementi Sonatina Op 36 No 6, 1^st movement.

Cynthia Phan participated with a new piece: She performed the Scott Joplin Chrysanthemum Rag.

9^th / 10^th grade:

Sai Sivapalan received 1^st place for his performance of the Liszt Transcendental Etude #6 “Visions”.

Congratulations to all participants. I am very happy that we have these performance opportunities.

Eva

Southern California Junior Bach Festival Regional Results

Hello all:
Congratulations to each of you for working so diligently and participating.
Our Studio had four Branch Winners who were eligible to enter this event. They all performed and they all were declared Regional Winners as well.
Congratulations to:
Ranen Unger Hicks (age 9) who performed the Invention #8 BWV 779
Sai Sivapalan (age 15) who performed the Fugue in G Major WTCI BWV 860
Patrick Xu (age 15) who performed the Invention #9 BWV 780
Cynthia Phan (age 12) who performed the Prelude from the a minor English Suite BWV 807
Both Ranen and Sai will be participating in the Complete Works Audition in October, this year.
I am looking forward to hearing the Prelude and Fugue BWV 860 and the 2 and 3 part Invention in F Major. Eva

The ease of preparing my students with the new book "Play Piano in all Keys"

New scales, Chords / cadences, arpeggios book introduction: "Play Piano In All Keys" by Eva Martin Hollaus.

I have been entering students in the Annual Guild Auditions since 2001 and average about 26 - 35 students each year with a National or International program. All my students, with the exception of students I only had for a few months and that are entering Guild, are performing scales, arpeggios and chords / cadences.

I have used the usual scales books, e.g. Hanon, Keith Snell; those are all excellent books giving accurate scales fingering. BUT I was not happy with the results. My students are your above average mostly straight A students, who are busy with too many school activities and also are talented in everything they touch, including piano. Piano playing is an extracurricular choice activity for my students and most enter the Certificate of Merit (TM) and the NGPT Guild auditions.

I could organize their preparation folders so they could zip through efficiently practicing their 7 pieces (or bringing them back) and then learn / review their scales / chords / cadences / arpeggios - musicianship phases.

Years ago, when I started my piano studio here in Perris, CA, that was in 2000 (brand new), I used to hand draw the scales fingering charts, to help my students memorize the fingering and help acquire accurate, permanent fingering. A few years later, I asked my students to draw up the fingering charts on their computer spreadsheets. Well, as you could guess, that did not happen - too busy with everything else.

So, I decided to do it myself. I learned this internet course how to create a website, a little about advertising, learned the windows Office Suite and started putting down how I could get my students through any 10 piece programs. First, I published my downloadable books and then I took the time to develop the print books. I did not want to compromise. I knew I had to take the time and typeset it all myself to get the look the way I wanted it. All my books and charts are tested in my studio. These books are what I use to get a rock solid technical foundation in the least amount of time. In the 10 years of Guild auditions, I have only had 2 students whom I could never motivate sufficiently to learn a national program. And I am counting now, over 200 National / International programs.

I developed these books, to efficiently teach the phases from EB through High School Diplomas. I also entered students in EA with 5 musicianship phases and as soon as I can, I will put my Elementary A manual together.

But for right now, I am truly enjoying the results of my hard work. This is the first year, where I can sit back and my students are playing through their scales / chords / cadences / arpeggios phases one scale after another, one keys set after another. Often Guild judges ask to play the phases in one particular key. Well, that's how the book is structured: "C" everything, then "G" everything, etc., including black keys, including enharmonic keys. This is the first year, I can sit and enjoy and they turn page after page and play ACCURATELY and EXACTLY scale after scale, chords / cadences and arpeggios.

What a relief for me as a teacher to have these books! Using the usual scale books, the notes are small, the fingering uses a 10 point type style and reading keys signatures and notes adds many obstacles for some of my students. My teaching philosophy is, to teach each element by itself. That way I get undivided attention and focus and in a short time each of the baby steps gets accomplished easily. When we practice scales using my charts, all difficulties are removed: no notes and a HUGE print; the notes letter match the keys black and white, the contrast is great. Even 5 year old students and beginners can decipher these scales charts. The entire manual is graphic. White keys are white, Black keys are black. All labeled correctly, with the correct letter names. Each correct keys has the correct finger number!

I also really like the idea of ONE BOOK, rather than needing to purchase a new book each year. When students learn the phases in the various levels, I simply mark the sections they need to practice, and that's how they learn them. Even with minimal practice time, we are able to get the national programs done.

The essence of practicing scales is technique and fingering. With the scales charts and scales sorted, so you can practice sets of keys, it is actually fun practicing scales. Several months ago, I took some time in the morning and practiced blocks of 30 minutes one set of Major / Harmonic, Melodic, Natural Minors scales with metronome and found it very relaxing. I could not wait to get back to the piano and practice another block of 30 minutes. Remembering back to my Conservatory times, just like most students, I hated scales thought of them as boring -- and you know they were: there is not much variation in playing Major and relative minor. On the other hand, practicing one set Major and Parallel Minors - the fingering is quite similar, or identical, there is just enough variation for the mind to not fatigue and you can actually relax into the tonality of the key to really "tune" your body. This only makes sense: the loser you are, the more reverberation your body with feel with the sounds of one scale, the better your playing will be and the sound quality and your projection of melody.

Please, visit: http://www.playpianoinallkeys.com for more information, or just purchase your copy with the free reports as a product bundle at: www.classicalpianolesson.com.www.classicalpianolesson.com

Good luck and enjoy!

Glendale Piano Competition 2010

Cynthia Phan was so courageous and participated in the Glendale Piano Competition. She held her ground, beautifully performing the Bach prelude BWV 807, from the a minor English Suite.

MTAC Young Pianist Competition 4/11/2010

As always, this competition is quite difficult. Everyone who entered played very well. Here are our results:

Sai Sivapalan	HS I	9^th grade	Liszt Etude and Bach Fugue	participant
Patrick Xu	JH	8^th grade	Debussy Claire De Lune / Beethoven Bagatelle	Honorable Mention
Alex Few	HS 1	10^th grade	Debussy Pour le piano / Beethoven Moonlight 3rd	participant
Kelly Rausch	E I	3^rd grade	Streabbog Orphan, Bach Prelude	participant
Ranen Unger Hicks	E I	3^rd grade	Chopin Waltz /Bach Invention	2nd place

Certificate of Merit ™ Results 3/21/2010

I am very happy with the results. Everyone who tested passed. We also received many Branch Honors and Convention eligibilities. Juliette Beucler and Bret Paddock received 90% -100% theory test scores and are now officially "theory exempt". Congratulations.

Cassiopea Bostan, Anais Perkins and Patrick Xu tested in the Certificate of Merit ™ for the first time and passed exceptionally well.

Here is a list of our Path A students who entered. What an accomplishment working through those theory books, your performance pieces, sight reading, ear training and technical skills! The Certificate of Merit ™ is a California State Examination and enforces strict musical knowledge standards.

	Student		CM Level entered	School grade	Eligible for:

1	Juliette	Beucler	Advanced	Grade 10	Branch Honors Recital theory exempt
2	Cassiopea	Bostan	3	Grade 4	Convention Recital
3	Brittany	Durgiah	4	Grade 7
4	Alex	Few	Advanced	Grade 10	Branch Honors
5	Maxine	Imura	Advanced	Grade 12	Graduating Senior
6	Mitchell	Johnson	8	Grade 10	Branch Honors
7	Chloe	Lovato	5	Grade 10
8	Shalini	Nair	Advanced	Grade 11
9	Song	Nguyen	4	Grade 9	Convention
10	Bret A.	Paddock	Advanced	Grade 10	Branch Honors theory exempt
11	Anais	Perkins	3	Grade 6	Convention
12	Cynthia Nguyen	Phan	8	Grade 6	Convention
13	Kathleen Nguyen	Phan	4	Grade 4	Convention
14	Vinayak	Pillai	7	Grade 10	Branch Honors
15	Vishakh	Pillai	4	Grade 7
16	Niranjana	Premananthan	3	Grade 4
17	Sharmini	Premananthan	9	Grade 8	Branch Honors Convention
18	Kelly	Rausch	2	Grade 3
19	Sierra	Rupnow	5	Grade 9	Branch Honors
20	Shanti	Ryle	Advanced	Grade 11	Branch Honors
21	Sai	Sivapalan	Advanced	Grade 9	Branch Honors Convention
22	Ranen	Unger Hicks	2	Grade 3
23	Andrew Nguyen	Vu	7	Grade 10	Branch Honors
24	Nessa Nguyen	Vu	5	Grade 6
25	Patrick	Xu	7	Grade 8	Branch Honors Convention
26	Thulasi	Yogarajah	2	Grade 4

TVMTA Spring Music Festival 4/24/2010

A few students decided to perform two pieces in the local TVMTA Music Festival. This was Robechelle Mina's very first performance and she pulled through beautifully. All is learned, how to prepared for a performance, how to present a performance, how to get ready. She received a Silver Medal for her efforts. Sierra Rupnow and Anais Perkins also received Gold, Ranen received a double gold medal for both his pieces.

Steinway Awards Festival, Rancho Mirage, CA 3/6 and 3/13/2010

Not only did our students perform, we also had a winner this year in this event: Congratulations to all students' participation.

Patrick Xu	Participant Junior Event
Sharmini Premananthan	Participant Junior Event
Ranen Unger-Hicks	Winner Junior Event
Sai Sivapalan	Participant Senior Event
Alex Few	Participant Senior Event

Ranen performed March 28,2010 in the Rancho Mirage Public Library and received his award.

Lake Elsinore Rotary Competition 2/17/2010

Hello all:

I am happy to let you know that Bret Paddock participated in the Lake Elsinore Rotary competition in both Piano Solo and Instrumental (he also entered double bass) and he received 1st places in both events. He will be competing in the Finals at the University of Redlands.

Congratulations to Bret's commitment and accomplishments.

Eva

Certificate of Merit Panel 2/28/2010

Alex Few, Bret Paddock and Shanti Ryle successfully entered and performed in the CM ™ Advanced Panel auditions. Bret Paddock passed his advanced theory exam in the 90% - 100% range and is now exempt from taking the exam another time. What accomplishments! Eva

AVSOMC Bach Competition Winners 1/30/2010

Cynthia Phan (age 12) decided to enter this event and came home a WINNER! Of course, for me, she was a winner just preparing this difficult piece. I enjoyed listening to her practice and lesson performances time after time. Congratulations. Eva

LEVEL ONE –Piano

2nd – Cynthia Phan – English Suite II, Prelude BWV 807

Age. 11, Menifee Teacher: Eva Martin-Hollaus

SCJB Branch entry and results 2/28/2010

We had a great time performing the Southern California Junior Bach Festival. Our students were as well prepared as they could be, being so busy with all their school activities. Additionally preparing for such an event shows amazing ability. Congratulations to all. Eva

Cynthia Phan	English Suite BWV 807	Prelude		WINNER
Patrick Xu	Invention #9			WINNER
Sai Sivapalan	WTC I BWV 860	Fugue	Complete Works entered: yes	WINNER
Cassiopea Bostan	WTC I BWV 846	Prelude	CW No
Kelley Rausch	Prelude BWV 927
Anais Perkins	Minuet in G Major 114			Honorable Mention
Ranen Unger Hicks	Invention #8 BWV 779		Complete Works entered: yes	WINNER
Sharmini Premananthan	WTC I BWV 855	Prelude	CW yes
Juliette Beucler	WTC I BWV 866	Prelude	CW NO

Inland Empire Piano Festival Studio Results 2010

	Database for Inland Empire Piano Festival, 2010
Perf.No.	Last Name	First Name	Division	Results	Piece performed
12	Alex Few	Alex	V-A	Honorable Mention	Debussy, Prelude from Pour Le Piano
16	Juliette Beucler	Juliette	V-B		Debussy, Claire De Lune
19	Bret Paddock	Bret	V-B		Liszt, Un Sospiro Concert Etude
39	Sharmini Premananthan	Sharmini	IV-A	2nd	Joplin, Paragon Rag
42	Patrick Xu	Patrick	IV-A	Honorable Mention	Chopin, Nocturn in C# Minor op posth.
66	Song Nguyen	Song	IV-C		Schumann, Knight Ruppert
77	Sai Sivapalan	Janardan Sai	IV-C	Honorable Mention	Liszt, Transcendental Etude #6, Vision
93	Anais Perkins	Anais	III-A	Honorable Mention	Chopin, Waltz in a minor op Posth
109	Cynthia Phan	Cynthia	III-B	3rd	Chopin, Waltz Op 69 #2
156	Mitchell Johnson	Mitchell	V-C	Honorable Mention	Schubert Impromptu Op 142, No 2
161	Shanti Ryle	Shanti	V-C	2nd	Debussy, Claire De Lune
205	Kelley Rausch	Kelly	I-B		Streabogg, The Orphan
230	Ranen Unger Hicks	Ranen	II-A	Honorable Mention	Chopin, Waltz Op 64 #3
241	Cassiopea Bostan	Cassiodea	II-B		Chopin, Waltz a minor Op Posth.

I am happy to say, that everyone who entered, performed and performed well! Congratulations!

11/14/2009 CAPMT Honors Competition Branch Results

student name	age	pieces	Results
Alex Few	15 E	Debussy Prelude IV "Les fees sont d'exquises danseuses	Alternate
		Bach Fuge 20, BWV 889
		Beethoven Son. Op. 27, No. 2 Presto agitato

Cassiopea Bostan	9 B	Clementi Sonatina op. 36 complete	1st place
		Chopin Waltz a min, posthumous
		Bach Prelude BWV 999

Cynthia Nguyen Phan	11 C	Dianne Rahbee Sonata op. 25, 3rd mvt	1st place
		Bach English Suite, BWV 807, Prelude
		Chopin Valse op. 69, No. 2

Ranen Unger Hicks	9 B	Mozart Sonata k. 545, Allegro	Alternate
		Glenda Austin, Mexican Fiesta
		Bach Invention 8, BWV 779

Finally, I am finding the time to announce this year's results. Completing my piano manual "Play Piano in all Keys" absorbed my time, and there is still more to go, advertising, it never ends…

I wanted to congratulate all my students who were working so hard accomplishing so much. I consider all my students winners who just GO THERE and PERFORM. Just that alone, I appreciate and think of that highly!

BACK TO BASICS - SCALES, CHORDS, ARPEGGIOS

Oh yes, it's this time of year again, back to basics practicing scales, chords, arpeggios. Over the summer, I am always trying to push for completed pages in the theory books and push practicing scales, chords, arpeggios: making sure the fingering is absolutely accurate, the fingers and hand positions are curved the correct way - no "breaking fingers", but correctly and loosely curved finger position, lose wrist, natural arm weight, beautiful well defined sounds. Each note matters. Working on pulse with the metronome, all speeds. In other words, lots of work is being accomplished. We are also planning out the next year, starting new repertoire in slow motion, allowing a thorough and exacting learning process. Sure enough we always have a few overzealous young pianists who want to perform the new piece yesterday, before learning the rhythm, notes, fingering, arm motions, the phrasing, dynamics in each hand -- and are "noodling" through a piece. Learning how to put your "talent aside" for a streamlined approach to learning a new piece is probably one of the hardest things to master for a budding young musician. I tell everyone: "no one is taking your talent away; you must program your fingers and muscles like a computer programmer creating a game to play; if you do not program a computer game correctly you will never be able to play it and it will bring about viruses messing up your computer. Just be patient; once a game is programmed correctly on the computer, it allows for many hours of enjoyment, the fun of playing the game you created. In piano, once your fingers, pulse and rhythm, notes, arm motions, wrist motions and mind are programmed correctly, you will be able to play your piece flawlessly. Fingering decisions need to be carefully made. Your memory and mind will hold up under any performance stress and circumstance, while if errors were programmed, they may very well show up in performance. Once your physical motions and memory, mind and visualization is programmed correctly, your talent then will be able to flow through your fingers flawlessly and with great enjoyment and expression. "
Learning to be comfortable playing all commonly used classical scales: Major, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor and Natural Minor for 4 octaves and arpeggios in root position, 1st and 2nd inversions, all speeds with perfect control, is quite a challenge but well worth it. All my students use my fingering charts and practice instructions and progress amazingly. The fingering patterns have been used for centuries and were developed to use the right and left brain functions in easy to control cross fingering patterns. Practicing the different scale patterns and spending time until each one becomes second nature should be a goal for each piano student no matter what age. If you are rehearsed in your scales / chords / arpeggios, your fingers and technique is lubricated and you can easily learn new pieces. Many chords are used over and over and once the relationship of tonality, notes of the scale and their relationship of Major and Minor is understood, memorizing classical pieces, in particular, is greatly facilitated.
All the practice suggestions and practice principles are well tested and work very well for every student, with a little practice. All my suggestions work beautifully for literally anyone practicing 20 - 45 minutes 5 days a week. Of course if you put in more time greater progress, better performances and larger repertoire will result.
But then music is for everyone, well rehearsed or not, busy life style or lots of leisure. Piano playing is here to always make us feel better on the inside, relieve our tensions and stress of daily life and enjoy the beautiful music and sounds that we are creating.
Sometimes, I wish I had had my fingering charts and teaching at the times when I grew up. but then, all my efforts and failures brought this about and I am very happy I could make my contribution to help others play beautiful music.
Sincerely, Eva

...Powers of Music Rediscovered...

I came across this wonderful CD of magnificently tuned music -- you can start feeling how everything inside the body relaxes, tensions disappear and well-being returns. Isn't the purpose of music to restore well-being and good feeling? Please, take a look:

"... Powers of Music Rediscovered. ... these seven magical tunings have recently been rediscovered, opening the way for us to empower ourselves and to enhance our physical, emotional and spiritual balance.....The oldest musical tunings known in the world come from the extraordinary and mysterious Sumerian civilization that had flowered by 3500 BC. Unlike any modern Western music, these tunings have unexpected beauty and powers - a kind of music that we have completely forgotten.... the album Memories of Home may be the first time these tunings have been heard for centuries. "

What prompted me to look for the roots and history of music, was my never ending curiosity to find out more about why I am teaching, and the more I look, the more I see and find well-being, emotional healing, good feeling. There is so much wisdom still needing to be uncovered, from Sumer to old Greece and Rome,... and amazingly, in these old times heptatonic scales, similar to our modern Major and Minor scales were used. Let's work on those scales, again,... Well played scales in a slow to medium tempo really are very relaxing and beautiful,... Eva

Performance Panic Attacks?

Of course my students learn many avenues how to manage performance anxiety and memorization techniques. But it always helps to have a few extra tools under the belt. I came across this website -- and I highly recommend this product. It is called PANIC AWAY Take a look:

"You will be amazed at how such a simple technique known as the One Move Technique™ could be so powerful in restoring you back to your former care free self. I am not only talking about eliminating panic attacks but also getting your general anxiety level right back down to zero without the use of any medication or alternative therapies. This technique is based on advanced psychology made simple for everyone to apply." PANICAWAY

It is not just for pianists, but simply anyone in real life who has fears or trepidations of any kind. Especially when you are facing daily pressure moments, you need tools to keep you in tune with yourself.
All the best, Eva

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