Sales Crowd

By Musa Aykac

 We have all watched the X Factor and this year is turning out to be one of the best shows to date. Not only do we have a new judge in Cheryl Cole, but the contestants are all of very high quality and calibre. The last time we saw great singers on the show was when Leona Lewis hit our screens and her debut single smashed the records by selling half a million copies in its first week.

This year the final 12 acts on the X Factor recorded a single called Hero for the wounded service men and women at The Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal, which in fact is a cover of Mariah Carey’s hugely successful hit. The contestants also sang the single on the X Factor show and it was an awesome overall performance.

The single is set to knock female judge Cheryl Cole and the rest of the Girls Aloud band off of the top spot, but not only that it is set to triumph over Leona Lewis’s success and become the fastest selling single in a decade. The single sold over 100,000 copies in its first two days, the only slight scare with the single is the growing demand putting pressure on the manufacturers to keep up with the pace. The single is selling more than most Christmas numbers ones would and stores such as HMV have placed an urgent order for more copies.

On the X Factor we saw Scott Bruton become the third act to be voted off of the show, he had to compete against fellow contestant Daniel Evans, after both singers picked up fewest votes from the public. This coming week sees the contestants singing Disco themed songs, and this series of X Factor has just gotten bigger and better, with huge voices from contestants such as Alexandra, Laura White and Austin. Besides from that all the contestants have unique tones and with a star studded line up of celebrities making appearances such as winner Leona Lewis, Will Young and Mariah Carey we are set for a great treat.

Meanwhile in other X Factor news judge Simon Cowell has vowed to bring back the axed music chart Christmas show top of the pops. As stated in The Sun, Mr Cowell would like to make an offer to keep the show alive as he does not want to see a great tradition come to an end. Stating “It’s like not having Christmas Pudding”.

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My Battle with Sheet Music
By Earl Marsden

 Learning to play the piano was an experience that I sort of fell into. My mother was one of the few piano teachers in the small town where I grew up and she instilled in me a passion for music from an early age. I remember being about four years old watching student after student come to our home for a lesson as I peered around the banister of our stair case, eyes wide with amazement.

Naturally, when I got a little older I also wanted to be one of mom’s students and learn how to play all of those memorable songs I’d heard while watching my Saturday morning cartoons.

I remember the first time I laid my fingers on those keys (unable to reach the pedals), I took to it slow at first, but then playing came more and more easily. The problem? Sheet music.

While I had a keen memory and a good sense of timing, I had little interest in learning or understanding the notes of the scale. I remember thinking to myself that if I could play the song from memory, then why bother?

As much as my mom loved me, she couldn’t shake that music teacher instinct and forced me to go over flash cards repeatedly to make sure I knew the scales back to front. I had no idea there would be so much studying involved!

While we often bickered about its importance, over time, it became a little easier and while I shudder to think about how many times I heard ‘Every Good Boy Does Fine’, something started to click. Not only could I now READ sheet music, but I was actually ENJOYING it, as if it were some magical, secret language that only I could understand.

With varying degrees of success, I began to write my own short songs to play on the piano and my mother was always there nodding, approvingly (even if it WAS written in crayon).

All in all, growing up with a music teacher definitely had its moments of frustration, but mom knew a thing or two about the piano and made sure that I was learning all of the intricacies of the music along the way.

She approached music teaching the same way she approached teaching me anything; with an emphasis on learning it all the way and appreciating even the elements, I didn’t understand. Mom’s still teaching students around the community to this day and is now looking into starting her own music teacher website or community group for like-minded instructors in the area.

As for me? Well, now I’m all grown up, but I’ll be making sure that my children learn music the way that I did (even if I have to cheat off a website here and there).

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Music is Social
By Earl Marsden

 If one of the main reasons we play music is to enjoy it with other musicians or with an audience, why do we ask students (particularly young children) to practice alone all the time? Music is fundamentally social and students will be more motivated to practice if the music teacher helps students to be part of musical social experiences.

For example, there is always the jam session. Getting students together to play with and for each other on a regular basis helps students to interact with other musicians the way adult musicians do. The more informal the session, the more it will feel like being social rather than being a formal performance. For example, the music teacher might have students play duets, trios, or rounds with each other. A jam session might also be an opportunity to teach folk music by ear.

Another way to help students have a social experience with music is to have a friend with whom to take lessons. If you give a thirty-minute lesson to each of two students, you could actually take that hour, and give each one a twenty-minute lesson and then spend twenty minutes on music the two can play with each other.

Often you can pair students who go to the same school. You may find students getting together after school to play music with each other, which reinforces important musical skills of being able to play with other people and which is enormously motivating.

If a parent or other family member plays music, then incorporate that music into the lesson. A parent who plays guitar by ear can accompany folk music tunes that are so great for establishing good tone and intonation. It is helpful if the parent plays something different from the student so that the sessions together are more social than formal, parent-led practice.

Create a small group of students and find venues for playing. If you have a group of students, who play folk tunes, many nursing home and retirement centers will welcome their performances.

Pair up an older student with a younger student as a practice buddy, again thinking of pairing students who live near each other. There is nothing like teaching a skill to help a person learn it. The older student will be reinforcing his or her own skills. Younger children respond well to having an older buddy.

All of these ideas take time and organization, but if they become part of your practice as a music teacher, parents will quickly see the benefits and will likely be willing to pay a small amount extra for their children to be involved. Your students will become stronger musicians who are motivated to play their instruments as a result of your taking advantage of the social nature of music.

Our Music Teachers Helper Site offers a variety of features that will inform you about the latest approach in teaching music and managing your own music studio. Log on to our website now.

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