Section 1 of this Technic Workshop features a lesson given and simultaneously filmed by Louise Kienast. Her two young students are being introduced to a Keyboard Pattern that teaches students how to use contractions to move around the keyboard easily and efficiently.
Louise is a highly successful teacher in Florida. She has been using Artistry at the Piano as her core curriculum for 30 years. She also uses technology to provide at-home guidance for her students and their parents by posting her lessons and educational activities on her studio website.
The film begins with a short introduction to this Keyboard Pattern given by Mary Gae George who is co-author, with her late husband Jon George, of Artistry at the Piano. Ms George designed and composed all the technic skills in the course.
You may contact Mary Gae George at: mg@ArtistryAlliance.net
Click play on player to start movie - it may take a few seconds to start
Section 2 of this Technic Workshop presents a second film. In this one, Mary Gae George discusses and demonstrates the elementary preparations for playing weight transfer touch, and then explores how to use this same Keyboard Pattern for Contractions to develop advancing technical skills, such as Forearm Rotation and Finger-Fling Accents.
Click play on player to start movie - it may take a few seconds to start
Section 3 of this Technic Workshop is an illustrated Pedagogy Guide by Mary Gae George exploring the essential principles of developing free, fluent technic and beautiful piano tone from the beginning of piano lessons. The article also presents the advantages of preparing technical skills in advance of needing them in students’ basic and supplementary repertoire. This is one of the cornerstones of her Positive Pedagogy. NOTE: This article may be downloaded to read off-line and to use as reference.
Pedagogy Guides by Mary Gae George Extending the use of KEYBOARD PATTERNS
This Pedagogy Guide is designed to clarify the purposes and ramifications of the Keyboard
Patterns in Artistry at the Piano. This Guide is fairly long because more text is required in an
article on technic than when teaching and demonstrating; this article also covers a broad scope.
BASIC FOUNDATION SUPPLIED BY THE KEYBOARD PATTERNS
The Artistry at the Piano Keyboard Patterns (KBPs) are designed for the obvious but essential
first steps in developing:/p>
Clear, colorful, expressive tone,
steady tempo,
using the metronome
good hand position and body posture,
equal development of each hand
accurate reading comprehension & performance of rhythms, intervals, and technic
fingering
recognizing & interpreting cadences
inner hearing
extended concentration
memorizing & transposing.
preparing any new issues contained in each Lesson of the course
PREPARATION for ADVANCING LEVELS OF STUDY
These Keyboard Patterns are also designed as platforms to more advanced technic. These
extended applications accomplish the following advantages:
They keep students practicing KBPs longer, thereby increasing their awareness and involvement in technic.
Furthermore, students learn to use these advancing skills while studying less complicated
music. This makes the process easier and focuses more attention on the new skill than
when playing more demanding repertoire – a good use of pedagogical procatalepsis..
IMPORTANT: Every teacher should have: WHAT EVERY PIANIST NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THE BODY by Thomas Mark.
This excellent book and supporting DVD is published by GIA Music. http://www.giamusic.com/music_education/ You will also find 23 informative reviews of the book at Amazon.com
The two quotations in the following article are fromt his book.
