24 5 / 2012
This has nothing to do with piano, but my piano student Nicole sent me a video of her ice skating and I am just SO impressed!!! I wish I knew how to do this!!! :)
21 5 / 2012
Two Recitals Completed! What a spring! :)
Two piano recitals, one in April and one in May have taken place, and it was a lovely time. I felt so lucky to have such lovely students and it was so awesome to celebrate all their achievements!!!
The videos are posted at www.youtube.com/parkpianostudio
So so proud! Now I need to hunt down some pictures from the recitals… :)
18 3 / 2012
It’s almost Spring! (a long overdue update!)
So what happened this past winter in the Park Piano Studio? Lots of fun and great stuff!
I decided to invent the first ever Park Piano Studio Winter Games 2011, and it turned out to be a great success. This was the memo sent out to parents and students:
Announcing the Winter 2011 Piano Games!
Winter is now upon us, it’s going to be dark and dreary outside, so I thought it would be a great idea to start the 1st annual Park Piano Studio Winter Piano Games.
Students will earn points for all of the following:
1 point for every hour practiced (students 6 and under get 1 point every half hour practiced)
I will give out practice charts to fill out w/ parent signatures for practice completed, I highly suggest parents to invest in a little kitchen timer on top of the piano, so the student is able to set time goals and focus for that duration.
3 points for every piece a student completes with:
1. Correct Rhythm
2. Correct Notes
3. Correct Dynamics
4. Correct Fingering
5 points for completing each “Challenge.”
Challenges are assigned each lesson for the following week and give special attention to what students need to focus on.
Technique/ Scales/ Finger Exercise Challenges also will be given for miscellaneous points
The duration of the Winter Piano Games will run from the beginning of December until February 11th. Students will receive certificates & prizes for jobs well done! More details to be announced during lessons.
A prize will be awarded from a very fun-filled bin of treasures for every 50 points earned by each student! A special prize will be awarded to the winner of the Winter 2011 Piano Games!
…………
The results were that students practiced more than usual, especially some students who are motivated by prizes and earning points. I thought it was a good way to get over the winter gloom and I think I may do it again next year. The 1st place winner was Ethan with 202 points total and the 2nd place winner was Kathryn who came in at 200 points. The students all earned prizes and ribbons of achievement at the end. It was a close race and I think we all had a lot of fun! Now I’m brainstorming up new ideas for the future.
Coming up in the future we have our big spring recital on April 22nd at 3pm at the Ida Lang Recital Hall at Hunter college and another optional recital on May 18th at the Steinway Hall Henry Z Steinway room. Really excited for this and am working hard to get students prepared for this.
Been blessed with a lovely group of kids and adult students this year and enjoying working with each of them.
13 12 / 2011
I teach an afterschool music program at a local elementary school on Tuesdays and today during snack time a student showed me an essay she wrote about me for some other class and I had to laugh. :) You can click the image to see a bigger version of it, a little easier to read. It’s funny the things students notice about you.
04 12 / 2011
Park Piano Studio is all decorated and ready for the holidays! This is our 2 foot high Christmas tree my husband and I went and picked out and decorated with lights and ornaments.
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04 12 / 2011
It’s always so nice to feel appreciated! Not that I feel underappreciated by any means, and teaching is always such a rewarding job, but this week I felt extra special because some of my students and their parents are just too sweet!
(The picture is just of some flowers a student’s mom brought me after she ran to the grocery store during her daughter’s lesson. I asked what they were for and she said Thanksgiving. It was so sweet! :) They are currently brightening the room on my dining table!
I am planning on revamping my website, and I asked if anyone had anything they would like to add to my testimonials page, and below is what I got.
Feedback from Parent of Student:
My 4 year old son was really interested in playing the piano. I searched high and low and found that most teachers preferred to teach older children. One teacher even went as far as advising me to wait another year or two. By luck, I stumbled across Jean’s website and was impressed with its professionalism and detailed information. After our first trial lesson, I knew she was the one. She knew how to handle my 4 year old with ease and I am now amazed at how much he has learned in such a short amount of time. Jean is truly a talented pianist and teacher. Thanks Jean!
Feedback from one of my adult students (He is a very advanced and talented pianist!):
There’s a difference between those who claim to be an ideal instructor, and those who actually are. Throughout the city you may find hundreds if not thousands of “piano teachers”. With so many pianists on-board, it is hard to find one whom is legitimate. I’ve came across those who knew less theory then I, as well as a select few who could not even play at my level.
During my free trial lesson (who can honestly pass up anything free!) with Jean, she not only fixed and my technique, but she managed to reignite my ambition to playing. Being an individual whom has one of the most optimistic/kindest personalities, I found it surprising that Jean is no pushover; she is also strict and demanding to the most miniscule details when playing. In other words Jean has the ability to take what seem to be 2 opposing attitudes in order to; not find a middle-ground, but rather create a new entity; her own method of teaching, I’ve improved more in 3 months then I did in years with other teachers.
I couldn’t be any happier with my progress, and all my thanks can go to Jean Park.
Kind regards,
-Ray
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Raymond Tao
SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc.
29 8 / 2011
Practicing Inspiration… some easy math = 60 extra hours of practice a year
If you practice for just 10 minutes extra a day, in a year that is an extra 3650 minutes. That is an extra 60+ hours in a year!
(Read this from the book- Not Until You’ve Done Your Practice)
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28 8 / 2011
I was browsing through tumblr and found this post by someone!
I was just browsing through tumblr when I found this post by amandaaldrige, and it really struck a chord with me! When I look back now at my childhood, I wish so much that I would have practiced more piano or realized more how much the value of what I was doing really was instead of preferring to waste time rather than learn. After all, playing piano is a skill you keep with you for life even if you don’t end up being a professional musician.
It also made me realize that I am so grateful to my parents for supporting me, encouraging me, and sometimes “forcing” me for the 20 years of piano lessons I have had. It’s true… I don’t usually ever hear about people regretting piano lessons (unless it was because of some sort of teacher/parent trauma), only regretting that they didn’t stick to it, or have the opportunity for it.
So I guess, whether it’s piano, some other instrument, or even another hobby like painting, sports, etc, if it is something you are talented in, you find beautiful, adds value to your life, and brings you joy, don’t ever give up during hard times or when you are “busy!” Stick to it and you will look back and be so happy you made the decision!
When I was five, my parents put me in piano lessons. At that age, I couldn’t have cared less. I enjoyed going to some older lady’s house once a week and listening to her criticize my piano-playing skills. I stayed in lessons until I was about… I want to say 11, and I have to say, I was pretty good! But in any case, I quit. I figured out that there were things I’d rather do on my evenings after school. I kept playing though, for a few years. And now that I don’t play nearly as much as I used to, I’m wishing my parents would’ve made me keep taking lessons. There’s nothing more beautiful than a good piece of classical piano music. The exception is when that good piece of classical piano music is coming through my own fingertips.
On that note, I’m planning on buying a new keyboard and getting back to the keys.
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28 8 / 2011
Time and Music
I just started reading “A Concise History of Western Music” by Paul Griffiths in an attempt to refresh and brush up on my music history knowledge and thought the first paragraph in the time chapter was really interesting. I had never really thought of music and time in this way!
“Music, being made of time, can travel through it. A performance of, say, a Beethoven symphony will bring a whole structure of time forward from two hundred years ago, so that we may experience it now. And because we cannot see or touch music but only hear it, it reaches us out of its past with an unusual immediacy. Things we see or touch are necessarily outside of us: music, though, seems to be happening inside our heads, imposing itself directly on our minds and feelings. It is right here with us, and yet simultaneously back there in the past in which it was made. It may thereby take us into its past, give us a sense of being in a different era, experiencing time as it was then. Or it may tell us of continuities through time, constancies of thought and feeling.”
