S P R I N G !

he very word is music to my ears! For me as a Midwesterner, Spring always suggests renewal, rebirth. It means once again experiencing the delight in seeing the first crocus peeking timidly through the snow, and the daffodils and tulips soon to follow. It means seeing the first robin reappear after its winter holiday in warmer, southerly regions. It also means exchanging the snow thrower for the lawnmower, and replacing the winter storm windows with screens so that we can once again breath in that delicious fresh Spring air!

For college music majors, Spring often means launching into the final frenzy of practice to get ready for end-of-the-year juries and recitals. For younger pre-college students, it means once again riding their bikes, getting out the skate boards, little league practice and games, - in short, doing all of those wonderful outdoor things that inevitably provide big-time competition for indoor piano-practicing.

For piano teachers, this season also usually means getting students ready for the annual "Spring Recital." Surely our goal for this event is twofold: to provide our students' families and friends with an opportunity to share and enjoy the progress they have made during the year, and to provide each student with an opportunity to shine like the brightest star so that the academic year ends with a flourish!

What are some of our criteria for getting our students ready for this event? The first thing that comes to mind is the selection of repertoire-being sure that the chosen music really "fits" them technically and musically, as well as plays up their individual strengths. Over the years, I have found that rather than my selecting student recital pieces, a better plan is to ask the students themselves to choose them. Here's how it works. Five or six weeks before the date of the program, the students are asked to make a list of a half dozen or so favorite pieces-pieces that they really like and enjoy playing. These should also be pieces that they think they play really well, and ones that they believe the audience will enjoy hearing as much as they enjoy playing.

Once we have the list, then in each subsequent week, we narrow it down until shortly before the recital, we end up with the two or three pieces that will actually be programmed. (One of these is usually an ensemble piece.) The best thing about this approach is that in addition to ending up performing music that they like, the students also always end up playing those pieces which they play the best. Most know themselves so well that they usually demonstrate great wisdom when choosing their recital repertoire!

Another consideration when preparing students for the Spring Recital is the issue of memorization -being certain that students are ready to perform publicly from memory if indeed we require that they do so. Although it goes without saying that the benefits of memorizing are multifaceted, and that all students should learn how to do it, I think the issue is when and where they should try their "memory wings." Here again, although most of my students will probably have securely memorized their solo recital repertoire well before the date of the program, they are given a choice about whether or not they wish to use the music in the recital. About half of them elect to do so, and the other half perform from memory, but almost without exception, each makes a wise decision about this! I try to make the point with the students and with their parents that the really important issue is always the quality of the performance, not the format in which it occurs. Above all, students must feel successful, and both they and the audience must truly experience the joy of music and music-making! For me, this is always the bottom line.

Inviting students to participate in choosing their recital pieces and in selecting the mode of their presentation (with or without the music), is another example of "student-centered" instruction (as opposed to "teacher-centered") which was discussed in this column in the Autumn 2001 issue of the magazine. When it comes to preparing for the Spring Recital, perhaps this approach will help students find the indoor business of daily practicing a bit more tolerable in spite of the many out-of-doors distractions that inevitably vie for their attention about this time each year.

About Our Cover Picture

Arielle and Trinette Cordogan-Gardner made such a hit as our cover girls for the Spring 2001 magazine, we decided to invite them back for an encore appearance on the cover of this year's spring issue. (As you can see from the collage, the girls have resolved the aforementioned conflict between wanting to be out-of-doors and having to stay inside to practice on these lovely spring days-they simply moved the piano outside!)

Trinette (the older of the two) is now seven years old and in the second grade. She continues her piano study with her Aunt Sandy Anderson-Cordogan, head of the teaching staff at Cordogan's Pianoland in Geneva, IL. Trinette continues to enjoy gymnastics, softball, swimming, tennis, and Brownies, and has added one new activity to her busy schedule-cheerleading! Some of her favorite hobbies include arts-n-crafts, and dancing to N-Sync, Back Street Boyz, and Brittany Spears.

We're pleased to report that Arielle, now age four, began taking her very own piano lessons with her Aunt Sandy in June of 2001. She is proud to be a big girl now just like her sister! Arielle also participates in gymnastics and swimming, but ballet remains her own special activity. She tells us that her favorite hobbies include singing and "dancing around."

These two young ladies certainly keep their mother, Dianthe Cordogan (co-owner of Cordogan's Pianoland) on her toes! She tells us that she loves being a mom, though, and cherishes all moments while the girls are still young. "Time flies, and they are growing so fast! I know my father, Gus Cordogan, (the founder of Cordogan's Pianoland), would be very proud of his two granddaughters."

Along with the cover picture, we received this message from the girls themselves:

Hello from the cover girls! Thank you for inviting us back to be on your cover! We loved goofing around in the photo shoot. Our friends think it's very cool to be on the cover.

 

Love,

Trinette and Arielle Cordogan-Gardner