Puffy, white clouds floated above in a sunny, blue sky as I tooled down the road. Amazingly, there was NO construction—I know, right?—and the roads were so smooth I wondered if I was in the right universe. There was very little traffic, and when I left the freeway I found myself on a country road flanked on either side by fields of tall, green stalks of corn, punctuated here and there with the occasional farmhouse, surrounded by trees. Eventually, the road passed through a small town and soon I arrived at my destination without any bumps or hiccups.

Pulling into the driveway, I saw two people that I remembered from last year’s retreat. Yay!—I’m in the right place! Our hostess, Joy Morin (ColorInMyPiano) had chosen a large house that is usually used as a get-away for scrap-bookers. Wisely, she had booked the entire house for us. Everyone found their own rooms but also took a tour of the house because, well, let’s just say that it’s a very nice place! Amy Chaplin (Piano Pantry) had lunch all ready and waiting for us, so we dove right in. A couple of us enjoyed our lunch in the backyard on the poolside deck.

First Session:

For an icebreaker, Joy had us each pick a card. Each card had a single question, such as “Why do you like taking piano lessons?” or “If you could shoot a music video of yourself playing a grand piano anywhere on earth, where would it be?” So we told our names and answered as best we could whatever question we had drawn. Many of us had funny experiences to share.

But then, we began in earnest, reflecting on creativity in life. Are “creative teaching” and “teaching creativity” the same thing? In my opinion, they are not. Apparently, others agreed with me, determining that “creative teaching empowers others’ creativity.” Other questions concerned whether creativity in students should be limited or encouraged? If so, how? What are the benefits of being able to compose/improvise? 

To explore these ideas further, we examined some books on creativity by authors such as Forrest Kinney, Twyla Tharp, Rick Rubin, Steven Pressfield, Elizabeth Gilbert, and others. Each of us browsed through one of the books and gave a brief review of what it was about, perhaps a quote, and generally how it could be useful for our purposes. We noted that some of the books would be good to share with adult students in need of encouragement about their own creativity.

Before taking a supper break, we all participated in an exercise from Bruce Adolphe’s The Mind’s Ear. This type of exercise was new to us: we imagined an ensemble of musicians—perhaps a chamber trio, an orchestra, a jazz quartet, etc.—and were told to picture them vividly and to “hear” the music they were playing. Then we were instructed to imagine someone practicing on another instrument—backstage but completely audible to the ensemble and their audience—and to imagine the reactions of the original performing ensemble, to “hear” each instrument all playing at once. What did it sound like? We enjoyed sharing with each other what we had imagined and had some good laughs at each other’s creativity.

Third Session:

The title of our next session was “Striking a Chord with Your Students: Nurturing Young Composers in Your Music Studio.” We read through a brief outline of what to do and how to do it, then examined some composition resources. These included “We Make Our Own Music”, a very good, but out-of-print beginner book; “Piano Safari Composition Book 1”, “Creative Composition Toolbox” by Wynn-Anne Rossi; “Music By Me” (FJH); “Learn to Compose and Notate Music” by Dr. Lee Evans; “Write it Right!” By Dan Fox; “Piano Teacher’s Guide to Creative Composition” by Carol Klose; and “So You Want to Be a Composer?” a complete summer camp curriculum by Joy Morin.

After a brief break to stretch our legs—I ran upstairs to see the third floor and the spectacular view from the fourth floor sunroom—we all gathered out in the front yard of the house for a group photo. Across the road from the house was a river with four huge swans flapping their wings and splashing around in the water. Such a lovely place. But there was more to learn so it was time to go back inside for another group activity from The Mind’s Ear. This time we took turns having one person read a poem while another improvised on the spot music to go with the poem being read. I played along to Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” Two other poems were read while other volunteers improvised but I was unfamiliar with those poems. That was a fun activity.

During the course of the weekend, a couple of the teachers brought in music to give away as their studio needs had changed. Always good to get a first hand look at what’s out there, whether old or new.

After a break for supper, which included an excursion to the Salt Springs Brewery in nearby downtown Saline, our retreat was joined by four of Joy’s students for a sample lesson using Marilyn Lowe’s Keyboard Games. It’s always beneficial to see how theories and ideas work with real children in the real world. The students ranged in age from four to eight and the older students were more “proficient” than the younger students, but all were attentive, cooperative, and engaged. Joy was also a good role model for how to accept each student’s efforts with encouragement at this stage in their development, rather than unnecessary “correcting.” After the students were dismissed, they each had a treat and a chance to play in the backyard pool, while the teachers took advantage of the opportunity for a question and answer session with Joy regarding the lesson that was demonstrated, the Keyboard Games series, and further questions about how she uses that series in her studio overall.

Outside, rain began to fall, watering the verdant lawns neighboring the house, where inside, Joy continued watering our minds with knowledge from those who have and continue to pioneer Gordon’s Rote Song Procedure, sharing two articles, one on the benefits of rote teaching, by Dr. Julie Knerr and Katherine Fisher, the creators of the Piano Safari method books, and another on teaching a rote piece, by Anne Katherine Davis. 

Of course, the goal of all this is to develop audiation in our students. Teaching pieces using rote song procedure is the doorway to that development. Not all students, even those who show musical aptitude, are ready to begin with note-reading as they learn to make music at the piano. As the student matures physically and developmentally, note-reading is then integrated into the lessons. The suggestion was made by one of the teachers that using rote learning occasionally can even help a student who is struggling with a certain type of pianistic skill or passage(s) in a particular piece.

Joy also walked us through Marilyn Lowe’s Keyboard Games, which looked to me to be a very useful book in providing meaningful musical experiences centered around the piano for even the youngest children, whose tiny hands may not have developed sufficient dexterity to play using individual fingers. She also stressed the importance of listening daily to pieces selected by the teacher for teaching listening skills, by asking questions about the music they’ve heard. These pieces are then taught through rote, or imitation.

The rain outside came and went, and a hummingbird darted by outside the window as we wrapped up the afternoon by reviewing Music Learning Theory (MLT) Sequencing in Piano Study. We listed the five vocabularies of listening, speaking, thinking, reading, and writing, We reflected on whether we would actually ask a young child NOT to speak something unless they knew how to read it first. Highly unlikely. But isn’t that what we often do in music education? We also reviewed Gordon’s Skill Learning Sequence and pondered whether or not most piano methods of today follow his findings or, if not, what sequence do they follow, instead? Lastly, we reminded each other how to get our students audiating rhythm and tonality and how important it is for us to help our students develop the skill of audiating context.