ARCT • Teachers’ Diploma (RCM) in-progress
Trained Music Together Teacher
Erin Plank (they/he) is a passionate young piano teacher. For their professional development, Erin received the highest exam scores in all of Canada last year for “Teaching Elementary Piano” with the RCM.
Erin’s main goal is to turn students into lifelong music lovers, not just pianists. I seek to provide them with the tools to practice efficiently at home, sight read a song at their friend’s piano, learn the melody to a song off the radio by ear, and nurture a technical foundation that lasts a lifetime so it’s “just like riding a bike” to play the piano. And even better, they’ll want to.
Get to know Erin…Beyond the Bio!
Hobbies: Piano, weightlifting, playing with my cat, and hanging out with friends
Musical influences: Ben Folds, Brad Mehldau, Edvard Grieg
Favourite food: Fried chicken sandwich
Least favourite food: snap peas, because I ate too many as a kid one time and threw up and now I dislike the smell
Favourite music: Romantic era piano music, Beach Boys and similar era music, math rock
Favourite song: “How Dare You Want More” by Bleachers
Favourite movie: Sing Street
Favouirite movie music: main theme for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” or anything Star Wars
Favourite musical theatre/opera: Wozzeck
Best quote from your teacher: “Don’t show the audience you messed up, they won’t know! Keep going!”
Favourite quote: “That’s what life is, Happy Sad”
Favourite book: Recursion by Blake Crouch
Best thing about teaching at ABC: Getting to reach and connect with so many lovely people!
Latest Homework from Erin
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Thursday April 25 Lessons – Erin P
I’m happy to be back and hear all you lovely people and see your shining faces! At the bottom I’m going to attach all of your technique requirements so we don’t let anything slip through.
Our recital is Sunday May 5th at 12:30 OR 1:30. At least half of you are already signed up, but we’d love to see you all there.
Liam
You can start testing your memorization of repertoire (not etudes) by setting the book open beside you. Do not play Minuet from memory until you’ve got the extra LH notes the second time the theme plays solid.
Sonatina in G major – Think dynamics dynamics dynamics. When you lock in and think about making it really sing, it sounds lightyears different then when you’re just trying to get through the piece. Polishing mode ON!
Walk the Talk – WOOHOO! Make sure the G is ON the beat and the dotted quarter notes are syncopated for *that* part.
Minuet in G – Great work! 1. Add in trills, they are just little quiet additions to make the line more beautiful, they should not change the rhythm of the other notes or be loud and stick out. 2. Add in the circled LH notes you keep forgetting 3. add in LH for the second half. Notice the patterns and sequences. The phrase endings are classic I-V-I cadences, just represented with fewer notes.
Prelude VII – 1. Pedal – you can practice the pedal with just the LH to get it easier, think as soon as your LH pinky plays, raise and lower the pedal. Try and do it only enough that the sound breaks, and not big enough that the actual pedal mechanism makes a clunk. 2. Phrasing of RH. Look to dynamics. 3. Rhythm of dotted half note and then quarter note, just play on beats 1 and 4.
Technique – Keep on keeping on! If you need any more resources, look at this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xSaKNyGX2c&ab_channel=ClassicalSqueak
Katarina
Somewhere over the Rainbow – We will add chords to this next week
We will play the game in your book about the honey next week. You played the two honey pieces well! Play any other written pieces prior to this in the book, you have the skills!
Marita
*New* Allegretto in C by Neefe – HT for the A and B section. Notice the two bar sequences in the B section and how they get quiter each time. Great great reading, and articulation!
Today we did some awesome voice leading using both hands for vi-IV-I-V in C.
Sara
Air in Bb – Very nice even tempo! Try adding some dynamic shaping to even the little 16th note lines, like a small swell as it raises and lowers. Dynamic range can be bigger and more dramatic.
Sonatina in C – Your balance is getting better! Be proud! Careful the 16th note runs in the RH do not become swung or uneven.
Nighttime – use a swing beat as a metronome, there are only specific spots you tend to rush. Great attention to details on the rests.
Cloud Dance and Ballade– I’ll hear next week
Technique is all great, love the shaping and the examiner will too.
https://www.rhythmrandomizer.com?s=34020608403010205060d0e10
Ear training mock exam part 2 (5 minutes long)
Marco
Minuet – count quarter notes even. The tempo you are currently at is the final tempo, it is not a fast piece.
The Snake – eliminate hesitation between when one hand stops and the other ends. LH line I circled some notes you forgot to play.
Song of the Dark Woods – LH fingering in the 3rd line is necessary for legato. Do not bump the last LH note of each line, float off beautifully. Start quiet so you have somewhere to grow.
Morning Fanfare – LH rhythm is just quarter note-8th-8th, you do not keep to copy the RH’s 16th note. Practice doing the LH rhythm like a staccato robot, on the piano or just tapping your hand, while playing the RH. Listen.
Superman – First part after the intro is HT with C B A G in the LH as quarter notes. Second part is HT but just C whole notes in the LH until the phrase ending. Final section will be C in quarter notes under the opening intro rhythm in the RH. Go slow and you can just hit a nearby surface in the correct rhythm with your LH while acually playing the piano with your RH.
Daniel
Periwinkle – Great attention to detail! You said you want to do the dynamics even more dramatic and I agree. I circled the quarter rest before the ending.
Breezy – Also very nice! Good lifting between the 2 note slurs.
Entree – nice trill technique, ensure they are not really long though, only as many notes as are written at the bottom of the page, light and easy.
The Wind – practice pedalling in the 3/4 section by blocking the chords to make it easier, as soon as you press the “new” note (as in the chord has changed) lift up your foot and then put it down quickly. Don’t do this *before* the new note. LH Fingering! 1235 to make it legato as you switch chords.
Technique – Spend some time doing chromatic again, keeping the fingering the same ascneding and descending. Remember to use the fingers in the order they are on your hand when playing two white notes beside each other, no need to cross over. Reference this if you need ANY help.
Greta
Minuet in F – Nice work! Ensure you are keeping the rhythms steady and consistent. “Run-ning walk walk” is the main rhythm of this piece. How you play it in the B section is correct and is how they should all sound. Today we played it at 100 bpm and it sounded nice and steady. We want to get it to 120 eventually.
Follow the Leader – Staccato!! Fix one note I circled (D in hands). Add dynamics in now.
Red Satin Jazz – Great job!! Awesome rhythms and fingering. Trust yourself with the 6ths, you’re doing it right. In the B section, the RH first does a C triad inversion, then a root position F – they are not the same shape.
Detectives – key signature!! All Bs and Es are flat. Use the RH fingering to keep it legato, detach and bounce the LH.
Technique – Keep working on your scale fingering. Reference this if you need ANY help.
Saturday April 20 Lessons – Erin P
Hi everyone! Report cards went home this week and they announce our first post-pandemic recital! It will be Sunday May 5th and we have two “shows” available to register for: 12:30 and 1:30 I believe. Look at your schedules and see if you’re available!
Hakim
Lost Woods – great job with the RH! I love the articulation you’re using. Next add in the LH, slow and steady wins the race here. You’re teaching your body how to coordinate together, and eventually it can be sped up.
*New* Raiders in the Night page 1. This piece is in A minor and the time signature is 6/8 (there are 6 8th notes per measure, but we feel two Big beats). Build up your finger independence by not moving your thumb out of the A minor 5 finger position, and instead using all the fingers for the RH melodies.
Maria
Viva la Vida – dynamics and tempo. You’re going to do great at your talent show!!! I’m very proud of your collaboration with your friend and the arrangement you’ve created.
*New* Somersault King – Count carefully and enjoy the happy mood of this piece! LH is mostly all recognizable triad shapes.
I will have prepped some of Golden Hour for next week.
Shakira
Saturn by SZA – In C major. This piece is actually in Db major on the recording, but we transposed it down a half step so it can be played using white keys. It uses the C Major 7th chord notes (C E G B) plus the higher C and an occasional D. Today we worked out a fingering plan that demands the least position changes of the hand, and instead uses a “radar” wrist that pivots to allow you to stretch from thumb to pinky without too much stretching, instead just pivoting.
Preferred Books for Erin Students
Click to buy them here, and they’ll come right to your house! What could be easier?
BOOK TITLE
COMING SOON
Faber Piano Adventures
The 2nd Edition Level 1 Lesson Book introduces all the notes of the grand staff, elementary chord playing, and the concept of tonic and dominant notes. Students play in varied positions, reinforcing reading skills and recognizing intervals through the 5th. Musicianship is built with the introduction of legato and staccato touches. This level continues the interval orientation to reading across the full range of the Grand Staff. The 5-finger approach is presented here in a fresh, musically appealing way.