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 June 29 Lessons – Erin P
Happy last day of lessons and have an amazing day at school tomorrow! You’re all rock stars :)
Liam
Great job with balance between hands on Elegant Elephant. Keep thinking about balance to the melody in Every song you play:)
Carnival song – amazing A section. B section do more hands together practice and ensure you feel the difference between quarter and 8th notes. Notice any skips in the melody.
Don’t Stop Believing – this will be such a fun project! We explored the melody by ear today, and we also know the basic chord progression. Being aware of these things will really help make the learning process from paper way easier.
Remember you know all 12 major scales, it would be fun to test if you still know them randomly throughout the summer….
Have fun playing ANYTHING this summer! Just stay connected with music and the keyboard, which I’m sure will be no problem in your household :) Stay safe and have fun!
Marita
Mystery Ride sounds so cool! Congrats!
Fundoodle – so today we confirmed how tied notes work. When a small curved line connects two of the exact same note, it combines their “values” (how long they are) together. This opening RH riff has two 8th notes tied together, so they are held for 1 beat (quarter note). Most of this piece uses inversions of major triads, notice this, it’ll make it easier to find the correct hand shape. Have fun with it’s playful nature.
*NEW* The Can-Can – this piece is in D major and uses only D or A chords. Play the LH a bunch seperate until it’s easy and everything should have a bouncey silly feel. The written fingering is SO helpful, use it. The fingering changes are easy and help set you up to have enough fingers to play higher or lower notes.
This summer, play ANYTHING at the piano, new or old. Just stay in touch with the keyboard and sightreading and we’ll have an easy transition in the fall. Stay safe and have so much fun!
Sara
I am sooooo sad to have missed you today. I will attach a piece here that I was going to give to you, not as homework, but because it’s cool and I think you’d rock it!
Have fun exploring your awesome new level 4 books, they have great pieces in them, and I eagerly await to see your (amazing) mark for your exam. You should be very proud of yourself :)
Daniel
Summer song option = Fundoodle. This piece uses major chord inversions and syncopated rhythms to have a carefree feel.
Summer song options = In the book of Forty Classic Piano Pieces that I gave you and your brother, I put triangles beside pieces that you can do for quick study pieces in the summer.
Summer rock riffs: Highway to Hell intro. Just play the bottom 2 notes of each chord. The chords as you identified are AAA DDG DDG DDG D A A. All the D chords are played as an inversion with F# on the bottom.
Jump by Van Halen.
Summer song option: anything in your level 2 RCM book.
Have a great time in Europe and have fun playing on your relative’s pianos! Stay connected with music, which I know you will, and make sure to spend a littttttttle time reading music so it’s not such a hard transition in the fall :) You rock!
September 10 Saturday Lessons – Erin P
Hello Hello everyone ! It’s lovely to meet you all. My name is Erin Plank and I use they/them or he/him pronouns.
Isabella
You’re working on Charlie Chipmunk. If you forget the notes, a video can be found here. This piece is played on all black keys and can be played by any finger on either hand. The lyrics go “Char-lie Chip-munk scam-pers by. Climbs the oak tree way up high. Cros-ses bran-ches on the run. Chip-munk life is so much fun!” Remember not to let your wrist collapse while playing!
Recommended minutes to practice: 5-10 minutes a day
Parents can support by: Ensuring her physical approach is consistent. Knees and elbows should move form 90 degree angles. Wrist should be inline with forearm (so an eraser could rest on any part of elbow to wrist). Feet should be flat on the floor, back straight and shoulders relaxed. Nothing should feel tense or look awkward.
Jadon
You’re working on Follow My Leader. This piece is all about imitation. The articulations are very important, and more important that each hand does it the same way. Practice hands seperate to learn the notes first, then play each phrase RH followed by LH. It should sound like a teasing conversation, the staccato is there to really make it pop! Notes that have legato markings on them must be connected. Listen for a smooth connected sound with zero space in between.
Recommended minutes to practice: 20 minutes a day
Parents can support by: Referring to a solid recording of the piece like this one can be very beneficial so you know what sound to replicate. You could listen to this and compare the articulations to what Jadon is working on.
Grace
I missed meeting you today! I look forward to connecting soon :)
Marco
You’re working on Pumpkin Boogie. You can omit the inner D in the opening RH vamp until you get the syncopated rhythm correct. When you’re ready to add the D back in, practice rocking back and forth from thumb on middle C to fingers 2-3 on D-Eb until the two notes do not split.
Recommended minutes to practice: 15-20 minutes a day
Parents can support by: Ensuring the syncopated rhythm is being played correctly. You can clap it with him to enforce it, or play the LH while he plays the RH if you’re able.
Daniel
You’re working on Pumpkin Boogie and Ecossaise. For Ecossaise you’re doing great just pay attention to the articulations. Lift where I’ve drawn arrows, it makes the piece dance! For Pumpkin the most important part is the rhythm. Use the written fingering rather than creating your own. Your brain will be so confused if you use different fingers every single time!
Recommended minutes to practice: 20-30 minutes a day
Parents can support by: Monitoring his fingering to be consistent. There is a LH chromatic passage in Pumpkin that is meant to be fingered 1-3-1-3. This is universal chromatic fingering so let’s do it!
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.
Piano Safari
