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 February 15 Lessons – Erin P
Have a great week everyone <3 Enjoy the snow!
Liam – please register for exam, teacher number 130747
Melody in F by Rubenstein – all. Nice work, check out the written fingering because it will make legato playing much easier. Keep working through the B section as it goes through different key centres.
*New* At Night at the River – Listen to this beautiful performance of it. The LH has many tied notes, and also specific fingering to make the legato smoothness possible.
Jadon
Canon x Beautiful in White – Break the melody into 4 bar chunks so it’s easier to make progress rather than trudging through it all the way each time. Isolate the final two chords C to G of the RH 8th note part and get the LH changing chords in time.
Katarina
Bear Hug Brunch – both pieces. I would like to play the game with you next week so bring your book :)
Contrary motion C major scale – Place both thumbs on C and perform your standard scale fingering of 123 12345 going outwards from each other to the pinkies and back in. You will notice the same finger is playing on each hand at the same time.
Sara
Maple Leaf Rag – Very nice! We will record again soon. Great dynamics and tempo.
*New* Satin Doll – Listen to Duke’s Orchestra play it here. Have a very laid back feel to your swing.
Take the A Train – Nice! I like the thicker LH and I LOVE THE 3RD PAGE! You sound so cool and confident playing the solo.
March in D major by CPE Bach – great work! Be sure to observe the rests in the LH of the B section. You can use the LH notes as a roadmap of where the sequences appear and can get louder each time. Very nice steady tempo.
Same intervals link as always.
Marco
Minuet in C – All HT. Very nice job. Be sure to count quarter notes in the opening line. Watch your tied notes and great job with the fingering!
Indiana Jones – Woohoo! Do some extra practice on the last two lines of the piece, where it goes to Ab major.
Grand Day Out – add in LH root notes. I didn’t hear this today.
*New* Superman Theme – Learn melody HS. For the opening when you have to do an octave, be sure to use finger 3 for the G in the middle. If there are 3 8th notes beamed together with a small 3 in the middle above them, they are triplets (3 notes that fit in quarter note, blue-ber-ry). Play the top notes right now to create the melody, and it’s totally okay to understand the rhythms through listening, as long as you understand its relationship to the main pulse.
Now you know all your technical requirements, keep them sharp, I will ask for any of them randomly from now until June.
Daniel
Pierrot Skipping – All. Practice in phrases, as you suggested. Staccato will make it easier as you won’t have to stretch your hand, just bounce to the next location. The notes with a tenuto above them (looks like a dash -) are accented by being long and thick. There should be a big contrast between the light staccato and the thick tenuto.
Formula pattern – today was the most accurate fingering of this I’ve seen from you, very nice job! Now put it in G major, watch for F#s.
Atacama Dessert – All. This one can also be practice in 4 bar phrases. You will notice that the same shapes are often used, just in different keys
Marita
Prelude V – We did an awesome improv using this as inspiration. The beginning has a C major key center, but later D major is the new key center and the melody is repeated with those notes. Great counting with the dotted rhythms.
Greta – please register for your exam, teacher number 130747
Red Satin Jazz – Nice work! Your swing feel is very natural and pleasing to the ear. Great job with the 6ths as well. Fix some counting.
*New* The Snake – This is an “invention” which is like a Canon, where the hands copy each other and overlap. This week, have the hands take turns playing their melodies, but don’t worry about overlapping them. Just play the melody with the RH, pause, and play the same melody with the LH. Pay attention to fingering.
Now you know all your technical requirements, keep them sharp, I will ask for any of them randomly from now until June.
Saturday January 27 Lessons – Erin P
Hakim
All My Fellas – Keep chipping away at it slowly. Feel free to write in note names, if you do it it still counts as learning (if I write them in it’s kind of cheating;)
*New* Owl in the Night – This is in C minor position and has some F#s used too. The excessive amount of dynamic markings tells us exactly how to tell an interesting story with this piece. You will notice that each little chunk of melody starts quietly and then grows as it reaches its highest note, and then gets quieter too. Perhaps the owl flies closer to us, and then further away. Listen here.
C Major triad pattern – play them descending more so you get more practice doing it. RH make sure every group of 3 notes starts with your pinky when descending. LH every triad should start with your thing if you’re descending.
Happy Birthday lead sheet – great work! I’m very impressed with the voice leading you did (choosing a C Major inversion so you didn’t have to jump your hand around so far). This week add in the Bb triad too.
Maria
Chinese Kite – first 4 lines. Great work! Keep plugging away, but noticing the articulation more.
Tattoo – Both pages.
Viva La Vida – 4 bar groove HT, learn RH melody separately. I think once you can play the LH comfortably, you should play it along with the recording so you can hear how the melody fits with it.
Shakira
Contrary motion C Major scale – Both thumbs start sharing middle C and then perform their one octave outwards. You will notice the same fingers are playing in each hand like a mirror, and the thumb under tuck happens at the same time too. Go slow and steady for evenness and control.
Noreet
Contrary Motion C major scale – keep at this. This week your goal is to be smooth and without hesitation, even at a slow tempo. Remember to only tuck your thumb under once within the octave.
C’s Rock – This piece uses all 3 Cs. Notice which notes are staccato and which aren’t. This piece is very short and simple, so I expect to hear it prepared and confident next week. You can play along here as well.
Grace
https://www.rhythmrandomizer.com/ You can look at rhythms here to familiarize yourself with counting them out, because you can make the program perform the rhythm as well.
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
