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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JUNE RCM EXAM REGISTRATION IS OPEN. Liam (lvl 3), Sara (lvl 4), Marco (lvl 1) and Daniel (lvl 2) please register via this link.
My teacher code is #130747. Select June Practical exam, then Piano. Pick whatever date is convenient for you within the time frame. I will see it come up on my end when you register. Thanks so much!! This is exciting :)
Liam
*REMIND ME to give you your Bingo prize next week, I can’t believe I forgot again!*
Russian Medley – Both pieces hands together. When you get to the second piece, you just internalize the 1-2-3 pulse for it to feel right.
Harlequinade – Slowly begin hands together. I like the thickness of your 8th and quarter notes. Nice work with the fingering accuracy.
Daily Sightreading book – complete the first week, one per practice session and bring it back to lesson :)
Bm scale extra practice, Remember LH B starts with finger 4.
Minor triad patterns – Bm, Dm, Fm. Fingers 135 (and 125 occasionally)
Jadon
Canon x Beautiful in White – Beautiful in White melody over 151 bass in C. Once secure, try playing with recording. You can refer to this too. https://musescore.com/user/1569821/scores/833771
Katarina
Please play your C Major scales with both hands with proper fingering.
Please prepare Wish for Fish and the following two pieces on the next page for next week in your Wunderkeys book.
Sara
Maple Leaf Rag – Really really nice. Do some isolated LH work in the trio to secure the big leaps. I really liked your tone, balance, and dynamics today.
Lullaby of Birdland – Very nice! Play RH to a steady pulse to build confidence and phrasing. Could use a YouTube swing beat, or a metronome, or your LH tapping the pulse.
*New* Ballade – page 1 is a good goal. Articulation is important.
Marco
On Your Mark – Excellent job!! Spot practice the RH 8th note measures more and begin putting pg 1 hands together.
Indiana Jones – HT great work. More work on RH bridge. Also familiarize yourself with LH bridge chords.
A minor natural and harmonic scale.
Morning Fanfare – HT until star. Great job!! You will notice that the only RH note by itself is the little tiny 16th note. A steady tempo is most important here, your LH will be like a machine.
Daniel
Etude in F Major – nice work! Playing quieter will help to eliminate tension in the hand and create a more fitting sound for this piece. Trust yourself!
C and G major formulas. Remember to use finger 4 whenever a hand is playing more than one octave. Thumbs should always be on the root if you’re continuing in that direction.
*New* Atacama Dessert (pg 22-23) – measures 1-8. You will notice this is a 4 bar phrase repeated in a higher octave. Notice the tied G in the LH. Play quietly and think of your thumb and pinky in the RH as a teeter totter while playing, we want rotation in the wrist. Listen here.
Marita
Theme and Variations by Krebs – nice work on the theme. Now let’s learn variation 1.
Endgame page 1 – Great reading today! This whole page has the same chord progression, and uses syncopation to sound exciting. Count carefully. IF YOU LOSE IT, FIND IT HERE.
Saturday December 16 Lessons – Erin P
Happy Holidays everyone! I’m very proud of each of you <3 take care and see you soon!
Hakim
*New* G Major scale – G A B C D E F# G. Same fingering as your C scale, both hands are the same as always.
C major triads – keep going with these, being sure to use your thumb and pinky for the outside notes of each triad position. CEG EGC GCE CEG. Broken and solid
My Ordinary Life – the numbers written above the staff are finger numbers and are there for when you tuck your thumb under or move to a new position. Make sure all the notes are played staccato.
Shakira
Keep working on your C Major scale with both hands with correct fingering. RH = 123 12345. LH = 54321 321.
C Major triads – triad patterns use the same 3 notes over and over in a different order. This will go CEG EGC GCE CEG. Use your thumb and pinky for the outside notes always, and finger 2 or 3 for the middle one. Broken means to play one note a time in the direction you’re going, and solid means to play all 3 notes at once (practice it both ways).
Noreet
C Major scale – now you know how to do this with both hands! RH = 123 12345. LH = 54321 321.
In your new folder I printed a Choose your Own Adventure style piece where you can play it as written (all white notes) and it will sound minor (sad). Or you can add #s to all the Fs, creating F#s, and it will sound major (happy).
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
