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 15th Lessons – Erin P
Liam
Missed you today :) Continue to explore other keys with your new scale articulation patterns. I’m excited to hear Imperial March, Stars and Stripes, and Storm at Midnight next week.
Marita
Swiss Cuckoo – Nice work! The last 3 bars are the only place we need to really loop and practice to get the hands coming together at the right pace now. Add in some dynamics to really add to the playfulness. Echos when ideas repeat and a exciting loud finish!
Mystery Ride – Woohoo!! Nice work on the rhythm! Check the 3rds in m12, they should all be major 3rds. Keep on pushing ahead, phrases repeat until the end so you know all the notes already :)
Bb major scale – See fingering below :) Movement should be lateral and the thumb under movements should create no tension in the hand.

Sara
G minor triads – they look fine! Perhaps try not to “zig zag” in and out of the black keys when the Bbs appear and remain “further in” to the keys.
Remember to repeat the top note on your triads at the turnaround point.
Pieces are sounding really great! Sonatina – the most important thing is to project that opening melody over the accompanying Alberti bass and to project a more mellow mode. Listen to this recording.
As a whole I’m really loving the dynamics (In the Spirit and Clowns had awesome range) you’re bringing to your playing and the examiners will too!
Continue sightreading at home, interval identification is going well, as is melody playback.
Saturday May 6th Lessons – Erin P
Spring is here! What a gorgeous day, enjoy the weekend!
Isabella
Bells of Great Britain – This song creates a beautiful soundscape of when you hear a bell tower in the city. Play the first line once loud, then again softly, and then climb the keyboard playing CE getting softer and softer like we’re walking further away from the bells. Count in 1-2-3.
Come On Tigers – *New Concept* the quarter rest! This squiggly line means 1 beat of silence. Be sure you are counting 1-2-3-4 and that there is one beat of silence when a rest appears.
F Major scale. This scale has one black key – Bb. The LH fingering is same as always (54321 321) but the RH is a little special, it goes 1234 1234.
Jadon
Today we did sightreading and learned a simple 1 page piece as well as ear training since I just saw you on Thursday.
Thursday work continues to be homework: “Canon x Memories – explore slowly hands together with recording and without, making note of which notes land hands together. I also found help playing the Memories RH melody along with the actual memories song by Maroon Five. Don’t worry about taking any of this up to tempo yet, just learn how it feels in your hands very securely first at a slower tempo and it will be easy to speed it up.”
Grace
Goldberg Variations – very nice! I like the diminuendo you did in the sequence we talked about last week. You only had two spots that tripped up your memory (measures 24 and 30).
Marco
Never Gonna Give You Up – We are now adding the LH to the chorus. It always plays at the same rhythm as the RH does for “give you up” “let you down” “run around” “desert you”. Practice these little isolated circles Hands Together until you can do it consistently. Then we will begin adding the rest of the RH melody in between.
Indiana Jones – We are playing measures 5-13 this week hands seperate. *Notice that both hands are in the treble clef!* I have written in finger 1s when you have to move your RH. Have fun with it and trust your ear!
Daniel
Formula pattern – fingering when beginning a new octave, set yourself up with finger 4 so you can stay doing the original proper fingering. Be very specific and picky with yourself, as soon as you find yourself doing the wrong fingering and random stuff to make it to the next note, STOP and reset. Your brain remembers your mistakes! Here’s a great video if you need a midweek pickup.
Allegretto – Great! Use fingers 3 and 2 for your trills and ensure your fingers are curved. This is due to the mechanics of the human body, it’s hard to go fast when tense and long, but short and relaxed is easy!
Ditty of Yimeng Mountain – Nice fix on the fingering! For the rolled chords, they need to be on the beat (imagine a harpist is given just the treble clef to play, so they will definitely be playing that chord right on beat 3, and so should you!). Go slow to feel how it will feel and then you can speed back up to current.
The Wind – woohoo!! Very impressive! Work to eliminate any hesitation in the 3/4 part as you find the next broken chord. Play up the dramatic story of the wind as much as you did today when prompted.
Julian
Whirling Leaves – both pages. Isolate the top line of page 2 for extra practice as we agreed it’s the trickiest spot. Have fun adding pedal if you like also.
C major scale hands together – Go slowly and ensure the fingering you’re doing is accurate in each hand.
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.
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