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 27 Lessons – Erin P
I’m loving this weather, not too hot but nice and sunny :) Enjoy the week everyone.
Liam
Duel of the Fates – the key signature is E minor which has F#s, the most commonly used accidental is the D#. Don’t rush it, take it easy.
The Matador – ensure there is a big contrast between the texture of the A and B sections. A is sharper and bouncier, B is songlike and thicker.
3 against 2 – but now the LH is the triplets and the RH is the 8th notes. Practice drumming on your lap lots first and go slow.
Here is your performance of Star Wars today :) Enjoy and know that only people with this link can view the video.
Marco
Never Gonna Give You Up – Refamiliarize yourself with the RH melody at the chorus. This week focus on learning as much of the LH as possible. Now that you’ve marked in the opening note of each section as being F, and you know the bottom line of the bass clef is G, you should have no trouble reading the LH notes.
Terrible Trolls – great work! Do some extra practice of just the RH doing the C minor motive to get it nice and even. Check your notes in the last line.
Young Ludwig – nice and steady, I’m impressed! This week let’s get the parts overlapping in the 2nd line.
Marita
*New* Far Away – All black keys! Whenever it says 8va it is typically creating a far away echo sound, so dynamics are very important here. I would begin hands together right away as the LH is not tricky.
Heavenly Blue – repetition repetition repetition! You’ve got all the foundation laid, we just got to get it more fluent, practice will do this. Do 4 bars at a time.
Angelfish – nice! Explore it with the pedal at home and have fun making a beautiful dramatic performance like the recording we watched today. The top of page 2 is where it gets louder and more exciting, so make sure I hear that.
Sara
Technique – great!! Very nice and steady. Think shaping (start quiet, grow, get quieter again) everytime now, and ensure you’re always making a nice warm round tone by playing to the bottom of the keys.
Arabesque – when doing the crescendo in the opening line, grow lots with the RH but keep the LH relatively the same the whole way through, this will make the dynamics much more noticeable.
In the Spirit – at the very end before you go back to the beginning, get a little quieter so we can tell that B section is coming to a close and then the A section pops back in.
Sina
*New* 1st page of Tilt-a-Whirl – G position. Fill in the two notes when the LH crosses over, they are F# and G. Pay close attention to which notes are staccato and which are not and play accordingly.
C Major scale hands together – the fingering is like always, but it’s tricky to get used to the thumb under moment happening at different times. Notice here how the circled notes are the pivot points for where the thumb transition happens. 
Saturday March 18 MAKE-UP Lessons – Erin P
Hope everyone’s March break was awesome!
Jadon
Great sightreading today on The Swing. Please now read through the remaining phrases and practice it for next week. Focus on playing the RH louder than the LH.
Julian
*New* The Queen’s Royal Entrance. This piece uses D and C major triads. At the very end, an F major and E minor triad are also used. This piece’s form is like a sandwich: same part beginning and ending, played loud and crisp, with a contrasting part in the middle that is smooth, quiet and uses pedal. Present this musical sandwich in your playing.
Your new scale is B Major. The last of the white key scales for you! It only has two white keys: B and E. RH fingering is same as always: 123 12345. LH is different: 4321 4321.
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


