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
Is Erin Your Teacher?
Sign up now to get your weekly assignments delivered, and never lose your homework sheet again!
Thursday Oct 27 Lessons – Erin P
Hello lovely people! Hope you have a lovely and safe Halloween :)
Fiona
You’re working on all of The Juggler this week. Remember all the crossing over notes are staccato and bouncy. Really good job!
Next week we’re going to tackle the Kite song on the next few pages, you can take a few peeks at it. How does playing 2nds with pedal sound different than 3rds with pedal? (The first gets muddier way quicker).
Recommended practice time: 20 minutes daily
Marita
I look forward to connecting with you next week <3
Sara
Awesome job preparing ALL your scales! They were nice and steady which is great. Spend time on your harmonic/melodic minors this week to get more fluent.
This week with Arctic Voices let’s focus on making it a connected performance. You made biggg growth on this last week so now pay attention to the dynamics, stretch the periods between notes a bit more where applicable. Make yourself see the “Northern Lights” from your performance. The opening LH notes can be thicker and take up a bit more space and time.
Recommended practice time: 30-35 minutes daily
Julian
You’re working on My Daydream this week, as much as you can. The half circles at the top of the page are to show what would be drawn if you had a laser pointer attached to the top of your wrist like an Iron Man gauntlet. You go *up* to a tall pinky to help it out. A collapsed pinky doesn’t play well. Keep your wrists loose throughout this whole beautiful piece in G.
Awesome job identifying notes today with me, enjoy your Halloween handout and remember what it says on Halloween night ;)
Recommended practice time: 20 minutes daily
Sina
You’re working on making The Planets extra beautiful this week. Use your damper pedal (the right one if you have multiple) and play quietly. This is to create the spacey feel. Pay extra attention to lines 3 and 4.
The next pages were a lot of theory talk, I know. Look over page 41 and sing the “play, whole, whole, half, play, whole, whole, half” to understand the concept of the mathematical equation that makes major scales :) half steps mean that there will be no notes between those notes on the keyboard (E and F for example, or F# and G). whole steps mean that there’s a note between them on the piano. (C and D for example, or G# and A#). We will review this tons, don’t worry.
Recommended practice time: 20-25 minutes daily
September 17 Saturday Lessons – Erin P
Hello everyone! Hope the 2nd week of school treated everyone well:)
Jadon
You’re working on My Heart Will Go On. You’re exploring the first page. I would take it hands seperate for the most part. You are aware of the LH harmonies and can hear the song in your ear which is fantastic. Try to use a consistent fingering whenever possible, if you find fingering you like, write it in! Don’t assume you’ll remember :)
How much to practice: 20 minutes a day
How parents can support: Ask him what key this piece is in (E Major) and if he can name all the sharps. What is the harmony in the LH? I wrote some of it in, but prompt to see if he’s making the connection.
Grace
You’re working on Humoresque. Focus on keeping the LH ostinato light and bouncy and the RH melody shining through. When playing the entire piece through, notice the DS al coda signs. Imagine what kind of silent film this might be soundtracking and use your dynamics to illustrate it. Lovely to meet you and discuss your musical goals!
How much to practice: 15-20 minutes a day.
Marco
You’re working on putting Pumpkin Boogie hands together. The C’s are the only RH notes that get to play with the LH, the other notes are always in between all lonesome. Another thing is the dynamics, which add to the spooky mood. As the pattern moves up the octaves it gets quieter and quieter, almost like the pumpkin is moving further away! Also review the first 4 measures of Haunted Harp. Ensuring your hands are in the right spot (LH 3 on F# and RH 1 on C) sets you up for success. Try this with the pedal down for extra creep factor!
How much to practice: 15-20 minutes
How parents can support: Dynamics reminders! He does them immediately when prompted. Before he even starts playing, thinking through the “roadmap” of what story we want to tell the audience is a great habit.
Daniel
You’re working on Pumpkin Boogie in the polishing stages (dynamics, same as your brother) and Eccosaise. We’re taking Eccosaise hands seperate this week to focus on LH fingering and working smarter, not harder (ie. not moving our hand around when it doesn’t need to). Doing a simple 5 finger scale with the LH is also how you should warmup this week, with focus on strengthening LH pinky.
How much to practice: 20-25 minutes
How parents can support: LH independance exercises. Anytime he’s noodling a pattern with his RH, ask him to do the same with his left.
Isabela
You’re working on the I Like Song. Saying the lyrics aloud as we play, or the finger numbers are both beneficial. Any noodling around on the piano is fantastic this week, just remember to keep your loose, supported wrist, and strong foundation in your body. Practice tapping on your kitchen table with rounded fingers like we did in the lesson, and watch to make sure that last finger joint isn’t collapsing. Great work today!
How much to practice: 5-10 minutes a day
How parents can support: Parents can sit at the piano all slouchy and collapsed and ask her to “be the teacher” and tell you what you’re doing wrong. Think strong proud body, and nice relaxed arms, and strong finger joints.
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
