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What to expect during your piano lesson:

Beginning each lesson, student will be asked to warm up their fingers by playing finger exercises in the technique book. These are daily drills to build up dexterity and independence of fingers as well as touch sensitivity to the piano keys.
Practicing the elements of good technique helps the student to avoid thinking of piano as merely pushing buttons in a mechanical fashion and helps to develop the emotional, kinetic and aesthetic artistry with elements such as:

Building smooth, flowing musical sentences using the wrist and arm movements
Delivering dramatic, heavy accents for impact with the audience
Bouncing lightly across the notes to give the effect of falling raindrops or popping popcorn
Slowing building the beginning of a soft musical phrase towards a loud high point, then gradually decreasing volume to its original soft touch.

Following this warm-up procedure, students may be asked to tap left hand/right hand rhythms to one of their songs in their lap, or go over theory & note speller homework, ear training and sight reading materials before starting to play assigned songs from the lesson and solo book materials. The elements covered might possibly involve:

Counting, Adding, Dividing, Multiplying, Timing and spatial concepts
Coordination of the rhythms in the left hand in synchronization with the right hand.
How to measure the distance between notes on the musical staff of lines and spaces.
Naming the notes of the lines and spaces and finding the key on the piano.
Recognizing repetitions and patterns in the music for faster memorization.
Recognizing song structure forms, composers and styles from historical periods.
Understanding what the times during history might have been like during the time of the piece;
Relating similarities and differences in our society and music today.
Learning how songs evolved from modal scales to its present day forms of major & minor scales.
Playing melodies with major, minor, diminished, augmented chords.

Lesson and solo materials would include the same elements as above in greater length and detail. Students will be asked to play for a “sticker test” when they feel ready to be “evaluated”. The student must display mastery of their skills of all the elements involved in the song. For example, student is required to play the piece twice in a row with no mistakes at the appropriate tempo, volume, etc.)

What to expect during your voice lessons:

  Your first round of voice lessons will serve to explore your awareness, knowledge and application of how the voice mechanism works. This awareness is an ongoing process which will be continually weaved into your lessons as we work on song material.
  First and foremost, we will learn how to breathe deeply for relaxation purposes, as well as learning to take a quick catch breath in an efficient manner for faster passages. The first series of vocal exercises are to release tensions from your body, realign your posture and learn to produce a relaxed sound. As we accomplish these foundational tasks, we will also correct any pitch problems as they arise. Ear training follows as we strive each session to sing higher and lower than the previous session till we discover our highest and lowest possible singing range. This knowledge of our range will enable more constructive choices of songs, finding the right key and learning how to change a piece of music into the correct key that fits your vocal range.
  As we build on our repertoire of song material by arranging them into the best keys for your vocal range, we will continue to work on other aspects of the voice, including intensive ear training, sight singing, music theory and vocal techniques. As more voice exercises are added to increase flexibility, power, range, pitch control, rhythm accuracy and advanced breathing techniques, we continue to raise the bar on finding more difficult songs to sing. Mature students who are advanced in their singing techniques begin to explore the tonal quality of the voice, the depth, resonances, character, mood, style of music and work on increasing their musical vocabulary of musical notation.
  After the first six months of voice training, preparation for performance techniques begins. As the student prepares his performance material, memorization techniques and stage fright issues are addressed and worked through by more advanced relaxation techniques. Creative sessions are worked through to find the best presentation for the chosen songs by utilizing props, costumes, choreography, group singing and microphone techniques. Students are encouraged to practice in front of a mirror or videotape themselves for later review.
  There are three or four seasonal performance tours provided by your lesson program, located throughout the Austin and Round Rock area to gain performance experience. Each performance tour consists of approximately eight performance opportunities at area nursing homes, hospitals and shopping areas. Students are to pick three performances to attend for practice in front of an audience. The last tour date booking is the FINAL CONCERT for invited guests; i.e., parents, family and friends to attend. HIghlights of the Final Concert are editied from videotape to display on the studio website, www.confidentartist.com. Many of the voice students are involved in theatrical, choral & solo competitions through community theatres, churches and school organizations. Wise advice and tips are given throughout the preparation time to teach the student how to pace themselves to be ready for the audition or competition. Although most students achieve high ratings in such competitions, they are also taught how to handle criticisms and they learn to extract positive lessons from the audition experience, regardless of the win/lose outcome.