JANUARY PROGRAM - PEI-I WANG - "READ MUSIC FAST!" SESSION INTRODUCTION | |
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Sight-reading is an essential and inevitable skill for all musicians, especially for pianists, who often face unique challenges in this area. While instrumental and vocal musicians benefit from ensemble or choral activities that offer ample opportunities for sight-reading, pianists typically work alone and yet encounter numerous situations that require excellent sight-reading skills. These situations might include playing for weekly church services, demonstrating new pieces for students, selecting repertoire from the vast piano literature, or exploring works by pedagogical composers.
Collaborative pianists, in particular, are no strangers to the demands of sight-reading, as their daily work often involves collaboration with other musicians in rehearsals, auditions, musical and operatic productions, and large ensemble performances. These scenarios provide ample opportunities to develop and refine sight-reading abilities.
This presentation explores various approaches, resources, and scientific factors that affect sight-reading skills. It will also suggest step-by-step methods and materials for improving these skills, as well as tactics for analyzing musical elements quicker and more efficiently. The goal is to help pianists gain a faster understanding of music in its early stages, ultimately enabling them to progress their technical skills, musicality, and artistry in a shorter period of time.
This presentation not only benefits performers and students in their learning trajectory but also supports educators in refining their teaching methodologies. In conclusion, the advancement of sight-reading skills elevates the enjoyment and fluency of music reading and expands the scope of career opportunities in diverse roles of pianists.
Presenter Biography
A captivating pianist, Pei-I Wang is Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. She has performed as a featured soloist with the Illinois Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, Sangamon Valley Civic Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra. She has received awards in various competitions and scholarships, such as the Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition, the Mauro Paolo Monopoli Prize Asian Auditions, the Vivaldi International Music Competition, the UIUC Concerto Competition, the 21st-Century Piano Commission Competition with composer John Ritz. Additionally, she was named a Gilmore International Keyboard Festival Fellow and received outstanding young musicians scholarships from leading music corporations, including Yamaha and Kawai.
As a keen advocate of contemporary music and rare masterworks, Wang has performed new music at the Midwest Composers Symposium, the Electronic Music Festival at the University of Louisville, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra “Around the Town” and “Sunday at Six” Concert Series, the San Antonio Composers Alliance Concert Series, RED NOTE New Music Festival, and a commissioned contemporary concert at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, among others. Her recording of Carl Czerny’s four-handed piano fantasies with pianist Sam Gingher was released in September 2020 under the Naxos label. Wang’s commitment to music extends beyond the concert hall as she actively engages in community outreach. She was awarded the Community Arts Access grant by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Decatur Area Arts Council in Summer 2024, resulting a concert tour to the disability facilities, senior homes, and local community-centers. In Fall 2022, she received a Recreational Music Making grant by the National Piano Foundation, initiating a community piano group class for the Decatur community.
Wang is a frequent adjudicator, performer, clinician, and presenter. She was invited to present at the state conferences of the Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky State Music Teachers Associations. She serves as the Principal Keyboardist of the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra and the Acting Principal Keyboardist at the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Currently, she serves as the Competitions Director of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association and President of the Decatur Area Music Teachers Association. Wang teaches and performs at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, Tunghai University International College of Taiwan, and directs the Millikin Piano Camp during the summer.
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2025 MIDWEST KEYBOARD PERFORMERS CHALLENGE | |
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Sponsored by NWSMTA
Online Registration is now open. Click here to register.
Calling all piano teachers! MKPC is back for another year of fun music sharing for your students, their families and friends! Your students have been practicing all year, and their participation in MKPC will allow them to show off their hard work in a low stress, pressure free atmosphere and earn points to shop at the Awards Store for goods, medals, and even cash! The more pieces they learn, the more they play, the more points they receive. Preparing for competitions? Recitals? AIM exams? Or just playing for fun? Try out pieces in front of a supportive audience, get constructive feedbacks from friendly judges, AND have a good time! No comparison, no competition, no pressure, and no stress. Set their own goals, play ANY pieces they want and as many pieces they would like.
Music from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, or Contemporary periods. Music by women composers and composers of diversity, student compositions, pieces from Method Books, duets with siblings and friends, and concertos with teachers.
New this year: Scale Challenge for Bonus Points
· To encourage practicing scales, teacher will submit a list of up to four scales (key, number of octaves, speed)
· A judge will pick one scale from the list
· Student must play it perfectly on the first try for one bonus point
· Total of three lists can be submitted per student to earn up to 3 bonus points
· Scale Challenge will be held in a separate room, not part of the recitals
DATES
January 1, 2025 Registration open
February 1, 2025 Deadline to register
February 10, 2025 Late deadline ($35 late fee)
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2025 Event Date
LOCATION: Harper College in Palatine, IL
NO AGE LIMIT
REGISTRATION
- $25 first piece, $10 for each subsequent piece (3 method book levels 1-3
pieces will count as one piece, 2 method book levels 4-5 pieces will count
as 1 piece)
- $35 late fee for the first piece, $15 for each subsequent piece, if
registration is received after deadline
Questions? Email Brenda Huang at midwestkpc@gmail.com
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My sister gave me this book recently, and I’m thinking of giving it to my graduates. I have the hard copy, but it’s also available on Kindle. I think the NWSMTA library was disbanded before it was published, so a lot of teachers may never have heard of it.
Year of Wonder: Classical Music to Enjoy Day by Day, by Clemency Burton Hill; HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.
The title refers not to the specific Classical Era of music but to timeless music from all eras. There is a short discussion (one paragraph to one page) explaining why a song was selected for the day. There is also an Apple playlist, but I like listening to several versions, so I find the videos on my own.
I was given this book July 26 and started reading the book at that date. If I miss a date, I can always catch up, but it’s not recommended. If there is a reference to an earlier date, I can go back and read that page, too, but I don’t have to. I figure it will probably take me a couple of years to read all the dates, but I’ll be revisiting great music along the way!
Another book, which was the basis of a recent television series, is not specifically music related, but the chapter on Iceland is a must read for everyone, especially teachers.
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World; Eric Weiner; Twelve, Hachette Book Group, 2009.
This book discusses how different cultures strive for happiness, and the chapter on Iceland deals with creativity for creativity’s sake. It reinforces the idea that it is the attempt to try something artistic not the final product that is most important. (I could go on and on about how reading this book in 2021 has changed my life, but that’s for another day.)
Colleagues’ Collection has been a wonderful addition to a wonderful newsletter. Thanks for your great comments each month.
Diane Adamek
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Jon Baptiste is a young Grammy and Award-winning musician. I find myself quoting him, to my students. For instance, “Music is a gift. It is a way to connect, to communicate, and to find joy in life.”
“In a live performance, it’s a collaboration with the audience; you ride the ebb and flow of the crowd’s energy.”
“Nobody else has your specific talents, your interests, your skills, or your perspective. If you channel that kind of authentic expression, you bring things into the world that nobody else ever has or will.”
“Jazz is like the universe: it’s been expanding since its creation and it’s connected to everything.”
He says that Beethoven’s music is filled with the polyrhythms and feeling of the blues. I love to hear him talk about how music shapes his life. We, teachers, know that to be true.
He formed a band with Juilliard peers named Stay Human. The name is drawn from the belief that human interaction during a live performance can uplift humanity, in the midst of the “plug in, tune out” nature of modern society.
Stay Human recorded their album MY N.Y. entirely in the New York City Subway trains. Baptiste was looking for a way to connect with people. He feels it is now more important than ever for us to reintroduce what our previous generations used music for. The world sees music as entertainment. That is one element of it, but music is far deeper and wide-ranging. When I watch him, I hear the music escape from his body even in his speech.
His own story, along with his wife Suleika Jaouad’s is portrayed, as she fights leukemia, in the film American Symphony. This is a wonderful film that shows the struggle for health and the healing potential for music. The music in the film is full of creativity and inspiration. It will encourage us all to push the limits of music as we know it and reach beyond them. It can be seen on Netflix.
Jon Batiste stated music is a real form of connection to a higher power at its’ greatest; music was a form of community that brought people together and gave them a common purpose. We always talk about improvisation, and it really is one of the only forms of music that exemplifies the American experiment putting all these different cultures into one country and coexisting and trying to create beautiful music together.
When Batiste’s band, Stay Human, was trying to figure out if they were good enough to make a living performing, they first went to a club and offered to play for free. When they realized the audience responded to their playing and they enjoyed performing, they knew they were ready to perform. I now suggest that before a recital, my students find a place and people to play for to test it for themselves.
Speaking of jazz being an inspiration, it’s not too soon to think of inviting students to work on a song for "All that Jazz" in June. It is okay to be creative and to have fun. The audience is full of energy.
Deborah Lynch
Newsletter Editor
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Northwest Suburban Music Teachers Association | https://www.nwsmta.org | | | | |
