Zita's Cool Piano Concert: Sunday, August 23, 2015. 7:00 p.m. Save the Date!

Hot Outside?  Kids Bored?  Escape the heat and relax!  Bring the family to:

ZITA'S COOL PIANO CONCERT!

 Sunday, August 23rd, 2015 7:00 p.m.

 There will be some Mozart, Gershwin, Scott Joplin, Satie and Clara Schumann.  Also a special premier of original piano music! All played by Zita on the piano. 

And of course, refreshments will be served. We will be serving strawberry shortcake and lemonade. Yum! :)

Suggested Donation: $10/person or $25/family.  

No one turned away for lack of funds. 

Community Music Center

3550 SE Francis Street

Portland, OR 97202

For more information, please email Zita at pianoteacherpdx@yahoo.com

On Performance

Teacher Zita and Emily, a proud performer. (Emily performed the Theme from Star Wars and the them from the Largo by Dvorak)

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

--YODA, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace*

I am reflecting on the wonderful performances of my students at the end of the year recital I held at the Community Music Center on Sunday.

I sit with my students on stage until they are ready to go it alone. Even as they get more advanced, they often need me to turn pages. It is a lovely, but surreal experience. I sit and bask in their music. And often, little snippets of our conversations from our lessons come to me. Because after all, I am sitting at their side, just as if we are in a piano lesson!
 

I was so proud of each and every one of my students. And as I congratulated them, I heard some remarks about "mistakes" and "mess ups".  

Were there wrong notes played? Yes! Of course! We are, after all, imperfect humans. Not robots.

Would I enjoy a concert of robots playing each note perfectly. NO!

Because with each performance, we offer ourself up to the audience. We make ourself vulnerable. We are not only sharing the music we learned from the page, that was written by a composer, often hundreds of years before us. We also share a little bit of ourselves.  

I have heard "Fur Elise" by Beethoven played hundreds of times. Maybe thousands. And it is never played exactly the same.

What I experienced at my recital was humanity.  Beautiful people who had spent time working hard on mastering a piece of music. And then sharing this through the vessel of their human flesh to a very appreciative audience.

Please do not regret mistakes. Instead, celebrate the beautiful music between the mistakes.  

You deserve applause just for putting yourself onstage.

And I, as your teacher, applaud you from deep in my heart.

Love to you all and a happy summer!

Teacher Zita :)

*Read more at http://www.top10-best.com/y/top_10_best_yoda_quotes.html#YPrMJQTkvHbe6Vh6.99

Summer Piano Lessons

Hello Piano People!

Summer has arrived!  I saw so many kids out today on my morning walk.  Birds are singing. And today is not too hot! :)

But it is supposed to be a hotter than usual summer. For those of you who are not fond of the heat (like me), maybe even you get the summer blues, fear not!

I still have room in Blues Piano Camp at the Community Music Center.  Numbers are rather low, so I've decided to lower the age requirement. Nine year-old to twelve year-old pianists with at least a year of lessons are welome. We learn the blues scale, the twelve bar blues, the history of blues and we jam! It's a lot of fun!


If you do not meet the age requirement, or the dates of the camp are not convenient, I can teach blues in our private lessons.

I still have some spots open in my schedule.


Happy Summer!

Teacher Zita :)

End of Year Piano Recital

The Frances Street Singers and Teacher Zita

Wow! This has been a busy year!  I realize I haven't updated this blog recently. I do have a new blog called soulrunnings.blogspot.com. I talk about my training for a 5K coming up in the fall. But I also talk about music, so check it out! :)

Yesterday was the 60th Anniversary Celebration of the Community Music Center. We held performances at Reed College.  A wonderful event! Several of my students performed and it was all lovely! A special shout out to Alvin Chan, Lukas Ward, Kyle Jones, Max Thompson and Karissa Thomas! Also, the Francis Street Singers, the adult choir led by the wonderful Tracey Edson and accompanied by yours truly 11 Gypsy Dances by Brahms, and How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place from the Brahms Requiem, among other selections. It was pure magic!

I have moved back to Portland.  I am doing more performing! And now I have time for a few more students!

Speaking of which, it is nearly time for my end of year Piano Recital!

Very excited! Love recitals!


Date: June 14, 2015
Time: 4:30 and 6:00 p.m.
Place: Community Music Center

Please call, email or talk to me if you need more information.

Otherwise, enjoy the Portland heat wave and keep making music!


Teacher Zita

Sightreading

"Sight reading. The ability to read unfamiliar music with ease...All professional instrumentalists and vocalists must be able to read at sight as a matter of routine, but there are some extraordinary pianists (in particiular) who can play complicated works with great precision and fluency at sight."
(Pocket Manual of Musical Terms, Schirmer).

I am a good sightreader. Perhaps not extraordinary. But very good.
Not so good with playing by memory.  I'm working on that.

As a teacher, I would really like to encourage my students to work on becoming effective sightreaders.  Music has so many layers.  Listening with the ear. Playing smoothly and comfortably with the fingers.  Reading the visual cues with the eyes. And processing all of this in the brain!

No wonder a musical education is recommended to stimulate the whole body, brain and soul! :)

I suggest that my students, especially continuing beginning on up to advanced incorporate regular sight reading into their daily practice. The focus should be on continuing the pulse, even if a mistake is made (do not stop and correct it).  Try to keep the eyes on the musical page.

I have an acronym:

Scan
Blunder
Review
Repeat

I would be happy to share this with you at your lesson!


I have been recommending "A Dozen a Day" by Edna Mae Burnham for most of my students.  I used this as a child. They are fun, short little pieces. They encourages focusing the eyes on the music page and they emphasize rhythm.

The first one in the series is a great place to start!

But really, any piece of music is good for sight reading. Even music that is beyond one's level. When I was young, I would go through stacks of my father's music when I was bored in the summer.  Always wanting to seek his praise, or the least get better than him! :)  But soon I learned to sight read just for the joy of it. Like getting lost in a good book.

Happy Sight Reading! :)

Teacher Zita

End of the Year Piano Recital!

END OF THE YEAR PIANO RECITAL

Students of Zita Jefferson

Sunday, June 14, 2015

 

Community Music Center

Portland, OR

 

4:30 p.m. Beginning Students

6:00 p.m. Intermediate and Advanced Students

 Please bring refreshments to share at the receptions following the performance!

Community Music Center
3350 SE Francis Street
Portland, OR 97202
(CMC is located one block South of Powell Boulevard at 33rd Place in SE Portland.  There is a small parking lot with one disabled-reserved stall and ample on-street parking. 

 CMC is wheel-chair accessible except for the basement.)

(503) 823-3177 phone

 

All Aboard the Summer Piano Lesson Train! 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am working on my summer 2015 schedule! 

I am currently in the process of moving back up to Portland from Salem.

I will still be teaching in Salem, one day a week, but most of my life is in Portland.

This opens up a lot more time for lessons, since I won't be spending so much time looking at an Amtrak window, daydreaming, reading my Kindle, knitting and/or napping!  I feel like I am back from a retreat!


So I am now taking requests for summer term. Here is my proposed schedule.

• Mondays - Private home lessons in Portland.
• Tuesdays - Private home lessons in Portland
• Wednesdays - Private home lessons in Salem.
• Thursdays - Private home lessons in Portland before 2:00 p.m./Group lessons at the Community Music Center 2:30 to 7:00
• Fridays -  Private home lessons in Portland before 2:00 p.m./Group lessons at the Community Music Center 2:30 to 7:00
• Saturdays - Private lessons at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Portland. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Sundays - Day of rest. :)

In addition, I will be teaching a continuing piano blues camp at the Community Music Center June 22nd - June 26th.

If you would like more information about lessons or would like to reserve a spot, email me at: pianoteacherpdx@yahoo.com or message me on FB (https://www.facebook.com/teacherzita)
and I will give you a list of my openings.

Teacher Zita