Seasons of Piano Lessons

7 January 20217 January 2021Learning music, Parents, Self-care, Self-expression, Soulful Life, Wellbeing

The Camellias Will Be Here Soon

There was a different colour on the branch. Something different from the usual shades of green and brown.
A different shape too.
Oh, it’s a bud!
Oh?
In December?
Let’s think about that. When we arrived here in late March 2020, this camellia shrub was fully in bloom. Amassed with champagne pink flowers. Such a delight to see from my Atelier window and to walk past in and out of our cottage.
Now it’s January.
The camellias began to bud in December so there will gradually be more of them and they will all gradually grow into flowers that blossom sometime before March. aha!
An absolute delight to look forward to.

Since March (well before that too) I’ve been in hibernation.
As you know it’s been rather quiet at Purple Tempo.
I’ve been attending to personal family matters that frankly have required most of me.
I’m in the season of caring for elderly parents.
Fortunately, it is something that is shared with my siblings so my role ( after two years ) is now clearly defined and manageable.
It’s just that at times it is overwhelming emotionally.
My strong support team assist and guide me so I stay afloat.
Part of that team is my Bach Flower Essences. They are truly wonderful for bringing me back into balance.
And of course, my biggest support is my piano, my flute and my music.
When I play, especially piano, it aligns me emotionally and energetically and fills my heart.

Which season are you in as a Musician?

As a child, I recall experiencing the joy and wonder of exploring and improvising on the piano at age 10.
I spent many happy hours playing through whole albums of pop music in the long Christmas holidays.
I hadn’t been taught that – I simply explored what was there. Lots of sheet music for me to play.
There was so much to learn in playing through the albums cover to cover.
It was a big part of the spark to improvise. I took parts of the bass line (left hand) and made up the right hand.
Voila! I had a new song.
This is what artists do. They borrow parts of something good and build on it and make it their own. Not plagiarism, but pure Invention. And Reinvention. And Reinvention.
In the Xmas holidays or any holiday, this is an ideal thing to do in the learning and exploring season of growth as a musician. Actually, it’s simply exploratory play and is good in any season! (Reminder to self – this is a lot of fun).

What do you think the seasons of learning are for a Musician?

Now, in January 2021 I am ready to return to guiding growing musicians, in any season.
Piano lessons and flute lessons at Seaforth, Northern Beaches, Sydney ( or online) resume from Monday, February 8, 2021.
Email Pamela here

Play Piano

20 November 202020 November 2020Achievement, Kids, Learning music, Lifestyle, Parents, Self-care, Self-expression, Soulful Life, Wellbeing

My students learn how to play the piano in a way where they use it to express themselves and improve the quality of their life, as well as to play with accurate technique.

Playing the piano is a great medium for expressing feelings and over time this can become a worthy part of your personal support system.

Music reaches where no words can!

Given that the majority of people learning the piano don’t want to become a highbrow pianist or soloist, and that doesn’t really interest me anyway, my approach is to encourage a practical heartfelt soulful method of self-expression.

The piano can be the means of an improved social life, retreat from the world (including corporate life), coming home to your senses, a personal meditative spiritual practice, or even a way to bring listening pleasure to loved ones.

It is a truly special gift to be able to ‘reach’ deeply inside someone’s heart and give the joy of music – your music!

Gentle Discipline

12 November 202019 November 2020Achievement, Learning music, Parents

Gentle Discipline

This morning I am curious about gentle discipline.

I know that usually when we think about discipline, it comes with ideas of being rigid in the pursuit of something. Being unbending. Unyielding. Tough on ourselves to serve an outcome.

What if, in the pursuit of the desired outcome, we could be gentle in our discipline?
What if, we could stay with the vision of what we want, and, be gentle?

I have noticed that when I am harsh with myself, the product of that harshness has an edge to it.
This is not something I prefer.

When I am gentle and coax myself, nurture myself through to achieve what needs to happen, it gets done.
It also comes with love and pride and the product of it has joy and satisfaction surrounding it.

Recently I bought a beautiful pottery bowl – handmade by an Australian. www.ClaybyTina.com
It is a thing of beauty.
Every time I see it, I smile – yes I believe beauty is important – for our spirit and for our soul to elevate our existence out of the merely mundane.
I am certain that she absolutely loves throwing pots on a wheel.
It emanates from that bowl.
Side by side, her bowl next to the mass-produced one I bought in a supermarket, it is patently clear she was feeling love and care and her spirit was engaged when she made her bowl.
It also feels very good to be supporting a local person producing beautiful things.

In our music practise, it is inevitable that there will be times that we simply don’t feel like it.
It is a given.
In the early stages of becoming a musician, practise needs to be consistent and frequent to build the skill – muscle memory and brain connections and the multiple new skills involved.

How can we be gentle with ourselves in the pursuit of our new skill?
How can we produce our thing of beauty and it be embued with love and care and spirit?
How can it be a routine that not only builds our skill but sustains and nourishes and nurtures us?
This is the feeling I have from Tina’s beautiful bowl.

Pamela Jordan is a Professional Piano Teacher Mentor in Seaforth, Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia.
#northernbeaches #pianolessons

Email Pamela CLICK HERE