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Piano Garden Studio

Creative repertoire-driven approach to Piano, Music Theory, Audio/Music Technology

Private lessons with Katia Karkkainen, MFA

510 Anglewood Dr Lenoir City Tennessee 37772;  

kateaudio@gmail.com; 615 810 7817 (call, text)

Classical piano + contemporary chord-based (+improvisation)
- learn technical and sonic foundations of classical music and play any music you wish

What ages do I teach?
I am currently teaching young beginners ages 5-7, and late beginners/intermediate levels of all ages.

My favorite method for beginners is designed for 4-7 y.o. kids. I like to teach piano technique and music notation through games and stories, and they become too childish for older kids. Methods that are designed for older beginners are more boring and most kids are not that motivated to stick to it long. That's why I am not doing it anymore.
However, I am always happy to take transfer students who are older but who already learned some basic foundations (that includes motivated adults as well)

What music do we play?
Classical,
Pop/Rock, Easy Jazz, Movie Soundtracks, Musicals, Kids songs, Disney, Christmas, Christian songs, and more!
Play along with a pre-recorded band or orchestra! Play the melody - sound like an orchestra!

Keep in mind that not every song fits a beginner, especially young beginner. If it sounds simple, it does not mean it is simple to play. So young beginners start with very simple short songs that help them to develop the right hand posture and the right piano touch. Do not expect that we are going to play Disney songs right away. Those are not easy.


I have two pianos in my studio:
Kawai 506N Acoustic Upright and Yamaha P-515B Digital Piano​.
Kawai is great for classical and jazz music, digital Yamaha is great for more contemporary music and jazz. We play 4 hands ensembles and experiment with instruments on a digital piano.

01

Tales of Musical Journey program

for young beginners 4-7 y.o.

What makes this method unique and effective?

  • It is written in the form of a tale which little kids like, and at the same time it explains many deep concepts in a fun way for kids to understand through analogies and animals.

  • It starts with playing only with one finger (finger 3) while learning how to relax the rest of the fingers and hand, and learning the wrist motion. Many other methods like Piano Adventures or Piano Safari miss this step, they start using too many fingers at once right away, which causes tension in the hand fingers that are sticking out. 90% of our sound at the piano is controlled by the wrist and arm, not even by fingers, and Tales break down these concepts in a kids-friendly easy manner.

  • You will be surprised how many nice pieces you can play only with finger 3 with both hands: we play beautiful duets based on popular classics like Pachelbel’s Canon, Handel’s Passacaglia, or Soft Kitty from Big Bang Theory.

  • This book unlike other books includes written details about HOW exactly to play each piece, so parents can review it at home. So many books only have notation, but do not explain what to do with the wrist, or how to develop the right touch, so at best kids end up playing “the right notes at the right time” with flat fingers and no arm weight.

  • Especially if you want to be able to play classical music in future - check out Tales of Musical Journey.

  • Check out a video with 4 y.o. students playing classical pieces with only finger 3 while learning the right hand posture:

I taught multiple piano methods over the years, and I came to the conclusion that the best method for kids to get a strong technical background and develop musicality is Tales of Musical Journey by Irina Gorin. This is a beginner step, after which you can switch to any other method. You can watch videos of her lessons with very young kids to have a better idea what to expect, for example this is a lesson #4 with a 4 y.o. student ---->

How to organize your piano learning process

3 rules of success - very important!

01

Bring your books and music sheets to EACH lesson

This rule is very music specific. Although your teacher has all the books in the studio, it is very important to bring your own so that the teacher could make you notes, write finger numbers and other reminders in your book and music sheet. There are some writing assignment there as well that you need to do in your own book. Make a folder or a bag for your music stuff and bring it to each lesson.

It also helps the teacher to follow where we stopped last time in the book.

02

Make your home practice schedule

My requirement for practice is 15 minutes 3 times a week on average. Shorter and more frequent sessions work better than a long session once a week.

Playing a music instrument requires at home practice, so if you are not ready to allocate time for that, please consider other activities.

I recommend to make a schedule with your child, pick up days and time (let's say Monday, Wednesday 4-4.15 p.m., Saturday 9-9.15 am), hang this schedule next to your piano, and follow it. There should be no distractions during practice time. It should become a part of your routine like brushing teeth.

03

Practice efficiently

If you practice efficiently, you will spend less time and get better results. Just playing a piece from beginning to end does not count as efficient practice.

1. Read through your teacher's homework assignment - there are specific requirements what to do and how to practice different section of the song. For small kids: a parent is responsible for reading teacher's assignment for them

2. Start with the hardest or newest sections of the song first. DON'T ALWAYS START FROM THE BEGINNING! Otherwise, you will know the beginning well, but will not learn other parts. Start from the middle. Or from the end. Work on more challenging parts while your brain is not too tired (and believe me -- it gets tired fast)

Work in SMALL SECTIONS of 1-2 measures -- repeat each section multiple times, one hand at a time, until it sounds smooth. Then move to the next section.

So many students don't use this advice, although it is so great because it is based on how our brain functions. You need to split a big task into multiple smaller tasks, and later consolidate all of them.

What I want my students to know before they start lessons.

Practice time at home

  1. Lessons not only involve fun, but also work. You don’t need to spend too much time practicing, but it should be regular and efficient. At home practice should happen at least 2-3 times a week, 15 minutes each. It is even better to do shorter but more frequent sessions when possible.

  2. Students who don’t practice at home don’t progress, lose interest and drop out in a few months.  

  3. Parents are responsible for arranging practice time at home for their kids. Don’t expect your kid to be a guru of time management, even if the kid is 10. Almost nobody WANTS to practice at home. Sit together with your kid and ask him/her to make his/her own practice schedule on days when they don’t have a lesson. Let them pick days and times themselves, write it down on a paper, let’s say Monday, Wednesday 4-4.15 p.m., Saturday 9-9.15 a.m. Tape this paper next to the piano, and follow it. No distractions during that time, treat it as a scheduled lesson time.

  4. Keep in mind that learning musical instruments involves a lot of repetitions of the same section of the piece/song, so playing it just once is not enough.

  5. What is efficient practice? Just playing a piece from beginning to end does not count as efficient practice. Instead you need to review your teacher’s notes and work specifically on those sections the teacher recommended. It usually means to work in small sections of 1-2-3-4 measures each and repeat each section multiple times before you go to the next section.

  6. Try to find practice time earlier in the day when possible. Use Saturdays or Sundays morning. Do not schedule practice on those days/times when your kid is too tired. 10 minutes on Saturday morning will give you a better effect than an hour of late evening practice after school.

  7. When you practice, you should pay attention not only to the notes you play, but HOW you play it – check your hand posture, wrist movement, if you play on fingertips (avoid flat fingers). This will give you more control over dynamics and sound quality, and will make possible playing 

  8. Placement of the keyboard at home: put a keyboard in the area where the kid spends the most time. Don’t put it next to the TV or other distractions. Living room or dining room might be a better option than a kids bedroom – it gives you a feel of a piano lounge where your kid can perform for your family, rather than being cornered in a small bedroom. 

  9. Always praise your kid for practicing. Say things like “I really like how you play _____ piece, could you play it for me again?” or “My favorite moment in this piece is line 2 (any hardest part of a piece), could you play it for me again? I enjoy it so much” or “This is my favorite piece”... This simple trick usually works very well.

 

Books + music sheets

  1. You will need to buy your books and bring them with you every lesson. When I give you a print out and we work with it for a few lessons or the whole semester, please bring it with you for each lesson. I have my copies of all books here and we will use them in case you forget yours, but normally we’ll work with your copy because I am making many notes for you there and you need to take those notes home. Especially notes with finger numbers! The best way is to make a folder or a bag for music books and sheets and bring it to the lesson with you every time.

 

How to sit right at the piano at home

  1. 90% of kids sit too low at the piano at home. It leads to developing the wrong posture and hand shape, which causes many technical difficulties and is not healthy for hand muscles/joints. Make sure you either raise a chair (put something firm on a regular chair) or make your keyboard stand lower. Make sure your elbow is on the level of the keys, and the part of your arm between the wrist and elbow is parallel to the floor. Hand should NOT be bent at the wrist.

  2. Kids under age 7 usually need a footrest – make a habit to keep your heels grounded on the floor while you are playing.

 

For small kids 4-8 y.o. (which is really true for older kids as well):

  1. I expect one of the parents to sit in the lesson and follow what we are doing so you can help them out at home. Such small kids absolutely need help at home. If you are not ready to do it, better choose a different activity, because you will not see much progress with music. Each lesson should be followed by home practice which reviews the same things we did in a lesson - nothing new. If you don’t help them practice at home, we have to do the same lesson again, which is not a very effective way of spending your money.

What music do we play?

  1. This program is based on classical music and it works best when kids are listening to classical music at home. You can find great playlists on Youtube or subscribe to one of classical channels on TV.

However, it does not mean we don’t play any other music.

I am supplementing songs from other books such as Piano Adventures, Piano Safari, Disney, Movies, play along projects, etc. 

Personally I like songs and arrangements specifically written for the piano, because often pop-rock-hip-hop songs are meant to be played by a rock band, or programmed with many layers of electronic instruments, so it sounds less interesting on the piano. 

The best songs that can be adapted for the piano are those that have developed melodies and/or harmonies.

 

How to choose a keyboard for a beginner

  1. The choice of a keyboard is very important. It does not have to cost a fortune, but it needs to be a real instrument, not just a toy. There are three main parameters you need to looks for:

  • Digital piano (or keyboard) with a FULLY weighted key action. This means that the keyboard is going to react differently to different touches, so you can create sound with various dynamics (from soft to loud). “Toy” keyboard are not weighted or semi-weighted, which will produce a more monotonous sound.

  • 88 keys. Don’t buy those 61-keys keyboards, they are not weighted and kids with smaller keyboards often get lost on bigger ones and start playing in the wrong octaves :)

  • Has built-in speakers

  • Less buttons is better. When you see a keyboard with a LOT of buttons, it usually means it is a synthesizer. Kids end up playing with buttons more rather than practicing. Also they can mess up settings. Especially watch that Transpose button – if it is on, the pitch can be off by a lot and everything will sound very different from what it should be. Also when you have 300 built in instruments, it usually means that they all are of a poor quality. Better to have just 5 instruments, but good sounding ones (like Digital Pianos have).

 

The brand is also important. There are a lot of cheap keyboards on Amazon and Walmart, they sound terrible and they don’t last long. It is better to get cheaper models of brands who make professional instruments, such as Yamaha, Roland, Casio, Korg, Kawai.

 

Here are some good entry-level models: Yamaha P-71 ($399 on Amazon), Yamaha P-45, P-125, Casio CDP series, Casio Privia series (to my taste, Yamaha sounds more natural that Casio that has more “plastic” sound, but they are still good for beginners)

 

If you want to save some money, I would recommend buying a nice used piano. It is better than a new “toy” piano. Check out Facebook marketplace – people often sell lightly used pianos there. You can get Casio for $200-250 range, and Yamahas in $300-350 range. If it still seems too expensive, keep in mind that even if you drop lessons you will easily sell a good digital piano in a day for a good price. While “toy” pianos are sitting on the Marketplace and nobody buys them. 

If you buy a pre-owned piano, google the model/make and make sure it is a fully weighted action. It is often hard to tell from the picture. For example, Yamaha Piaggero is not weighted, although it looks very similar to weighted models.

 

Bonus:

How to make piano practice at home more fun - let’s be creative!

  1. Try to make practice a game. It can be a dressed recital at home, where you put toys in rows to listen, put on cool clothes and pretend like you are playing in a concert hall before the audience. Check how your kid looks at the piano in a funny halloween costume, a princess dress, a new t-shirt (hint: every time you buy new clothes – do a piano recital in those clothes!)

  2. Use a stuffed animal or a ball to throw to your kid during piano practice. For example, the kid is working on 4 measures of a piece/song, and every four measures you throw a stuffed animal, the kid throws it back to you, and repeats those 4 measures again. It is funny that all kids like this game, I often use it in lessons too. It is also a great way to check if the piece is performance ready – when you throw something every 4 measures, it switches your attention from piano, but then you need to go back and continue from the same place where you stopped (not from the very beginning). If a student is able to play with such intentional “distructions”, then he/she is 120% ready for a recital.

  3. Check out keyboard stands on locking wheels. If you have hard floors, you can roll your keyboard in different parts of the house 

  4. Reward your kids for good practice.

  5. You can make a practice journal and make them “earn” stickers.

  6. Task Jar: write piano tasks on small piece of paper, fold them and put them in a jar. Your kid is going to pull out a task from the jar, so you can do them in random orders.

If you think of any new ideas on how to encourage your kids to practice – please let me know and I will add it to this list :)

Katia Piano Portfolio

Katia Piano Portfolio

Katia Piano Portfolio
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Wilbeck method to learn music notation through fun stories and games for kids 4+

Most beginning students struggle learning sight reading, and although I tried many method books and workbooks, they were not very effective. They were all based on mechanical memorization and repetition, and I was looking for something based on associations and a fun story. Wilbeck method is just perfect and fits even very young kids! Together we are creating a story on a magnetic board where each note of 4 octaves is a character and lives in a specific place on the staff and on the keyboard. Two workbooks have fun drawing and writing activities based on the same story.

I am starting all beginners with this method at the same time with playing by rote, and in few lessons they are ready to start reading music. After Wilbeck Easy Notes any piano method goes way easier and faster since students are already very familiar with notation.

Another cool thing about this method is that parents can also read these stories with their kids at home and help them to progress faster. And... it is very CUTE!

About your teacher:
Katia Karkkainen

My education:

  • Gnesins College of Music (Moscow, Russia) - Music Education/Music Theory with a strong minor in Piano

  • Gnesins Academy of Music (Moscow, Russia) - Music Recording and Production with a strong minor in Piano

  • Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) - M.F.A. in Recording Arts and Technologies

8 years of experience teaching private lessons to students ages 5-64 (beginners and intermediates).

10 years experience working as a recording/mixing engineer in the recording studio, TV live broadcast including Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, and six theaters in Miami, FL.

2 years teaching in Performance Arts programs at community colleges (Miami Dade College and Broward College).

In Summer 2023 I moved to Knoxville, TN area where my husband started a new job at Oak Ridge National Labs. 

I started asking my parents to teach me piano at the age of 3, and at the age of 5 I started my music journey that never ends.

katia studio portrait site_edited.jpg

Are you a Star Wars fan?

I am definitely a John Williams' music fan. Here are top3 fun projects we've done recently with my students:

1. Star Wars Play Along with pre-recored orchestra (track from Easy Piano Play Along book, and my own easy arrangement - even easier than in the book!) - for a 9 y.o. beginner student.

2. Carol of the Bells - 4-hands piano duet I arranged for two brothers (7 and 8 y.o.) who had a LOT of fun playing that together and with pre-recorded track full of magic sounds of Christmas! The track was from Christmas Classics book.

3. Pink Panther theme - for an 8 y.o. student who is a big fan of this catchy song. I did not find any play-along tracks for this one, but if you have a digital piano with built-in jazz drum rhythm -- this will add even more spice to this music!

Piano on Dim Stage

Six benefits of playing the piano

The most abstract art of all

Music is the most abstract art. You can't see it, you can't touch it, but it is very powerful. If you can master music, you will understand other abstract and complex things in life. For example, people who understand music theory are usually good at math. I learned fractions at the age of 5 through music (apples and chocolates were also involved).

Brain exercise

Playing an instrument recruits almost every part of the brain, including regions that process vision, sound, movement, and memory. It adds new neural connections, enhances communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, resulting in positive effects on learning, memory, fine motor skills, coordination, verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Practicing music at an early age can make structural changes to the brain that stay with you for the rest of your life.

The easiest instrument

There is no physical pain involved with learning to play the piano. When new to the guitar, one must build up calluses on the fingers, and when learning to play a brass or woodwind instrument, one must learn how to use your facial muscles and lips to produce sound. One can spend months and years learning just how to extract sound on string or brass instruments. To play the piano, all you have to do is sit, and press down a key.

      

            

Polyphonic instrument

Piano is a polyphonic instrument, meaning that you can play multiple melodies and chords at the same time. It is like having the whole orchestra under your fingers! In addition, you can sing while playing.

Boost your confidence

Playing a musical instrument helps to overcome an anxiety of public performances. After playing music in public, tasks like public speaking will be a piece of cake!

       

         

College admissions

Create your video piano portfolio and win college scholarships, no matter which major you chose!

Owning a piano

A useful piece of furniture that can help you to get rid of unwanted guests

Contact

Get in touch to schedule the first FREE consultation/lesson or ask any questions.

615 810 7817 Katia Karkkainen (text, call, voice mail)

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