Lori Frazer knows what she is talking about when it comes to midi and the features of the Yamaha Clavinova.

Lori shared, “We lose 78% of students between level 1 and level 2.” (This is based on music sales) It’s up to us to come up with things that we can do with our students to help prevent them from quitting so early.

I would like to share my top 3 tips that stood out to me in this presentation when it comes to ensembles, duets and technology…

1) To be an effective duet partner, learn the other person’s part. 

I really loved this and will need to remember when my students prepare for our chapter’s ensemble program. If they are familiar with what their partner is playing and sounds like, they are going to be more on top of their own part!

2) When playing on a digital piano like the Clavinova, find an instrument that would represent an articulation correctly. ie: Marimba for staccato

Which leads to another great tip that Lori shared…

3) Remember the mood/genre of what the student is creating. Then base those instrumentation choices accordingly. 

There were plenty of hands on examples on Lori’s presentation which is always helpful.

I wish I had gotten a picture of Lori holding up one of her USB flash drives. She collects them and has all sorts of fun one’s like wonder woman, etc. Check out these music themed flash drives I found here.

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