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Welcome to NPF's new site for information about Recreational Music Making. The objective of this site is to inform readers about RMM as it relates to piano.
Recreational Music Making (RMM) is the next great frontier for the music teaching profession. It offers the promise of millions of potential adult students who want to learn to play the piano or who deeply regret quitting their music lessons years ago. The truth is that they want to play music! And you can bring music making into their lives – and help to transform the future of music making – by becoming an active RMM teacher.
Topics include Getting Started, Partnering with Retailers, Three Different Paths to RMM Teaching, How Adults Learn, Teaching Ideas for Advancing Levels, Giving the Gift of Chords, Ensembles, How to Integrate the Traditional Piano Student into RMM Classes, RMM Resources, and presentations by four guest presenters.
The standard price for the four-DVD set is $79.00. But teachers who order before December 31, 2008 can take advantage of the special introductory price of:
$49.00 - introductory price through 12/31/08 (plus $8.00 shipping/handling)
That’s $30.00 off the regular price for those who are the first to embrace this exciting opportunity for teachers.
Click here to watch a trailer for the DVDs.
Click here to order the DVDs.
Make checks payable to The National Piano Foundation. Texas residents will pay a sales tax. Please allow three weeks for delivery.
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Session I:
Recreational Music Making 4 Teens
Will Baily, clinician
This session will focus on materials and methodology appropriate for RMM group classes of teen-agers, while providing a positive social experience that creates a sense of belonging. Film clips will show a “YouTube Pizza Party” that replaces the formal recital.
Will Baily holds advanced degrees in music theory, composition, piano performance and pedagogy. A former college professor, he is currently teaching RMM group piano for teens and adults and is developing materials appropriate for RMM classes.
Session II:
RMM and Clavinova Connection
Lynda Garcia, clinician
This session will focus on recruiting, marketing, and partnering with a local retailer, as well as the magic of technology that helps students to quickly realize their music-making dreams. Film clips will show classes in an unusual corporate setting.
Lynda Garcia has a diverse background in music education and music industry. Her expertise includes developing group piano programs and materials, supervising teachers, and presenting workshops throughout the U.S. She is currently manager of Yamaha’s Clavinova Connection Center.
Senior Moments: Maintaining a Relaxed Atmosphere in the RMM Class
Susan Geffen, clinician
This session will help traditional teachers create a tension-free environment that promotes peer learning. Educators will be shown how to fine-tune teaching methods so that adults can fulfill their goals in an atmosphere of freedom and camaraderie.
Susan Geffen, M.A., N.C.T.M., teaches private students at home and RMM classes at a senior center. In addition to extensive adjudication of competitions and festivals, she continues advanced classical study of the Taubman Technique and enjoys serving as a convention speaker and panelist.
Session III:
Uses for RMM in the Medical Field
Lori Frazer, clinician
This session will focus on how RMM is used in cardiac rehab, pulmonary rehab, cancer treatment and overall stress reduction for medical staff who have reached the burn-out stage. Film clips will illustrate RMM in the medical setting.
Lori Frazer, Marketing Programs Specialist for the Yamaha Piano Division, built and supervises the Yamaha Clavinova Festival since 1997, and joined the Clavinova Connection team in 2004. She also supervises other Yamaha marketing programs, including “Say Yes to Music after School.”
Expanding RMM to Middle School and High School Students
Lynd Corley, clinician
This session will focus on RMM teaching techniques appropriate for pre-college students who are beginners in classes at Northwestern University. Emphasis will be on ear-playing, basic theory, reading music, harmonizing lead sheets and activities that engage this age group.
Lynd Corley teaches piano at Northwestern University and the Piano Academy. Her background includes choral and band directing, music supervising and she is currently a member of the University of Illinois National Advisory Board.
Session IV:
How Teachers Can Board the RMM Train
Brian Chung, presenter and panel moderator
The “RMM Train” is powering its way out of the station, but it’s not too late to get on board. Join Brian Chung and a panel of prominent RMM teachers and music industry leaders as they explain how to get started immediately with RMM teaching that offers unique benefits to teachers and the countless students they will impact for a lifetime.
Brian Chung is senior vice president of Kawai America Corporation, president of the Piano Manufacturers Association International, chair of the MTNA Foundation Fund Development Committee, and co-author of “Improvisation at the Piano: A Systematic Approach for the Classically Trained Pianist.”
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The Piano Manufacturers Association International sponsored a documentary DVD of the Dallas-area Recreational Music Making piano programs. During the filming last December at a senior center in Plano, TX, students and teachers commented on the RMM experience and what it had meant to them personally.
The 10-minute DVD not only includes testimonials about learning to play piano in RMM programs, but also gives information about the background of RMM and lists advantages of these programs to retailers and teachers as well as students. Although there are short examples of student playing, the goal of the DVD was to illustrate attitudes of the participants in these programs.
Click here to view the DVD.
Click here to order the DVD.
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The Summer, 2006, issue of PianoNotes reported that NAMM, the trade association of the international music products industry, would sponsor a test in the fall for an experimental RMM piano teaching program. At the conclusion of the test, nine of the 10 selected teachers indicated a desire to continue teaching RMM-type classes. The response from students was equally promising:
- 69 percent of the students said they definitely wanted to continue lessons.
- 19 percent indicated they would consider continuing their lessons.
- 75 percent of the students would not have taken piano lessons if Recreational Music Making classes had not been offered.
- 47 percent of the students were familiar with research about the proven benefits of music making for children and/or adults.
- 47 percent of the students had previously taken piano lessons, and even when they considered those lessons non-successful, they still wanted to try again.
The test was coordinated by Brenda Dillon, a local RMM piano teacher who has been teaching adult beginners at the Plano Senior Center. "The 58 students of the ten teachers were overwhelmingly enthusiastic about learning in a group," said Dillon. "And the teachers enjoyed the new method of teaching and observed that teaching this way was not 'dumbing down' piano lessons." The test included eight-week classes, one hour per week, six students seated in a semi-circle facing two pianos. Solo playing was voluntary and the primary emphasis was on enjoyment. These teachers and their students, as well as the Plano Senior Center students, were the focus of a new documentary film of RMM piano classes in the Dallas area.
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