Ask the Author: Eileen Sauer
Answered Questions (6)
Eileen Sauer
Making what appears difficult, easier.
With respect to the Solfege Teaching Guide, my father had a mediocre piano teacher. Because of his passion for music, he often spent 8 hours a day during the weekend practicing piano, only to become at best an intermediate level pianist. I think that is tragic, and unnecessary. People who think they aren't talented musicians simply weren't exposed to the right teaching methods. Yes, you still have to do the work. And yes, there may be genetic considerations that will enable one student to develop absolute pitch within a year and another to struggle for two years before that person can sing on pitch given a starting note. But this methodology works to help people become self-sufficient musicians.
With respect to the Solfege Teaching Guide, my father had a mediocre piano teacher. Because of his passion for music, he often spent 8 hours a day during the weekend practicing piano, only to become at best an intermediate level pianist. I think that is tragic, and unnecessary. People who think they aren't talented musicians simply weren't exposed to the right teaching methods. Yes, you still have to do the work. And yes, there may be genetic considerations that will enable one student to develop absolute pitch within a year and another to struggle for two years before that person can sing on pitch given a starting note. But this methodology works to help people become self-sufficient musicians.
Eileen Sauer
I was mired in the weeds writing the book until finally I decided I would force myself to publish a chapter as a blog post each week. Granted, this isn't for everyone if you're trying to sell your book, but for me, making a public commitment to deliver worked. Since I initially had four chapters fairly well established, I was able to give myself a running start. This way, I was able to write, put it away, and revisit with fresh eyes which always led to improvements and insights. I like the quote by James A. Michener: "I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter."
Eileen Sauer
If you are a truly brand new writer and using something like Microsoft Word for your writing, look into tools like Scrivener. I wasn't trying to do anything fancy, so Scrivener worked well for me. If you would like to self-publish, look at CreateSpace.
Read what you write out loud. I just learned this from my initial attempts to turn the solfege guide into an audiobook.
Read what you write out loud. I just learned this from my initial attempts to turn the solfege guide into an audiobook.
Eileen Sauer
The Solfege Teaching Guide was just the tip of the iceberg. It describes how we teach solfege, and I will be working on both an audiobook and an interactive series to make the same training available to anyone. Yes, the Dannhauser solfege exercises can be found in Youtube videos, but to become a self-sufficient musician you need to understand the why behind those exercises.
Eileen Sauer
In the case of the Solfege Teaching Guide, I was inspired to write my first book because this became a compelling mission greater than anything I have ever encountered in my life: to keep available for future generations of music students what was once available to us.
Eileen Sauer
My piano / solfege teacher studied at the Paris Conservatory when four famous French composers were alive and Gabriel Fauré was director of the conservatory. Many classmates from our piano school (The French School of Music in Plainfield, NJ) played at Carnegie Recital Hall as children, and numerous classmates went to Juilliard, other conservatories, and Ivy League schools. Many became professional musicians, and others became doctors, lawyers, technologists, educators, etc. It took a long time to realize it was our teacher's methodology that made this possible.
My dad spent decades capturing her efficient piano practice techniques. The Solfege Teaching Guide is a companion to his book Fundamentals of Piano Practice, explaining how our required solfege lessons at the time enabled us to master fundamentals needed to understand music at a deep level, and that solfege made our piano lessons that much more effective and efficient. This guide will show you what is needed to become a self-sufficient musician. Together, Piano Practice Fundamentals and the Solfege Teaching Guide capture French School's entire methodology.
My dad spent decades capturing her efficient piano practice techniques. The Solfege Teaching Guide is a companion to his book Fundamentals of Piano Practice, explaining how our required solfege lessons at the time enabled us to master fundamentals needed to understand music at a deep level, and that solfege made our piano lessons that much more effective and efficient. This guide will show you what is needed to become a self-sufficient musician. Together, Piano Practice Fundamentals and the Solfege Teaching Guide capture French School's entire methodology.
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