Dr. Nina Soyfer

Hello, this is Nina Here! I am so excited – thanks so much :)))

Please DM me as well just in case (Instagram @NinaSoyfer).

Thanks so much for coming over to this place. Here you can read about the method I developed. You can send e-transfer to ninamusicstudies@gmail.com to reserve the lesson or click on pay button on this page https://energyandreikihealing.com/

This here is just my method website where I get to receive a quick confirmation about you and what we are learning.

I am an author of the book The Art from my Heart, and I love to teach because I want people to be inspired for fulfilling their life’s mission, feeling peace, joy, enlightenment; because I want people to love their inner child and create new dreams and then make them come true :))) and we can be a change for enthusiasm in the world.

I hope you will feel my love and joy as we start.

You can simply DM me on @ninaosyfer instagram to get started, or you can also fill in just basic info below.

We can meet on skype first, my user name is  –  naonanina  – and then we can choose which platform we like best.

Skype just has a really simple record button available on cell phones, and you might want to keep recordings of your lessons.

I can’t wait to see you in class

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Check out some of my Art and Books in my Shop – if you want to, or not.

Become Certified IAMethod Technique Teacher/learner
250USD dollars, no extra fees, private sessions with Dr. Soyfer – full course is emailed upon receipt of the payment by paypal or e-transfer.

Piano performance and technique.

Not one pianist has the same hand or mind and even the greatest schools have to constantly adjust to every student. This is true for other subjects, and that is why I teach all arts and psychology for teachers in this way – adjusting to individual needs of the moment.

Back to piano, for a performer to be joyful and successful, in the sense that someone benefited from their performance – it is best to be calm and harmonious, while also keeping fingers light and hand relaxed. As you perform, important things are steady rhythm overall (including rubato – when you momentarily chance pace – be sure to come back). After rhythm, comes phrasing. As we talk we lower and raise our intonation, and people respond to a music that talks to them. So shape your sound by changes in dynamics and your emotional state. But the most simple and effective advise is make sure you like what you are performing. Not you get therapy and maybe express anger into music – that is not what I mean. Make it beautiful for yourself. Make it passionate and active so that you want to do your best after your music. Make it peaceful if it is a calmer music – find a way to inspire yourself by your performance first, and others will be sure to sense it – even subconsciously (this is known long ago and Rachmaninoff talked about it).

Next, technique. A tense arm is a limited arm. Spending time with warm environment, medium tempo, and heavy relaxed touch was taught to me by Dr. Nick Somov – who would insist on comfort before tempo. Trust, best to have the attitude of lots of time available. As hands relax they can lighten up (from lack of blockages and tension) and you would go so fast you never thought possible. The key to playing fast is of course playing fast, but it is also playing without rush or tension.

For you to be both expressive and relaxed have a sweet drink, like hot chocolate or coffee, have a nice snack before and during playing. Tell your body you are ok, this experience is safe. The body responds to care just like pets. Teach your body to love playing, not stress, first of all it is a live organism and it responds to tender care. Tell your body by giving it favorite food and drink while playing that you love playing, it is a joy – and muscles, which have neurons, will work better!

Happy practicing!

Dr. Nina Soyfer

skype naonanina

email: nina@iamschool.ca

iamethodschool@gmail.com

IAM Music Pedagogy

Drumming Instruction

While initially the educator might allow students to “hit the drum” unsupervised, it is important that instead, or soon thereafter, the educator prevents injuries by instructing proper position and technique. Among these are proper sitting posture (e.g., straight spine, relaxed shoulders, slightly outward elbows, unbent wrists, and bouncing the hand off the drum surface upon contact) placement, angle, and depth of hand(s) and fingers when approaching and hitting a drum (discussed below), and drum placement (e.g., tilted forward and held between the knees).

There are three basic tone (or stroke) types for hand percussion employed in IAM programs and sample repertoires (i.e., my compositional intention for the sounds), namely, “bass” (middle of the drum with flat or slightly rounded palm with fingers straight and close together), “tone” (edge of the drum with slightly firm flat palm, with thumb held away from fingers), and “slap” (firm flat palm with slightly spread fingers approaching at approximately a 30 degree angle to the skin, with hand stopping at the edge of drum head, and relaxed fingers hitting the skin, creating a loud, high sound; again, thumb does not hit the drum). Read more here.

Quick-Starting Beginners in Hand Drumming

Any piece with a suitable percussion pattern may suffice for teaching beginners in hand drumming. My mentor, Dr. Isaac Akrong, uses Kpanlogo rhythms in his workshops with great success, regardless of facility, age, level, social influences, or circumstances. This success leads me, like him, to teach a particular Kpanlogo drum pattern as a starting exercise for beginners in hand drumming.

The Kpanlogo drum pattern in question consists of … read more here.

Kpanlogo Bell-Drum-Rattle Combination

Kpanlogo bell, rattle, and the above described supporting drum are transcribed in Figure 20 (below). The additional rattle part (using a shaker, made from a dried hollowed gourd surrounded by a mesh of beads) consists of two sixteenths and an eighth. The rattle (or shaker) pattern is aligned such that its ending (or its cycle) coincides with the bell’s first sound and with the first sixteenth of the drum part (or Kpanlogo drum in the image below). The first bar of the rattle and bell parts contains the rhythmic figures in typical Western notation, while the second bar groups the notes so as to illustrate the acoustic groupings heard in the ensemble (especially for the rattle part).

Figure 20: Kpanlogo transcription, West African traditional:

The following illustrates bell, drum, and rattle parts:

Kpanlongo Transcription – by Nina Soyfer

The actual sound of Kpanlogo as it is … read more here

[1] The note values are not exact but approximated by myself in order to clarify the ratio between all sounds of the pattern.

Bibliography:

Agawu, Kofi. 2003. Representing African Music: Postcolonial Notes, Queries, Positions. New York: Routledge.

Akrong, Isaac K. R. Nii. 2003. Kpanlogo Dance Today: a Documentation of the Evolution of a Ga Traditional Dance Form of Ghana, West Africa. Major Research Paper, Graduate Program in Dance, York University, Toronto.

Akrong, Isaac. January 19, 2013. An informal interview on the Eele song, conducted by Nina Soyfer.

Soyfer, Nina. 2016. “Integrated Arts Pedagogy and Philosophy.” Canada: York University. http://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/handle/10315/32252 (accessed January 12, 2017).

Sweller, John, Jeroen J. G. van Merrienboer, and Fred G. W. C. Paas. 1998. “Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design.” In Educational Psychology Review, vol. 10. No. 3, pp. 251-296.

Please note this page is a direct quote form Dr. Nina Soyfer’s dissertation “Integrated Arts Pedagogy and Philosophy” defended and archived in 2016. All rights are reserved and this quotation is provided here with permission for educational purposes.

Soyfer, Nina. 2016. “Integrated Arts Pedagogy and Philosophy.” Canada: York University, pp. 325-329. http://yorkspace.library.yorku.ca/xmlui/handle/10315/32252 (accessed January 12, 2017.)