Niko E., “The Fairies' Harp” & “House of the Rising Sun” Keylab Virtual Recital 2024

Teacher comments:
Niko has been learning the piano for about a year and a half and has been excelling at sight reading and knows his major scales in 12 keys. Even when pieces are challenging, he is always open to trying them and working hard in our lessons. It is amazing to see him discover that what seemed very difficult at first is not too hard for him after all. We chose “The Fairies Harp” for Niko’s performance piece which showcases how good he is getting at reading and playing piano with two hands. One new thing he learned for this piece was how to “roll” his chords. We talked about how “rolling” the chord on piano mimics the sound of strumming a harp. I gave him the extra challenge of using the sustain pedal as well. Both of these techniques are tricky the first time you try them but he has incorporated them expertly into this piece. I hope to see Niko’s confidence, skill and enjoyment of the piano continue grow as he learns more songs. I am super proud of him and all the work he has done this year!

Niko has improved so much at the guitar this year. Early in the year we made the switch from a smaller, threestringed guitar—called a Loog guitar—to a fullsized, sixstringed guitar. Niko has become skilled at reading guitar music on the sixstring. He’s also really improved at playing chords and singing. Recently we have been working on two traditional folk songs, “House of the Rising Sun” and “Scarborough Fair.” The two of us usually play together; he plays the guitar and I play the piano, switching off on the chords and the melody. Since music is most often a collaborative art form, we enlisted his older brother Rafa for this performance of “House of the Rising Sun.” Both of them did a great job listening to each other and playing in time together. In the middle of the song, Niko takes a guitar solo using a pentatonic scale that he has been practicing. I love to see that he is experimenting with the sound of bending strings on the guitar during his solo. Keep up the great work Niko!