I began learning piano from my grandma when I was five years old. It became the foundation for all the music I enjoy…playing trumpet, piano, and drums. Lois taught thousands of students how to play piano over 78 years of her life. That’s a lot of experience! At the age of 90, Lois died peacefully on September 15, 2002. Lois Benson (my grandma) and her daughter Sandy Cimbura (my mom).
Biography of Lois Benson
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Lois started teaching piano at age 12 under the direction of her mother. Later she studied at:
- Jean Goldkette College of Music
- Detroit College of Music
- Detroit Conservatory of Music
- Detroit Institute of Music
- She also studied: Two summers at Washington University, St. Louis, MO. One summer American Conservatory, Chicago, IL (methods for children ages three through seven).
- Scholarships for Master Session at:
- Tobias Matthay School in London, England
- Royal Conservatory in Leipzig, Germany
- University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
- Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria
- She took many private music/ teaching lessons and attended many workshops offered at Schmitt Music Centers.
Steinway News shows 3 generations of piano players/teachers in our family taken in 1975.
Arrangements by Lois Benson
Several songs: Autumn Leaves, A Time for Us, Love Story, Sentimental Journey, The World Outside, Tenderly, The Way We Were, The Hands of Time (Brian’s Song), You’ll Never Walk Alone
Piano Arrangements-Lois Benson
Music Theory Notes
Covers many topics: Scales, Circle of Keys, Rhythm, Phrasing, Intervals and Triads, etc.
Music Composed by Lois Benson
In addition to actively teaching private piano lessons for many years, Lois had a brief career in composing music. She completed about 11 piano solos of various musical styles. Although copyrighted, they are now available free of charge for your teaching and playing pleasure.
04 Autumn Splendor-Lois Benson
06 Sparkling Fountain-Lois Benson
07 Fingers A Jazzin-Lois Benson
09 A Beautiful Dream-Lois Benson
11 Hawaiian Sunset-Lois Benson
Lois held annual piano recitals featuring her students for more than 70 years. Here are some of the programs.
1947 to 1975 Benson Cimbura Piano Recitals
A recital from 1996…
and 1997…
In April of 2000, Dan Cimbura (my brother), Lois Benson, Tim (me), and Sharon Gerlach (my sister) performed a skit and played piano at my grandma’s annual program to celebrate her 75 years of teaching.
Celebration cake at piano program on April 16, 2000
Teaching Philosophy
Introducing just the right piece to a student and seeing that piece of music becomes a cherished friend for years to come.
The study of piano should be exciting and rewarding. The pupil should be motivated to spend time at the keyboard. Music should be selected that will be of interest to the individual. Sheet music has many advantages to keeping the interest of the pupil and can provide satisfaction and fun. A short unit (usually just two to four pages) can be finished in just a few weeks. Thus, in a rather short time, the pupil can have the thrill of a new piece as well as the satisfaction of completing an entire musical unit. Sheet music may be assigned on a regular basis, such as once every four or five weeks and can be tailored to the needs of the individual.
Whenever possible, let the student have a voice in the selection of a piece of sheet music. For example, offer two or three pieces (at the same level) that might interest the individual. Play them for the student and allow the student to look them over briefly. When the student makes the selection, he or she usually will show greater enthusiasm and more interest in the music. If the student enjoys the piece, this should keep the student practicing.
Piano Teaching FAQ
Do I need to be a virtuoso pianist to teach piano?
You do not have to be an accomplished pianist to be a good piano teacher. Check to see if you are you able to get any of the teaching materials referred to in her comments in her articles.
Start with brand new beginners. Don’t take transfer students. Then you can do it your way from the beginning and will learn how the materials work. Piano teaching does take prep time…especially in the learning stages for you. See if there are any piano teachers groups in your area. That would give you a good support group, and they would have guest composers, clinicians etc. that you could learn from by attending piano teacher workshops.
Articles by Lois Benson
These are some articles she has written about teaching piano. They were originally published in Schmitt Music Center’s quarterly newsletter called Musical Circles (Minneapolis, MN) in 1995-1996. (The SMC code on piano selections refers to Schmitt’s catalog number.) Anyone that teaches piano will find these notes helpful. They may be used for teaching purposes if credit is given to the author.
1995-01 Schmitt Music Musical Circles-Lois Benson – Philosophy of Teaching, etc.
1995-06 Schmitt Music Musical Circles-Lois Benson – Philosophy of Teaching, Jazz, etc.
1996-11 Schmitt Music Musical Circles-Lois Benson – Teaching the Very Young and Selected Music
Jazz
By Lois Benson
I use supplementary reading to teach intervals, chords, hand shapes, patterns, rhythms and touches. I often assign a solo to a student to do “on his own”. When the student plays it for me, I know what his weak points are. Jazz is an important and distinctive American contribution to 20th-century music. From lyrical sophisticated sounds of blues to boogie and bouncy, happy beat of rags.
I believe every student’s musical education should include experiences in a variety of popular stylings, including jazz as a serious and recurring phase of his studies. The student should be encouraged, too, to deviate from the written notes with his own improvisations if he desires, for spontaneity is an essential ingredient of the jazz idiom. I encourage the student to make his own introduction and ending to the pieces and delete and change parts that he doesn’t care for by adding notes, changing harmony and rhythms.
Jazz and rock music are an important part of today’s musical scene, yet they play only a small part in most piano students’ formal training. The variety of teaching problems that can be solved in this idiom are: improved rhythmic ability, steadier tempo, and heightened listening.
The jazz idiom, a strictly American development is one of the really significant contributions of the 20th century to music. Although authorities are not in complete agreement, many believe this spontaneous movement had its origin in New Orleans in the honky-tonk amusement section of the city, centered around Basin Street. From there, it spread northward up the Mississippi Valley to Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago and eastward to New York. During the past fifty years American jazz in its popular form has captured the imagination of youth throughout the world, and it has enriched much of the serious music of our time with new rhythms and harmonies.
While the development of its counterpart in New York and other more cosmopolitan centers of the nation has attained much more sophistication and refinement, New Orleans jazz has remained simple and close to the source of its origin. At the turn of the century ragtime’s syncopated rhythm took the country by storm. In fact Scott Joplin’s piano rags were best sellers in his day. As blues and ragtime styles influenced each other, a dynamic swing style emerged which eventually became known as jazz. Championed in New Orleans by Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong the new sound soared in popularity. By the 1920’s jazz had entered the mainstream of American popular music.
During the swing era of the 1930’s and 40’s people were dancing to the big band sounds of Glenn Miller and other band leaders. The cool sounds of bebop followed in the 1950’s, a time when solo artists such as Miles Davis and Charlie Parker infused jazz with a new seriousness; ever since jazz has continued to grow and change. Today the influence of blues and jazz can be heard in almost all popular music.
Twentieth century jazz has something in common with 17th and 18th century baroque music; what is shown in the score is not nearly all of what is meant. In both, hearing the style is the best guide to playing the style.
Rhythm – Instead of reading a grouping of a dotted eighth note plus a sixteenth note or two eighths, a triplet figure of a quarter and eighth would be used for the swing style.
Chord Progression – Many blues tunes use variations of a common chord progression known as the 12-bar blues. Students with an elementary harmony background can be taught the chord pattern easily and should learn to recognize it. The pattern is as follows: I, I, I, I, IV, IV, I, I, V, IV, I, I.
Technic – A semi-detached wrist staccato is the basic style of attack where articulation is not indicated. Legato and true staccato passages are used where appropriate for variety.
Pedaling – Pedal will be needed for an occasional cantabile passage or for color at cadences or to connect the wide-spaced notes of some chords, but should be strictly limited where it would spoil the articulation of the right hand.
Rubato – Rubato means a flexible rhythm in the solo line above a fixed beat in the accompaniment–a technique common in jazz and appropriate to these arrangements.
Ornaments – Most of the ornaments (cue size notes) should precede the beat, except for crushed notes (written as a single grace note) or mordents which are played on the beat.
Dynamics – Dynamics have been left largely to the taste and understanding of the performer as they are so often implied in other elements of the musical design.
Students will love the challenge of playing in the jazz style. Jazz is fun to play! Students will be inspired and motivated by the syncopated rhythms in the colorful, rich harmonics of jazz–a style which has captured the imagination of performer and listener alike!