What will music help you remember this year?
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Saturday, December 7, 2019
AIM Piano Keyboard Skills Video Level 1
AIM Piano Keyboard Skills Level 1
Pentascales and Root Chords
Introducing piano students early on to the basic patterns that form the basis of music provides them with a solid foundation to become better sight readers, improvisers, composers and musicians. I introduce keyboard skills by rote first so students can focus on using proper technique but also provide notation on the staff as a visual guide. The video and staff notation free printable below
Friday, December 6, 2019
I Will Walk With Jesus Simplified Piano with Teaching Strategies
I Will Walk With Jesus - Simple Piano
I loved hearing the new primary song for children "I Will Walk With Jesus" and wanted to make it a bit more accessible for my children and piano students to play at home.Monday, November 18, 2019
Go and Do David Archuleta Piano Music
Related Posts:
"Go and Do" Chorus Simplified Piano Sheet Music
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Count Your Blessings Free Printable Sheet Music Easy Piano
Last year I posted a variety of ways I used a simplified version of "Count Your Blessings" in my music studio and today I'm sharing a new free printable that is easy enough for young beginners to play on their own.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Simple Halloween Improvisation Game for Beginning Piano Students
Piano Teaching Halloween Improvisation
This simple Halloween Improvisation Game for Beginning Piano Students is just one of the sweet fun ways I like to start out piano lessons during fall lessons.Halloween Composing Piano Group Lesson Plans with Free Printable
Although getting children to practice piano consistently can definitely be a trick, most of my students consider creating their own compositions to be a treat and they are more motivated to play their own creations.
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Free Printable Music Poster for Teaching Minor Scales
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Motivating Beginning Piano Technique Mastery with Wizard Challenges
Saturday, June 29, 2019
Composition Tips from Jordan Roper
Following are a few of my favorite composing tips for beginners given at a UVMTA workshop that I attended by composer Jordan Roper.
Memorable Melodies begin with an interesting kernel or motif that often repeats throughout the song or is manipulated in different ways intermixed with new material.
For example
Beethoven's Fifth (melodic motif) "- - - __"
Star Wars - rhythmic motif "short short short -Long"
3 Simple Steps to creating a Memorable Melodic Motif
1- Stepwise motion (run)
2 - Occasional leaps (m3 or bigger)
3 - Repeated Notes (least important)
Bradley Sowashes "Scaling the Chords" method is a greater starting point to help students experiment with creating motifs within a scale.
Often beginning composers tend to use too much repetition wearing out their audience with the same theme. Look to other good compositions and compare the amount of repetition in their pieces for a rule of thumb.
Feedback on student compositions:
Explore Chord Functions:
I= Home
ii iv V or vii - "Get to " chords that lead to another chord
IV or ii - possible endings but never end on V or vi
Use a Thesaurus to help with naming pieces.
Memorable Melodies begin with an interesting kernel or motif that often repeats throughout the song or is manipulated in different ways intermixed with new material.
For example
Beethoven's Fifth (melodic motif) "- - - __"
Star Wars - rhythmic motif "short short short -Long"
3 Simple Steps to creating a Memorable Melodic Motif
1- Stepwise motion (run)
2 - Occasional leaps (m3 or bigger)
3 - Repeated Notes (least important)
Bradley Sowashes "Scaling the Chords" method is a greater starting point to help students experiment with creating motifs within a scale.
Often beginning composers tend to use too much repetition wearing out their audience with the same theme. Look to other good compositions and compare the amount of repetition in their pieces for a rule of thumb.
Feedback on student compositions:
- For a piece mainly centered around middle C: Increase the range higher than an octave.
- For a repeated bass accompaniment: Invert the bass accompaniment interval for more variety. Analogy "apple pie tastes good but it can be even better when you throw in a bite of ice cream (change) every once and a while."
- For a song containing only Primary chords: Add more chord flavors, sub out majors with minors.
- For a song in ABA form: Change the 2nd A a little so it is ABA'
Explore Chord Functions:
I= Home
ii iv V or vii - "Get to " chords that lead to another chord
IV or ii - possible endings but never end on V or vi
Use a Thesaurus to help with naming pieces.
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Two Dozen Piano Teaching Blogs That Have Transformed my Teaching
Piano Teaching Blogs are Changing Music Education
Fifteen years ago I was drawn into the online world of piano teaching tips as I was searching for ideas on how to best introduce musical concepts to my first piano student... a 4 year old. I was fortunate to land on the piano teaching home page of Martha Beth Lewis and I eagerly read page after page of "How To's" ranging from topics like technique for beginners (with m&ms and hot fudge) to how to teach feminine endings ("grannies"). The creativity and playfulness of her approach had me hooked and I eagerly perused all of the articles on her site.Friday, June 14, 2019
What Happened at Prospective Student Piano Camp? Plus More Fun and Games
This week at piano camp the activities that students sampled were based on the 4 Arts of Music: Improvising, Reading, Arranging and Composing (see Forrest Kinney article) This pedagogical framework in piano instruction enables students to become more expressive and creative at the piano as well as entrenching a solid understanding of the reasons behind the organization of the music they read on the page.
Improvisation
We started out with a simple improvisation duet on the black keys (key of F#) using the MusicClock app as a backtrack.
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Piano Improvisation: Scale Practice and Composition with BenSound
Recently I received a tip from one of my piano students about a fun site with "backing tracks" in a variety of styles that provides the perfect backdrop for beginning pianists to improvise with. Although BenSound isn't specifically designed for this purpose, the repetitive themes provide a nice background for the budding composer to "play around" on scales in a variety of keys while choosing a variety of themes and moods.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Teaching Piano Chord Progressions with Pop Songs
Saturday, April 20, 2019
Is Your Piano Teaching Curriculum Comprehensive?
Planning a well balanced piano teaching curriculum can be difficult because there are so many elements to consider as students began learning to play the piano.
Foundations of Piano Curriculum
When organizing my curriculum as a new piano teacher, I started making leveled checklists with the basic foundation ingredients that I received in my own piano lessons as a child such as Notereading, Rhythm, Theory, Technique, Ear Training and eventually organized preparatory materials in Piano Teaching BindersFriday, April 19, 2019
Colors of the Wind Piano Improvisation for Beginners
One of the easiest ways to get piano students improvising from the very first lesson is to have them focus on playing the notes from the pentatonic scale (only black keys). Improvisation has become some of my student's favorite activities because it allows them to freely express musical ideas all across the keyboard without the restraints and complexities of reading music that can take a while to solidify. Using it as a lesson starter is kind of like eating dessert first before eating your vegetables😋!
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Free Printable Piano Improvisation for Beginners: Do-Re-Mi Ice Cream Improv
Beginning piano students can gain experience and confidence with this free printable introducing a simple improvisation activity with an ice cream theme and Do Re Mi Solfa patterns. More experienced students can explore rhythmic dictation, ear training and add more complexity to their composition by extending the range of notes or adding harmony.
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
Gethsemane Simplified Piano Music Free Printable
Intermediate Arrangements of Gethsemane
There are many vocal and choral arrangements available for purchase on her site, as well as an illustrated Gethsemane story book including sheet music. Another favorite early intermediate arrangement of Gethsemane that I love to play is in Marshall McDonald's book Simply Sacred 2.
While this simplified version from The Friend is suitable for some intermediate-level students I wanted something accessible for my beginning piano students to play as well.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Piano Lessons: Would you rather exam or excite?
I prefer to assess student's progress regularly through games rather than to have formal tests for my music students. Although a "test" is a useful means of gauging the progress, and I use a pre and post theory test for them to earn their spot on the theory leader board, more often I prefer to use games to assess the various skills of my students in a more playful relaxing environment and achieve the same goal of discovering what they know and celebrating their accomplishments in a fun way. Games take off some of the pressure, and in a gaming environment students are more likely to"consider failure as a tutor, not as a tragedy, and to not fear failure but to learn from it" (Lynn G, Robins, Until Seventy Times Seven).
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Free Printable Piano Festival Prep Checklist
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Primary Chord Progression Songs with I and V chords
One of the teaching goals I have for my piano students is for them to eventually be able to easily play hymns. The steps in my hymn playing curriculum begins in the early stages of lessons before students can even play hands together. Playing left hand chords early on as they sing familiar melodies allows them to hear the harmonic framework in songs, and it is also motivating as they aren't limited to just thin single note melodies like "Hot Cross Buns" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb."
Friday, March 22, 2019
Teaching Familiar Rote Pieces in Piano Lessons + a Free Printable
What do Pete the Cat and Baby Shark Have in Common?
Fast Repeated Notes, Repetition, Familiarity, Just 4 Notes and Kid Appeal!
Fast Repeated Notes, Repetition, Familiarity, Just 4 Notes and Kid Appeal!
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Bach's Google Doodle Music Harmonizer
When Bach popped up in my browser today, I did not resist the urge to click!
Monday, March 18, 2019
One Minute Piano Lesson Challenges
For the month of March, I'm kickstarting each piano lesson with a one minute challenge for my students each week when they arrive at lessons and ending with some creative improvisations as they tour the world!
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Motivation in the Music Studio by Del Parkinson
It was a privilege to be able to attend a UVMTA music workshop recently presented by Dr. Del Parkinson, professor of Piano Pedagogy at Boise State. His combination of humor, genuineness and helpful tips was refreshing. It is easy to see why his student's mention these elements in his rate the professor remarks! Following are my notes from his presentation
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Music Is Fun Elementary Lesson Plan
I volunteered to teach a music lesson in my son's elementary school classroom for Fun Friday. With so many games to choose from in my piano game resource list, it was hard to decide which to use but I finally picked Susan Paradis's Music is Fun Bingo game as the basis of the activity and planned the following interactive activities to go along with each of the calling cards after doing a quick introduction of the music alphabet and white keys on the piano. The activities highlighted in yellow are free activities for children to try out at home if they like.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Strategies for Fostering Musicality by Paula Clark
Does preparing students for festival cause you stress? At this recent workshop, Paula Clark gave some great tips about helping student prepare for festival performances as well as reviewing some effective practice drills and strategies to remedy common challenge spots in a variety of music samples.
Saturday, February 16, 2019
Feeling Musical Pitch through Movement
Music and movement make great pairs! To prepare students for the complexities of the staff I like to first incorporate some movement to music activities. This not only matches the natural learning developmental process, but it also provides a meaningful energy outlet for young students who get fidgety being stuck on the bench for an entire lesson.
Friday, February 1, 2019
12+ Months of Free Music Group Lesson Plans
Festival Music Samples & Listening Assignment :Jazz Rags and Blues
For each piece write the name of the piece and then click it to hear it and answer the following questions:
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Teaching Basic Accompaniment Skills
What skills are needed to become a proficient accompanist? While the majority of accompanists are pianists, not all pianists have the ability to jump easily into an accompanist role.
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