Music Staff Simon

How can Simon help you learn music faster?

Simon Nibbles a Note

Have you ever played the game of Simon which tests your musical memory skills in a fun way? I think this would be a fun game to keep in the waiting area of my music studio. But today I'm sharing a new way to use the concept of Simon in music lessons.

Piano Practice Challenge, Levels and Tips

 

More about the nightmares later...

First let's talk about focused practice!

Practicing the piano with specific goals in mind is significantly more effective than simply measuring the time spent and calling it good. This month, for my studio challenge, I'm inviting students to level up their practice by using focused practice strategy games during their practice. Obviously, effective practice includes spending time at the piano bench, but practicing with purpose not only helps the time pass quickly, it also helps students to be more productive so that progress happens in less time.

Gamified Piano Practice

I've seen the power of gamified practice during piano lab, where students just don't want to stop their practice until they've completed the next level of Rhythm Swing or earned 3 stars to unlock the next level on Piano Maestro. That same excitement of flow and achievement that comes from video games and music apps can also happen on the bench when students approach learning new pieces with gamified strategies using practice game cards.

As a college student, my practice was definitely more focused and enjoyable when I paired it with chocolate chips and "3 in a Row" (or Cross the River) practice. 

Boss Mode Practice

Overall piano practice success can also be compared to video game levels. I love this analogy shared by Nicola Cantan at the recent Piano Teacher Turboboost I attended!

Level 0 -Tutorial Mode (No Practice)

Level 1 - 1-3 Days per Week

Level 2 - 4-6 Days per Week

Level 3 - Add 3x Repetitions to your Level 2 Practice

Level 4 - Use practice card strategies for Focused Practice Sessions 

Level 5 - BOSS MODE - Pair clear and specific goals with your practice card games and record your progress for each practice session.

 While we might not achieve BOSS MODE every week, TUTORIAL MODE can kill the fun if students are stuck in it week after week. 

The challenge goal is to look at what level you are currently practicing at and make personal improvements to LEVEL UP!

Performance Preparation Practices

Performing can be a shaky experience... literally.  That can definitely complicate things when you are a pianist and shaky fingers lead to wrong notes and then your mind starts feeling like a Jenga game where one slip leads to more shakiness and possibly a total collapse. 

I attended an informative UVMTA workshop this week presented by Dr Stephen Thomas including preparation tips for performance experiences to help you avoid freezing up with mental blocks. I loved many of the ideas he shared and mingled them with some of my own in my notetaking. A resource that kept coming to my mind was the book The Practice Revolution by Philip Johnston. It is loaded with different gamified strategies for structuring and improving practice quality and I find it especially helpful for children who may not naturally know how to organize their home practice sessions.  

My personal key takeaways were

Easy Free Printable Christmas Sheet Music from Piano Maestro

This month I'm challenging my piano students to learn a song to accompany their peers with at our December group lesson.  Accompanying takes piano playing to the next level because students must play with continuity (no starting and stopping).

Piano Maestro Christmas Songs for Accompanying

The Piano Maestro app is an excellent tool to promote accompanist skills.

• It gives automatic feedback for note accuracy as incorrectly played notes turn red.
• It gives feedback about rhythmic accuracy.
• The scrolling music forces you to continually look ahead in the music.
• Some music focuses on the harmony instead of melody so you can't just lean on your ear to pick out the music. This also promotes audiation for students.
• The practice mode allows students to practice in smaller phrases and isolate left or right hand parts for more focused practice sessions.
• The instrumental backing tracks make music more enjoyable to play.

While the scrolling music feature is great for continuity, faster pieces may be easier to learn at first with printable music.  Click this link to access free printable Christmas sheet music that you can also play on the Piano Maestro App. The tips below help you play with more expression instead of robotic feel.

Piano Practice Tips

• Greensleeves (What Child is This) Elementary Harmony Only 
• Can you sing the melody as you play the harmony?
• Greensleeves (What Child is This) Intermediate Hands Together
• Color the melody notes red and harmony notes yellow.  Notice the melody switches between the left and right hand frequently.
• Play the melody as you ghost play (only touch the key surface) of the harmony notes. Watch this sample video of "ghost playing."
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• Play hands together with balanced singing melody louder than the soft harmony.
• Jingle Bells
• Play as written or choose I, IV or V chords for each measure in the left hand to change the harmony to blocked, marching or broken chords.
• We Three Kings
• Add slurs to mark each musical sentence.
• Float off at the end of each phrase (measures 8,12, 19, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44 and 51).
• Shape the melody with small crescendos as the melody rises and decrescendos as it falls.
• We Wish You a Merry Christmas
• Measures 15 and 16 have a different rhythm than the traditional song.  Can you fix it to match the words "[We] wish you a Merry Christmas and a.."?
• Joy to the World
• Use scale fingering to create a legato melody line. 
• Write finger 3 below the first "E" in measures 4,11, 13 and 19. 

More links to free Christmas Piano Music can be found on my Christmas Piano Resource Roundup Post.

Piano Festival Preparation Free Resources

Students are more likely to practice music that they love, so piano festival preparation in my studio begins with listening activities during piano lab where student's can hone in on a piece they are excited to learn.

Piano Festival Piece Selection

These leveled playlists of the music in my piano library to allow students to select a piece that they are excited about playing.  Although there are a variety of leveling systems, I leveled the pieces based on the concepts covered in the Piano Adventures and Hal Leonard Method Books. 

I preselect a few contrasting pieces I think a particular student might enjoy to listen to during piano lab while filling out the Listening sheet, but they are also free to browse the songs at home to choose music they would love to learn to play in the future.

Piano Festival Samples Elementary PA Primer/1, HL 1/2

Piano Festival Samples Late Elementary PA 2A/2B, HL 3

Piano Festival Samples Later Elementary/Early Intermediate PA 3A/3B, HL4

Piano Festival Samples Intermediate PA 4, HL5

Slower/Expressive Piano Festival YouTube Playlist Intermediate Baroque and Classical (Rastall 3)

Fast/Exciting Piano Festival YouTube Playlist Intermediate Baroque and Classical (Rastall 3)

Fast/Exciting Piano Festival YouTube Playlist Intermediate Romantic and Modern (Rastall 3)

Piano Practice Strategy Cards

There are many different piano practice strategies that help students have effective and focused practice sessions at home.  Beat the Dealer, The Lap and Back Track are some of my favorites to use with Performance Prep.  I've gleaned some amazing tips from master teacher's at UVMTA workshops including Paula Clark's Strategies for Fostering Musicality  and Stephen Thomas's BAPDARP approach.

Piano Festival Self-Evaluation Checklist

This Festival Checklist can help students to actively assess their readiness for festival after they have learned the basics of their piece. I ask them to identify areas they are prepared in and areas to improve as they watch a video of their practice performance.

Piano Festival Sample Judging Sheet

I like to do a "mock festival" at private or group lessons a few weeks prior and use this Performance Evaluation Form to provide feedback for students.  For some students it can also be a great exercise for them to record themselves and then evaluate their own performances using the evaluation form as a guide. 

Related Posts:

Free Piano Lesson Plans

Free Piano Teaching Printables

Piano Practice Incentive - Strive for Five in February!

Piano Practice Incentive

Progress in piano lessons starts and soars with consistent practice.  For this month I'm encouraging students to track their practice on the Strive for Five Post it Note. 

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.

12+ Months of Free Music Group Lesson Plans

Planning Piano Group Lessons

Choosing a monthly focus topic for piano lesson not only simplifies lesson planning, but it also helps me ensure that students are getting a well-rounded exposure to musical concepts that can easily be overlooked like composition and ear training.

Polishing Pieces for Performance

How is piano practice like a car wash?
After moving beyond the 3 S's of practice (Slowly, Separate, Sections) and learning the basic elements of a song like rhythm and notes, it can be tempting to just move on and check the song off as complete.  And if you are just hoping for just good results then maybe that is enough.

Fun Ways to Get Piano Students Practicing Smarter, Not Harder

To kick off the new year in my piano studio our January group lesson will be centered around effective practice. I've planned some fun activities centered around goal-oriented practice including this adaptation of the Sorry Sliders Game that I've also been using for notereading review.