How to Sight-read by Paul Harris - Helpful Tips, New Book and App

Sight-reading has never been something I feel is my musical superpower so I am always eager to find more tips on developing this skill.

Today I was so excited to watch a piano webinar hosted by the Curious Piano Teachers featuring Paul Harris to learn some new ideas regarding this topic. I also hoped to pick up some practical tips to help my piano students sight-read with fluency and confidence too. 

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 Festival Intermediate Playlists

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

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.

Tips on How to Begin Arranging Music: Notes from Jason Lyle Black Workshop

Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. - Edward de Bono

Inspiring my students with some Jason Lyle Black videos is just one of the many tools I have used to encourage my students to break away from the written page from time to time and try something different.

Creative Keys Workshop with Leila Viss: On and Off the Bench

This session focussed on using technology during off bench time in your teaching studio and started with a rousing game of Kahoot!  Kahoot.com  is a free educational game platform where teams race to answer questions correctly using a pc, ipad or mobile device.  This would make a great activity for a group lesson or buddy lesson.  You can choose from a wide selection of games created by other teachers or create your own customized set.  By searching "leilaviss" in the Kahoot search bar I discovered the fun Kahoot games created by Leila about intervals, chord spelling, music styles and composers, etc.  A few other possible search topics include piano keys, key signatures, chord qualities, notes on the staff, rhythm.

Creative Keys Workshop with Leila Viss: Creativity

FINDING TIME TO BE CREATIVE

“Creativity is recombining elements that already exist in a new way.” – Wendy Stevens
Piano lessons for me as a child followed the traditional format of playing from the printed page, receiving feedback, and practicing it again until I got it right.

Creative Keys Workshop Inspiration with Leila Viss: Apps

After attending several music workshops hosted by UVMTA and IMTA this month presented by Leila Viss, author of 88pianokeys.me blog, my mind is humming with new creative ideas to try out with the students in my studio.   I thoroughly enjoyed her engaging style of teaching!

The handouts for each session

Teaching Jazz Piano Basics

I was excited to find the perfect tool for expanding my students rhythm vocabulary, ear training and improvisation skills in a fun step by step way at every lesson. After attending a workshop by Eric Baumgartner last month, I couldn't resist purchasing his "Jazz Piano Basics" book with its engaging audio features, and I'm loving how I can use it with students of various levels for multiple purposes including improvisation, note reading, ear training, rhythm and group lesson performances and enjoy a little creative outlet myself.

Music Mapping in Piano Lessons: A Tool to Aid Memorization and Sightreading

Last weekend I attended a workshop sponsored by my local music club. I was really intrigued by the concept of music mapping and how it can help students learn pieces more quickly and securely.

BAPDARP - A Systematic Practice Approach to Expressive Playing

 

"If you give specific input you get specific results."  This was my favorite quotes from a UVMTA piano teaching seminar I attended last week by Stephen Thomas, a music faculty member at BYU-Idaho.
To start out the seminar  Thomas first gave a brief overview of score preparation and practice tips that he had covered in a previous seminar regarding score preparation and tempo.
Score Preparation -

• Add fingering
• Divide into sections and number (or name) them

Tempo Grid Metronome - Set specific metronome goals

• Slow Tempo
• Set Specific Standards (Measures 5-8 Slow Hands Separate @ X Tempo, then Hands Together)Medium Tempo

• Medium Tempo
• Exaggerate dynamics, articulation, and phrasing
• Fast Tempo
• Less repetition of small sections, more focus on larger sections and continuity

Once students can play the piece with reasonable fluency they move on to BAPDARP.   For me, I think of fluency meaning correct fingering rhythm and notes. BAPDARP requires a closer look and listen to the expressive details of the piece.

How to Maximize Learning in Music Lessons

The time at music lessons just seems to fly by each week because time flies when you are having fun!   Following are some ideas and links to resources I shared at the UVMTA Workshop: Spicing up Music Lessons-Using Creative Activities to Maximize Learning  At the end of the post is a youtube video recording of the entire workshop.

7 Principles to Make the Most of Music Lesson Minutes