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.

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.

Free Printable Music Poster for Teaching Minor Scales

Piano Teaching Free Printable:  Minor Scales

I created this visual to help students see and hear the distinctions between the three types of minor scales. 

Motivating Beginning Piano Technique Mastery with Wizard Challenges

In order to earn the "Technique Wizard Challenge" on my piano student leaderboard, students complete the following technique challenges that correspond with their current level.

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:

• 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.

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.