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Welcome to Color In My Piano!

Hello, and welcome!  I’m Joy.  I love teaching & playing piano, as well as sharing music resources & ideas with others.  Join me here at colorinmypiano.com as I strive to keep a little color in my piano.

  • Home – the blog page — scroll down to see the latest posts!
  • Printables – see listings of free music worksheets, sheet music/arrangements, and music images
  • About – learn more me and about colorinmypiano.com
  • Contact – feel free to send me a message
  • Links – explore some of my favorite links

Want to receive blog updates without having to revisit this site?  Subscribe to email updates here or feed updates here! Be sure to leave some comments and let us know what you find useful.  Thanks for visiting!

Posted in What I'm Up To | Tagged | 2 Comments

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

“Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inner places of the soul.”

– Plato

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

Posted in Words of Wisdom | Tagged | Leave a comment

Early Childhood Music Classes

Lately, I’ve been considering offering pre-piano music classes for children and their parents — someday, when I have a private studio in my home again (Right now, I teach piano privately through my university’s community music school.).  My goal in providing these classes someday is to better prepare young children (think ages 0-5, especially) for private piano lessons.  So, this semester, I enrolled in an Early Childhood Music class to learn about the various methodologies (such as Orff, Kodaly, Gordon, Feierabend, etc.) for teaching music to young children.

I’m excited to think about starting up these classes someday.  Here’s some things I’m been thinking about…

Things to consider:

  1. Location/space – large, open room.
  2. Parents’ presence – required or not?
  3. Materials – songbooks, musical instruments, colored scarves, rugs, cd player, etc.
  4. Class size – six to ten, perhaps?
  5. Ages – 0-18 mo., 18 mo.-3 yrs, 3-5 yrs.
  6. Class duration – 30, 45, 50, or 55 minutes.
  7. Sessions – 7- or 14-week sessions.
  8. Goals – music literacy; musical experience; aural development; building the parents’ & children’s repertoire of music to share in the home; music as expression; building of pre-piano skills; etc.

Types of Activities:

  • Songs with motions
  • Listening & responding with movement (classical, folk, jazz, pop, etc.)
  • Fingerplays
  • Chants
  • Musical games
  • Other activities

I think these classes will be fun!  And I’m hoping that introducing  such classes will give my beginner piano students a head start once they begin private lessons.  Has anyone offered similar classes in their piano studios before?  I’d love to hear about it.

Posted in Early Childhood Music, What I'm Up To | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

“The piano is able to communicate the subtlest universal truths by means of wood, metal and vibrating air.”

– Kenneth Miller

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

Posted in Words of Wisdom | Tagged | Leave a comment

12 Tips for Memorizing Piano Music

I’ll be the first one to admit: memorizing music does not come easily to me.  I really have to work at it, and it takes a lot of time.  Over the past couple of years, I have been reading and trying out everything I could find about memorizing music, and I’ve come up with a number of tips that have been helpful for me.

Some people memorize effortlessly, without even trying.  These are practical tips for the rest of us.  :)

12 Tips for Memorizing Piano Music:

  1. From Day 1, practice your music with the intent of internalizing and memorizing it. Don’t wait until you’d got the piece learned to begin memorizing it.
  2. Use good fingering and use it consistently. It will take a lot longer to learn the piece if you are using different fingerings every time.  Writing your fingerings in the score will help (especially if you decide to use fingering other than what is indicate in the score).
  3. Always memorize the dynamics, articulations, and other markings on the page along with the notes. Don’t wait until you have the notes mastered!  It’s difficult to go back and fix things later.  It’s better — although perhaps more tedious initially — to learn it right the first time.
  4. Read More »
Posted in Advanced Level, Beginners/Elementary Level, By Student's Level, Group Keyboard, Ideas, Improving as a Teacher, Intermediate Level, Memorization, Practicing, Recitals / Performances, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Practice Tips @ “The Practice Notebook” blog

I was recently introduced to “The Practice Notebook” blog, created by flautist Zara Lawler.  She has tons of excellent tips for practicing efficiently, no matter what instrument you play.  Most notably, I found some excellent blog posts about her method of memorizing music.  In my experience, many teachers have their students memorize their pieces, but very few teachers actually teach how to memorize.  I am thrilled to find this blog that lays out a specific step-by-step method.  I am taking her suggestions to heart as I prepare my piano pieces for my midterm next week!

I hope write my own post with my own tips for memorizing music as well, but specific to piano music.  Watch for it coming soon!

Posted in Memorization, Resources / Links, Topics in Teaching Piano | Leave a comment

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

“Pianos are such noble instruments – they’re either upright or grand.”

– Author Unknown

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

Posted in Words of Wisdom | Tagged | Leave a comment

Poll: What printables would you like to see more of in the future?

Please help out by contributing your vote in the following poll: What printables would you like to see more of in the future here at colorinmypiano.com?

What free printables would you like to see more of in the future at colorinmypiano.com? (choose 2)

View Results

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As always, feel free to leave comments — let us know which printables available now are your favorite!

Posted in Polls, Printables, What I'm Up To | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New Facebook integration

Exciting news: you can now follow the Color In My Piano blog via Facebook!  Click the new button on the left, Find Us On Facebook, to view our page on Facebook.  Become a fan and receive blog updates right in your new feed!

In addition, now when you leave comments on posts at colorinmypiano.com, you can leave them using your facebook account.  Colorinmypiano.com will even display your current facebook avatar (photo) beside your comment.  What fun!

Posted in Technology, What I'm Up To | Tagged | Leave a comment

Links page has been updated

The Links page here at colorinmypiano.com has been updated!  I’ve created a new category devoted to sites with free sheet music, preferably for piano.

My personal favorite:

IMSLP / The Petruccit Library

This site contains TONS of sheet music pdfs of the great classical works!  Just this week, for example, I was looking to round out one of my student’s “musical diet” by giving her a piece from the Romantic Era.  After browsing around on the IMSLP site, I came across the Burgmüller Etudes Op. 100, which includes some lovely little pieces which were among my favorite pieces to play when I was a kid.  Examples: “Arabesque,” “Grace,” “Progress,” “Innocence,” and “Ballade.”

Do you have a favorite site where you print free sheet music?  Please let us know and I’ll add it to the list!

Posted in Repertoire/Method Books, Resources / Links, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Free Board Game for Music Students

Just added to the Printables page: a free piano-bench-sized board game for music students, called Adventures in Music!  I am so thrilled to be offering this game on my website.  This is my first attempt at creating a music game for students, and I’m quite excited about the results.

Here’s the lowdown:

  • Designed for 2-4 players - Works well during the private lesson, played between teacher and student.  May also be played with a group of 3, 4, or maybe 5 students.
  • Designed for Level 1 music students (equivalent to Level 1 in most method books).

Concepts covered:

  • Identifying intervals unison through 5th.
  • Identifying note values and rest values (e.g., quarter note).
  • Identifying notes on the staff (within Middle C position), including sharps and flats.
  • Identifying various music symbols (dynamics, articulations, etc.).

Materials needed: Read More »

Posted in Beginners/Elementary Level, For During the Lesson, Games, Ideas, Intermediate Level, Music Theory, Other Resources, Printables, Studio Class / Group Lessons, Topics in Teaching Piano, piano camps | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments
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