Greetings! Today I have two important announcements:
- I have finished all the requirements for my Master’s degree! HOORAY! =D
- Today we have a new GIVEAWAY! Here are the details:
Andrea & Trevor Dow from yesterday’s interview have kindly agreed to sponsor a giveaway of Episode 1 of The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo! This pdf is a $19.95 value and contains Early Elementary, Elementary, and Intermediate Level versions of the pieces, accompanied by a three page comic. Once you’ve purchased the pdf, you are free to print off as many copies as needed for use with your students! Read more about The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo piano music for boys by clicking here.
To enter to win, leave a comment on this post!
- Ask Andrea & Trevor a question you still have after reading yesterday’s interview.
- Tell us about how you would use The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo in your studio!
- Or, share any tips you have about keeping boy students motivated in their piano studies.
You may earn one additional entry in the giveaway by sharing the link to this giveaway on your blog or on your facebook page. Be sure to leave an additional comment on this post to let me know you’ve done this, so that you get your extra entry.
The winner will be chosen via random number generator. Enter before Thursday, May 19, 2011 @ midnight for your chance to win!
I am absolutely in love with the name “Fearless Fortissimo.” I definitely plan on using this book in the future, as I have several young male (and female!) students who I think would get a kick out of this series. Maybe to go along with it, I would have a “Superhero Month.” Students would be asked to invent and draw their own music superhero — and once they’re done we could have a group lesson where they share their superheros, and discuss what kind of music would complement their characters.
… this could be sooooo much fun.
Hi Sara,
I love this idea! What a great way to use the books – and a fantastic offshoot for doing some fun composing with your students.
Made sure to share your giveaway on my studio FB page!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saras-Music-Studio/158392404179997
I love the idea! And congrats on your Master’s Degree!
Congrats, Joy!! I can only imagine what satisfaction you are feeling right now!
Congratulations on your Masters Degree, Joy! That is a remarkable accomplishment.
This series looks cool and useful! I could totally use this in my piano lessons I just started. And congrats on your Masters!
This sounds exciting! I would like to try this! I also like the above idea of “superhero month”.
Congrats on your Masters by the way!
I loved the looks of the Fearless Fortissimo – and isn’t that the challenge of teens? Keeping them interested, and using all that energy in a positive way! I also liked Sara’s comments on how she’d like to use the course – sparks some ideas for me!
Congratulations on your Masters – what a lot of work and study has gone in to this achievement for you! May you be blessed in your accomplishments! And, thanks for your blog!
This time of year, my boys are less motivated than usual. It’s time to break outdoors after a long Minnesota winter. Fearless Fortissimo might make it a little easier to get to the piano these days!
Hi Betsy,
Yes, it’s hard to compete with lacrosse and baseball at times! But… we just had a student using the Fearless Fortissimo songs choose his piano lesson over a baseball tournament on Friday because he was so excited about the next piece in the book – his dad was baffled 🙂 Score one for piano lessons!!
Congratulations on your Master’s Degree!
For the first time ever, my studio is 75% boys. I have no idea how or why that happened but it has been an interesting year for me. I would LOVE to give these a try with several of my students!
Many of my boy students enjoy banging around on the piano, so I thought teaching them to compose their own music would be a good way to focus their energy; it has also turned out to be a good alternative to theory “homework”. I’m still looking for more ideas as it seems they start losing interest after they’ve played piano for 3 years.
My son loves to play fun music. Is there a preview somewhere?
These books look amazing! I’d be intrigued to find out what other kinds of resources Andrea & Trevor use to motivate boys.
Hi Dana,
If you sign up to our newsletter on teachpianotoday.com then you’ll be the first to know when new resources for boys (and girls!) come out – including Episode 2 of The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo.
I would love to try this out with the boys–and I think several of the girls would love it too. It’s a really interesting idea, and I love that they have 3 levels of difficulty for each piece, and that you can buy a digital copy with reprint rights. What an interesting idea!
I just shared this post on my Facebook page too!
Congratulations on your Masters degree! What an accomplishment.
My studio is 65% boys. I get them into Star Wars as soon as I can. I would love to try out Fortissimo. Bam! Wow!
Thanks for posting the interview – the fresh ideas and perspectives on teaching are very welcome!
My thoughts immediately turned to how I could use The Adventures of Fearless Fortissimo with a brother/sister pair of students in my home studio. When you have students like them, who have high-energy, super strength in memorization, a passion for new music, curiosity about composing, and good basic technique, you’ve GOT to offer them something engaging at every lesson. I would use the Fearless Fortissimo as my Summer Practice motivation. This looks like fun for everyone involved; teacher, student, parent.
Hi Kathryn,
I’d love to know how it works with them! Drop me an email to keep me posted 🙂
I love this! The majority of my students are boys right now, and I’m always searching for fresh and creative material for them – this looks perfect. And I love the Superhero month idea!
Just posted it on Facebook also!
Congratulations on your Masters!
I think the boys in my studio would love this book. They seem especially motivated by games during lessons and “boy” themed songs about dinosaurs, trucks, monsters, sports, etc. They especially love lab time at the computer when they get to play arcade style music games like “Happy Note” Treble and Bass w/ fun background music or Staff Wars.
Congratulations with completing your Master’s!!
I’m looking forward to seeing more of this “for boys” series!
Wow! This looks amazing! It’s perfect for engaging those boys who are less than enthusiastic about having to take piano lessons. This looks like it was custom-written for one of my students 🙂 He would LOVE IT!
Hi Laura,
I’ve used this book with many of those “shrug of the shoulders” type of boy students who don’t seem to get excited about anything. In every case they’ve let down their guard and have torn through the book at a rapid pace. They’re all begging for Episode 2 🙂 The best part is, now that their piano skills are improving due to the increased practice they’re much more willing to play other material too as it feels easier to them.
This is a much needed resource. Not only do I teach young boys between the ages of 3 thru 12 yrs of age, but I have 3 of my own. I have a question from a teaching perspective. Is there any help out there, either in your Fearless Fortissimo book or from other resources on boys’ “piano hands”. I find that some boys, especially the older ones who really don’t want to appear graceful, really don’t want to sink & lift their wrist for the various technique exercises. Even if they want to, the motion is awkward for them. I would love to have some boy-inspiring phrases to use for these more “macho” personalities. Thanks so much!
Hi Carrie,
Our intent when creating this program was to produce something that was so inspiring to boy students that they would be much more engaged in the learning process of lessons. I think if you have their attention, they feel connected to what they are playing and they have a sense of relevancy then you’ll have better results. The idea of having the pieces serve as a soundtrack to the comic was to have them really connect with and “feel” what they were playing. Boys are visual learners, so to have a graphic story to visualize when playing may be the trick you’re looking for…no boy will worry about looking graceful if he’s busy “telling” the story of Fearless Fortissimo 🙂
I posted your interview on the “Music for Young Children” teacher chat board. That will reach at least 5 countries (including Korea, England & Australia). Thanks so much!
That was so kind of you Carrie. Thank you – and thank you to all of you who posted to your facebook as well 🙂
I am intrigued. The website is great and the comics definitely appealing to boys.
I’d love to try this out with my students. I hope I win! Thanks for the giveaway.
I’m SOOOO excited to find this resource for boys. I have 5 boys students & KNOW it would thrill them to learn through such an energetic approach. I’m not sure I can wait for the giveaway – I may just have to buy it now!
Looking forward to newly enthused students!
Hi Nikki,
Make sure to let us know how it goes with them at [email protected]! We love feedback as it helps us to make future Episodes even better 🙂
Andrea
Fantastic concept! I’m definitely going to try this program whether I win or have to buy it.
I shared this both on my personal FB page and on my collegiate chapter’s FB page MTNA Ball State University. Thanks for the opportunity to get to entries!
You can never have enough resources to get boys engaged in their music. Some of my boys are motivated by earning points and getting prizes, and some are motivated by fun music like this. I would definitely put it to good use!
I love this concept! I have had a much harder time motivating boys than I have girls. I would like to add this to my resources!
Hi! I am 15 years old, and I’m hoping to begin teaching piano over the summer. This would be a great book to use to keep active boys interested in piano! I don’t want them to think that piano is just a boring “girl thing”. 🙂 btw this website is awesome!!! Thank you for all your time on this! You seem like a great piano teacher.
I have one little man who is very bright and who loves instruments and music , but for whom all my attempts at getting him to practice have been met with every excuse under the sun. When last challenged he shrugged his shoulders and said ‘ Well, y’know …some of the songs are… ok (big sigh), and some are …………..(groan). I’m hoping Fearless Fortissimo will rescue us both 🙂