Category Archives: composition

“So, You Want To Be A Composer?” Camp – Now Available!

Hooray, the “So, You Want To Be A Composer?” camp has just been added to the Color In My Piano Shop! You’ve already seen the photos from our composition camp that was held a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday, I posted a sample student composition and a freebie from the lesson plans. Now, you can read [...]

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Music Camp Freebie from “So, You Want To Be A Composer?”

Good morning!  The “So, You Want To Be A Composer?” camp is ready to be listed in the Color In My Piano shop……but I’m just waiting to hear back from one more student to get permission to share their composition in the lesson plan as an example.  I will post it as soon as I [...]

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So, You Want To Be A Composer? – 2012 Summer Camp Details

Last week, I held my second summer music camp for my piano students!  It was called, “So, You Want To Be A Composer?”  I am so excited to share with you some details about our camp.  We had a really great week! Here’s where all the magic happened:

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MTNA 2012 Conference | Session on Composition Camps

The last session of the conference I attended was a wonderful one!  It was called: Get Out of That Musical Box: Teach Students How To Compose! Dianne Higgins gave a delightful presentation about the summer composition camps she holds each year.  It has been a great success even since the first year she tried it! [...]

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MTNA 2012 Conference | WSU’s Adopt-A-Composer Program

On Sunday morning of the conference, I attended the Alfred Exhibitor Showcase and the Keynote Presentation given by Norman Horowitz and Melvin Stecher.  My notes are very similar to Natalie’s from Music Matters Blog, so I will let you read her summaries here and here!  (We somehow attended a lot of the same sessions…great minds [...]

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Just Added: Music Staff Paper for Stickers of all Sizes

Guess what!  Tomorrow is Color In My Piano’s THREE YEAR anniversary!  Woohoo!  I’ve got a few fun posts and giveaways planned for later this week in honor of our anniversary.  But today, I thought I’d share this new printable:

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DIY Floor Music Staff for $10

I’ve been wanting a floor staff for a long time.  Now I finally have one!

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, games, group classes, movement, music camps, music theory, Preschool / Early Childhood Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Responses

Make Me A Rhythm! game

I was recently browsing some forums online and found a description of this game by a music educator.  It sounds like a great game to use with large groups of students — perhaps for group lessons or summer camps.  I asked the music educator if I could post about the game on my blog, and [...]

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Staff Paper – Large Staff for Simple Compositions

With my Piano Readiness Class, we’ve been learning about staff notation.  Last week, each student composed a mini-composition on the piano and then we together notated the piece.  We used colorful markers to label the notes (A, B, C, etc) and also wrote in finger numbers, so they can continue playing their compositions at home. [...]

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Hear my New Piano!

I promised over a month ago that I would post a video so you could hear my new piano!  I wanted to wait until after I got it tuned, of course, and recently I finally got around to recording something. In this YouTube video, I’m playing a short piece I composed during undergrad called “Contemplation.” [...]

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Flashcard Prompts for Improvisation & Composition

Today I have a fun new printable to share!

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Improvisation Activity: Rory’s Story Cubes

Before I begin, allow me to give credit where credit is due for this wonderful idea: I got this idea from Laura on her blog (click here).  I was so thrilled to see her idea of using these “story cubes” for improvisation with piano students! Meet “Rory’s Story Cubes.” Rory’s Story Cubes consist of a [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, games, group classes, improvisation, music camps, Preschool / Early Childhood Music, private lessons | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Responses