Category Archives: Preschool / Early Childhood Music

Just Added: Rainy Rhythm Game

By joy (admin) | Published: 22 September 2011

I’ve mentioned before that during grad school, I took an Early Childhood Music course.  One of the things we discussed was using the “sound before sight” philosophy – where the student is exposed to and experiences the concepts before being taught the name or the written notation.  I’ve been doing my best to use this [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, games, games, group classes, music camps, other resources, printables, private lessons, rhythm | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Beginner Piano Game: Piano Hands Hunt

By joy (admin) | Published: 8 September 2011

I have two 5-year-old students signed up for a Piano Readiness Class, and our first class was yesterday!  We had such a fun time.  We sang songs, listened to music to find/walk to the beat, traced our hands to learn about RH/LH/finger numbers, and more.  Best of all, we played the Piano Hands Hunt game [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, games, group classes, movement, other resources | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

MiniMusic Kit for Early Childhood Music Classes

By joy (admin) | Published: 11 August 2011

In my last post, I mentioned the MiniMusic kit by Paula Manwaring (Kjos Publishing) that I purchased while I was at the NCKP conference.  The photos and description of this curriculum on the Kjos Publishing website do not do it justice!  So I decided to show you some photos I took myself.  I think many [...]

Also posted in 2011 NCKP, beginners / elementary Level, conferences, group classes, music camps, resources / links | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

A-G Animals for Young Beginners

By joy (admin) | Published: 4 July 2011

Happy 4th of July!  Today, America celebrates Independence Day.  My parents have come over to visit us and see our new place, and we have a fun day of activities planned.  :) My husband and I are still exploring our new town and figuring out where things are.  It’s kind of fun!!  :)  Last week, [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, games, group classes | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Improvisation Activity: Rory’s Story Cubes

By joy (admin) | Published: 22 April 2011

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, composition, games, group classes, improvisation, music camps, private lessons | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

DIY: Ribbon Rings for Music & Movement Activities

By joy (admin) | Published: 10 January 2011

I got the idea for this craft from Kara’s Creative Place blog (thanks for the brilliant idea, Kara!).  Ribbon Rings (Kara’s example is pictured at right) are a fun prop for movement activities with young students during group lessons, camps, or early childhood music classes.  Kids love fluttering the ribbons of these props while they [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, games, group classes, intermediate level, music camps | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

DIY: Silent Mini Keyboards

By joy (admin) | Published: 25 October 2010

I recently decided that I wanted to own a set of silent keyboards for doing introductory piano activities with young children, and for using during group theory activities.  Unfortunately, buying a set of silent plastic keyboards (view them at musicinmotion.com) can be a rather large studio expense.  Of course, a cheap alternative would be to simply [...]

Also posted in games, group classes, music camps, other resources, printables, settings: | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Developing a Good Sense of Rhythm

By joy (admin) | Published: 14 September 2010
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Developing a good sense of rhythm is one of the most challenging parts of being a piano teacher.  It’s not something that arrives overnight, and it’s something that must be maintained as the student advances to music with more advanced rhythms and time signatures.  It truly is something that must be developed. I’d like to [...]

Also posted in group classes, improving as a teacher, rhythm | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Babies and Music

By joy (admin) | Published: 25 March 2010

Check out this interesting news article, reporting about a research study done on babies and their response to rhythm versus speech.  Here’s the summary from another site reporting on the same research: Human infants are born to dance, researchers report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Psychologists from the United Kingdom [...]

Also posted in resources / links, rhythm | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Early Childhood Music Online Resources

By joy (admin) | Published: 19 March 2010

I’ve been digging around online lately, looking for early childhood music resources.  (Yes, I’m sorry – I’m still on this kick!) Look what I found!  TONS of great links: Songs / Sheet Music MakingMusicFun.com – free printable sheet music with lyrics of all kinds of children’s songs Kididdles.com – free printable sheet music, lyrics, with corresponding [...]

Also posted in by student's level, games, group classes, resources / links, settings: | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Teaching 2-Against-3 Using Movement

By joy (admin) | Published: 18 March 2010

In answer to a question a received last week, I thought I’d talk a little bit more about teaching 2 against 3, as I had mentioned in a post about teaching music through movement. To tell you the truth, I have not needed to teach 2 against 3 very often so far, and when I [...]

Also posted in advanced level, beginners / elementary Level, by student's level, group classes, improving as a teacher, intermediate level, music camps, private lessons, rhythm, settings: | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Music & Movement: Inseparable!

By joy (admin) | Published: 11 March 2010

One of the reasons I’ve been considering offering early childhood music classes is because I am a firm believer in the strong relationship between music and movement.  As an undergrad, I took two semester of Dalcroze Eurhythmics which I found incredibly useful.  We learned movements that fit different meters and learned to respond expressively to [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, improving as a teacher, improvisation, resources / links, settings: | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment
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