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Category Archives: For During the Lesson

Free Board Game for Music Students

By joy (admin) | Published: 18 February 2010
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 - [...]
Also posted in Beginners/Elementary Level, Games, Ideas, Intermediate Level, Music Theory, Other Resources, Printables, Studio Class / Group Lessons, Topics in Teaching Piano, piano camps | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5d in the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 5 February 2010
This is a continuation of the series on the topic: incorporating improvisation into private piano teaching.  I had originally planned to post all 4 steps into one post, but the post would be too lengthy.  So the topic “Incorporating Improvisation” is being divided into 4 separate posts: Develop Related Skills Create an atmosphere conducive to improvisation Use improvisation [...]
Also posted in Improving as a Teacher, Improvisation, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5c in the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 1 February 2010
This is a continuation of the series on the topic: incorporating improvisation into private piano teaching.  I had originally planned to post all 4 steps into one post, but the post would be too lengthy.  So the topic “Incorporating Improvisation” is being divided into 4 separate posts: Develop Related Skills Create an atmosphere conducive to improvisation Use improvisation [...]
Also posted in Improving as a Teacher, Improvisation, Other Resources, Printables, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5b in the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 29 January 2010
This is a continuation of the series on the topic: incorporating improvisation into private piano teaching.  I had originally planned to post all 4 steps into one post, but the post would be too lengthy.  So the topic “Incorporating Improvisation” is being divided into 4 separate posts: Develop Related Skills Create an atmosphere conducive to improvisation Use improvisation [...]
Also posted in Improving as a Teacher, Improvisation, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Incorporating Improvisation | Part 5a of the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 25 January 2010
Now to the heart of the discussion!  We’ve already covered some common obstacles encountered when trying to incorporate improvisation, and we’ve briefly discussed the history and the value of improvisation.  Now let’s discuss a practical way to incorporate improvisation (non-jazz improvisation, in particular) into the piano lesson. There are 4 steps in the method I am [...]
Also posted in Ideas, Improving as a Teacher, Improvisation, Other Resources, Printables, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Using Adjectives to Capture the Imagination

By joy (admin) | Published: 6 November 2009
One of the ideas I’ve been exploring extensively throughout the research I’m doing for my paper for college (the one about improvisation) is making music musical.  This seems so obvious, but really, what would music be without musicality?  Check out this video, of a robot playing the violin. Speaking of which, have you ever had students [...]
Also posted in Humor, Ideas, Inspiration, Interpretation, Motivation, Resources / Links, The Power of Music, Topics in Teaching Piano, What I'm Up To | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Creativity in the Piano Lesson | Part 1 of the series

By joy (admin) | Published: 26 October 2009
I’ve been reading a lot about improvisation (non-jazz, particularly) and creativity in the piano lesson lately, as I’ve been working on a paper for my Into to Music Research class for college.  It’s interesting to me how today there seems to be a trend for exact, literal performances of composers’ works.  It was not always [...]
Also posted in Composition, Improvisation, Topics in Teaching Piano, What I'm Up To | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Highlights from Michigan Music Teachers Conference 2009

By joy (admin) | Published: 15 October 2009
This past weekend was the Michigan Music Teachers Association 124th State Conference, taking place in Bay City, Michigan.  A couple of my fellow college piano pedagogy majors and I drove over to Bay City on Monday, to hear the conferences of the day.  Conferences are so great because they give you all sorts of new [...]
Also posted in Current Events, Ideas, Improving as a Teacher, Inspiration, Practicing, Topics in Teaching Piano | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Just Added! Flashcards: Naming Notes (Middle C Position)

By joy (admin) | Published: 12 October 2009
Just added to the Printables > Other Resources page: Flashcards: Naming Notes (Middle C Position) There are two pages in this file: Page 1: Contains 10 flashcards for reinforcing the notes of the Middle C position (i.e., Bass F through Treble G). Page 2: Contains the “answers” to the note name flashcards, to be printed onto the backside of Page 1. This [...]
Also posted in Beginners/Elementary Level, By Student's Level, Ideas, Other Resources, Printables | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Just Added! Flashcards: Melodic Patterns 1 & 2

By joy (admin) | Published: 5 October 2009
Just added to the Printables > Other Resources page: Flashcards: Melodic Patterns 1 Flashcards: Melodic Patterns 2 These flashcards (pictured at right) are my absolute favorite.  They have a variety of uses, mainly for beginner piano students: For beginner students who understand quarter and half note rhythms: Ask the student to simply clap the rhythm they see. For beginner students who are [...]
Also posted in Beginners/Elementary Level, By Student's Level, Ideas, Other Resources, Printables | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment
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