I love being able to print out rhythm cards for my students to practice at home. I can give them just a few cards to start, and add more advanced rhythms and time signatures as needed. My students store their cards in a zipper bag and bring them to their lessons each week. At first, [...]
When I was a 5-year-old beginner piano student, I remember being re-assigned one-/two-line method book pieces when the only thing lacking was dynamic contrast. And I remember being frustrated with this. My frustration was partly due to the fact that I was bored with the music I was playing; I wanted to be reading staff [...]
Over the last few months, I’ve created a collection of signs to use with my Piano Readiness and Homeschool Music classes: I use them during class when I am teaching or reviewing concepts. They can be useful for games too. For example, I like to have students hold up or point to the correct symbol [...]
Our last Q&A Forum topic was about organization. I loved reading your ideas — thank you all for your responses! I had a great topic idea from a reader (thanks, Amy!) who asked: How do you keep teenagers engaged? As we know, sometimes they are taking lessons only because their parents want them to. Or, [...]
Greetings! I have a big announcement today: I have just added a “Shop” page to ColorInMyPiano.com, where I have listed a few items for sale! Don’t worry…I’ll always share lots of freebies too, but I have some bigger projects that I’d like to make available in the shop. :) Right now, I’ve got two items [...]
Here is a phrase I find myself use more and more lately with my students: “I think you are ready for…” Imagine me saying it with plenty of enthusiasm. This phrase comes in handy in a number of circumstances, such as: “Wow, you’ve got all your 5-finger patterns learned, so I think you are [...]
This morning with my homeschool music class, I played this game with my students: As I was lesson planning last night, I was trying to think of a new way to practice the names of the piano keys. My homeschool music class is mostly a music history class, but we’ve been learning basic music/piano concepts [...]
I’m back! I ended up taking two weeks off instead of one, I know. :) But it felt great. It feels great to be back too. At the MTNA National Conference in NYC this year, one of the sessions I attended encouraged teachers to do yearly or quarterly assessments/evaluations of their students. Some teachers accompany [...]
Here they are…the rhythm value cards I mentioned in my post yesterday!
Here’s a new free music worksheet that I just added to the Printables page: This worksheet introduces the idea of identifying the space notes on the staff using the mnemonics FACE and All Cows Eat Grass. These are the only two mnemonics I use. I don’t teach separate mnemonics for the line notes anymore (like [...]
I had a wonderful extended weekend in Michigan, giving my presentations and spending time with my family! Now I’m busy back at work, playing catch-up. :) However, I do have a little game I’d like to share with you today. I am not the original inventor of this game, I’m sure — but in case [...]
Last Thursday, we started a Forum Q&A discussion about assignment notebooks/pages for students. Today, I thought I’d share my own method of tracking assignments — and, of course, also announce the winner of the giveaway! The winner of the sheet music decorative balls is commenter #5… LaDona! Congrats!! (By the way, if you haven’t seen LaDona’s [...]
Joy is a pianist and teacher in Ohio with great passion for helping students experience the wonders of music making!
