Category Archives: composition

DIY Floor Music Staff for $10

By joy (admin) | Published: 6 February 2012

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

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, early childhood music, games, group keyboard classes, movement, music theory, piano camps, studio class / group lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Make Me A Rhythm! game

By joy (admin) | Published: 18 November 2011

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 [...]

Also posted in advanced level, beginners / elementary Level, games, intermediate level, other resources, piano camps, printables, rhythm, studio class / group lessons | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Just Added: Large Staff for Simple Compositions

By joy (admin) | Published: 4 November 2011

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!

By joy (admin) | Published: 18 August 2011

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.” [...]

Also posted in my students, technology | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Flashcard Prompts for Improvisation & Composition

By joy (admin) | Published: 11 July 2011

Today I have a fun new printable to share! Students are sometimes at a loss for topics for improvising or composing, so I like to provide prompts — similar to the way Creative Writing classes often provide prompts.  :)  Remember those Story Cubes?  That’s one great way to provide prompts.  These flashcards are another. This 12-page [...]

Also posted in games, improvisation, other resources, printables | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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, early childhood music, games, improvisation, piano camps, private lessons, studio class / group lessons | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

Improvisation Yields Creativity and Musical Understanding

By joy (admin) | Published: 9 July 2010

The benefits of including improvisation activities in piano lessons. The freedom to explore and be creative. Discovering musical concepts on your own. Developing your musical ear. Playing by ear. Composing an original composition.

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, by student's level, improving as a teacher, improvisation, my students, private lessons, settings: | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Decorate Your Studio Idea: Bach Invention Manuscripts

By joy (admin) | Published: 26 April 2010

I just discovered these manuscript copies of Bach’s 2-part inventions over at the IMSLP’s Petrucci Music Library.  I always find free pdfs of music scores that I need on their site, but I never realized that they also have pdfs of some hand-written manuscript copies to download as well!  Although this is not Bach’s handwriting, [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, by student's level, intermediate level, resources / links, settings: | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Just Added! Lesson Plans: Analyzing & Composing Music in the Romantic Style

By joy (admin) | Published: 2 November 2009

[This is a re-post of this post -- the files have now been added to the Printables portion of this website.  (Thanks, Natalie!) Sorry for any confusion.] Just added to the Printables > Lesson Plans page: Lesson Plans: Analyzing & Composing Music in the Romantic Style (also take a peek below) Also see the accompanying [...]

Also posted in beginners / elementary Level, by student's level, intermediate level, music history, music theory, other resources, printables, studio class / group lessons, what I'm up to, worksheets | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

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 improvisation, private lessons, what I'm up to | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment
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