Color In My Piano » composition

MTNA 2012 Conference | Session on Composition Camps

joy (admin) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 20:55:35 +0000

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!

The first year, Dianne emailed her students and friends to ask for donations of keyboards, headphones, computers, and other equipment she would need. She was surprised with the response she received, and only had a few things left to purchase. Over the years, she has upgraded her equipment and now has 5 computer stations with small MIDI keyboards, and some keyboard/headphone stations too. She has a separate room in her house for these stations.

Dianne starts planning for the camp 6 months in advance. She creates a flyer about the camp and then talks about it often — in newsletters, on the website, with students, etc. She has found that the best times to hold the camps are starting at 1pm and 6pm, for 2.5 hours, Monday through Thursday. Dianne’s camp is open for ages 6-18.

At camp, students receive a composition folder with manuscript paper and a pencil. She also asks students to bring a flashdrive along if they have one for saving their composition computer files.

Each day of camp, they discussed a musical period — listening to music, looking at the art and fashion of the period, and the instruments. Each day, an hour is devoted to history, a half-hour for composition preparation, and an hour for composition.

Dianne shared some tips she gives her students in order to guide their compositions:

Encourage them to keep everything they write! Even if what they are working on isn’t working, encourage them to tuck it into their folder and start fresh. They may end of using part of their previous tries.
Encourage them to stay away from C position.
Examine other compositions together to see the importance of form and repetition.
Discuss the elements of melody and harmony.
Consider assigning a theme of sort kind — having all students compose about weather, a place, a person, emotion, animals, etc.
Give them a checklist of things to check for in their final composition: form (clearly marked), rhythm (encourage using rests too), melody, number the measures to check symmetry, check for correct notation, and that the RH and LH notes are properly aligned.
Give gentle and careful criticism. Always find positive things to say about their compositions.
Some students will want to noodle on the piano first before writing, and others will write first before seeing how it sounds on the piano. Either method is fine!
Encourage a matching title.
Encourage them to practice it to check it for accuracy and that everything works (hands don’t overlap, etc.).

On the last day of camp, there is a pizza party and a Show & Tell performance for the parents (even if the compositions are incomplete, they are shared in their present state). Dianne also sets up a display table for everyone to view the finished scores.

Note: once a composition leaves the camp, it is considered published. For copyright protection, the student can submit it to the government (for a cost), get it notarized, or mail it to themselves (do not open the sealed envelope; just store it away).

After the camp, consider encourage your students to enter competitions in the Explorer Magazine or local/state composition competitions. You can also consider making a CD of the compositions, or having your students perform their compositions on recitals.

This session was a wonderful! It was great to hear such practical information, and about how summer camps and the incorporation of composition has been so successful for Dianne!

[Visit MTNA 2012 Conference | Session on Composition Camps to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

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

joy (admin) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:28:25 +0000

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 think alike!) :)

After that, I attended a session given by the MTNA Collegiate Chapter at Washington State University (WSU) called:

Composition and Creativity: Collaboration With Living Composers In The Private Studio

This session was about the annual Adopt-A-Composer Program that that WSU uses for their Piano Lab School (where piano majors teach students in a supervised setting). A year in advance, they choose and approach a composer, explain the components of the program, and negotiate terms. If the budget allows, some years they commission a work or two.

The weekend that the composer visits, the composer presents in public schools on Friday morning with some kind of interactive program on a topic of their choice. During this time, students at those schools who take piano lessons have the opportunity to perform for the composer in front of their peers.

Later in the day, a recital is held featuring works written by the composer. At this time, the commissioned pieces are debuted and the students’ artwork (inspired by the pieces they perform) are projected on a screen as they play. Afterwards, there is a reception and the students’ artwork is displayed in the reception area for more viewing.

Saturday morning is a “Meet The Composer” question and answer session, when students have the opportunity to get autographes and take photos. Afterwards, there is a masterclass for selected students to play the composers’ works or one of their own compositions. Students outside the lab school must send a recording to audition to participate.

At noon, the WSU piano majors and area teachers take the composer out for lunch. Finally, in the afternoon there is a clinic held by the composer for the area teachers on a topic chosen by the composer.

This program means a lot to the WSU student teachers as well as the rest of the community! WSU is in Pullman, WA, which is a very rural area, one hour away from the nearest highway. The impact of adopting a composer is great for the students too: it encourages creativity, increases motivation, gets them thinking about details and musicality (character, mood, etc.), fosters independent thinking, and more! Students are encouraged to correspond with the composer in advance of the visit too, as they are working on the learning the composer’s piece or on their own composition. This year, they’ve adopted composer Mary Leaf. Other composers they’ve had include Dennis Alexander, Kevin Olson, and Melody Bober.

It was so interesting to learn about the positive impact that WSU’s Adopt-A-Composer program has had for everyone there! Wouldn’t it be fun to Adopt-A-Composer in your own studio? It would be difficult to finance a composer to visit each year, of course, unless it was bigger than just your studio – perhaps a local MTNA association could do it. At the least, I wonder if a composer would be willing to correspond with students of a studio. Students could each learn a piece by that composer, compose their own pieces if they desire, and even have a composer party! I love the Adopt-A-Composer idea. What a great session!

[Visit MTNA 2012 Conference | WSU’s Adopt-A-Composer Program to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Just Added: Music Staff Paper for Stickers of all Sizes

joy (admin) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:22:07 +0000

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:

I love having my piano students compose their own music, even when they are young beginners. I try to make it easy and fun for them. That’s why I created this pdf: music staff paper for composing with stickers! I must give credit to my friend Michelle from Michigan for the idea of using stickers for composing with students (Thanks, Michelle!).

This pdf contains a variety of various sizes of staff paper for use with any stickers you might find. You can find plain, round stickers at most office supply stores or even the dollar store. Other stickers like star- or heart-shaped ones will probably work fine too, and might be a fun way to reflect whatever holiday is coming up. I would recommend using large stickers with young students, and smaller stickers with older students. On the bottom of each page in the pdf, it indicates what size stickers you’ll need with each sheet of staff paper. The various colors of the stickers can represent certain rhythm values or sections of the composition. Be creative!

(Please forgive the gray markings on the paper you can see in the photos — my printer’s toner is low!)

Here’s a couple of quick ideas for using this printable:

Send students home with a sheet of stickers and a few pieces of staff paper, and assign them to create a short composition using whatever concepts you are currently learning about. E.g., steps, skips, forte and piano, eighth notes, etc.
Composing with stickers could be a fun activity during group lessons too! It helps speed up the composing process too, because writing out notation can be a laborious activity for young beginners. Students could later be assigned to transcribe their piece into tradition notation. I plan to use this staff paper to compose with stickers during one of my summer camps: “So, You Want To Be A Composer?”.
Try doing melodic dictation with stickers!

You can download this pdf by visiting the Printables > Other Resources page and scrolling down to the S’s for Staff Paper for Composing with Stickers.

Let me know if you have requests for other staff sizes to fit whatever stickers you have. Enjoy!

[Visit Just Added: Music Staff Paper for Stickers of all Sizes to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

DIY Floor Music Staff for $10

joy (admin) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:01:43 +0000

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

Here’s the materials I used:

oblong vinyl tablecloth (mine is 52” x 90”) or a shower curtain. (I paid $8 at Wal-Mart for my tablecloth.)
black masking tape, or electrical tape. (I found a roll of black masking tape for $1.29 at my local craft store. Masking tape is 1” wide. If you want thinner lines, use electrical tape.)
ruler
pencil

I’m happy with my decision to go with a vinyl tablecloth over a shower curtain. I got the tablecloth suggestion from a friend of mine from back in Michigan (thanks, Michelle!). The vinyl is a little bit stiff which helps it stay flat on the ground (although it’s pretty wrinkly from the packaging – hopefully those little bumps will smooth out with time), and the fabric backing prevents it from slipping around on my hardwood floor. The vinyl will be easy to sweep or wipe off if needed, and I love that my floor staff folds up easily for storage!

After some math, I determined that I would make the spaces 3.5” wide. Using a pencil and ruler, I marked where the tape should go using a little dash every 18” or so. I wanted to make sure the tape lines were nice and straight!

I would have liked to make the spaces larger so I originally considered using the tablecloth vertically instead of horizontally, but I also wanted to have plenty of room down the length of the tablecloth. My own two feet don’t really fit well in the spaces, but it will probably be just the right size for my students’ little feet. Fortunately, my beanie animals fit just right too!

The plush alphabet letters pictured in the first photo came from Goodwill. It was a near-complete set of 2 of all 26 letters for just $1. I removed A-G from the set and plan to give the rest to my 3-year-old nephew, who is obsessed with letters right now. :) If you wanted to make your own set of colorful letters, you could make them by cutting letters out of felt.

I’d like to sew some black, round bean bags to use as music note heads, but I think for now I’m going to buy a package of small black paper plates at the dollar store and cut out the middles to fit on the staff. Another idea is to buy a package of pre-cut round foam discs from a craft store or dollar store.

Now I just need to make a treble clef and a bass clef! I don’t think masking tape is going to work well for making the curvy treble clef shape, so I’m trying to think of an easier way. I might just cut the clefs out of cardboard or out of a dollar store shower curtain, and then spray paint it black. Any other ideas?

I can’t wait to show my new floor staff to my students! I found a few floor staff games here at Jennifer’s Pianimation blog. Please let me know if you know of some other great floor staff games. :)

[Visit DIY Floor Music Staff for $10 to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Make Me A Rhythm! game

joy (admin) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:12:44 +0000

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 she kindly agreed. In her own words: “You certainly have my permission to share the game. I made it up, but someone else probably has, too. We all get ideas from one another and put them together in different ways.” I love her attitude and generosity! We teachers have so much we can share and learn from each other.

This composing/rhythm game is appropriate for groups of about 8 or more students. All you need are 4 pieces of paper with the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 written on them. These sheets serve to mark the beats of the measure, spaced out on the floor. One student is chosen as the Composer, who must select students and make them into quarter notes/half notes/whatever. Once the measure is complete, everyone claps the rhythm and the teacher records the rhythm onto a whiteboard to save it. A new Composer is chosen to compose the next measure. In the end, everyone claps the entire rhythmic composition to see what it sounds like.

I haven’t tried out this game yet, but it sounds fun! And it’s not always easy to find games that work for large groups of students. I just might try out this game at my studio Christmas party coming up. :)

Complete game instructions can be printed by downloading the pdf on the Printables > Games page. I thought the game needed a more specific title, so I came up with “Make Me A Rhythm!”

[Visit Make Me A Rhythm! game to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Staff Paper – Large Staff for Simple Compositions

joy (admin) — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:44:32 +0000

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. They loved the idea of being composers!

This is the sheet paper we used to notate our compositions. Young students tend to draw rather large notes :) , so I left plenty of room between the lines of the staff.

To download, visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to “Staff Paper — Large Staff for Simple Compositions.”

[Visit Staff Paper – Large Staff for Simple Compositions to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Hear my New Piano!

joy (admin) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:30:46 +0000

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.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R_Ee8OuC_A

This is a piece I composed in 2007 during my senior year at Hope College. It was written for an assignment for a Form & Analysis theory course for which we were supposed to compose a piece using the Schenkarian techniques we were studying in class. The structure of this piece is based on a descending line using scale degrees 3-2-1. This descending line is also used on a more micro level as a motive throughout the piece.

In the next video, I am playing a piece that my six-year-old student back in Central Michigan composed before I moved away. He composed a melody called “Goodbye,” and wanted me to compose the left hand part for it. I was so touched by his request!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXcr2VnlZSk

View the rest of my YouTube channel here.

In the first video, I used my Zoom H2 recorder. In the second video, I used the built-in microphone of my MacBook Pro. It’s amazing to hear the difference that better recording equipment makes! I’m still experimenting with finding the best placement of the microphone in order to achieve the best results.

I also wish I had a video camera to improve the video quality. Both videos were recorded using the built-in iSight camera of my MacBook. I think I know what I’m going to ask for on my Christmas list this year!

Wendy Chan recently posted a pair of fabulous posts on her Piano Escapades blog about having a YouTube channel for your piano studio — be sure to check them out!

YouTube Channel for the Studio – some thoughts on using YouTube in the teaching studio.
Things to Know About YouTube Videos – covers important copyright information that every piano teacher should know!

[Visit Hear my New Piano! to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Flashcard Prompts for Improvisation & Composition

joy (admin) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:32:10 +0000

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 document contains 96 flashcards of colorful clipart (which I found on the Microsoft Word website). At the end of a lesson, I’ll give one to a student and base an improvisation on describing that topic. Sometimes, I give the student three cards so they can choose which one they like best of the three.

There are plenty of flashcards in this set, so even when working in large groups (monthly studio classes or camps), it’s possible to have plenty of variety. In group sessions, these flashcard prompts can be used for duet improvisations with a partner, or for each student to write their own short composition. Either way, I like making a game out of it and these flashcards help provide some fun and variety.

I’d love to hear what other ideas you might have for using these flashcards! To download this printable, visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to the F’s for “Flashcard Prompts for Improvisation & Composition.”

[Visit Flashcard Prompts for Improvisation & Composition to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Improvisation Activity: Rory’s Story Cubes

joy (admin) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:05:07 +0000

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 set of 9 dice with all kinds of pictures on their faces. I think English teachers use these as a starting point for writing stories.

Piano teachers can use them too. =)

Let me tell you about how I’ve been using this fun new prop.

During a piano lesson, I gave my student all of the dice and asked her to roll them. Here’s what they look like:

After we rolled the dice, I asked her to choose three of the rolled dice that she liked best. Here’s what she chose:

Next I told her we were going to be creating a piece of music with three sections. Each die represents one of those sections. I asked her about each picture, and asked her how we could use the piano to tell the story on the dice.

Although these three pictures seem to be entirely random, my 6-year-old student did not find them to be such in the least. Why, of course we can make a story/improvisation out of such random things! Older students, of course, would be more likely to choose three related symbols to use for their improvisation rather than three random ones. =)

Here’s what she came up with for our improvisation:

The magnet: Since magnets stick to things, my student thought we should hold down the keys for a long time. She suggested that we use only half notes during this section of our piece.
The tower: Since the tower is tall, my student thought we should use the upper register of the piano only. She also thought we should play forte. So I told her that I would be resting during this “B” section so that she could play the tower stuff at the top of the piano.
The arrow thingy: My student interpreted this symbol to represent being on a journey. She thought we should play running eighth note figures to show we were traveling around quickly in all different directions.

We played our duet improvisation together following the ideas she established, and I was delighted at the result! Her imagination was completely ignited and we had a great time making the “story” she created come to life.

Yes, you might think our improvisation it would sound a little crazy on the piano, and I can’t completely disagree. It can get a little crazy sometimes, but usually our improvisations sound pretty good. I did ask her to choose a pentascale to use for the tower and arrow sections. I usually provide an ostinato figure with a simple harmonies that will sound good with almost anything she plays. The magnet sections in particular sounded remarkably good, considering that we were randomly hitting half notes all over the piano.

We had so much fun! And all this in just five minutes. I am looking forward to finding more ways to use Rory’s Story Cubes in the future. I think they are perfect for inspiring both improvisation and composition activities! In a group setting, you could give one to each student and allow them to choose whatever picture they like best on their die.

You can find Rory’s Story Cubes on Amazon by clicking here (this is an affiliate link: if you purchase this item through this link, Color In My Piano will benefit). I kind of wish they offered different sets of dice, but I currently only see this set. Have fun, and let me know if you decide to order a set and what you plan to do with them!

[Visit Improvisation Activity: Rory’s Story Cubes to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Improvisation Yields Creativity and Musical Understanding

joy (admin) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:11:31 +0000

I haven’t talked about improvisation lately, and in the past I’ve only spoken of the value and benefits of improvisation in the piano lesson in a rather academic-y way — and so today I’d like to discuss some specific benefits I’ve seen develop in a particular student of mine as a direct result of our improvisation activities.

Some background on my student: she (let’s call her K.) is just a beginner, having started lessons in January of this year. K. is seven years old, and is now nearing the end of the Primer level of the Faber Piano Adventures.

Here’s what I’ve seen in K. so far:

The freedom to explore and be creative. She is learning by exploration. She enjoys figuring out how to play tunes by ear, without any assignment or direction from me. She’ll say, “Look! I figured out how to play Mary Had A Little Lamb!”
She is discovering musical concepts on her own. She has already figured out — all on her own — that when she plays tunes in certain keys, she needs to use the black keys for them to sound right. It’s astonishing when you think about it — she has actually discovered the reason behind key signatures and how transposition works, all by herself! I expect that when we actually start talking about these concepts together, she will find these ideas easy to absorb because she already “gets it.”
Her ear is developing in a way that is far more efficient and practical than me drilling her with intervals (for example) over and over. She knows what the interval of a 3rd should sound like when she sees it on the page, and her fingers then know what to do.
We’re having fun! Improvisation is a great way to end a lesson. She is always excited to “make Chinese music.“

To sum it up, improvising regularly with my student has helped her realize the freedom that comes with the art of music, rather than placing a limit herself to play only “what’s on the page.” And this is causing her to understand how music works all the better.

Creativity At Work

K. surprised me last week with a little composition she wrote. And she created her own kind of shorthand for notating her composition onto a sheet of paper. It looked something like this: CDECCDEEFGGEDDDDEDC. She informed me that the long notes were notated by having two of the same letter in a row.

Here’s her composition, entitled, “The Britain Clock Goes Crazy”:

Those of you who are familiar with the Faber method might recognize the opening two bars. That’s right, they are exactly like the opening measures of All My Friends on page 58. This was done completely unintentionally by K. In fact, she recognized the “musical quotation” during the lesson when she played her piece for me: “Hey! This sounds just like the beginning of All My Friends!”

The title of the piece is a reference to Bells of Great Britain on page 59 of the Faber Primer level Lesson book. K. loved working on this piece. I told her that this piece was about the famous Big Ben clock tower in London, and we talked about how to make the piano sound like the clock bells ringing. I suspect K.’s composition was inspired by this piece (as the title suggests) because she enjoyed working on that piece so much.

K.’s piece is pretty simple. It is only six measures long. The hands are just playing in octaves together. However, I see a few really good things about this piece:

It is singable. It is not disjoint or random; she was following her ear as she composed this piece.
It has phrases. Having a set of three phrases rather than four is a bit unusual, but actually I kind of enjoy this bit of quirkiness in her composition.
It makes use of what she knows. This tells me that she understands well the musical concepts she is being taught. For example, I see that she is using the C major position, and the syncopation of beats 4 to 1.
In short, it makes musical sense.

So, what was my response when K. brought in her little composition to the lesson? I was thrilled, as any piano teacher would be! I told her how much I enjoyed her piece, and then took out some manuscript paper and asked her to play it again. I transcribed the piece and told her that I would input her piece on the computer and print it out just like “real sheet music” for her (I use Finale 2009 software, but there are other options, including the free MuseScore). And so the following lesson, we surprised her mother with her freshly printed composition.

K.’s inclinations to explore and try her hand at composition I believe are a direct result from our improvisation activities. It may not seem like much to just improvise on the black keys for two or three minutes each lesson, but I think it sends a strong, valuable message to the student: It’s okay to explore; in fact, it’s fun to explore!

Do you think K. will compose more pieces I the future? I hope so! I think it’s important not to provide critique or even suggestions for student compositions until they have done it a few times and until they are older and ready to hear it. And so I was careful that my response to K. was to simply let her know that her piece was very enjoyable to listen to, and then I “rewarded” her with a printed copy of her music to hang on the refrigerator, so to speak. =)

[Visit Improvisation Yields Creativity and Musical Understanding to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Color In My Piano » composition

MTNA 2012 Conference | Session on Composition Camps

Get Out of That Musical Box: Teach Students How To Compose!

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

Composition and Creativity: Collaboration With Living Composers In The Private Studio

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Just Added: Music Staff Paper for Stickers of all Sizes

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DIY Floor Music Staff for $10

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Make Me A Rhythm! game

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Staff Paper – Large Staff for Simple Compositions

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Hear my New Piano!

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Flashcard Prompts for Improvisation & Composition

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Improvisation Activity: Rory’s Story Cubes

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Improvisation Yields Creativity and Musical Understanding

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