Category Archives: composition

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 [...]

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Best free manuscript paper

By joy (admin) | Published: 17 September 2009

Just thought I’d share a little tip today about where to find THE best free manuscript paper (in my humble opinion): Antonjazz.com   There are hundreds of sites out there that offer free manuscript paper (aka staff paper).  But this is my absolute favorite.   Now, you must know, I do a little composing every now [...]

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Value of Teaching to Play By Ear

By joy (admin) | Published: 15 September 2009

A couple weeks ago, I posted a list of melodies that work well assign piano students to take home and learn to play by ear.  Over at ComposeCreate.com, Wendy Stevens talks about the value of teaching students to play by ear during a lecture she gave, Composition for Kids: Time-Saving Ways to Teach Composition in your Studio. [...]

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CATcerto – a modern composition

By joy (admin) | Published: 14 September 2009

Perhaps you’ve seen Nora the cat play the piano on YouTube before.  Well, the modern composer Mindaugas Piecaitis managed to compose a concerto out of Nora’s movie!  Check out the video below.    This composition is a great example of combining modern technology with music – and it’s delightfully humorous to boot!  The sky truly is [...]

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A Closer Look at MuseScore: FREE music notation software

By joy (admin) | Published: 31 August 2009

Move over, Finale and Sibelius!  There’s somebody new in town.  MuseScore is a music notation software available FREE online for anyone to download.  After doing a brief test drive last spring (mentioned here), I decided to take a closer look now that it’s available for Mac users. I’ve been a faithful Finale user since 2005, [...]

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MuseScore: free music notation software

By joy (admin) | Published: 28 August 2009

Have you heard about the new free music notation software called MuseScore?  I have heard nothing but favorable reviews about it thus far.  Personally, I do not currently have a great need for it, since I use Finale software at college.  But this may very well be a great resource for teachers who do not [...]

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Student Composition Recital

By joy (admin) | Published: 4 April 2009

On Friday, April 3, a Student Composition Recital was held at my college.  Two of my pieces were performed!   Here’s my horn solo with French horn accompaniment…

Also posted in recitals / performances, what I'm up to | Leave a comment
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