Color In My Piano » classes

Group Piano Class Ideas

joy (admin) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:46:39 +0000

I recently came across this great video/podcast on Mario Ajero’s YouTube channel: an interview with pianist and piano pedagogue Dr. Julie Knerr. Both Maria Ajero and Julie Knerr are graduates from University of Oklahoma’s widely recognized piano pedagogy program. In this video, Dr. Knerr shares some of her game ideas for her group piano classes — which she holds weekly in addition to her student’s weekly private lessons — to build a variety of musicianship skills. Check it out!

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

Most of these activities could be easily modified for use during a private lesson, music camp, studio party, and other settings. You can visit Dr. Knerr’s website at julieknerrpiano.com. She has recently been co-writing a new piano method series called Piano Safari (as mentioned back in this post) available by order via PayPal at pianosafari.com.

Be sure to also check out more great podcasts at Mario Ajero’s website, The Piano Podcast.

[Visit Group Piano Class Ideas to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Babies and Music

joy (admin) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:58:59 +0000

Check out this interesting news article, reporting about a research study done on babies and their response to rhythm versus speech. Here’s the summary from another site reporting on the same research:

Human infants are born to dance, researchers report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Psychologists from the United Kingdom and Finland played an assortment of classical and children’s songs, drumbeats, baby talk, and regular speech for 120 infants ages 5 to 24 months. Speech inspired little motion, but music consistently got the babies into the groove. They moved to music with a clear rhythm and adjusted their movements as the beat varied. And the better the babies matched their motion to the music, the more they smiled. So while it remains a mystery how humans evolved our musical wiring, it’s now clear we enjoy it and always did. (news.sciencemag.org)

Also see the corresponding video here.

Whether you believe that humans evolved their “musical wiring” or were created with it, this research confirms that humans have some sort of natural inclination towards music, apparent even at the youngest of ages. It confirms what we as teachers have always known — humans should be developing their musical ability when they are young!

Isn’t it kind of amazing how well those babies in the video have a natural sense of beat? I wish some of my students could keep a steady beat half as well as the babies in the video! =D

[Visit Babies and Music to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Just Added: Hands & Fingers at the Piano Worksheet

joy (admin) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:31:55 +0000

Just added: a new free worksheet, available on the Printables > Worksheets page:

Hands & Fingers at the Piano

This worksheet is suitable for use with new young beginners, either in the private lesson setting or in the classroom piano setting. (I would not recommend using this worksheet with older students, because there is only room for little hands to be traced on this worksheet!) In this worksheet, the student is instructed to trace their hands, and label the finger numbers on each finger.

Worksheet Objectives:

The student recognizes the left hand versus the right hand.
The student learns the abbreviations “LH” and “RH.”
The student understands the fingering numbering system for piano (1-5), for both hands.

Click here to check it out now!

[Visit Just Added: Hands & Fingers at the Piano Worksheet to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Early Childhood Music Online Resources

joy (admin) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:46:36 +0000

I’ve been digging around online lately, looking for early childhood music resources. (Yes, I’m sorry – I’m still on this kick!)

Look what I found! TONS of great links:

Songs / Sheet Music

MakingMusicFun.com – free printable sheet music with lyrics of all kinds of children’s songs
Kididdles.com – free printable sheet music, lyrics, with corresponding coloring pages and other activities
BusSongs.com – lyrics & words for children’s nursery rhymes & songs
kodaly.hnu.com – a database of American folk songs; songs can be sorted by “Pre-K” level
FreeKidsMusic.com – free downloadable mp3s of children’s folk songs as well as other contemporary songs by various artists
PreschoolExpress.com – lyrics to familiar folk songs as well as piggyback songs (songs with new words put to familiar tunes) – all organized by theme
lds.org – sheet music for children’s Bible songs and hymns
JudyandDavid.com – lyrics of children’s songs, many with corresponding activity sheets (pdfs)
NancyMusic.com – tons of newly composed children’s songs, with free downloadable mp3s and corresponding activities and coloring sheets (pdfs)
MamaLisa.com – lyrics, midi files, and sheet music for various songs from around the world (includes translations)

Printables

LessonSense.com – free printable flashcards of all the instruments
WeeSing.com – free printables that correspond with various songs from the Wee Sing books; changes daily.

Props / Instruments

PreKinders.com – list of props and homemade instruments for early childhood music classes
FamilyCorner.com – a list of 9 make-your own instruments with instructions
dsokids.com – more ideas for making your own instruments
familyfun.go.com – more homemade instruments, plus music games for children

Lesson Plans / Activities

ChildrensMusicWorkshop.com – a list of children’s books with musical subject matter
NellieEdge.com – printable kid-sized “little books” containing lyrics and illustrations to familiar nursery rhymes and songs
LessonSense.com – music-related arts and crafts activities
menc.org – a position statement by the National Association for Music Education, regarding early childhood music education
PreKinders.com (again) – list of fun activities for children to do while listening to specific classical works

Methodologies / Early Childhood Certification

allianceamm.org – four articles to read summarizing the Gordon, Dalcroze, Kodaly, and Orff-Schulwork methodologies
ecmma.org – Early Childhood Music & Movement Association certification
rcmusic.ca – The Royal Conservatory of Music’s Advanced Certificate in Early Childhood Music
giml.org – Gordon certification
MusicTogether.com – Music Together teacher certification
MYC.com – Music For Young Children teacher certification
Musikgarten.org – Musikgarten
HarmonyRoadMusic.com – Harmony Road Music course
Kindermusik – Kindermusik teacher certification
Let’s Play Music – another preschool children music program

Teaching Tips

SuperSimpleSongs.com – teaching tips

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19646481@N06/ / CC BY 2.0

[Visit Early Childhood Music Online Resources to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Music & Movement: Inseparable!

joy (admin) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:24:19 +0000

One of the reasons I’ve been considering offering early childhood music classes is because I am a firm believer in the strong relationship between music and movement. As an undergrad, I took two semester of Dalcroze Eurhythmics which I found incredibly useful. We learned movements that fit different meters and learned to respond expressively to music through our movements. I think students would have a much easier time developing a good sense of beat and rhythm if they could learn it naturally through movement. Even complex concepts such as 3 against 2 seem more natural when approached through movement rather than a purely theoretical approach.

Besides, movement is fun! =)

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwanie/ / CC BY 2.0

[Visit Music & Movement: Inseparable! to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Early Childhood Music Classes

joy (admin) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:52:53 +0000

Lately, I’ve been considering offering pre-piano music classes for children and their parents — someday, when I have a private studio in my home again (Right now, I teach piano privately through my university’s community music school.). My goal in providing these classes someday is to better prepare young children (think ages 0-5, especially) for private piano lessons. So, this semester, I enrolled in an Early Childhood Music class to learn about the various methodologies (such as Orff, Kodaly, Gordon, Feierabend, etc.) for teaching music to young children.

I’m excited to think about starting up these classes someday. Here’s some things I’m been thinking about…

Things to consider:

Location/space – large, open room.
Parents’ presence – required or not?
Materials – songbooks, musical instruments, colored scarves, rugs, cd player, etc.
Class size – six to ten, perhaps?
Ages – 0-18 mo., 18 mo.-3 yrs, 3-5 yrs.
Class duration – 30, 45, 50, or 55 minutes.
Sessions – 7- or 14-week sessions.
Goals – music literacy; musical experience; aural development; building the parents’ & children’s repertoire of music to share in the home; music as expression; building of pre-piano skills; etc.

Types of Activities:

Songs with motions
Listening & responding with movement (classical, folk, jazz, pop, etc.)
Fingerplays
Chants
Musical games
Other activities

I think these classes will be fun! And I’m hoping that introducing such classes will give my beginner piano students a head start once they begin private lessons. Has anyone offered similar classes in their piano studios before? I’d love to hear about it.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/89186997@N00/ / CC BY 2.0

[Visit Early Childhood Music Classes to view the original blog post at Color In My Piano.]

Color In My Piano » classes

Group Piano Class Ideas

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Babies and Music

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Just Added: Hands & Fingers at the Piano Worksheet

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Early Childhood Music Online Resources

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Music & Movement: Inseparable!

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Early Childhood Music Classes

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