Greetings, folks!
Just wanted to let you know that on Monday (March 21, 2016), I plan to create a live video using Facebook Live. You won’t want to miss it — I’m going to share about some of my favorite sheet music solos for piano students.
To watch, login to Facebook and visit the Color In My Piano blog’s Facebook page at noon Eastern time. You will see the notification there when the video stream goes live.
I will also be posting the video replay afterwards.
Hope to see you then!
I was just notified that my application for an MTNA Teacher Enrichment Grant was accepted! This means I get to attend a two-week Piano Certification Course sponsored by the Gordon Institute of Music Learning (GIML) in Boston in August.
If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you might know that I am a huge fan of Edwin Gordon’s work. Having the opportunity to experience this training means a great deal to me.
I’m sure I’ll be blogging and sharing about the experience.
I can’t wait. Thanks, MTNA!
Update: Read more about the experience here.
“For teachers to become better teachers, they must become better learners.”
— Tom Whitby
Feel free to download and share this quote or image.
At the beginning of the new year, I like to take some time to look at my teaching roster and create an overview of my students’ current playing abilities by level. This process is helpful for choosing recital repertoire for upcoming events, but it is also useful for creating a benchmark to compare to previous and future years.
Usually, this process of listing out my students by level takes place on a piece of blank scratch paper and my scratch-marks don’t necessarily look pretty.
But this year, I got a little more organized and created a tidy-looking printable for myself!
I’ll be the first to admit that it is a feat to “level” music or to “level” a student’s playing ability. There are so many factors that go into creating music. In many ways, music seems to naturally defy any such categorization by difficulty. Yet, it is incredibly useful to have SOME sort of benchmark system, a starting-point, something to work from — even if the leveling system is inherently imperfect.
Using the printable above, I can see the big picture. I can take my list to the music store with me to restock my library of sheet music solos. I can update my progress notes for each student.
If you would like to use this printable, you can download the free PDF via the link below or the Printables > Other Resources page under the title “Students Listed by Level”.
Students Listed by Level (31.0 KiB, 2,448 hits)
Side note: This is a good example of a topic that is covered during my online course for piano teachers. Get more information and join the separate email list at institute.joymorin.com.
Greetings!
Guess what: February 28 marked the seven-year anniversary of Color In My Piano!
At this time each year, I like to reflect upon the time that has passed since I started blogging and teaching and recognize how things have grown and changed. I hope, whether you are a longtime or a new follower of Color In My Piano, you will enjoy reading the brief history below.
If you are short on time, please feel free to skip down to the overview of the most recent year.
The First Year
On February 28, 2009, I wrote my first blog post: a welcome and brief statement of purpose. I found my inspiration largely from Natalie Wickham’s Music Matters Blog and Susan Paradis’s Piano Teacher Resources, whose resources I found tremendously helpful and inspiring for my piano teaching. At this point, I was running a successful piano studio of about 20 students out of my parents’ home, and finishing up my Bachelor’s degree in piano performance at Hope College. I graduated in May of 2009.
On July 9, 2009, I decided that I was enjoying blogging enough to go full swing: I came up with the title “Color In My Piano,” bought my own domain name and a year’s worth of web hosting, and gave the site a new look.
The name “Color In My Piano” was coined when, during my senior year at Hope College, I was required to write an essay which reflected upon my life so far and summed up my current worldview. Not surprisingly, much of paper focused on my beliefs about music and the role of the piano/teaching in my life. In my life, I strive to keep my music-making and teaching from feeling like merely a job or a requirement. I strive to keep “color in my piano” for both my students and myself. Continue reading “Celebrating 7 Years of Blogging!”
Guess what: next Sunday, February 28, 2016, is the 7-year blogiversary of the Color In My Piano blog. Wahoo! 😀
In celebration, I am running my annual 20% off sale on everything in my digital shop. The sale will run for a month, starting today, Monday, February 22 through Saturday, March 19, 2016. Please enter this promo code during checkout to receive the discount: 20OFF2016.
What will you find in my shop?
My favorite Ice Cream Interval Game…
A variety of rhythm cards…
My composer lapbook PDF series, Great Composers & Their Music…
The Eras of Music History PDF kit…
There are also a few camp curriculums (So, You Want To Be A Composer? and Music of the World), and more.
View the Shop here. Thanks for looking!
I recently connected with an Indiana-based piano teacher named Daniel Patterson who is creating a valuable resource for piano teachers: a site called GrowYourMusicStudio.com. Daniel is dedicated to helping teachers attract quality students and make a comfortable living doing what they love.
I’ve read and reviewed Daniel’s first ebook and I consider it highly recommended reading. Click here for the PDF download: The Piano Teacher’s Ultimate Facebook Guide.
Daniel’s first blog post can be found here. You’ll definitely want to subscribe to the email list so you will be notified about new content.
Be sure to check it out!
On Saturday, my local MTNA/OhioMTA chapter — the Northwest District OhioMTA — sponsored a piano pedagogy seminar with composer and teacher Carolyn Miller!
It was an honor to have her present for us. Her first session was entitled: “Matching Music to Inspire and Challenge Students.” She shared with us some helpful thoughts about choosing repertoire to suit students and demonstrated for us a variety of her compositions for students. Carolyn’s compositions are published with Willis Music, F.J.H., and others.
Next, Carolyn led group discussion on “Why We Teach Music.” This session was particularly encouraging and rejuvenating to us as teachers!
My friend, Susan West, and I helped Carolyn demonstrate a number of her piano duet compositions.
Partway through the day, we went to a local restaurant and enjoyed fellowship and conversation over lunch. Here is our group photo with Carolyn before lunch.
During the third session, we learned about Carolyn’s series of books called: “Sportacular Warmups“. The Sportacular Warmups books were created after the example of the A Dozen A Day books (also published by Willis Music), but have a sports theme integrated throughout the exercises in a clever way.
We wrapped up the day with a masterclass. Four student participants performed pieces written by Carolyn.
It was a wonderful day. Carolyn was a gracious and engaging speaker. Teachers who attended remarked that they enjoyed the sessions, the information, and the fellowship with other teachers.
Thanks goes to Carolyn Miller and my fellow members of the Northwest District OhioMTA for a successful day!
“Music should never be harmless.”
— Robbie Robertson
Feel free to download and share this quote or image.
I’m excited to write this app review, because it is one of the most well-designed and useful apps I’ve come across lately!
Musiclock is a $2.99 app for iPad and iPhone that provides a variety of backing tracks intended to be used while practicing scales or improvising.
The first step is to select a scale. The scale choices are: major, major pentatonic, minor pentatonic, natural minor, melodic minor, harmonic minor, blues, and dominant bebop.
Christmas is nearing! Today, I’m busy making sheet music ornaments as gifts for my piano students.
I found this idea from this blogger, thanks to Pinterest. Here’s my own take on this sheet music ornament idea.
Materials:
For each ornament, I cut 12 pieces of sheet music into strips measuring 1 inch x 6.5 inches, and then punched holes at each end of the paper. I cut a length of 30 inches of jute twine, folded it in half, knotted it to create a loop, and added beads and knots at various places along with the sheet music (as described in the video). The last step is to gently pull apart the paper around to form a circular shape. I love how it turned out!
There are many ways to vary the ornament: perhaps cutting smaller strips of sheet music, cutting the paper with fancy-edged scissors, using a different type of bead, etc.
Thanks for reading.
Hello, friends!
My piano teacher friend, Susan West, and I have been busy practicing a selection of Christmas duets in order to perform them for a handful of local events during this December. Check out our favorite duet books below!
Here is the list of piano duet books mentioned in the video:
Do you have Christmas duet recommendations for us to consider for next year? Please leave a comment below!
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