Here’s what I gave my students for Christmas this year:
A Symphony chocolate bar, and a personalized glass ornament.
I found the glass ornaments at a craft store (Hobby Lobby). On each ornament, I wrote the student’s name and “2011” on the ornament using a paint pen. I put colorful confetti and pieces of old sheet music inside each ornament. I thought they turned out cute!
For my adult students, I bought music dictionaries. The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms
Well, my students’ Christmas party/recital was a success! What a great way to finish off the year.
The recital took place in my home. Whenever my college music history textbooks mentioned Schubertiads, I used to dream about the idea of having informal music performance parties in my home. Since my studio is still small, I thought having our Christmas recital in my home would be so fun! About 25 people attended, which is probably close the max that I can fit. Next year I’ll have to find another location, or hold the party with just the students. But it was nice and cozy this year!
We kicked off the party with the recital portion, and then we played three music games:
Christmas Carol Rhythm Matchups — This game from Jennifer Fink’s Pianimation blog was a great hit with students! Students worked together in a huddle on the floor to match the rhythms to the Christmas song lyrics. They were able to successfully complete all three levels of difficulty! Even the youngest beginners were able to match a few. I ended up with three students who played “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” during the recital because I have so many little beginners right now. They were definitely able to help match that pair! 🙂
Make Me A Rhythm! game — This is a game I found on a forum and shared about a few weeks ago. This game wasn’t a total success, I’ll admit. My students were very, very shy about asking other students to be note values as they composed a rhythm. After all, this is the first time they’ve met each other. Next time I use this game, I’ll use it with a smaller group (maybe in a setting where students are present without their parents), or with a group of people who know each other better. It wasn’t a total flop though. It’s a great game for visual learners. The “composer” had to think about how many beats they had left in their measure. Once each rhythm was composed, we clapped it together to see how the composers’ rhythm sounded. It was fun, it just went slowly since students took a long time to choose.
Music Bingo — I LOVE Susan Paradis’ version of Music Bingo. You won’t find a nicer version of Music Bingo anywhere! I’ve used Susan’s version of Music Bingo in previous years for other events (see some photos here). Both the students and parents really enjoyed playing this game!
My apologies for being MIA from the blog the last few weeks! At the beginning of the semester, I put up posters around the music building of the university in my town for freelancing as a collaborative pianist. A few music majors contacted me rather last minute to ask if I’d accompany them for their end-of-the-semester juries as well as a concerto competition. Learning their music and scheduling rehearsals has kept me very busy the last few weeks! But I’m grateful for the extra money, especially after finishing all my Christmas shopping. 🙂 Anyway, I’m back now! Juries are today, and this week will be much less hectic than the previous few weeks.
Now I’m focusing on the last stages of planning for my Studio Christmas Party on Saturday. A couple of parents have volunteered to bring goodies, so I just need to make a few things. I found some great food ideas on Pinterest. (I love Pinterest! Are any of you on Pinterest? Feel free to follow me, and I’ll be sure to follow you back!) Continue reading “Studio Christmas Party Update – Food!”
As I’m sure is currently the case with many of you, my students are working on Christmas pieces along with their usual assignments. As usual, a few of them have encountered rhythmic “simplifications” in their arrangements (Away in a Manger and Go Tell it on the Mountain come to mind). After pointing it out the difference between what they played and what is on the page, together we made the executive decision to play the rhythm as it is normally heard. We also took a moment to discover what is the actual rhythmic notation of the tune and then marked it in the score above the staff. For a more complete discussion of this issue, check out this Forum Q&A post regarding rhythmic simplification in arrangements.
A few of my students in particular are really thriving on these Christmas pieces! Once again, I am reminded of the value of learning familiar tunes. I find that it gives students an extra boost in learning their pieces, since they can depend more on their ear for pitches/rhythms rather than their eyes. This means they will learn the pieces quickly and more accurately. I also find that playing familiar tunes is a huge motivator for students. They love to be able to play tunes they know!
Hurrah for Christmas music! 🙂
For a listing of free Christmas music arrangements on the internet, check out this post.
Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks | CC 2.0
I finally started my Christmas shopping this past weekend, and this morning I sightread some Christmas duets with a piano teacher friend of mine. 🙂 Now I’m really starting to feel in the Christmas spirit!
This December, I’m planning a studio Christmas Party for my students. I’ve never done anything like this before, but I am excited about it. My goal is to plan some music games, make some desserts with cheese and crackers, and hold an informal recital portion too. Each student will play one or two Christmas pieces for each other. I’m hoping to include some piano duets too, and I will probably play a Christmas arrangement myself at the end. Another idea I had was to have each student research the history of their carol and verbally introduce their piece.
I’m so excited for the Christmas season!
Photo Credit: allison.hare | CC 2.0
This is a short music game I created as a way to reinforce the names of the piano keys with young beginners. It only takes a few minutes to play, but my students seemed to enjoy it. It gives them a break from the usual drill I do, where I have them find 3 different C’s on the piano, etc. 🙂
Here’s how it works:
You’ll need to buy fabric or foam leaves and mark each with a letter from the musical alphabet using a marker or felt tip pen. The student is instructed to match each leaf to it’s spot on the tree, until the whole tree is filled. The game only takes a few minutes, so it’s a great game to do on the piano bench at the beginning or end of a piano lesson.
Any leftover fabric leaves can be used to decorate your Thanksgiving day table in a few weeks. 🙂
To Download: go to the Printables > Games page and scroll down to “Musical Leaves Matchup game.”
I don’t normally do much for Halloween, but I am doing a couple of little things this year with my students:
I found this game on D’Net’s Layton Music website. Basically, students “earn” their Halloween treat by clapping rhythms! When my students came to their lessons last week, we started with this game. They have to do as many “trick” (rhythm) cards as it takes until they draw a “treat” card. D’Net has the best game ideas. I definitely plan to reuse this next year!
Occasionally, I like take a week off from my students’ normal theory book assignments so I can give them a supplemental worksheet targeting a specific skill, or simply so I can give them a just-for-fun worksheet! Susan Paradis’ Bat Facts worksheet is perfect for a just-for-fun worksheet, while giving students a chance to review identifying note names on the staff. Plus, students get to learn some true fun facts about bats!
Happy Halloween to you all! What activities did you plan?
After posting about the sheet music ornament star last week, I was inspired to dig around the web for other music-related crafts! There are tons of ways to recycle old sheet music (which you can often find at thrift stores, garage sales, auctions, and antique stores). Here’s a sampling of what I found! All links lead back to the original bloggers’/crafters’ websites. Click the photos to view them larger.
1. Sheet Music Garland | This fun garland is fast and easy, made by cutting out sheet music circles and sewing them together. It’s perfect for decorating a music room, fireplace mantel, or Christmas tree.
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2. Sheet Music Light Switch Plates | Cover your plain light switch plates with sheet music to give the room a little zing!
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3. Advent Calendar Cones | These sheet music cones can be used to stash Advent calendar goodies.
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4. Sheet Music Wreath | Hang this beauty on your door or above your piano. Another example is shown here. Also try mini ornament wreaths like the one as shown on this blog.
Someone on the “piano-teachers” Yahoo group forum brought this to my attention – the Better Homes and Gardens magazine’s website has instructions for a craft for making a sheet music Christmas ornament (picture on right). It looks like a wonderful way to make your Christmas tree a little more musical!
The star pattern allows you to choose from three different sized stars. The instructions for making this ornament suggest photocopying sheet music, which of course is not legal. I would instead suggest visiting imslp.org and printing off some sheet music that is in the public domain (or use some Christmas music linked to in this post). On the pattern, the solid lines indicate “mountain folds” (fold comes out toward you) and the dashed lines indicated “valley folds.” Once the folding is complete, punch a small hole and tie a small loop using gold thread to complete the ornament.
Click here to view the full instructions on the Better Homes and Gardens website.
Christmas is on the way, whether you are ready or not! My students are already starting to ask about Christmas music.
I have a lending library of Christmas books that I’ve built over the years (including used books I find at garage sales and thrift shops), and I also like for my students to own their own Christmas books. But sometimes, it’s helpful to be able to find simple arrangements for free, printed from online. Below, I’ll list a few places I’ve found free Christmas arrangement sheet music for piano.
By the way, I am a stickler about observing copyright especially when it comes to sheet music…and I encourage you to be the same! Composers and arrangers deserve every penny of their royalty fees, and I am proud to support my fellow artists. Let’s do our due diligence and be sure to use sheet music legally. If you are wondering whether a free arrangement you find online is legal for you to use, please confirm that (1) the tune being arranged is no longer under copyright and is therefore in the public domain (otherwise the arranger is breaking copyright by not paying royalty fees to the copyright holder), and (2) the copyright holder of the arrangement is the one providing the arrangement to you (otherwise the person providing the arrangement is breaking copyright by giving you something that is not theirs). If you’d like to learn more about copyright when it comes to music, check out this article from the U.S. Copyright Office. Continue reading “List of Free Christmas Music Arrangements on the Web”
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