Category: Technology

Technology

iPhone & iPod Touch Apps Suggestions, Anyone?

Joy Morin

My husband gave me an iPod Touch for Christmas, and I’ve gradually been downloading various apps to personalize it for the things I do.  It’s very exciting!  I love that I can access my email and the internet easily while I’m on campus, without going to a computer lab or hauling my laptop along with me for the day.  It’s been such a convenience!

I’ve also been looking for music-related apps to use in piano teaching and for my own practicing.  Do any of you iPhone/iPod Touch owners have some favorite apps?  Eventually, I’d like to compile a list of good music apps and post them here — I’d love to get your help with some suggested apps to try out!

…And don’t forget – today is the last day to enter the giveaway!  =)

Resources, Technology

10 Fun & Free Musical Fonts

Joy Morin

Looking to spice up your studio documents?  Check out the fun music fonts!

1.   LD Music | This charming font features hints of musical-symbol-likeness.  This font would be perfect for studio newsletters, recital programs, and other studio handouts!

2.   Simple Melody | Shows up as the font “New” once installed.  For some reason, the spaces in this font are huge.  Reduce the size of the spaces to a smaller font size and it will look normal.

3.   All That Jazz | A fun piano keys font!  There is no difference between uppercase and lowercase letters in this font.

Continue reading “10 Fun & Free Musical Fonts” →

Conferences, Technology

2010 MMTA Conference (5): Technology Tips by Martha Hilley

Joy Morin

What follows are the notes I took from a session with Martha Hilley at the 2010 Michigan Music Teachers Association conference.  This post concludes the posts about this year’s Michigan conference!

SOME TIPS FOR INCORPORATING TECHNOLOGY INTO YOUR STUDIO ~ by Martha Hilley

Today we will be covering a variety of technologies that teachers can incorporate into their studios.  Remember – if you aren’t already, you can consider charging a technology fee each year to help cover your technology expenses.

1. Powerpoint software (part of Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student).  Powerpoint is a presentation software that can work well in class piano settings in order to project chord progressions or rhythms on the wall or screen for all to see.  Powerpoint allows you enter graphics and even sound files of percussion or accompaniment backgrounds that you can play while students are playing the chord progressions together.

2. Roland Edirol R-09.  This is one example of a digital recorder that you can use to record students playing (or yourself playing exercises/accompaniments/duet parts for them).  This model costs around $299.  (Note: I personally use the Zoom H2 recorder and have found it to be fairly easy to use.) Continue reading “2010 MMTA Conference (5): Technology Tips by Martha Hilley” →

Resources, Technology

Tutorial: Using Audacity Software in the Piano Studio

Joy Morin

Audacity is a piece of powerful sound editing software that is free to download.  It is available both for both Mac and Windows computers.

This tutorial will discuss the uses of Audacity software in the piano studio, and explain how to use Audacity to make basic edits to audio files.

NOTE: The correct site for finding and downloading the free Audacity software is audacity.soundforge.net, NOT audacity.com as one may expect.

Uses for Audacity for Piano Teachers

  • Recording students playing their pieces during the lesson for educational purposes; e.g., to prepare for an upcoming performance.
  • Recording student recitals to share with parents on a cd or on your website.
  • Making basic edits to your recordings before sharing them.
  • Assigning students to record and edit themselves in Audacity — or even assign them to create their own composition using Audacity (see the Ideas for Further Extensions section at the end of this post).
    Continue reading “Tutorial: Using Audacity Software in the Piano Studio” →
Resources, Studio Business, Technology

Free Studio Website Builder: Weebly.com

Joy Morin

Have you thought about starting a website for your studio, but felt that you didn’t have the resources or expertise to build one?  Check out Weebly.com — an attractive and easy-to-use online resource where you can create a website for free.

Personally, I currently use iWeb software (comes free on all Mac computers) to create and maintain my studio site.  However, Weebly sites are so attractive, I might make the switch someday!  I switched, and now I use Weebly for my studio website!

Some great features:

  • Extremely user-friendly. The drag-and-drop site builder is extremely easy to use, even for those who might not consider themselves to be very technologically savvy.
  • No software is needed. That means, no buying or installing software onto your computer.  Creating and maintaining your website is done completely online.
  • You can use a free ___.weebly.com domain name, or use your own domain name. Weebly is one of the few free website building sites that allow you use your own url (e.g., colorinmypiano.com) if you desire.  Just purchase one from a site such as Name.com (a year usually costs around $10).  If you don’t want to use your own domain name, for free you can just use yourname.weebly.com.
  • Attractive themes. Of all the free website building sites I’ve seen, Weebly by far creates the most attractive-looking sites.  They have tons of great customizable themes to choose from.

Here are some links to some studio websites that were created using Weebly, to get you inspired:

Good luck!  If you are successful in creating your own studio site using Weebly, be sure to share the link with us in the comments!

improving as a teacher, Resources, Technology

Readers, Introduce Yourself! …on the Color In My Piano facebook page

Joy Morin

Get to know the other readers on this blog – please take a moment to introduce yourself on the discussion page of the Color In My Piano facebook page!  There are a few introductions there now, and I’d love to get to know more of you.

To receive blog updates right in your facebook newsfeed, click the “like” button on the facebook page.  It’s a very easy and convenient way to stay updated.  Please give it a try!

Resources, Technology

A Piano with 4 Pedals?!

Joy Morin

Stuart & Sons is a Australian-based company who build hand-crafted pianos.  They are unique pianos for a number of reasons:

What is so special about Stuart & Sons pianos?

  • They have 4 pedals.  The fourth pedal is a second soft pedal, called the dulce pedal.  It brings the hammers’ resting point halfway up to the strings, reducing the intensity of the hammer strike and giving the pianist more control over sound quality and color.
  • They have a “bridge agraffe” string coupling device, which “enables the string when struck by the hammer to vibrate vertically and for a longer duration than in conventional piano designs.”  This allows the piano to have an unusual clarity especially in the low and high registers, and to have better dynamic and sustaining qualities.  Read this article for a more information. January 2018 update: “An Australian applied mathematician, Dr. Bob Anderson, was asked to look at the bridge agraffe. The first thing he noticed was that the equations defining the vibration of strings were deficient in that they did not take not account the changing length and tension of the string throughout each cycle. He won an international award for his revision of the mathematics of vibrating strings. He then showed that the conventional pinning of the strings resulted in elliptical polarisation of the vibrating string. This resulted in a rapid decay, a poor sustain, wasted energy in the string’s ending up vibrating horizontally instead of vertically, and non-harmonic DISTORTION of the note. (Harmonic distortion is fine, non-harmonic distortion is noise).” (credit: Ian Lowery)
  • Stuart & Sons pianos have 97 keys instead of the usual 88.  The outermost keys are both F’s, putting middle C exactly in the middle of keyboard. January 2018 update from Stuart & Sons: “My second point is that the Stuart is now running to 102 notes, and by mid 2018 will be running at 108 notes, which is the limit for the piano. (Any lower is inaudible, although its presence can be FELT. Any higher, the string is too short for the hammer).” (credit: Ian Lowery) Continue reading “A Piano with 4 Pedals?!” →
Announcements, Motivation, Performances, Teaching Piano, Technology

A Follow-up on Recording Students Before Performances

Joy Morin

I don’t know about you, but I have some students who are participating in a spring performance coming up soon!  Last week, I recorded my student Jean playing her recital piece during her lesson (click to read more about recording students as preparation for performances).  Then we spent some time listening and discussing the recording.  Although it took a little bit of time to set up the devices need for recording ahead of time, I found that it was well-worth the time setting everything up and spending on doing a recording activity.

The set-up:

Using my digital recorder as an external microphone, I was able to capture video with high sound quality using iMovie software on my MacBook Pro.  Later on, I edited the videos using iMovie again and uploaded them to YouTube.  (If anyone would like more details about how exactly this is done, just ask! I can explain further.)

The result:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N56ZHpnWfnw

The piece Jean is playing is an arrangement of Borodin’s Polovetsian Dance, from Dennis Alexander’s book, Especially For Adults. Continue reading “A Follow-up on Recording Students Before Performances” →

Group Classes, improving as a teacher, Performances, Practicing, Teaching Piano, Technology

Preparing for Student Recitals: Recording!

Joy Morin

Many of us teachers are probably currently preparing our student for spring recitals, so today I thought it might be beneficial to discuss a way of preparing for performances: recording your students playing their pieces, and then listening to the playback together.

Benefits of Recording

  • The student practices performing. Playing for a recording device can be almost as nerve-wracking as playing for an audience!  There’s no better way to practice handling nerves than to perform often.
  • The student becomes the listener. When listening to the playback, the student is given the opportunity to hear what the piece sounds like from an audience member’s perspective.  The student is bound to aurally notice things that they had not realized they were doing (or NOT doing, as the case may be).  For example, the student may realize that the dynamic contrasts are not really coming through, or that the melody is not projecting over the accompaniment as well as s/he had thought.
  • The student becomes the teacher.  After listening to the playback, the student can evaluate piece and identify the areas that went well or could be improved, and then begin discuss ways to improve the piece. Continue reading “Preparing for Student Recitals: Recording!” →
improving as a teacher, Technology

So you want to start a blog?

Joy Morin

Today, I thought I’d share a little bit about my experiences as a blogger.  I don’t claim to be an expert by any means, but I would like to share what I have learned over the past year!

Considerations before starting your own blog:

  • Determine your audience. Who are you writing for — your students?  fellow piano teachers?  Music teachers in general?  Stay focused on one target audience, rather than trying to combine. Find your niche and start generating ideas for what to blog about.
  • Choose a focus/goal. What kind of topics would you like to cover?  What do you hope your readers will gain from your blog? Brainstorm ideas for blogging for the long term.
  • Think long-term. What are your goals in having a blog?  How long do you see yourself blogging?

Tips for successful blogging:

  • Post original content. While it’s great  to share links to great sites and blogs where you’ve found great resources, you don’t want to be constantly directing your readers away from your site.  Posting original content is what will keep them coming back!
  • Keep yourself on a schedule. How often do you plan to post on your blog?  Every day?  Once a week?  Think realistically, make a plan, and stick to it.
  • Keep an “ideas” notebook. Are you bursting with ideas for blog posts?  Capture all your ideas on paper, before you forget them!  Later on, you can return to this list and continue blogging even when inspiration is low. Continue reading “So you want to start a blog?” →
Announcements, improving as a teacher, Printables, Teaching Piano, Technology

Celebrating One Year!

Joy Morin

After browsing through the colorinmypiano.com archives and — alas! — it seems that we’ve missed our own anniversary!

Here’s a rundown of the history of the colorinmypiano.com blog:

  • It was on February 28, 2009 that I first conceived of this blog and wrote my first post: a welcome and brief statement of purpose.  I found my inspiration largely from Natalie Wickham’s Music Matters Blog and Susan Paradis’ Piano Teacher Resources.  My blog was initially a free wordpress blog, titled “Piano Teaching Blog” (or something similar).  At this point, I was running a successful piano studio of about 20 students out of my parent’s home, and finishing up my Bachelor’s degree in piano performance.
  • In May of 2009, I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree.  Over the summer, my husband and I moved so we could attend graduate school the next year.  Unfortunately, this meant I had to “give away” all my piano students and find new ones.  =)
  • 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 whole new look. Continue reading “Celebrating One Year!” →