Camps – Color In My Piano

Composition & Improvisation Prompts for Piano eBook

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NEW: Prompts for Piano, Set 1 has been updated with new illustrations!

Prompts for Piano provides a fun, easy way to guide beginner and elementary students to make their own music. Each of the 20 prompts provides inspiration and direction for the student to embark on a series of creative projects. Explore the world of improvisation and composition from as early as the first piano lesson with Prompts for Piano!

One of the first challenges of starting a composition is getting inspired. Simply telling a student to compose a piece is too broad of an assignment that often causes the student to become overwhelmed.

The other challenge to helping students with composition is helping them learn how to make music that sounds like the topic they have chosen.

“Prompts for Piano” is designed to provide solutions for those two challenges. Each of the 20 prompts provides a topic idea accompanied by a brief written description and an image, intended to help inspire the student and generate enthusiasm for the project.

The “goals” listed on the prompt are intended to help the student successfully create a piece that will sound like the topic they have chosen. For example, for a piece about rain, students might be encouraged to use staccato sounds.

At the end of the PDF, there are a few pages of staff paper included to print for your students.

To begin a composition assignment with a piano student, I allow the student to choose one of the prompts. I keep printed copies of the prompts near my piano, but I also have the PDF loaded onto my iPad so I can print directly from there (I use the GoodNotes app for this). Students are usually very excited about the topic they choose, which leads nicely to a discussion about how we can go about creating music that will emulate that subject.

Over the course of the next few weeks/months, the student slowly adds new measures and properly notates their composition onto staff paper. When it is finished, I transcribe their composition into Finale and ask them to illustrate their composition. You can read more about how I go about composing with my piano students here. On the right is an example of a composition created by one of my students. And here is another example, on video:

And here is a video example submitted by a teacher from Texas. Her beginner student followed the parameters for the prompt “The Dinosaur” to the letter, and the piece sounds amazing!

Have you ever thought about doing a summer composition project, or holding a composition recital with your students? Using these prompts can help make sure that your students choose varied topics during a studio-wide composition project.

Your purchase includes a Studio License allowing you to print as many copies from this PDF as desired, forever – as long as you are using them with your own students. You may also use the PDF as needed for online teaching purposes with your students.

Download a sample page from Prompts for Piano Set #1 below. Enjoy!

Composition/Improv Prompt - Free Sample (102.8 KiB, 17,626 hits)

Now available: Interested in ordering a hardcopy book version of Prompts for Piano, to be shipped to your address? Click here!

Level:	Beginner/elementary students, but may also be appropriate for some intermediate students
Pages:	28 pages
Format:	PDF (email delivery)
Terms of Use:	Studio License

STUDIO LICENSE
Permission is granted for the purchasing teacher to make unlimited printouts and use the digital files for the purpose of teaching their own students. Sharing printouts or the digital files beyond that purpose is not permitted. The purchaser is not permitted to resell the item(s), or alter, modify, or create derivative works.

What is the difference between Prompts for Piano Set #1 and Set #2?

They are the same, format-wise; but the 20 prompts in Set #2 are completely different from the 20 in Set #1. If you are trying to decide which set to purchase, it may also be helpful to know that Set #2 includes a few prompts that are slightly more “advanced” — perfect for those students progressing into intermediate levels. If you have lots of students, you may wish to buy both sets so your students have lots (40 total) of choices!

Prompts for Piano has been purchased by over 400 teachers! Check out what a few teachers have to say about it:

“My students and I have been using this set of prompts with amazing success this summer. I love the goals and the prompts. I have three students who have already completed their first composition and they are over the moon with excitement at what they have accomplished. I never imagined I would be able to guide them through this process so easily.” –Heather Best

“I’ve enjoyed the support and encouragement from your blog and site for about 3 years now. The Composition and Improvisation prompts as well as your Composition Summer Camp plan was a big hit when I used it in 2019.” –Shelley P.

“I used several of the free printables this past summer for piano kits for my online students, but my favorite purchase has been the Prompts for Piano book. My students love creating new pieces with those guiding ideas. Thank you!” –Angela R.

Please note: This is a digital product, to be emailed after purchase.

Eras of Music History Kit

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The Eras of Music History Kit has been designed to make it easier to incorporate more music history into our students’ musical education. This kit contains a series of PDFs designed to help students gain a better understanding of the music from the main four eras of Western music history: the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern eras.

The four “era booklets” are the core component of this resource. Each booklet discusses the stylistic characteristics of the music, the evolution of the piano, and the popular forms composers used. The back of the booklet features a list of major composers and a list of important works from the era. The information has been carefully researched and written in a concise, clear way intended for students age 7+. This kit also contains a PDF for creating a timeline with composers’ pictures.

Here is a full list of what this kit includes:

Four PDFs of the era booklets (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern).
Four PDFs of the worksheets that correspond to the booklets.
A single-page PDF containing a handout with a brief overview of the four eras.
A single-page PDF of the historical context timeline.
A multi-page PDF for assembling a composer timeline to hang on the wall.
The license to be able to print from the PDFs as much as desired throughout your teaching career, as long as you are using the printed materials with your own students.

The resources within this kit are suitable for all kinds of settings:

Monthly group classes for your private students.
Music appreciation courses for homeschooling students.
Music history camps (see this blog post for more information).
At-home assignments for private piano students.

Stay tuned — in the future I plan to make available an additional set of booklets including the Renaissance Era and the Impressionistic Era.

Instructions: After purchase, you will receive an email with links to download the “.zip” file. Your computer will likely put the file into a folder called “Downloads,” but you will want to save the file to another location on your computer’s hard drive where you can easily find it again — so you can print from it for years to come. When you double-click the “.zip” file, your computer will uncompress the file into a folder containing a series of pdfs. The folder contains everything you need, beginning with the pdf of teacher tips, followed by the era booklets/worksheets, and then finally the history timeline pdf.

P.S. — As you might have guessed, this kit works great alongside a Great Composer & Their Music composer lapbook study. 🙂

Ages:	7 through adult
Pages:	26 pages total
Format:	ZIP file containing multiple PDFs (email delivery)
Terms of Use:	Studio License

“My favourite purchase from you is your Eras of Music History kit. It is a great resource!”
–Sara

Please note: This is a digital product, to be emailed after purchase.

Music of the World Camp Curriculum

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The goal of the “Music of the World” camp is to increase the students’ awareness of and appreciation for cultures that are different from their own – through experiencing the music and studying the instruments of other countries. Students will have a blast hearing the music from other cultures and learning about each counties’ musical instruments, landmarks, and animals.

This camp is appropriate for private students of any playing level (ages 5-12 will enjoy this camp the most) as well as for new students with little or no music background. This camp is designed to be a 4-day camp that meets 2 hours each day; however, you can easily find ways to expand on this curriculum if you would like to use it over other periods of time.

Each day of camp, students will travel to a different country around the world — and they will collect stamps in their passports to prove it!

Day 1: Australia – Students will learn about the Aboriginal people and a few of their musical instruments. They will also make their own didgeridoo, which is one of the oldest instruments in the world!
Day 2: China – Students will learn about ancient Chinese culture and make their own gong.
Day 3: Ghana – Students will learn about the drum ensembles that are popular throughout West Africa and make their own drum.
Day 4: Peru – Students will learn about the Andean people and make their own panpipes.

What is included in this curriculum:

Teacher lesson plans, which includes instructions for making 4 different world instruments.
A PowerPoint presentation for each country, highlighting important facts and history as well as providing photos of instruments, animals, and landmarks. The PowerPoint presentation can be shown from your lapbook computer. Alternatively, a PDF version of the slides that can be used on the iPad (or other tablet) is available to purchasers for free upon request by email.
A PDF for printing and assembling a passport for each student.
A PDF of authentic-looking passport “stamps.” At the beginning and end of each day of camp, give each student an entry or exit “stamp” that they can glue inside their passport.
A PDF of the lapbook materials, which should be printed for each student. As students watch the PowerPoint slides and listen to the teacher discuss the country and play recordings of music examples, they can work on cutting out and assembling their lapbooks.
A link to a YouTube playlist of music that you can use throughout camp.

The only other necessary items you will need to purchase for this camp include file folders, scissors, crayons, lots of gluesticks, printer ink (black-and-white is adequate), paper, and the materials to make the instruments.

Purchase of the Music of the World camp includes the Terms of Use to print from the curriculum as much as desired for years to come, as long as the purchaser is using the materials with his/her own students. (Please do not distribute the files to others in any other way.)

You can read more about when I held this camp with my students here.

Instructions: After purchase, you will receive an email with links to download the compressed “zip” file. Be patient as the file downloads, because it is a very large file. Your computer will likely put the file into a folder called “Downloads,” but you will want to save the file to another location on your computer’s hard drive where you can easily find it again — so you can print from it for years to come. When you double click the “zip” file, it will unarchive into a folder containing all of the camp files. If you have any trouble downloading the file, please contact me and I will find a way to get the file to you!

Questions? Read the Terms of Use here.

Ages:	Especially for students 5-12 years old
Pages:	60+ pages, plus 50+ Powerpoint slides
Format:	ZIP folder, containing PDFs and Powerpoint documents (email delivery)
Terms of Use:	Studio License

“I was so happy when I discovered Joy’s Music Camp Curriculum “Music Of the World” I used it at my then relatively new summer Music Camp & it was a huge success! It made my life so much easier because I didn’t have to do a lot of work! It was already done for me.” –C.J.

Great Composers & Their Music Curriculum

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The Great Composers & Their Music series is designed to be an easy and effective way for teachers to incorporate music history in their students’ musical education. You can read about how this curriculum came to be here.

Each PDF download contains complete lesson plans and materials for studying the life and music of a famous composer. The lapbook is a creative and memorable way for students to learn and remember the facts from in the biography — and students will treasure it for years to come. The biography booklet contains a carefully-researched biography, written to include all the important facts you would expect while being relevant to and relatable for even your youngest students.

Everything the teacher will need is included in the PDF — other than the paper, folders, scissors, and other office supplies. 🙂 To teach the lesson plan, the teacher reads the biography booklet aloud to students, stopping to answer questions and to play musical excerpts of the pieces mentioned (playlist provided). As they are listening to the biography, students can color the picture of the composer and start cutting out the items for the lapbook. As students finish assembling the lapbook, they can listen to more musical excerpts by the composer.

Download a FREE sample of a biography booklet for “Mozart” below. Enjoy!

Mozart Biography Booklet (365.8 KiB, 12,471 hits)

Ways to Use The Great Composers & Their Music: Great Composers & Their Music is not only thorough and complete, but it is very flexible — so there are many ways to use this curriculum. I have used these this curriculum to offer weekly 50-minute music appreciation classes for homeschoolers, spending 3 weeks on each composer (we spend about 30 minutes of the class time on the composer, and 20 minutes on other music topics). I also use the lapbooks during monthly groups classes with my private students. The biography booklets are also great to print for private students who are learning pieces by a particular composer. Best of all, I have had great success using this curriculum to offer an annual Music History Camp during the summer (read this post to learn how).

Materials needed: Each student will need the printed lapbook pages (black-and-white is fine if you do not have a color printer), a file folder, scissors, glue stick, and crayons. I recommend that the teacher assemble a lapbook in advance to show as an example.

Time Required: The minimum time required to complete a composer study greatly depends on the age of the students, as well as how much time you choose to devote to listening to musical excerpts. Junior high/high school students will be much faster at assembling the lapbook than 5- or 6-year-olds. However, I would estimate the absolute minimum time needed is 45 minutes, if you allow the students to color/cut as you read the biography aloud and play musical excerpts. It would be better to have 60-90 minutes, or to spread out the composer study over a period of a few lessons. If you would like the composer study to take more time than that, you can no doubt find a way to expand on the information provided in the biography booklet!

Instructions: After purchase, you will receive an email with links to download the file(s). Your computer will likely put the file into a folder called “Downloads,” but you will want to save the file to another location on your computer’s hard drive where you can easily find it again — so you can print from it for years to come. The pdf contains everything you need, beginning with a few pages for the teacher, followed by the biography booklet, and then finally the lapbook pages.

Studio License: The license included in purchase allow the purchaser to use the digital file(s) or printouts from the files for personal and educational uses. This means: The purchaser may save the files on your computer or other devices and print/reproduce as desired for as long as you live, assuming you are using the materials with only your own students. Read the complete Terms of Use here.

*Click here to read brief descriptions of the concepts learned in each composer lapbook. Please check back for new composers!*

Ages:	Best for ages 6-15
Pages:	~20 pages
Format:	PDF (email delivery)
Terms of Use:	Studio License

Over 3300 lapbooks sold! Check out what teachers have to say about the Great Composers and Their Music curriculum:

“I just want to thank you so much for the Blast from the Past History Camp resources. I start my camp next week, and I am so excited to have an easy to use, information-packed curriculum. The copies I made today are absolutely beautiful! I am so impressed. For several years I have wanted to provide a summer camp, but my busy schedule has kept me from devoting time to developing one, and I have been unable to find a curriculum I like . . . until now! Thank you so much!”

Cheryl Marshall, NCTM

from Katy, TX

“Thanks so much for coming up with the composer lap book idea! My students learnt about Bach and became acquainted with some of his works. The instruction given from the downloads are clear and precise, and my students had fun “designing” and putting together their own lap book. It is a fabulous resources and a great way to study the life of Bach.”

Jo Tee H.

piano teacher from Singapore

“Just wanted to thank you for your terrific materials. I teach piano lessons part time in my Massachusetts home studio. I purchased your Beethoven lapbook and used it this past week with 15 students, ages 7 to 12, in one-hour group lessons (4-6 students per lesson). I love the engaging format (fold-outs and pockets)- very fun for kids to construct and they were excited to share with their families. The concrete “artifacts” (Heiligenstadt testimony, autograph manuscripts) bring the history to life for kids, the concepts become much more memorable, and they look great as color copies!”

Julie

piano teacher from Massachusetts

“Hello Joy, Thanks for your reply and thanks, again, for your lapbooks. They are perfect in every way for a typical one-to-one piano lesson. They are filled with accurate and interesting facts (and fun facts) for all age groups. They are a fun project to do with the student during the lesson. They are a meaningful way to introduce your students to the composer’s music they are studying. They offer the teacher an opportunity to interact with the student on a personal level. And I had fun too…colouring and engaging in chit-chat at my desk with my students was awesome.

I’ve had a few parents call and thank me for sparking a new fire in their child about music and history. So it’s been a win-win for everyone!”

Fran

piano teacher from Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada

“The resource I continually come back to are the composer lapbooks. I purchase a different ones each year to use for group classes. Thank you Joy for your dedication and perseverance in keeping up the blog for these 13 years. What an honor it has been to be a part of your life through your many entries!”

Karen S.

piano teacher

“I have used several of your printables (thank you for those freebies!), and have loved using some of the Composer Lap Books with my students (time for another, I think!). You put an incredible amount of research time into those!”

Lori B.

piano teacher

“I especially love your composer lapbooks and use them every time I have a holiday music camp. Best wishes and thank you!

Jenny B.

piano teacher

“My favorite resource is the composer lapbooks ..just did the Bach lapbooks a few weeks ago in fact and my students loved it!”

Emily

piano teacher

“I’ve purchased many of your resources and especially enjoy the Ice Cream Intervals game and composer lapbooks! The lapbooks have been a great way to incorporate music history into my lesson curriculum. Just gave out Scott Joplin at the end of Feb. to celebrate Black history month. … I LOVE these composer lap books and think they are a genius idea. Thanks for all the inspiration!”

Susan

piano teacher

“I started following your blog around 2013 and have gleaned so much knowledge and inspiring ideas to use in my studio. My all-time favorite have been the composer lapbooks and summer camp ideas/materials. Thank you!”

Laura

piano teacher

“I’ve been following you for at least ten years. I’ve used many of your shop items and enjoyed them with my students so much! Our favorites have been the composer lapbooks and camp ideas!”

Debra C.

piano teacher

“Your materials are wonderful. I especially like your composer lap books!”

Ginger S.

piano teacher

“I think my favorite offering on your website are the Great Composer lapbooks. Keep up the good work!”

Charmaine E.

piano teacher

“I have been enjoying and following your post for about six years now. My students and I really enjoy your composer lapbooks. You are one of my top go to places when looking for games and teaching resources for my studio. Thank you!”

Cassandra B.

piano teacher

“I started following your blog in 2014. Your blog shows your generous character in many free resources and thought-provoking ideas. I’ve used a handful of your composer lapbooks for my ‘Music Learning Labs’ and my students love learning music history this way.”

Sara

piano teacher

“Your resources and blog helped me so much! I have used many of your products and they have never failed to inspire and be an incredible resource for me as a teacher. I love your composer lapbooks!! I hold two music history parties every semester. I use your lap books and have many comments from parents and students of how much they love them.”

Brenda P.

piano teacher

“I have used many of your materials but most recently the Beethoven lapbook as a studio project and a way of celebrating Beethoven’s 250 years. It was a great success and fun to do. Thanks for all the time and creativity you put into your website and blog.”

Judith

piano teacher

Discount Code: Enter TAKE10 during checkout to receive $10 off your order containing of at least ten composers. Use the code TAKE20 to receive $20 off your order of twenty composers.

Camp: “So, You Want To Be A Composer?”

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“So, You Want To Be A Composer?” is a fun, creative camp designed to inspire and equip your students to compose their own pieces of music! Students will leave camp knowing how to make a piece of music reflect its title, use motives, organize a piece using a form, and much more. This camp is full of music listening, music making, and music composing. Read more about when I held this camp in the summer of 2012 and view a peek at a student composition.

When you purchase, “So, You Want To Be A Composer?,” here is what you will receive:

The complete Lesson Plans (21 pages), clearly outlining (with accompanying photos) what to do each day. The appendices at the end include a list of alternative classical repertoire to study, instructions for making a musical instrument each day, and instructions for setting up a water xylophone.
The “Elements of a Great Composition” workbook (16 pages) to print for each student, covering topics like motives/themes, form, accompaniment styles, and proper notation.
An editable “Folder Cover” file (Microsoft Word docx), so you can insert the year and your studio’s name. This sheet is for students to cut out and glue to the front of their camp folder (which will holds the workbook mentioned above).
6 “Quick Composition” activities.
Over 15 varieties of staff paper.
…and more!

Here are some specifics about how the camp is designed:

Meets for 4 days, for 3 hours each day.
Intended for 1st or 2nd year students (including complete beginners); however, the lessons plans are easily adjustable for more advanced students.
A group of 3-4 students would not be too small. A maximum of 8 students is recommended, due to the fact that you will need to borrow enough keyboards for the majority of your students to be able to be use them simultaneously during the free composition time.
At the end of the week, parents are invited for a Composer Showcase, where we let everyone browse the compositions and then enjoy a mini-recital of some of our favorite compositions from the week!

The various worksheets and composition activities included in this camp have an added benefit: Many of the activities included in this lesson plan could be used during studio group classes, or even with some of your private students who are interested in composition.

Have you always wanted encourage and help your students to compose their own music, but have been unsure where to start? The “So, You Want To Be A Composer?” camp just might be the solution for you!

Instructions:

After purchase, follow the instructions to download and save the file onto your computer’s hard drive. The file will download as an archived folder. Unarchive the folder (your computer should do this automatically) and then you will be able open the folder to browse all the files inside.
The first file is the lesson plans. The other files are various worksheets, composition activities, sample compositions, and staff paper — all mentioned in the lesson plans.

Questions? Read the Terms of Use here.