Group Classes, Music Camps, Printables, Teaching Piano, Worksheets

Just Added: Scales & Primary Chords Worksheet 1 (CGDF)

Joy Morin

Just added: a new free, printable worksheet called:

>  Scales & Primary Chords Worksheet 1 (CGDF)

Ideally, this worksheet is designed for the intermediate+ student who is already familiar with the scales and primary chords for the keys of C, G, D, and F major, and perhaps could use some review in writing them out on the staff.  However, this worksheet could also be used during a group lesson while introducing these ideas for the first time.

Terms/concepts covered in the worksheet:

  • An understanding of key signatures for C, G, D, and F major.
  • Practice writing out scales.
  • Practice writing out primary chords.

To download, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to the S’s for “Scales & Primary Chords worksheet.”

Watch for the next worksheet coming soon, covering D, A, E, and Bb major!

Performances, Practicing

Dealing with Performance Anxiety

Joy Morin

Your hands are cold and shaky, your heart is racing, and you find it hard to breath.  Are you sick?  Are you having a nightmare?  No, you’re about to play your instrument in a recital, and the symptoms you are experiencing are due to performance anxiety — better known as stage fright.

Performance anxiety affects us all, to some degree or another.  Here are some things you can try out to help deal with your performance anxiety:

  • Practice performing. Play your pieces for other people whenever you can. It’s one thing to practice your pieces, but it’s another thing to practice performing. Ask other people to come in the room to make you nervous, and see how well you can handle running through you pieces.
  • Envision yourself succeeding. Envisioning yourself performing your piece well is extremely helpful. Do it as your practicing, as you’re not practicing, and as you are performing.  Doing so keeps your outlook positive and sets you up for success. Continue reading “Dealing with Performance Anxiety” →
Resources

Survey on Motivation and Piano Playing

Joy Morin

I recently received an email from a college student who is doing some research for a project about motivation and piano playing, and she could use your help!  Here’s what she has to say:

Hello everyone!  I am a student at Cape Breton University, Canada, and I am currently involved in conducting some research involving piano playing and motivation.  We have a survey that takes about 15 minutes to fill in, your participation in our study would be greatly appreciated!  Keep in mind that our survey is totally anonymous and is actually a good opportunity to engage in some self-reflection.  So if you are interested, go ahead and click the link below and it will take you directly to the survey.  Thanks so much!

http://faculty.cbu.ca/pmacintyre/musicsurveypiano.htm

Sincerely,  Gillian Potter & Dr. Peter MacIntyre

Performances

What to Say at Studio Recitals

Joy Morin

Today’s post is in answer to a question I received from a reader via email:

I am giving my first ever piano recital this Sunday and I am unsure what I should say to parents at the recital.  Besides welcoming them, what sorts of messages are good? Thanks!

Personally, I don’t feel the need to give a long speech at piano recitals.  After all, the members of the audience — mostly parents and grandparents — are there to hear the kids play, not to hear you give an long, eloquent speech.  =)  Just keep it short and sweet, something like this:

“Hello everyone!  As many of you may know, my name is ___, and I’d like to welcome you to this year’s Spring Piano Recital!  This is the first year we’ve held a studio recital, and I am so pleased to have you all join us today.  I know the students are all very excited to play their pieces that they’ve been working so hard on.  Just a few brief announcements, and then we’ll get started.  First of all: did everyone recieve a recital program who would like one? [pass out a couple more if needed]  Secondly, immediately following the recital, we will take some time to take group photo of all the students.  You are welcome to take pictures during the recital as well, but please turn off the flash on your camera.  Thirdly — after the time for photos, please wander over to the fellowship room where there are punch and refreshments for you all to enjoy.  Alright, without further ado, we’ll get started with the recital, beginning with student’s name playing student’s piece.”  [start the applause]

If you get nervous talking in front of groups of people, make yourself a notecard with a short list of things to remember to say.  It could look something like this:

  • Hello and welcome; introduce myself
  • Announcements: 1) Did everyone get a recital program who would like one?
  • 2) After recital, photo time.
  • 3) After photo time, refreshments.
  • Welcome first student to play; start applause.

After all the students play, you can stand up once more if you desire, and say something like:

“That concludes our recital for this evening.  I’d like to say thank you to all the parents and grandparents here today for helping and supporting the students all year long with their practicing and for taking them to lessons.  We couldn’t have done it without you.  And students, you did a wonderful job tonight.  Let’s give all the students one more round of applause.  [applause]  Thank you all for coming!  Now we will have a time for photos and refreshments.”

I hope this is helpful to some of you, and I hope you all have (or have had) successful piano recitals this spring!

Photo credit: gordontarpley | CC 2.0

improving as a teacher, Motivation, Practicing, Teaching Piano

My Thoughts on Practice Requirements

Joy Morin

Many of you may remember being required by your piano teachers growing up to practice a certain amount of minutes each day/week.  Perhaps your requirement looked something like this:

  • 15 minutes a day,
  • 140 minutes each week, or
  • 45 minutes, 5 days a week.

One of my previous teachers built her incentive program around how much practice time each student completed each week.  She would set an amount for each student (15 minutes/day for the young ones, and then gradually increasing up to 60 minutes/day for the advanced ones).  If you completed all your practice time each week, you’d receive a sticker on your chart for that week.  When you received 7 consecutive weeks of completed practice, you were allowed to chose a prize from the prize box.  She used a system similar to the following:

  • Beginners: 10-20 minutes, 5 days a week (depending on their age).
  • Intermediate students: 20-45 minutes, 5 days a week.
  • Advanced students: 60 minutes or more a day, 5 days a week.

Personally, I use a simpler, more flexible practice requirement for my students.  I simply tell my students and parents that they are expected to practice daily.  And that’s it.  Here are my reasons why I like to leave it at that: Continue reading “My Thoughts on Practice Requirements” →

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!

Words of Wisdom

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

Joy Morin

“I believe that interpretation should be like a transparent glass,  a window for the composer’s music.“

— Vladimir Ashkenazy, Russian conductor and virtuoso pianist

Every Wednesday brings Words of Wisdom here at the Color in my Piano blog in the form of a musical quote or joke, intended to bring inspiration or humor to the middle of your week. Have suggestions? Send an email off to admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.

improving as a teacher

The June Forum: Making your Vocation a Vacation

Joy Morin

As mentioned yesterday, a new series is being introduced here at Color In My Piano: a monthly forum of sorts, where readers put their heads together a discuss various topics.  The success of this series depends on YOU, so please, type away!

Without further ado, allow me to introduce the topic for the June forum:

The June Forum: Making your Vocation a Vacation

The June forum is inspired by a couple of quotes I encountered a couple of days ago that really got me thinking about my piano teaching:

“Instead of wondering where your next vacation is, maybe you ought to set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”  – Godin

“Make your vocation your vacation.”   – Old adage

So the idea is to make your vocation as a piano teacher enjoyable for yourself, so that you aren’t living most of your life just getting by until the next vacation.  =)

Now that summer vacation is here, ironically enough, I think this is a fitting topic to consider.  I’m sure that some of you are probably taking summer vacation from teaching and others of you are probably going to be teaching as normal through the summer (personally, I’m somewhere in the middle – some students have stayed on and others are taking a summer break).  Nevertheless, I’m sure we are all thinking ahead to the next year of teaching and maybe even already doing some planning.  Well, now you can add this thought to your list! — How can I make the next year of teaching be more like a vacation than a vocation?

Thoughts?  What do YOU do to make your vocation more like your vacation?  How do you deal with discouragement and disappointments as a teacher when they come along?  How do you keep your teaching fresh and fun?  What are some practical ways that you can do differently to make your vocation as a piano teacher more like a vacation all year long?

Photo credit: jonycunha | CC 2.0

Questions

Introduction of a New Series: The Monthly Forum!

Joy Morin

At the expense of sounding like an old record, I’d like to express once more (last time, I promise!) how much I’ve enjoyed reading all your comments lately, especially the shared stories on the giveaway post from a couple weeks ago.  It’s comments such as those that make Color In My Piano a success and a worthwhile resource for everyone including myself!   We have so much we can learn from each other.

For this reason, I’d like to introduce a new series that is coming to Color In My Piano designed to inspire and facilitate worthwhile discussions on various topics.  It’s essentially a place to “throw our heads together” and share our expertise and experiences so that we can grow and learn from each other.  Each month, a topic will be introduced in a post titled “The [current month] Forum: [topic].”  The success of this new series lies in your hands…so please, be ready to type away!   Think of it like a potluck: we each bring a dish to pass so that we can share a fabulous meal with each other.  =)

At the end of the month, I will post another post summarizing the various points of discussion brought up and perhaps adding more of my own thoughts, effectively bringing that month’s forum to a close.  (Although you may certainly feel free to continue commenting about the subject if desired.)  At the beginning of the next month, a new topic is then introduced.

Stay tuned for the introduction of the topic for the first-ever monthly forum — to take place tomorrow!

Photo credit: incase. | CC 2.0

Announcements, Group Classes, Motivation, Music Camps

A Peek into the Incentive Program Prize Box

Joy Morin

Here’s a peek into the prize box I use for my incentive program.  In case you haven’t read about my incentive program before, here’s the lowdown:  I create an index card for each student, and when they pass a song, they are given a point/sticker for every page of the song learned.  They can also earn points/stickers for doing theory worksheets, memorizing their pieces, etc.  When they earn 25 points/stickers on their index card, they are allowed to choose a prize from the prize box.

I recently restocked the prize box with some cute new items.  Take a look!

The purple prize box.

It’s decorated with some cute music stickers!

Continue reading “A Peek into the Incentive Program Prize Box” →