Printables, Teaching Piano

Just Added! Flashcards: Melodic Patterns 1 & 2

Joy Morin

Just added to the Printables > Other Resources page:

  • Flashcards: Melodic Patterns 1 & 2

These flashcards (pictured at right) are my absolute favorite.  They have a variety of uses, mainly for beginner piano students:

  1. For beginner students who understand quarter and half note rhythms: Ask the student to simply clap the rhythm they see.
  2. For beginner students who are learning to read pre-staff notation: Ask the student to play on the piano the pattern of notes they see on the flashcard.  You will need to show the beginner which note to start on, and which finger they should use.  (e.g., “Play this pattern, beginning on E with finger 3.” )  This activity helps beginners build the ability to read whether melodic steps are moving upwards or downwards.
  3. For students who are familiar with major 5-finger patterns: Ask the student to play on the piano the pattern of notes they see on the flashcard, but specify a particular key you’d like them to play in.  You may need to tell them what their first note will be.  (e.g., “Play this pattern in the key of A Major.  Your first note will be C#.” )   Then ask them to transpose the pattern to a number of other keys.  (e.g., “Now try playing the same pattern in the key of D minor.” )

Let us know if you find other creative ways to use the Melodic Patterns flashcards!   =]

Resources

Check out listenlearnmusic.com

Joy Morin

Picture 7I recently discovered Rachel Rambach’s site: listenlearnmusic.com.  Rachel is a board-certified music therapist, which means, she’s also a performer, educator, and composer, all wrapped into one.  Through her blog, she shares the music she composes for other music educators to incorporate in their own music lessons.

Recently, she’s been raising money for a cd project: to record and produce a cd of her original compositions to give to children with autism or other disabilities at no cost.  She has reached her $2000 goal, however, each dollar she raises could = another cd that can be given to children!  Be sure to check out her blog and her project by clicking here.

Printables, Sheet Music

Added: 4 New easy Christmas Arrangements

Joy Morin
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtmcknight/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

I know, I know, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and I’m already talking about Christmas!  But since I’ve been updating my Printables page recently anyway, I went ahead and put up some easy Christmas piano arrangments too:

(See Printables > Sheet Music)  These arrangements are suitable for beginner students who are comfortable reading on the staff and playing in the key of C.

Printing Christmas sheet music off the internet is a great alternative to asking students to buy Christmas books — after all, they only get used for about a month or two out of the whole year.  Be sure to visit Susan Paradis’ site as well, if you are looking for more Christmas arrangements (click here for a listing of Holiday Music.)  Hers are much more attractive than mine, I must admit.  I need to learn how to do more with graphics.  =]

Have you found other sites where you’ve found Christmas arrangements for students?  Please share!

Performances

Checklist for Planning Student Recitals

Joy Morin

Student Recitals are great because they give students a goal to work towards, giving their lessons more direction and increasing the student’s motivation for making progress on their pieces.  Parents and grandparents also love them, because they get a chance to watch the students play their pieces onstage.

Here’s a checklist for when you plan your next Student Recital:

  1. Choose a date and time.
  2. Assign music to each student 2-3 months (or more) in advance.  I recommend buying new sheet music for the student, because there is something special about learning music outside of the usual lesson books.
  3. Begin working on a piece of music yourself — it’s so important to play a piece at the recital along with your students.  Students will look up to you for going through the same recital-preparation process that they are going through, and parents really enjoy hearing the teacher play as well.
  4. Choose a location.  Some options: your home, a church, a student’s home, or a retirement home.
  5. Send notification to parents and students, including information concerning:
    1. date, time, location
    2. whether students should memorize their pieces or not
    3. how the students should dress
    4. whether the students should bring their music along to the performance
  6. Prepare any certificates or prizes that you may want to award at the recital.  One year, I gave each student a long-stem rose after their performance (be sure to cut off the thorns!) — they were a real hit.
  7. If you wish to have some post-recital fellowship time, you may want to check with the parents to see if any are willing to help out by bringing cookies, brownies, bars, or punch.
  8. Buy napkins, cups, plates — whatever you need for the refreshments you wish to serve.
  9. Type up a program for the recital, listing the students names and the pieces they’re performing.  Make enough copies for the students and their families.
  10. On the day of the recital, arrive early to set things up.  Make sure the piano is set up appropriately.  Set up any video camera or recording devices you may wish to use.  Write each student’s name on a program and use the programs to mark where the students should sit during the recital.  Put the rest of the programs on a music stand near the door.  Set up the refreshment table where everyone will mingle afterwards.  Ask your spouse or someone to take pictures of each student as the recital progresses, and find a good place for them to sit.
  11. Once everyone has arrived, make opening comments to welcome everyone before the students play, following the order of the program.  At the end, award any certificates, prizes, or flowers and encourage parents/family to stay afterwards for refreshments.

Afterwards

In the weeks following the recital, here are some other things you may wish to do:

  • Put up photos on your website for the students and their families to enjoy.  If you don’t have a website, you could email the pictures to each student.
  • Send thank-you notes to each person who volunteered to bring refreshments, and perhaps also to the person who hosted the recital (or the janitor, as the case may be).
  • If you recorded the recital, put the recording on a cd or dvd and mail it out.  Or, make it available on your website or on YouTube.

Do you have some great ideas that you use at your Student Recitals?  Please feel free to share them by leaving a comment below!

Announcements, Music Theory, Printables, Worksheets

“Printables” page has been updated

Joy Morin
Picture 6
click image to enlarge

If you head over the the Printables page, you will see that it has undergone a complete makeover!  I was having a great deal of difficulty with the WordPress plugin I was using to organize and display my printables, so finally I scrapped it totally and found another one.  Although it is not as fancy as before (i.e., there are no longer any preview thumbnails of each file), it gets the job done!

The following posts have been updated so that the links to each pdf are now working:

You can also simply visit the Printables page to see a listing of all the pdfs currently available.  Enjoy!

improving as a teacher

6 Ways to Stay Connected with Parents

Joy Morin

Sometimes it’s difficult to stay in contact with the parents and keep them informed about the students’ progress.  Here are some ways to improve the lines of communication:

  1. Newsletters.  Create a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter, and send it out via email or snail mail.  In it, congratulate student accomplishments (participation in competitions or other music events) and make announcements regarding future events.
  2. Studio website.  Start a studio website, which you can regularly update with news and announcements.  If you choose to have a blog on your website, parents can subscribe to email updates and receive an email version of each post you create.  
  3. Hold a Parent-Teacher Meeting.  Once or twice a year, you way wish to hold an informal meeting where all the parents (at least one parent per student) come to discuss anything and everything related to the piano studio.  You can make announcements concerning future events, and discuss past ones.  It’s a great way to get feedback from the parents concerning the way you are running your studio, and to get suggestions concerning how to run things next year.  Serve dessert and coffee to put everyone at ease, and keep it under an hour or so.  
  4. Personal calls or emails.  Once in a while, it may be appropriate to call or email a parent directly concerning a student’s progress.  I think this is especially important for when you are convinced that the student is not progressing as well as s/he could be.  Letting the parent know about your concern opens the door for their cooperation with you in further action.
  5. Progress Reports.  At the end of the school year, it is advisable to create and fill out a progress report for each student.  It not only helps you wrap things up, but helps communicate to the parent concerning what kind of progress the student has made under your instruction over the past year.  
  6. Evaluations.  At the end of each school year, it is also a good idea to create a Studio Evaluation form for the parents to fill out, concerning what they liked/disliked about lessons and studio events over the past year.  Getting feedback from the parents is extremely helpful for planning the following year’s events.  

How do you maintain the ways of communication with parents?  Let us know by commenting below.

repertoire / methods, Resources

Free Sheet Music @ pianostreet.com

Joy Morin

Picture 4Free sheet music is always a good thing, right?  :]

By signing up for a free Silver membership over at pianostreet.com, you’ll have access to free pdfs of classical music scores, including:

  • Bach – 15 Inventions
  • Beethoven – 32 Sonatas
  • Burgmuller – 3 pieces from 25 Easy and Progressive Studies
  • Schumann – Traumerei
  • Tchaikovsky – 2 pieces from Album for the Young
  • . . .and other random pieces by composers such as Mozart, Clementi, Listz, and Brahms — including an arrangements of Pachelbel’s Canon in D and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee.

If you upgrade to a Gold Membership, you’ll have access to even more music.  Personally, I am planning to stick with my free Silver membership.  I am thrilled to be able to print (for free!) these great classics for my students, particularly for the ones with little money to spare for piano lessons during these rough economic times.