Color In My Piano – Page 28 – A blog dedicated to excellence in piano teaching.

Please enjoy my notes from Day 5 of the 2016 MTNA conference in San Antonio, Texas! Click here to go back to Day 4.

On Wednesday, the final day of the conference, Susan Hong and I began our morning at Bakery Lorraine to enjoy coffee and some baked goods. I’m so thankful she invited me to stay with her during the conference!

We attended two more sessions before MTNA 2016 came to a close.

8:00am Extended Piano Techniques for Children: Reading and Playing the Language of Our Time, by Kevin Richmond

The last day of the conference often offers some of the best sessions. Kevin Richmond gave an engaging and informative session about six types of extended techniques used in music written for children. Accordingly, he also discussed the various forms of non-conventional notation that composers have come up with to indicate each type of extended technique.

Continue reading “2016 MTNA (5): Wednesday, April 6” →

Conferences

MTNA 2016 (4): Tuesday, April 5

13 April 20163 January 2021 Joy Morin

Please enjoy my notes from Day 4 of the 2016 MTNA conference in San Antonio, Texas! Click here to go back to Day 3.

8:00am Exhibitor Showcase – The Royal Conservatory Music Development Program: Digital Resources To Support Teachers And Ensure Student Success, by Marvin Blickenstaff and Elaine Rusk.

In this session, I was excited to learn a bit about the new online resources that RCM offers to accompany the purchase of the latest revision of the “Four Star Sight-Reading and Ear Training” books.

Continue reading “MTNA 2016 (4): Tuesday, April 5” →

Conferences

MTNA 2016 (3): Monday, April 4

8 April 20163 January 2021 Joy Morin

Please enjoy my notes from Day 3 of the 2016 MTNA National Conference in San Antonio, Texas! Click here to go back to Day 2.

8:00am Exhibitor Showcase: Piano Safari

The authors of the Piano Safari method, Katherine Fisher and Julie Knerr, gave a very enjoyable session. Their method features a combination of an Intervallic Reading Apporach plus rote teaching to develop music literacy in the student.

Rote teaching is the systematic teaching of musical and artistic concepts through modeling rather than through music notation. Music is an aural art and thus transcends notation. Rote teaching is NOT training students to copy the teacher without any thought or understanding. And it can be used to increase reading ability.

Piano Safari offers a combination of pieces intended to be learned by rite and then by reading. There are many exciting benefits to learning rote pieces: Rote pieces allow students to play exciting music. They increase concentration and develop musical memory. More attention is free for technique. It is lends itself to more creativity: improvising and composing. The student also develops a strong confidence in their playing and performing ability. Learn more at PianoSafari.com. Book 3 of the series has just been released. Continue reading “MTNA 2016 (3): Monday, April 4” →

Conferences

MTNA 2016 (2): Sunday, April 3

5 April 201627 August 2017 Joy Morin

Below are my notes from Day 2 while attending the 2016 MTNA conference in San Antonio! Click here to read Day 1.

8:00am Exhibiter Showcase — The Royal Conservatory: Enriching Every Lesson with Theory And Muscianship by Janet Lopinski.

I was very excited to learn more details about the upcoming Celebrate Theory series that will be available this summer! These will be available at every level (Prep A and B, and then 1-10) and are designed to support the Repertoire and Etudes book.

8:00am Exhibiter Showcase — Faber Piano Adventures: Effective Strategies For Adult Keyboard Learners. Continue reading “MTNA 2016 (2): Sunday, April 3” →

Conferences

MTNA 2016 (1): Pedagogy Saturday

3 April 20163 January 2021 Joy Morin

Greetings from San Antonio, Texas! I am so excited to be here for the 2016 MTNA National Conference from April 2-6. I will be sharing a few highlights over the next few days.

I’m staying with a couple of friends: Susan Hong and Amy Chapin (check out her brand new blog, Piano Pantry). Here is a photo of us at Fogo de Chao last night for dinner, enjoying Brazillian buffet. Yum!

Saturday of the MTNA conference is always “Pedagogy Saturday” — an optional day (often my favorite day!) with a variety of tracks to choose from: Advanced Pianism, Musician Wellness, Music Learning Theory, Recreational Music Making, and Young Professionals. Below are notes from the sessions I attended. Continue reading “MTNA 2016 (1): Pedagogy Saturday” →

Performances, repertoire / methods, Reviews

My Favorite Sheet Music Solos for Piano Students

21 March 20163 June 2021 Joy Morin

For our annual Spring Recital, I maintain a tradition of letting my piano students choose their own special piece to memorize and perform. In December or January, I restock my library of sheet music solos at all the various levels, so that I can demonstrate 3-4 pieces for each student to choose from.

I’ve started to try to keep track of some of the pieces that I feel were favorites or especially successful in performance over the past few years. I think every teacher should keep track of their favorite teaching pieces! I suggest doing so using a YouTube playlist or a spreadsheet file (Excel or Google Sheets). In fact, I have started a Collaborative Repertoire List project here that you may be interested in viewing.

Today, I’d like to share with you a selection of favorite sheet music solos my students have played over the past few years. In this video, you will hear me talk about and play excerpts from 18 pieces. Below the video, you’ll find written comments for each piece as well as links for purchasing the sheet music. Enjoy!

EARLY ELEMENTARY

1:20 Dancing Drums, by Joyce Grill — A lively piece in a minor key that has a catchy and interesting melody. Teacher duet.
2:00 Japanese Garden, by Jennifer Linn — An expressive, pentatonic piece for beginners. Teacher duet.
3:20 In My Dreams, by Jennifer Linn — This piece has an absolutely gorgeous melody. 36 measures in length. Teacher duet.

MID ELEMENTARY

Continue reading →

Announcements

Monday: Experiment with Facebook Live Video

18 March 201618 March 2016 Joy Morin

Greetings, folks!

Just wanted to let you know that on Monday (March 21, 2016), I plan to create a live video using Facebook Live. You won’t want to miss it — I’m going to share about some of my favorite sheet music solos for piano students.

To watch, login to Facebook and visit the Color In My Piano blog’s Facebook page at noon Eastern time. You will see the notification there when the video stream goes live.

I will also be posting the video replay afterwards.

Hope to see you then!

General

GIML Training, Here I Come!

17 March 20167 April 2017 Joy Morin

I was just notified that my application for an MTNA Teacher Enrichment Grant was accepted! This means I get to attend a two-week Piano Certification Course sponsored by the Gordon Institute of Music Learning (GIML) in Boston in August.

If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you might know that I am a huge fan of Edwin Gordon’s work. Having the opportunity to experience this training means a great deal to me.

I’m sure I’ll be blogging and sharing about the experience.

I can’t wait. Thanks, MTNA!

Update: Read more about the experience here.

Words of Wisdom

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

16 March 2016 Joy Morin

“For teachers to become better teachers, they must become better learners.”

— Tom Whitby

Feel free to download and share this quote or image.

improving as a teacher, Professional Development, repertoire / methods

Printable: The Benefits of a Yearly Review, Listing Piano Students by Level

7 March 20167 August 2022 Joy Morin

At the beginning of the new year, I like to take some time to look at my teaching roster and create an overview of my students’ current playing abilities by level. This process is helpful for choosing recital repertoire for upcoming events, but it is also useful for creating a benchmark to compare to previous and future years.

Usually, this process of listing out my students by level takes place on a piece of blank scratch paper and my scratch-marks don’t necessarily look pretty.

But this year, I got a little more organized and created a tidy-looking printable for myself!

201601 Student Level List

I’ll be the first to admit that it is a feat to “level” music or to “level” a student’s playing ability. There are so many factors that go into creating music. In many ways, music seems to naturally defy any such categorization by difficulty. Yet, it is incredibly useful to have SOME sort of benchmark system, a starting-point, something to work from — even if the leveling system is inherently imperfect.

Using the printable above, I can see the big picture. I can take my list to the music store with me to restock my library of sheet music solos. I can update my progress notes for each student.

If you would like to use this printable, you can download the free PDF via the link below or the Printables > Other Resources page under the title “Students Listed by Level”.

Students Listed by Level (31.0 KiB, 2,414 hits)

Side note: This is a good example of a topic that is covered during my online course for piano teachers. Get more information and join the separate email list at institute.joymorin.com.

Announcements

Celebrating 7 Years of Blogging!

1 March 20161 March 2016 Joy Morin

Greetings!

Guess what: February 28 marked the seven-year anniversary of Color In My Piano!

At this time each year, I like to reflect upon the time that has passed since I started blogging and teaching and recognize how things have grown and changed. I hope, whether you are a longtime or a new follower of Color In My Piano, you will enjoy reading the brief history below.

If you are short on time, please feel free to skip down to the overview of the most recent year.

The First Year

On February 28, 2009, I wrote my first blog post: a welcome and brief statement of purpose. I found my inspiration largely from Natalie Wickham’s Music Matters Blog and Susan Paradis’s Piano Teacher Resources, whose resources I found tremendously helpful and inspiring for my piano teaching. At this point, I was running a successful piano studio of about 20 students out of my parents’ home, and finishing up my Bachelor’s degree in piano performance at Hope College. I graduated in May of 2009.

On J uly 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 new look.

The name “Color In My Piano” was coined when, during my senior year at Hope College, I was required to write an essay which reflected upon my life so far and summed up my current worldview. Not surprisingly, much of paper focused on my beliefs about music and the role of the piano/teaching in my life. In my life, I strive to keep my music-making and teaching from feeling like merely a job or a requirement. I strive to keep “color in my piano” for both my students and myself. Continue reading “Celebrating 7 Years of Blogging!” →

Announcements

2016 Blogiversary Sale Starting Now

22 February 201622 February 2016 Joy Morin

Guess what: next Sunday, February 28, 2016, is the 7-year blogiversary of the Color In My Piano blog. Wahoo! 😀

In celebration, I am running my annual 20% off sale on everything in my digital shop. The sale will run for a month, starting today, Monday, February 22 through Saturday, March 19, 2016. Please enter this promo code during checkout to receive the discount: 20OFF2016.

What will you find in my shop?

My favorite Ice Cream Interval Game…

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