“My contention is that creativity is as important as literacy in education, and we should treat it with the same status.”
— Sir Ken Robinson
Feel free to download and share this quote or image.
A Few Updates
Don’t forget — today is the last day to enter the giveaway for hardcopies of my Holiday Parade elementary level solo with teacher duet! Click here.
I also wanted to let you know that I’ve been gradually adding more recommendations to my list of piano duets for sight-reading. Check out this popular post from last year here.
Another old post I’ve been updating is from 2010: Over 20 Musical Spins on Favorite Games. There are links to Diatonic Dominoes, a new version of Musical Sorry, and more.
Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
“Those who dare to teach never cease to learn.”
— John Cotton Dana
Feel free to download and share this quote or image.
Digital Worksheet: Matching Staff to Keyboard
Remember this set of worksheets (Matching Staff to Keyboard worksheets) I posted a couple of weeks ago?
At the suggestion of a reader (thanks, Elaine!), I have created a new digital version.
Using an annotating app such as GoodNotes (my review here), you can upload the PDF to your iPad and have students complete the worksheets digitally. It’s a great way to coach students through a concept while saving paper.
The PDF contains 20 pages, each with 3 notes that must be matched to the keyboard.
Download link here:
Matching Staff to Keyboard -- Digital Worksheets (307.2 KiB, 9,511 hits)
You can find the other digital worksheets I have created for tablet here.
Digital Version: Spreadsheet for Payments Received
For the past couple of years, I’ve been using a form I created using Microsoft Word to track payments received from piano students each month. I printed a new sheet each month (that way I could update the student roster list each month as it inevitably evolves), inserted it into my three-ring binder, and then penned in the details about each payment. Here is what that form looks like:
(Click here for details about downloading that form.)
For the past few months, I’ve been testing out a new digital version of this form using Apple’s Numbers app on my MacBook. The advantage of this system is that if I save the document in iCloud, I can edit the spreadsheet from my iPad in the Numbers app. Thanks to iCloud, everything stays synced. I am loving this system so far!
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Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
“Where there is no learning, there is no teaching.”
— William Glasser
Feel free to download and share this quote or image.
Piano Student Gift Ideas for Christmas/Recitals
Need inspiration for music-themed gifts for music students? Below are photos submitted by piano teachers just like you!
From Liz Hurst from Tooele, Utah:
Here is my little ornament I did this year. It is made with little wooden stars, vintage sheet music and modge podge. Glitter glue if you want the initial and hot glued ribbon to make the loop.
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Student Christmas Gift: Original Piano Composition
Hope you had a nice Christmas and are enjoying a break from teaching!
Now that Christmas is past, I can share about the gifts I made for my piano students this year. 🙂
As you may know, I love creating homemade gifts. Last year, I home-recorded a CD of a few favorite classical teaching pieces. In 2012, I baked iced music cookies and in 2011 I created personalized glass sheet music ornaments.
For this year’s project, I decided to compose two pieces (one mid-elementary level and one late intermediate level) and give them to my students for Christmas. Here is a peek at how the elementary piece turned out:
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December 2014 Giveaway Winners
Announcing the randomly-chosen winners of the three giveaways last week:
Susan Crosser and Julie Lind are the winners of the Music Flash Class app by Henry Flurry.
Kristie is the winner of the Bobclass studio management app.
Geri is the winner of the “My Piano Trip to London” book by Elena Cobb.
Congrats to the winners! Watch your email inbox for an email from me.
Everyone else, I hope you will click the links above to consider purchasing these apps or books!
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to my wonderful blog readers and colleagues! Best wishes and blessings to you and your students in the new year.
Sincerely,
Joy & Paul Morin
Review & Giveaway: Elena Cobb’s “My Piano Trip To London”
A couple of years ago, I reviewed some lovely sheet music by British teacher/composer Elena Cobb (read the review here). She is the author of the Higgledy Piggledy Jazz books, the “Blue River” book of solos, and more.
Elena has recently released a new book: a piano method called “My Piano Trip to London.”
“My Piano Trip to London” contains 40 pages. The pieces throughout the book are based on various landmarks and themes from London.
The first piece in the book is a black-key piece to be learned by rote.
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App Review & Giveaway: Bobclass for Studio Management
Note: As you can tell, this week I’ve been playing catch-up with a few apps I’ve been wanting to share! Hope you don’t mind all of the reviews/giveaways this week. 🙂
Bobclass ($19.99) — iPad only.
I’m so excited to share my review of this studio management app with you today! Let me begin by sharing Bobclass’ description:
“Bobclass is an all-in-one productivity app for instructors, tutors, trainers, coaches and other independent professionals. It offers appointment scheduling, client tracking, progress monitoring and payment tracking from your iPad so you can get rid of separate agendas, clipboards and spreadsheets. With a fast & friendly user interface and a fully functional offline database you can do your client administration in the gym, class room, studio or park.”
I think Bobclass it is an outstanding studio management option for independent music teachers. Here’s how it works:
First, visit the settings to set-up your basic information for you and your teaching.
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