Giveaways

SightReadPlus and SightReadMinor app giveaway

Joy Morin

bg-1-273140Just a reminder: Don’t forget that last week’s giveaway for the NoteWorks app ends tonight at midnight.  Even if you already own the app, feel free to enter anyway — if you win, you can give the promo code to a deserving student!

I have a couple of new giveaways planned for this week.

Today, you can leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a free promo code for the SightReadPlus or SightReadMinor apps for iPad!  If you aren’t familiar with these two apps, please check out my review here.

I love reading your comments as they come in for giveaways.  🙂  This time, please tell me about your (non-music related) Thanksgiving plans or about what you are especially thankful for this year!  Deadline: Enter by November 17, 2013 at midnight EST.

Again, please feel free to enter the giveaway even if you already own one or both apps, or even if you do not own an iPad.  If you win, you can give the promo code to a deserving student who has an iPad.

Thanks goes to the developer, Melissa, for offering these two promo codes for the giveaway!

Announcements, repertoire / methods, Technique

The Technique Exercises of the Piano Safari method

Joy Morin

On Friday, my local MTNA chapter held a workshop given by Katherine Fisher and Dr. Julie Knerr, co-authors of the Piano Safari method.  Piano Safari has been on my radar for quite some time, although I have not yet used the method books with a student.  I have, however, been experimenting with the technique exercises they have developed.

20131101 Piano Safari 2 Continue reading “The Technique Exercises of the Piano Safari method” →

Giveaways, Technology

NoteWorks app Giveaway and News: Now Available for iPhone as well as iPad

Joy Morin

Screen Shot 2013-11-04 at 9.18.48 AMAbout a year ago, I wrote a review for the NoteWorks app for iPad (read it here).  The developers of NoteWorks have notified me that they have recently released an iPhone version of NoteWorks.  This is great news for any of your students/parents who own iPhones but do not own an iPad!

The iPhone version works very much like the iPad version.  The only possible downside I perceived is that because of the smaller screen, the size of the staff and notes is smaller.  The game still works very well, though.  With young beginners, I would opt to use NoteWorks on the iPad, though, for the sake of the larger staff size.

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The new iPhone version introduces a new way for students to select the range of notes on the staff they would like to practice.

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Here are links to all of the versions available:

GIVEAWAY: NoteWorks has generously offered promo codes for FIVE lucky winners to be able to download this app for free.  To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below before midnight EST on Monday, November 11, 2013 with a fun tip for teaching note names to your students.  (Note: the giveaway is for the iPhone version of this app.  However, the developer let me know that it is possible to use the iPhone version of NoteWorks on your iPad.)

General

Freebie: Piano Finger Bling worksheets

Joy Morin

Today, I have a couple of fun freebies for you.  🙂

First, here is a printable worksheet for beginner piano students.  Their task is to label each hand as RH or LH and then label the finger with the ring as #1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.  My beginners love completing this quick worksheet!

Piano Finger Bling worksheet.png

As I was making this worksheet, it occurred to me that it would be fun to get a plastic diamond ring to use when quizzing students on their finger numbers.  Fun little props can add a lot of fun to drills.  🙂

Then, I decided to make a digital version of this worksheet to use on my iPad with the GoodNotes app.  Students can draw on each page in order to label the hand and finger.  It’s a quick little activity that can be completed during the lesson.

Piano Finger Bling preview iPad

To download the printable worksheet, visit the Printables > Worksheets page and scroll down to “Piano Finger Bling worksheet.”

  Piano Finger Bling worksheet (204.0 KiB, 16,780 hits)

To download the digital PDF worksheet, visit the Printables > For iPad page and look for “Piano Finger Bling.”

  Piano Finger Bling (794.3 KiB, 5,392 hits)

Enjoy!

Words of Wisdom

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

Joy Morin

“The most valuable result of all education is to make you do the thing that you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.”

— Thomas Huxley

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 me a message here.

Reviews

Book Review: Twelve Magical Musical Masters

Joy Morin

7_0240c“Twelve Magical Musical Masters” is a book containing the stories of twelve well-known classical composers.  Each page features an illustration and a short bio that encourages the reader to press a button to hear the accompanying music.

I received a copy of this book for review and am happy to add it to my bookshelf in my living room/waiting room area for students to peruse.

The twelve composers included are:

Resources

Database of Pieces in Classical Anthologies for Piano

Joy Morin

Screen Shot 2013-10-29 at 1.01.48 PMI recently found out about a great resource by Bobbie Rastall, a piano teacher from Maryland.  Bobbie has an online database that allows teachers to search for a title or composer and see a list of which classical anthologies for students contain that piece of music.  What a great resource!

I have already put this database to good use.  I am planning to enter a couple of students in MDP/RCM exams again this year and I found it very helpful to be able to enter pieces from the list into this database to see a list of which books contain the pieces I was looking for.

Read more about Bobbie’s database here.

Reviews, Technology

App Review: NotateMe

Joy Morin

Screen shot 2013-10-22 at 1.07.21 PMNotateMe (this public beta release is currently half off: $13.99) — for iPad/iPhone (also available for Android).

NotateMe is a music notation app that allows users to enter music by finger or using a stylus.  As the notes are drawn, the app interprets your handwriting and creates printed notation.  This technology is impressive!

Here is a screenshot taken from the app store:

screen480x480 Continue reading “App Review: NotateMe” →

Composition, Teaching Piano

Now Available: Composition & Improvisation Prompts for Piano eBook

Joy Morin

Last week, I wrote a blog post here describing how I help my students compose their own pieces.  Today, I am officially announcing the release of a new e-book resource called: Composition & Improvisation Prompts for Piano!

Prompts for Piano - ebook cover 950x629

Continue reading “Now Available: Composition & Improvisation Prompts for Piano eBook” →

Giveaways

Giveaway Results: MusicEdConnect.com Registration Winner

Joy Morin

Make Your Students ShineJust a quick post to announce the randomly selected winner of the giveaway for FREE registration for the 2014 MusicEdConnect.com conference!

The winner is comment #29: Vaida!  Please watch your email inbox for an email from Michelle from Keys To Imagination.

The rest of you — please remember that you can still register for the conference. 🙂  In fact, you may want to take advantage of the early registration discount. The online conference is taking place February 5-8, 2014.   Register now through October 31, 2013 for just $79.  It will be $99 after October 31, 2013.

Check out all the details at  MusicEdConnect.com!