Words of Wisdom

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

Joy Morin

“Remember that technique is valuable only as a means to an end.  You must first have something to say–something which demands expression from the depths of your soul.  If you feel deeply and know how to express what you feel, you make others feel.”

— Amy Cheney Beach (1867-1944)

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.

General

Free Printable: 12-Bar Blues in C

Joy Morin

3major0My blogging has been rather sporadic so far this month — this is a busy time of year for piano teachers, isn’t it!  I’m so glad my Spring Recital is over, but this month is still somehow very booked.  🙂

On Saturday, I had another Piano Party with my students.  It was a small group of students this time because it was the tail-end of Spring Break when many students were out-of-town.  However, I took advantage of the fact that I was working with just four students and planned to do something a little bit different this time!  Our theme-of-the-day was chords.  Students play duets with each other, one student playing a melody and the other accompanying with chords.  Two students played on my Kawai, and the other two played on my keyboard which I set up in the guest bedroom.

One of the things we did was a duet improvisation with the 12-bar blues.  Tim Topham has made a video that breaks down the 12-bar blues into manageable steps for teachers to use with
their students:

To help my students learn how to improvise the 12-bar blues, I created this printable:

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On page 1, the notes of the C blues scale are shown both on the keyboard and on the staff.  I put the student sitting on the treble side of the keyboard in charge of playing a melody using these notes.  If you are not doing a duet, this is simply the RH part.  I helped the student work out a good fingering to use.

Then, I showed page 2 of the printable to the other student.  I chose the “Blocked 5ths & 6ths” pattern and made sure the student understood how to play the pattern for each chord change.

Finally, I showed students the 12-bar blues progression on Page 1 and set them loose to work it out!  The most important part, of course, was helping them learn to listen to each other to stay on beat.  I went back-and-forth between the duet pairs and coached them throughout the process.

I plan to follow-up with these students during their next lesson, to further experiment with the 12-bar blues.  It was a fun part of our Piano Party this month!

You can download the “12-Bar Blues in C” printable (it’s free!) on the Downloads > Sheet Music page.

  12-Bar Blues in C (642.8 KiB, 53,736 hits)

Technology

Tutorial: Making Melodies for Music Worksheets using Music Fonts

Joy Morin

This tutorial is a follow-up on my last tutorial, which was about making rhythms using music fonts when making music worksheets.  This tutorial is about writing melodies using two music fonts: MusiQuik and StaffClefPitchesEasy (click here to read my complete post about music fonts).

These two fonts are a little more complicated to use than the rhythm fonts mentioned in the previous tutorial, however, they still work pretty well for creating simple melodies for your music worksheets or other projects.

Stay tuned — another tutorial is on the way!  Update: The next tutorial is about using my free png files of music symbols to create worksheets, instead of using music fonts.  It’s easy — check out the tutorial!

Announcements, Performances

My 2013 Spring Recital

Joy Morin

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend!

Saturday was my students’ Spring Recital!  Like last year, I held it at my local library.  My students all did such a nice job — they make me so proud!

DSC_20130330_154803In photo above you’ll see each student with a rose, which is a tradition I’ve kept up for the last few years.  It’s nice to give something at the end of the recital, and giving a rose is a nice, affordable gesture to congratulate them for their performance and hard work.

Do you have a recital tradition?  🙂

Music History

New Composer Lapbooks: Chopin & Haydn

Joy Morin

Two brand new composer lapbooks have just been added to the ColorInMyPiano shop!

Meet Chopin!

Chopin both

Studying Chopin was the perfect opportunity to discuss various types of character pieces and listen to a variety of Chopin’s wonderful oeuvre for piano.  We also talked a bit about Chopin’s background as a Polish composer and his life in Paris, contributing as a musician during salon performances.

And here’s Haydn:

haydn both

When studying Haydn, my homeschool students learned about the popular music forms of the Classical Era (sonata, symphony, string quartet, concerto) and discussed the various places Haydn was employed as Kapellmeister (the Esterhazy palace, in particular).  My students loved hearing about Haydn’s poor and lowly childhood and how his hard work and determination enabled him to become a great composer!  I’m definitely going to use Haydn for the Classical composer for my summer camp this year.

You can view a full list of all the composer lapbooks now available here.

In case you are curious about what is next, I am excited to be currently working on a woman composer.  🙂  After that, I plan to choose another Baroque composer.

Rhythm, Technology

Making Music Worksheets Using Rhythm Fonts

Joy Morin

A frequent question I receive from blog readers is about what method/software do I use to make music worksheets.  Since discovering music fonts (and publishing my blog post on music fonts last Spring), I have been using music fonts more and more for my printables and using Finale less and less.  Finale is great and totally necessary for printing compositions and arrangements, but it’s not quite as convenient for making music worksheets.

To help answer some of those questions about how to get started using music fonts for creating music worksheets, I decided to create a quick video showing the process for creating a rhythm worksheet using my two favorite music fonts: MusiSync and Rhythms.  These two fonts are so simple to use, you might not even need a character map (as described in the full post about music fonts).  Before getting started, you will need to download and then install both of these fonts onto your computer.  You will also need the program Microsoft Publisher (part of the Microsoft Office suite), or a similar program.

It’s my first try doing a video tutorial.  Let me know what you think.  🙂

Update: Here is a follow-up video that talks about using two other fonts, that will allow you to create melodic examples in your worksheets.  And here is one more video tutorial, showing another option for making worksheets: using png image files of various music symbols.

Games, Music Theory

Piano Keyboard Printable

Joy Morin

Today, I’m sharing a simple but useful freebie: I call it the Piano Keyboard Printable.

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I love using my wooden/foam silent keyboards during group classes (both Piano Readiness or Homeschool Music Classes) and for theory worksheets/activities at my Piano Parties — but sometimes I just want paper, so I designed this printable.  I printed and laminated a bunch of these keyboard printables — and I love that I can also print these to send home with students.  I like to encourage my Piano Readiness students to play the games from class at home with their parents.

A quick list of a few uses for this piano keyboard diagram printable:

  • With my Piano Readiness class, I have students “play” the piano on their paper piano.  We can learn simple pieces this way in a group setting.
  • We also play simple games.  For example, I hold up a flashcard of Middle C on the staff, and they must put their gem on the corresponding piano key on their keyboard.
  • There are lots other games you can play using this printable keyboard, like the Spell-A-Keyboard game.
  • When teaching music theory concepts in group settings, I like to pair the keyboard with a printed/laminated staff.  I have students build scales/chords both on their staff and their keyboard at the same time using glass gems, which really helps build the connection between keyboard and staff.

You can download this free printable by visiting the Printables > Other Resources page and scrolled down to “Piano Keyboard Printable.”

P.S.: The 20% sale in the Color In My Piano shop has been entended for one more day!  (And the sale won’t be back until next year!)  Use the discount code “YAY4YEARS” by midnight EST on Friday, March 15, 2013.

Questions

Forum Q&A: What type of piano did you first learn on?

Joy Morin

468px-Steinway_&_Sons_upright_piano,_model_K-52_(mahogany_finish),_manufactured_at_Steinway's_factory_in_New_York_CityAt our last Forum Q&A, I asked about what piano books you studied from as a child.  It was so fun reading all the responses!  Read the comments here on the blog and here on the facebook page.

I must be feeling nostalgic again…  🙂  For our new Forum Q&A, I want to know:

What kind of piano was the family piano you remember learning on as a child?  What brand?  Upright or grand?  Was the type of piano you had a factor in your success as a student?  Did your parents upgrade that piano at some point?  Is you childhood piano still around?  

Leave your comments below!