“There is nothing more difficult than talking about music.”
— Camille Saint-Saëns
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.
A couple of months back, I shared on facebook that Clavier Companion magazine was looking for submissions of photos of different piano studios. I decided to go ahead and submit a few photos of my studio, and I was thrilled that they decided to use one of them! If you subscribe to Clavier Companion, take a look at page 25 of their January/February 2013 issue, and you will see my photo:
How exciting! I enjoyed browsing all the other studio photos in the article, too. I also recognized photos from some other bloggers: Jennifer Fink of Pianimation.com, Leila Viss of 88pianokeys.me, and Dorla Aparicio of missdorla.com.
If you aren’t a subscriber of Clavier Companion magazine, definitely check them out! It is very affordable (both print copies and the digital version) and the articles are always excellent and inspiring.
This post is a sequel to the post: 9 First Classical Anthologies for Piano Students. As mentioned before, anthologies are great for exposing students to a variety of composers and styles of literature at a great value.
After the student’s first introduction to classical pieces, there are many, MANY of different options for classical anthologies that are suitable for late elementary / early intermediate level students and beyond. We piano teachers are fortunate to have such a variety to choose from! Rather than resorting to using the same 2-3 books, I try to take advantage of the huge variety of books available and enjoy the variety of literature available for our students to play. I am always on the lookout for new things to use with my students. 🙂
Below are descriptions of a smattering of different anthologies, along with my comments about each one. Be sure to share about your favorite anthologies in the comments!
I love this book, and all the selections within it. It’s a great value, with 72 selections. The pieces start at a late elementary level. The editing is great, and the typeset is clean and easy-to-read.
Books 1, 2, and 3 are available.
Again, I love all the selections in this book! Book 1 contains 38 selections, starting at an early intermediate level. The pieces are chosen for the purpose of encouraging the student to play expressively, or to suit the student who enjoys melodic, poignant literature.
This book contains mostly Romantic pieces, although all periods are represented.
Continue reading “More Classical Anthologies for Piano Students”
When I was a 5-year-old beginner piano student, I remember being re-assigned one-/two-line method book pieces when the only thing lacking was dynamic contrast. And I remember being frustrated with this. My frustration was partly due to the fact that I was bored with the music I was playing; I wanted to be reading staff notation instead of pre-staff notation, as my mother taught me to do before she found me a piano teacher. Regardless, having to re-practice pieces that were already mastered, due to forgetting to drop from forte-piano to piano in one place was a hard thing for me to swallow.
Looking back, I do realize the importance of dynamics. As a teacher, I am a stickler about them even with the most beginner of students. However, as tempting as it is, I do not generally reassign a beginning-level piece from a method book if the ONLY thing lacking is the dynamics. I have decided that holding a student back in their progress is not worth it, because learning to observe dynamic markings is something that can be mastered over time through the next few pieces in their method books. Continue reading “Dynamics & The Beginner Piano Student”
Our previous Forum Q&A post was about Christmas gifts for piano students. We received a LOT of responses — thank you! I will definitely be consulting that post again next year when Christmas rolls around!
Our new Forum Q&A is a topic suggested by a reader. She says:
“My New Years resolution in my studio is for myself and my students to sight read and prepare more duets. I would love suggestions on duets at all levels.”
So, please share in the comments of this post! What are some of your favorite solos or books for piano duet to use with students?
Last Saturday, I held another Piano Party for my students. I had record attendance: 14 students! Here’s a run-down of what we did:
We introduced ourselves, and shared our favorite Christmas present this year.
Christmas Recital and Name-That Tune game. Yes, I know Christmas is over! Because of how busy December often can be, I decided to try scheduling our students-only Christmas recital in early January instead. Besides, students always play their Christmas pieces through the break anyway, so they might as well do the recital after that!
I took advantage of the fact that my students would be playing familiar tunes, and held a name-that-tune game. I gave each student the worksheet below, and they had to write down the titles as they heard them. If they got it correct, they got to color in the star on the right, in order to keep track of how many they guessed correctly. This was a huge hit! Even the students who didn’t know very Christmas tunes were able to learn some new ones by the end.
You can download the Name-That-Tune worksheet by visiting the Printables > Games page and scrolling down to “Name-That-Tune – Christmas Edition.” Continue reading “January 2013 Piano Party!”
I’m back! I took a long blogging break over the holidays, but I’m super excited to be back and I have lots of things to share in the upcoming weeks! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years’.
Today, I am excited to share with you about a fun game I came up with for my students’ Piano Party last Saturday:
“Grand Staff Pass” is a activity for finding and naming notes on the grand staff. Each student has a printed grand staff in front of them, and must find the notes as indicated on the cards. The cards are passed to the next student, going counterclockwise around the room. Continue reading “Grand Staff Pass Game”
Merry Christmas, readers!
I will be taking a break from blogging for the next couple of weeks. My husband and I are looking forward to spending time visiting family and enjoying the holidays!
Happy holidays, and I’ll “see” you in the year!
– Joy
Thank you to all who entered the giveaway for Elena Cobb’s beautiful piano solo, Star Dust! Here are the three winners, chosen via random number generator:
Congrats to our winners! Winners, please check your email inbox for an email from me.
If you didn’t win but still want Elena’s Star Dust, visit her website here to learn more about her music. Many thanks to Elena for offering her music for this Christmas giveaway! 🙂
To follow up on the Forum Q&A post about gifts for students, here are some photos of the Christmas cookies I gave out to my students this year:
A week from last Saturday, I held another piano party with my students. Unfortunately, I neglected to take photos AGAIN, despite the fact that my camera was ready within reach. Bummer! 🙂
Here is a list of the activities we did during our hour-and-a-half together:
I always try to hit on a variety of skills during these group classes, and we sure did this time! We covered terminology, rhythm, dictation (aural skills), performing, and music history!
Remember the review I wrote in October about Elena Cobb’s books? Well, Elena has kindly offered a Christmas giveaway for the pdf sheet music for my favorite selection from her Blue River book: “Stardust!”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG-ra8QXhAE
To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post before midnight EST on Sunday, December 16, 2012. The THREE winners will be announced Monday the 17th.
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