Music History, Reviews

Review: How To Listen To Great Music by Robert Greenberg

I was kindly sent a copy of a book by Robert Greenberg to review called “How to Listen to Great Music: A Guide to Its History, Culture, and Heart.”  The book has about 330 pages and is organized into 33 chapters.

The content of this book is mostly about its subtitle than about its title.  It reads like a history book — which is, of course, important to understanding “how to listen to great music.”

I often find history books (music or otherwise) dry and uninteresting; however, Greenberg’s book is more than tolerable — it is a very enjoyable read!  From my years as a college student, I remember that my music history textbooks from college that it was easy to get bogged down in the details and fail to recognize over-arching themes and changes across the centuries.  Greenberg, however, got it right!  He has a knack for indentifying and bringing out those bigger themes to give the reader a better understanding of the historical and musical developments across the time periods.  Continue reading “Review: How To Listen To Great Music by Robert Greenberg”

Resources

50 Piano Classics Album

EMI Classics send me an email informing me about a special promotion going on right now.  They are currently offering an album of 50 classical piano pieces for just $0.99 (USD) on Amazon.com.  The artists include Martha Argerich, Andre Watts, Alexis Weissenberg, and many others!

I just downloaded the album and am looking forward to using it to introduce my students to the classics.  I like using various classical pieces with my preschool aged students and with my homeschool music class, for various movement and listening activities.

Check out this deal now by clicking here.

Studio Business

Updated: Record of Attendance & Payment Printable

Just a quick post today to those of you’ve who’ve asked if I planned to update the dates of the Record of Attendance & Payment printable for 2012-13.  The answer is YES, and here it is!  Visit the Printables > Studio Business page and scroll down to the R’s.

The “Student Information Form” has also been updated.  Previously, it said “2011-2012,” and I’ve decided to remove the years so that I won’t have to re-upload it here each year.

Hope you are all having a great week!

P.S.: Don’t forget to check out the responses about our current Forum Q&A about keeping teenager students motivated!

Words of Wisdom

Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom

“Music is the art…which most completely realizes the artistic idea and is the condition to which all the other arts are constantly aspiring.”

— Oscar Wilde

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.

Motivation, Practicing, Teaching Piano

Forum Q&A | Keeping Teenagers Engaged

Our last Q&A Forum topic was about organization.  I loved reading your ideas — thank you all for your responses!

I had a great topic idea from a reader (thanks, Amy!) who asked:

How do you keep teenagers engaged?  As we know, sometimes they are taking lessons only because their parents want them to.  Or, sometimes they are over-scheduled.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts in the comments below — we would love to hear your ideas!

Photo Credit: easylocum

Games

Game Materials Organization

Yesterday, I posted a new Forum Q&A post about organization.  If you are the kind of teacher who enjoys using games and props during lessons, it’s not easy to find a system for storing and organizing everything!  I’m always on the look-out for better ways to stay organized.

Here’s a picture of my current system:

Continue reading “Game Materials Organization”

Questions

Forum Q&A | Organization for Games/Props

Our last Forum Q&A topic was about end-of-the-year tasks for piano teachers.  I enjoyed reading your comments, as always!

Today, our new topic is all about organization.  I wanna know:

How do you keep your game materials and props organized?  Do you have a shelf, drawer, basket, folders, etc.?  Are you able to find what you need when you need it?  🙂

Leave a comment below describing your system.  Maybe we can get a turn-out as good as the giveaway last week…100+ replies would be awesome!  🙂  If you have your own blog, feel free to post a photo of your organizational system there and then leave a comment here with a link.

I’ll post my picture tomorrow.  Here’s my photo!  🙂