Teacher Feature

Teacher Feature: Jeff Wille

Joy Morin

We are long overdue for another Teacher Feature!  (Learn more about Teacher Feature posts here).

A big thank you to Jeff Willes for being willing to share with us today.  Meet Jeff Wille from the JW Music Studio in Texas!

Please tell us about your piano and/or teaching background:

I started playing piano when I was 9 and took lessons for about 5 years which were primarily classically based.  After that I developed an interest in rock music and started to learn the guitar from a teacher that was classically trained but was in a rock band.  I took lessons from him for about 2 years or so and then after that I just spent hours and hours listening and learning on my own.  I then became involved in 2 bands, one as a keyboard player in an oldies band and then one as a lead guitar player in a classic rock band.  I’ve been teaching now for about 2 and a half years.  Continue reading “Teacher Feature: Jeff Wille” →

Group Classes, Rhythm, Teaching Piano

Introducing…The Color In My Piano Shop!

Joy Morin

Greetings!

I have a big announcement today: I have just added a “Shop” page to ColorInMyPiano.com, where I have listed a few items for sale!  Don’t worry…I’ll always share lots of freebies too, but I have some bigger projects that I’d like to make available in the shop.  🙂  Right now, I’ve got two items listed:

Rhythm Cards – Level 1.  These cards have simple two- or three- measure rhythm examples on them, perfect for using with beginner students.

Continue reading “Introducing…The Color In My Piano Shop!” →

Conferences, Group Classes, Resources

Blickenstaff’s Performance Practice “Rules of Thumb”

Joy Morin

Last October, well-loved pedagogue Marvin Blickenstaff appeared at the Ohio Music Teachers Conference I attended.  I blogged a summary of my notes from a great session he gave called “Performance Practice Made Easy”, which was all about “Rules of Thumb” to give for students during group classes about playing musically.  If you would like more details about Marvin’s wonderful “Rules of Thumb,” check out the recent July/August issue of Clavier Companion magazine!  There’s an article on page 34 by Marvin with plenty of examples.  Be sure to check it out!

P.S.: If you are not already subscribed to Clavier Companion, I HIGHLY recommend it!  It’s my favorite magazine — I love getting inspired by all their great articles.  It’s very affordable, too — especially their new digital-only subscription option!

Music Camps, Reviews

Review: Road Trip USA! Camp by Sheryl Welles

Joy Morin

My friend Sheryl Welles has just put her RoadTrip USA! camp lesson plans up for sale on her website!  She very kindly sent me a copy to review, and so I’m going to tell you all about it.  🙂

RoadTrip USA! is a 159-page pdf that contains detailed descriptions with photos of the games and activities Sheryl does for her camp.  Sheryl also includes detailed lists for the supplies you will need each day, as well as some advice about registration forms and setting tuition.

So, what is the camp like?  Each day, campers travel to a different part of the United States to listen to different styles of music, learn about composers, and reinforce basic musical concepts, like rhythm and note reading.  The five destinations are Washington D.C., New Orleans, the Wild West, New York City, and Hawaii.  The activities throughout the day are themed around that day’s destination.  I love the great variety of activities (indoors, outdoors, movement, listening, etc!) Sheryl uses for this camp, and your students will love it too!  If you haven’t seen Sheryl’s blog before, I highly recommend you check out some of her posts about her music camps. Continue reading “Review: Road Trip USA! Camp by Sheryl Welles” →

Resources

Sheet Music Washer Necklaces

Joy Morin

Remember back when I did a giveaway in March for this sheet music necklace?

Some of you asked about how I made those necklaces.  Well, I got the idea from a photo I saw on pinterest a long time ago.  I was planning to make a nice tutorial post about how to do it, but now I don’t have to — because yesterday I found a great tutorial that shows all the steps!  🙂  I made my washers double-sided, and used vintage sheet music on one side.  What you see in the photo above is from an ancient Shirmer’s edition of Bach Inventions.

Happy crafting!  🙂

Games, Music Camps, Printables

Musical Olympics Camp – Lesson Plan & Materials

Joy Morin

I have finally completed the lesson plans for the Musical Olympics Camp!  This pdf is a FREE download from the Printables > Lesson Plans page.  Let me give another thank you to Sheryl Welles for her great game ideas, and for her permission to include descriptions of those games in the lesson plan.

This pdf also includes a few new printables I created for the Musical Olympics Camp.  I decided to make some of those new printables available for download on the Printables page too, since some of them may easily be used for activities besides the camp.  Here’s a list of all the printables:

Games, Music Camps

2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 4

Joy Morin

Here’s some photos to enjoy from our final day of Musical Olympics Camp.  Since it was our last day, I invited the students’ parents to come and watch our last hour of camp.  We re-played a few of our favorite games from the week, and also had an Olympic Awards Ceremony.  More details below.

Our first game was the Ultimate Rhythm Relay, which was a culmination of all the relays we did throughout the week!  First, the student tossed the musical beach ball (from yesterday) in the air and complete the musical task it indicated.  Then, they ran to the buckets and tossed a beanbag until they got it into a bucket.  The buckets were each marked with a note/rest.  Last, students ran over to the ring toss area, where they had to toss a ring until they got it over the flag whose note/rest matched the bucket they had tossed their beanbag into.   Then students ran back to the starting point to tag the next player.  I know it sounds complicated, but these relays are much easier to explain by demonstration than they are to describe in words!  Continue reading “2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 4” →

Games, Music Camps

2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 3

Joy Morin

Here’s some photos to enjoy from Day 3 of my Musical Olympics camp:

Our first game was the Build-A-Keyboard Interval Challenge.  To prepare, I drew a large keyboard on the cement for each team using chalk.  I gave each team two spinners: a musical alphabet one, and an interval spinner (unison through 5th).  Each of the four students on each team had a job: two students held the spinners, and the other two students stood on the starting note on the keyboard and the second note of the interval in order to build interval indicated on the spinner.  Teams raced to see how many intervals they could build within 5 minutes.  I didn’t get a very good photo of this game, because my husband and I were too busy tracking each team’s points (it’s a fast-moving game!).  🙂 Continue reading “2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 3” →

Games, Music Camps

2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 2

Joy Morin

We had great weather on Day 2 of our camp last week!

Our first game of the day was Sheryl Welles’ fabulous Musical Alphabet Noodle Relay!  For this relay, team members must travel via the noodle to retrieve alphabet flags from the ground and bring them back to the starting point.  For the first round, they had to retrieve the flags in order A-G, and the second round they retrieved them backwards.  Watching them travel via the noodle was pretty hilarious, I must admit!  My students loved this game.  Continue reading “2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 2” →

Games, Music Camps, Rhythm

2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 1

Joy Morin

Last week, I held a Musical Olympics camp for my students and it was a great success!  We had such a fun week and I received a lot of positive feedback from the students and parents.  I will definitely continue doing similar camps in future years!

Over the course of this week, I’m going to be sharing lots of details and photos.  At the end of the week, I’ll share a pdf download with more details about the materials and directions for the games.  🙂

Here’s some of the details:

  • We met two hours a day, Monday through Thursday.
  • I set the time for 10am to 12pm, which was perfect because camp was over before the weather got too warm in the afternoon.
  • We were outside for all the games and activities, except for Monday when we encountered rain.  I was able to convert some games into indoor games which we did in my garage.

For Day 1 of camp, my wonderful friend Loretta (who lives a couple of hours away) came for a visit to be my camp helper!  It was great seeing her again.

Continue reading “2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 1” →