About year ago, Sheryl Welles posted on her blog about a “Twister Hopscotch” game that she modified into a wonderful music game. Basically, all you have to do is use Avery circle stickers of some kind to make the spinner into a music spinner with rhythmic note values.
There are others who have shared alphabet card printables similar to what I’m posting today, but I’m adding mine to the mix anyway. 🙂 I wanted some that would work well to print onto colored cardstock paper. Since I don’t have a color printer, this is an easy way I can still get colorful things to use with my students!
I used these cards with my new weekly Homeschool Music Class (just started last week, thanks to Sheryl’s recent post at her Notable Music Studio blog) and with my Piano Readiness Class. My students LOVED making “musical alphabet snakes” in order to learn how the musical alphabet is different from the regular alphabet. Included in the pdf is a card which outlines some other possible activities to do using the cards. These activities work great in both group settings and private lessons.
Do you have some other activities to share that involve alphabet cards? Share them in the comments!
To Download: visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to the M’s for Musical Alphabet Cards.
Musical Alphabet Cards (275.9 KiB, 17,442 hits)
With my Piano Readiness Class, we’ve been learning about the instruments and the instrument families. To do this, I decided to create a workbook for my students to be able to take notes about the instruments and color a picture of each one.
Description: This 29-page workbook contains coloring pages and blank lines for taking notes when learning about the musical instruments and the instrument families. It is ideal for a regularly-meeting group setting, where the teacher can introduce an instrument or two each week. Continue reading “Just Added: Musical Instruments Workbook”
Well, the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP) was amazing as expected! I had a wonderful time with my friend and my cousin with whom I shared a hotel room. And I met some new teachers, including a couple of people I knew only from online (such as Wendy Stevens). It was such an inspiring place to go and get new ideas for piano teaching. I’ll be blogging about the sessions I attending all week long, so stay tuned!
I know many of you have attended conferences such as this before, but if any of you haven’t, I strongly encourage you to try one! It’s definitely worth the expense. Next March, the 2012 National Conference held by the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) in going to take place in New York City! Just think, if you set aside about $75 or $100 each month from now until then, you’d have enough to attend! And if you happen to have friends or family in NYC, you wouldn’t even have any hotel expenses. If anyone wants to know more about attending a conference, please send me an email and I’d be happy to chat. 🙂
Anyway, I wanted to share with you a photo of all the FREE loot I took home from the NCKP:
When I added up the value of these books, it totaled to over $200! That certainly covers the expense of my shared hotel room and gas money, which pleases me very much! Plus, I get some great new resources to try in my studio!
Have you heard of KickStarter.com? It’s a cool site where people can raise money for creative project of all kinds. Ordinary people like you and me can support these projects. Here’s the kicker: the team must reach the monetary goal by 3-month deadline or else they don’t get any of the money that was pledged.
Well, a colleague of mine has started a kickstarter project with her sister to create CDs of classical music with narration for children. They plan to distribute the CD to schools where art programs are being cut. Read all about their project below, or click here to visit their official KickStarter page. There you will find a video with more info and you can make your pledge. With your support, they can go ahead with the CD project and you can receive a copy too! The CD looks like it could be a great resource to use during group lessons with piano students or young children — I’m excited to receive mine. Please read more about their project and consider supporting Sonya and Elizabeth.
Sonya & Elizabeth Schumann’s KickStarter Project | Piano Carnaval CD: Classical Music and Stories for Kids
Who are we?
We (Jeanne and Sonya) are classical concert pianists who happen to be sisters. We decided to record a children’s CD which, through narrative storytelling, is an attractive vehicle for classical piano pieces.
Why do we want to record a children’s CD? Continue reading “Consider Supporting this Project for Classical Music CD for Kids!”
Have you heard the news about the new 2nd Editions of the Faber Piano Adventures? They’ve completed a revision of the Primer and Level 1 books, and will be doing Level 2 (and beyond?) at a later date.
At the MTNA conference, I had the opportunity to look at the new books at the Hal Leonard booth in the Exhibit Hall (and even take home a free copy of the Primer Level Performance book!).
You can visit their website to read about all the updates made in the new 2nd Editions, but below are a few highlights:
The Piano Adventures method is one of my favorites to use with students (although I deliberately do my best to use a variety of methods with my students), and these updates look great to me! What do you think?
I recently stocked up on the vinyl urtext book protectors that Henle makes…….they are one of my FAVORITE things. They help keep my books in good shape!
My $52.00 (yes, OUCH!) Beethoven Sonatas volumes are much happier and safer inside their own protective covers.
Although these vinyl covers are specially designed to fit Henle Urtext editions, I use them on my other books too even if they have a little extra room at the top.
See below? My Padereswi Chopin Nocturnes score looks content too. =)
I buy these whenever I buy new scores that cost me $15 or more. Instead of buying them for all your scores, however, I suppose you could buy a set of 3 or 4 and move them to whatever books you are currently using the most. The covers cost about $3.50 each.
Check them out! You can find them on SheetMusicPlus or Prima Music.
Here’s a fun movement/rhythm game to play with a group of students which I learned from a Dalcroze Eurhythmics instructor. I call it the “Rhythm Magnet Game.”
The great thing about this game is that it helps students learn to associate the sound/experience of each rhythm value with it’s corresponding notation. In Dalcroze and other methodologies (such as Orff), it’s important to experience the concept first and then put the notation and term to it. This is the “sound before sight” principle.
Background: This game is best intended for young children (preschool to beginner piano students). Older students, however, may also find this game beneficial as an rhythm ear training experience and a lesson in keeping an internal pulse. For this activity to be a success, students must have experience with the idea of quarter notes, half notes, dotted half notes, and/or whole notes (but not necessarily with the terms or written notation for each). This game is perfect activity for teaching little ones to associate each rhythm value to its corresponding notation for the first time.
Students playing this game will soon discover that without checking with the pulse, they cannot determine which note value they are hearing. This game is a great movement game to get students up and moving during a group lesson! Have fun!!
To download the rhythm value posters you’ll need for this game, visit the the Printables > Games page and scroll down to the R’s for “Rhythm Magnet Game.” Enjoy!
This post is a continuation of Part 1, available here.
Sometimes new bloggers wonder why it takes so long to establish a following of readers. I once read somewhere that it takes about a year before you will begin to recognize a committed following of readers start getting regular comments. Don’t be discouraged – keep the posts coming! Meanwhile, here are a few things you can do to help gain a following: Continue reading “Tips For Making Your Blog Reader-Friendly [Part 2]”
With today’s advances of technology, there are many new blogs popping up about music, piano teaching, and everything else under the sun. This is a wonderful thing! It’s great when people can freely share their expertise, ideas, and resources with others via the web.
However, if you’d allow me, I’d like to offer some DO’s and DON’T’s about blogging. New bloggers often make rookie mistakes, and I’d love to help you avoid them. Among these tips, you will find ways to make your blog more accessible and reader-friendly.
If you are just starting or thinking about starting your own blog, this post may be a better place to start. Today’s post is more in depth for those who’ve already gotten their feet wet.
Without further ado, here goes…!
Continue reading “Tips for Making Your Blog Reader-Friendly [Part 1]”
Last week we had some great replies to the question about what level of recital music to assign. Here’s our new forum question for this week! I have really enjoyed hearing you responses the last few weeks. Keep it up!
Do your students undergo standardized testing? Why or why not? If you do, which testing(s) do you use (MTNA testing for your state in the U.S., RCM/NMCP, Piano Guild, etc.)? Do you require it of all your students or is it optional? What benefits do you see in doing testing –not doing testing, as the case may be?
I’m looking forward to hearing your responses on this one (as usual)!! Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Have an idea for a Q&A Forum question? Please send me an email admin[at]colorinmypiano.com.
Check out the new instrument we have at my home!
I ordered this melodica on Amazon as a surprise for my husband for Valentine’s day, although I plan to make use of it too in the future. =)
To play the melodica, you must blow very gently into the mouthpiece and starting pressing the keys. The sound very much resembles the sound of an accordion. Be careful – don’t blow too hard else you may blow the reeds out of place.
It can be played two ways: with the short mouthpiece held in your hands… Continue reading “The Melodica: Piano + Recorder?”
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