Tag: music

Games, Rhythm

Hands-On Beats the Visual….Hands Down!

Joy Morin

My colleague Loretta and I have been teaching a pair of beginner students in a group setting each week.  Last week, we were learning about 3/4 and 4/4 time, and quarter notes and half notes.  Loretta and I wrote rhythms on the whiteboard, asked the students to help us write in bar lines, and then clapped and counted the rhythms together. While this activity worked and was beneficial, what we did this week was much more successful.

On Anne Crosby Gaudet’s website, we discovered her wonderful Music Discoveries Rhythm Blocks pdf.  The pieces are easy to print and cut out.  In class today, our two beginners were so excited to make their own rhythms and try clapping them.  With Ann’s rhythm blocks, it’s easy to tell how many beats each note gets!  Click here and scroll down to view Ann’s printable on her website.

Go figure – give students something hands-on and creative, and they will get more out of it!  (Especially when the students are young beginners!)

What kinds of hands-on activities have you discovered for your students lately?

Performances, Questions, repertoire / methods

Forum Q&A | Recital Music: Assign Easy, Hard, or Just Right?

Joy Morin

Ready for another installment of a Forum Q&A?  Okay!

A couple of weeks ago we discussed what to do when a student performance “bombs.”  This week, we’ll return to the topic of recitals and talk about assigning repertoire:

When assignment recital repertoire to students, do you generally assign something challenging since they have a lot of time to work on it?  Or do you assign something that is a little bit easy for them, so they can easily succeed at polishing and memorizing the piece?  Or do you simply assign a piece that is right at their current level?

Share your thoughts below!

Photo Credit: meddygarnet | CC 2.0

Games, Group Classes, Music Camps, Printables, Teaching Piano

Printable Musical Dice

Joy Morin

Just added to the Printables > Other Resources page: Musical Dice!

This is one of the projects I was working on over Christmas break!  I’m happy to now have it finished and posted.  =)

Here’s what the PDF contains:

  1. Basic Accidentals (6-sided dice) | This die allows for three possible rolls: sharp, flat, and natural.
  2. Basic Intervals Unison-3rd (6-sided dice) | This die allows for three possible rolls: unison, second, and third.
  3. Intervals Unison-8va (8-sided dice) | This die allows for eight possible rolls: unison, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8va. Continue reading “Printable Musical Dice” →
Reading Notation, Teaching Piano

Teaching Phrase: Look & Think Ahead

Joy Morin

A few months ago, I read an research article about sight-reading that stated that professional pianists read something like eight notes ahead at any given time while sight-reading (I wish I could cite the article, but I don’t remember where I found it – if anyone knows of it please tell me!).  The article, however, wasn’t very clear about what the “eight notes” referred to (harmonically? melodically?), especially since it seems that this would change depending on the texture, meter, and tempo.  Regardless, I found it interesting to consider how far ahead one can be looking and thinking ahead while reading in order to be better prepared for what is coming up.  (How many notes can YOU think ahead?)

Personally, I think reading is mostly about “chunking” – recognizing groups of notes as chords, patterns, and other groupings.  I do find, however, that students benefit greatly from being taught to “look ahead” or “think ahead.”

A young student of mine this week was playing a two-lined piece where the RH and LH move up an octave to echo what was stated in the previous two measures.  The first time she played the piece, she had to briefly pause to think and move her hands to the right place before going on.  She had been practicing this piece all week and I could tell she knew where her hands needed to go.  Nevertheless, the spot was catching her unaware.  Mentally, she wasn’t prepared for the octave move and therefore her hands weren’t ready on time either.  We talked about this, and we reasoned together that she needed to be thinking ahead in order to be ready on time.  After this, of course, she was able to play the piece fluidly.

Now the question may be, is it more effective to instruct students to “look ahead” or “think ahead?”  Any opinions?

Photo Credit: pfly | CC 2.0

Games, Music Theory

Musical Jenga!

Joy Morin

I did it!  I created my own Musical Jenga game.

I got the inspiration from the Sing A New Song blog, who in turn got the idea from someone on the Faber Piano Adventures forums. (To view a list of other favorite games with musical spins, click here.)

I found an off-brand version of the Jenga game at Target for about $5.  Then using two different colored Sharpie permanant markers, I put various musical terms on the blocks: Continue reading “Musical Jenga!” →

Early Childhood Music, Games, Group Classes, Music Camps

DIY: Ribbon Rings for Music & Movement Activities

Joy Morin

I got the idea for this craft from Kara’s Creative Place blog (thanks for the brilliant idea, Kara!).  Ribbon Rings (Kara’s example is pictured at right) are a fun prop for movement activities with young students during group lessons, camps, or early childhood music classes.  Kids love fluttering the ribbons of these props while they do the motions to various songs.  You can buy similar ribbon rings at musicmotion.com…..or you can make your own!

These ribbon rings are made using the (non-sticky) plastic tape that is found at most hardware stores near the Caution tape.  I did consider using satin ribbon, however, plastic tape is much, much cheaper.  And actually I was pleasantly surprised at the results of using plastic tape.  I like it much better.  Because it’s so light, it flutters in the air so much better than satin ribbon would.  Definitely give it a try before you invest in satin ribbon!   Continue reading “DIY: Ribbon Rings for Music & Movement Activities” →

Giveaways

January 2011 Free Giveaway: Glass Magnets

Joy Morin

I’m pleased to announce a new blog giveaway!

The magnets pictured in this post are handcrafted by yours truly.  I gave similar sets away to my piano students as Christmas gifts this year.  Each set includes a pair of magnets that were created using vintage sheet music.

The magnets measure in size approximately 1/2 to 3/4-inch in diameter.  They feature extra strong, Neodymium magnets (keep away from electronics, pacemakers, and children) that are able to hold 6+ pages onto your refrigerator! Continue reading “January 2011 Free Giveaway: Glass Magnets” →

Resources, seasonal / holiday

11 Sheet Music Craft Ideas

Joy Morin

After posting about the sheet music ornament star last week, I was inspired to dig around the web for other music-related crafts!  There are tons of ways to recycle old sheet music (which you can often find at thrift stores, garage sales, auctions, and antique stores).  Here’s a sampling of what I found!  All links lead back to the original bloggers’/crafters’ websites.  Click the photos to view them larger.

1.   Sheet Music Garland | This fun garland is fast and easy, made by cutting out sheet music circles and sewing them together.  It’s perfect for decorating a music room, fireplace mantel, or Christmas tree.

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2.   Sheet Music Light Switch Plates | Cover your plain light switch plates with sheet music to give the room a little zing!

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3.   Advent Calendar Cones | These sheet music cones can be used to stash Advent calendar goodies.

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4.   Sheet Music Wreath | Hang this beauty on your door or above your piano.  Another example is shown here.  Also try mini ornament wreaths like the one as shown on this blog.

< Continue reading “11 Sheet Music Craft Ideas” →

Resources, Technology

10 Fun & Free Musical Fonts

Joy Morin

Looking to spice up your studio documents?  Check out the fun music fonts!

1.   LD Music | This charming font features hints of musical-symbol-likeness.  This font would be perfect for studio newsletters, recital programs, and other studio handouts!

2.   Simple Melody | Shows up as the font “New” once installed.  For some reason, the spaces in this font are huge.  Reduce the size of the spaces to a smaller font size and it will look normal.

3.   All That Jazz | A fun piano keys font!  There is no difference between uppercase and lowercase letters in this font.

Continue reading “10 Fun & Free Musical Fonts” →

Resources, seasonal / holiday

Link: Sheet Music Christmas Ornament Craft

Joy Morin

Someone on the “piano-teachers” Yahoo group forum brought this to my attention – the Better Homes and Gardens magazine’s website has instructions for a craft for making a sheet music Christmas ornament (picture on right).  It looks like a wonderful way to make your Christmas tree a little more musical!

The star pattern allows you to choose from three different sized stars. The instructions for making this ornament suggest photocopying sheet music, which of course is not legal.  I would instead suggest visiting imslp.org and printing off some sheet music that is in the public domain (or use some Christmas music linked to in this post).  On the pattern, the solid lines indicate “mountain folds” (fold comes out toward you) and the dashed lines indicated “valley folds.”  Once the folding is complete, punch a small hole and tie a small loop using gold thread to complete the ornament.

Click here to view the full instructions on the Better Homes and Gardens website.

improving as a teacher, Motivation, Teaching Piano

Teaching Tip: Engaging the Emotions

Joy Morin

I read something this week that mentioned in passing the benefit of engaging the emotions for learning.  This idea really stuck with me, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.  It makes perfect sense, but I just never thought about it much before.  I think this idea is worth some consideration.

Neurologically, humans learn best when their emotions are engaged.  Various research has been done that suggests the benefit of learning when the emotions are engaged (see “For Further Reading” below).  An effective speaker will appeal to the listeners’ emotions in order to affect and influence them to agree with the points made, support the viewpoint, and maybe even motivate them to do something about it.  Similarly, an effective teacher will connect with the students’ emotions to make the student interested in the topic and motivated to learn.  When the emotions are engaged, the learning moment becomes both meaningful and memorable.

The art of music is very close to the heart and the emotions.  We music teachers are very fortunate!  And yet, how often do we encounter students who seldom practice?  How about unmotivated students who quit after just a few years?  And how often do we hear completely unemotional performances?  These things do happen, unfortunately.  We can help prevent this from happening.  Perhaps through engaging the emotions we can help students connect with the music and be interested/motivated. Continue reading “Teaching Tip: Engaging the Emotions” →

Games, Resources

Over 20 Musical Spins on Favorite Games

Joy Morin

Last week as I was browsing through some of my favorite music blogs, it occurred to me that it would be fun to see how many different familiar games music teachers have found ways to alter into music games!  And so I’ve started compiling a list: