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.

More Classical Anthologies for Piano Students

14 January 201320 September 2014 Joy Morin

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!

Classics Alive!, Book 1, ed. by Jane Magrath (Alfred).

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.

Melodious Masterpieces, Book 1, ed. by Jane Magrath (Alfred).

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” →

Teaching Piano

Dynamics & The Beginner Piano Student

11 January 201311 January 2013 Joy Morin

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” →

repertoire / methods

Forum Q&A: Duet Repertoire Suggestions

10 January 201310 January 2013 Joy Morin

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?

Games, Group Classes, Printables, seasonal / holiday

January 2013 Piano Party!

9 January 201327 August 2017 Joy Morin

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!” →

Early Childhood Music, Games, Group Classes, Music Camps, Printables

Grand Staff Pass Game

8 January 201314 March 2019 Joy Morin

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” →

seasonal / holiday

Music Christmas Cookies

14 December 201214 December 2012 Joy Morin

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:

Continue reading “Music Christmas Cookies” →

Games, Group Classes, Printables, Rhythm

Bang! Rhythm Game

6 December 201227 August 2017 Joy Morin

On Pinterest, I saw an idea for a sight-word game called BANG and decided it would make an excellent music game. Here is my musical version:

I tried it out with my students at our Piano Party last Saturday, and it was a hit. The BANG! cards add an element of fun to an otherwise ordinary flashcard drill. Continue reading “Bang! Rhythm Game” →

Early Childhood Music, Games, Group Classes, Music Camps

Floor Staff Activity: Introduction to the Grand Staff

30 November 201230 November 2012 Joy Morin

Remember last February when I created this DIY floor staff? I thought I’d share a little activity that shows how I used it recently with my Piano Readiness Class.

(Don’t mind my cat, Coda, who totally photo-bombed this photo. 🙂

The two students I was working with have already learned to identify high and low sounds when we sing or listen to music, and can recognize the treble and bass clef symbols. I showed them the floor staff (which they were totally excited about), and asked them to count the number lines and spaces with me. I demonstrated that notes can either be line notes or space notes. Then, I put the treble clef and bass clef on the floor staff, for high and low sounds.

After that introduction, I handed each student a foam disc (you can find these in the craft section at many stores) and gave them two directions: (1) line or space note, and (2) high or low note. After placing notes on the staff in this way for a while, they realized there were also “middle” notes, so we started doing that too. Then we started doing it backwards: I asked them to put a note anywhere they wanted, and to tell me whether it was a line/space note and whether it was high/middle/low.

This turned out to be a fun little activity for introducing the staff to a couple of four-year-olds! The next step will be to associate the alphabet names to the lines and spaces. 🙂

seasonal / holiday

Forum Q&A: Christmas Gifts for Piano Students

27 November 201227 August 2017 Joy Morin

I hope all you USA-ers enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I know I did. 🙂

It has been awhile since we did a Forum Q&A post (how did that happen?!). Last time, we discussed how to help students who are frustrated by the mistakes they make, large or small. You can read all the responses by clicking here.

Today, I’d like to hear about Christmas gifts for piano students!

Do you give your students a gift at Christmas? If so, what are you giving this year? What have you given in previous years?

Please share in the comment section below this post!

Early Childhood Music, Games

Printable: Black Key Group Sorting Cards

20 November 201216 September 2023 Joy Morin

A new free Printable has been added to the Printables page:

These cards are a great manipulative to use with young beginners when you are first introducing them to the keyboard. Students can use the cards to build a keyboard on the floor, alternating the groups of 2 and 3 black keys. Or, students can use these at the piano, and lay the cards right on the piano keyboard, matching the groups of black keys appropriately. I printed a few sets of these cards, laminated them, and put them in zipper bags. This short activity is great for Piano Readiness Classes.

There are two versions included in the pdf: one with the letter names on the keys, and one without. To download this free pdf, visit the Printables > Other Resources page and scroll down to the B’s for “Black Key Group Sorting Cards.” Enjoy!

Black Key Group Sorting Cards (258.0 KiB, 57,029 hits)

Tag: piano teaching

Photo of My Studio Featured in Clavier Companion!