Tag: piano

repertoire / methods, Resources

Great Resources for Teachers with Beginner Staff-Readers

Joy Morin

Susan Paradis from the Piano Teacher Resources blog has written has excellent review of the The Perfect Start for Piano by Kevin & Julia Olson, a series of books intended for reinforcing note-reading on the staff for beginners and elementary level students.  They look great – I love that fact that they are designed to work with whatever method books you are using with your student!  To learn all about it, read her review here.  Thanks, Susan!

The Perfect Start for Piano also has a corresponding website, theperfectstartforpiano.com, which provides additional FREE resources for the teacher and student.  Check it out and you will find:

  • a variety of printable flashcards
  • note naming worksheets
  • audio files which correspond with the book
  • and other resources, including practice record sheets, keyboard stickers, and posters to post in the studio.
Announcements, Motivation, Performances, Teaching Piano, Technology

A Follow-up on Recording Students Before Performances

Joy Morin

I don’t know about you, but I have some students who are participating in a spring performance coming up soon!  Last week, I recorded my student Jean playing her recital piece during her lesson (click to read more about recording students as preparation for performances).  Then we spent some time listening and discussing the recording.  Although it took a little bit of time to set up the devices need for recording ahead of time, I found that it was well-worth the time setting everything up and spending on doing a recording activity.

The set-up:

Using my digital recorder as an external microphone, I was able to capture video with high sound quality using iMovie software on my MacBook Pro.  Later on, I edited the videos using iMovie again and uploaded them to YouTube.  (If anyone would like more details about how exactly this is done, just ask! I can explain further.)

The result:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N56ZHpnWfnw

The piece Jean is playing is an arrangement of Borodin’s Polovetsian Dance, from Dennis Alexander’s book, Especially For Adults. Continue reading “A Follow-up on Recording Students Before Performances” →

Group Classes, improving as a teacher, Performances, Practicing, Teaching Piano, Technology

Preparing for Student Recitals: Recording!

Joy Morin

Many of us teachers are probably currently preparing our student for spring recitals, so today I thought it might be beneficial to discuss a way of preparing for performances: recording your students playing their pieces, and then listening to the playback together.

Benefits of Recording

  • The student practices performing. Playing for a recording device can be almost as nerve-wracking as playing for an audience!  There’s no better way to practice handling nerves than to perform often.
  • The student becomes the listener. When listening to the playback, the student is given the opportunity to hear what the piece sounds like from an audience member’s perspective.  The student is bound to aurally notice things that they had not realized they were doing (or NOT doing, as the case may be).  For example, the student may realize that the dynamic contrasts are not really coming through, or that the melody is not projecting over the accompaniment as well as s/he had thought.
  • The student becomes the teacher.  After listening to the playback, the student can evaluate piece and identify the areas that went well or could be improved, and then begin discuss ways to improve the piece. Continue reading “Preparing for Student Recitals: Recording!” →
Announcements, repertoire / methods, Reviews

Book Review: Especially For Adults by Dennis Alexander

Joy Morin

Book Review: Especially For Adults Book I, by Dennis Alexander.

I just discovered this book of fabulous Early Intermediate to Intermediate Level piano solos.  I bought this book for a student, and it has been a real hit so far!  I am very pleased with this purchase.

This book would make an excellent supplement for a high-school or older student, no matter what method book they are using.  The pieces are appealing to the ear and rewarding to work on.  They would also make great recital pieces.

Titles:

  • Day’s End
  • Feelin’ Fine
  • Flamenco Fever!
  • (Theme from) Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
  • Lost in Time
  • On Ol’ Broadway!
  • Plaisir d’amour (The Joy of Love)
  • Polovetsian Dance (from Prince Igor)
  • Reflections
  • Shelby’s Waltz
  • Sneaky Kinda Rag

My personal favorites from this book are Polovetsian Dance (a modern twist on the familiar orchestral theme from Prince Igor) and Reflections.  All the pieces are great, though, and without being too difficult.  The book covers a wide range of musical styles and moods.

Dennis Alexander also has a Book II and a Book III as well – I have not seen them yet, but am looking foward to trying them out!

My rating: 5 stars (out of 5 stars)

Music Theory, Printables

Just Added: Reference Sheet for Reading Music

Joy Morin

This free printable is a handy reference sheet to give out to students who are just learning to read musical notation from the staff.

What it contains:

  1. notes and their values, eighth through whole.
  2. rests and their values, eighth through whole.
  3. word mnemonics for figuring out the letter names of notes on the staff:
  • Treble staff lines: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
  • Treble staff spaces: FACE
  • Bass staff lines: Great Big Dogs Fight Animals
  • Bass staff spaces: All Cows Eat Grass

There are many different word mnemonics for remembering the lines and spaces on the staff.  Which ones do you use?

CLICK HERE to view the Reading Music | Reference Sheet printable now!

Announcements, Resources, Reviews

Book Review: The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms

Joy Morin

Book Review:

Ammer, Christine.  The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms: From Adagio to Zierlich a Dictionary for Performers and Students. Boston: ECS Publishing, 1989.

Ever try looking up a musical term, only to find that the word or phrase you are looking for is not listed in your musical dictionary?  This has happened to me fairly often…until I bought this book, that is.  Somehow, this slim book has so far always managed to contain definitions for all the terms I’ve needed to look up!

I ordered this book from Amazon.com when a voice professor at my college recommended it to me.  It’s a great resource for students, vocalists, solo pianists, and collaborative pianists – and at about $11, you can’t beat the price.

My rating: 5 stars (out of 5 stars)

improving as a teacher, Teaching Piano

Play forte – but NOT accented…

Joy Morin

You know, learning to play an instrument is all about making breakthroughs.  There are so many things to consider and train yourself to do.  It’s a complicated process!  You are never done learning.  There’s always room for improvement.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been realizing that when I play forte on the piano — whether I’m playing my solo pieces or when I am accompanying a vocalist/instrumentalist — it sounds rather “poundy.”  Forte should not necessarily mean accented, however.  Forte can be a big, full sound without the accented front edge of the note.  But how on earth do I achieve this elusive sound?

This week I made a little breakthrough.  Rather than lifting and reattacking quite so much between chords, I need to keep my arm weight the same as I make the chord changes, more with my fingers than my hands (making sure the wrists remain loose and tension-free!).  It’s difficult to explain, but after a few weeks of pondering this issue in my daily practicing, I think I’m beginning to understand how to create this elusive sound.

You know, piano really is all about creating different sounds, colors, tone qualities – whatever you want to call them.  As my teacher used to say, “Music is not a democracy; not all notes are created equal.”  Now I know that this statement does not just apply to balance between melody and accompaniment, but also to various sections of a piece.  Not all forte notes are equal.  🙂

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jraffreynolds/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Games, Group Classes, Motivation, Music Camps, Music Theory, Resources, Rhythm, Teaching Piano

Group Piano Class Ideas

Joy Morin

I recently came across this great video/podcast on Mario Ajero’s YouTube channel: an interview with pianist and piano pedagogue Dr. Julie Knerr.  Both Maria Ajero and Julie Knerr are graduates from University of Oklahoma’s widely recognized piano pedagogy program.  In this video, Dr. Knerr shares some of her game ideas for her group piano classes — which she holds weekly in addition to her student’s weekly private lessons — to build a variety of musicianship skills.  Check it out!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EbQDrLwkxo&feature=PlayList&p=F4AF6DA098C0399F&index=0&playnext=1

Most of these activities could be easily modified for use during a private lesson, music camp, studio party, and other settings.  You can visit Dr. Knerr’s website at julieknerrpiano.com.  She has recently been co-writing a new piano method series called Piano Safari (as mentioned back in this post) available by order via PayPal at pianosafari.com.

Be sure to also check out more great podcasts at Mario Ajero’s website, The Piano Podcast.

General, Printables

Best Piano Jokes

Joy Morin

I’ve just compiled list of kid-friendly piano jokes…read on below to check them out!

This compilation of piano jokes is also available as a pdf to give out to your students/parents, available on the Printables > Other Resources page.

  Piano Jokes (157.1 KiB, 19,715 hits)

* * *

Why are pianists’ fingers like lightning?  They rarely strike the same place twice.

What do you call a cow that plays the piano? A moo-sician.

Where do pianists go on vacation? The Florida Keys.

What’s the difference between a piano and a fish?  You can’t tuna fish.

Why is an 11-foot concert grand better than a studio upright?  Because it makes a much bigger kaboom when dropped over a cliff. 

How did the piano get out of jail? With its keys.

Continue reading “Best Piano Jokes” →

Group Classes, Printables, Worksheets

Just Added: Hands & Fingers at the Piano Worksheet

Joy Morin

Just added: a new free worksheet, available on the Printables > Worksheets page:

Hands & Fingers at the Piano

This worksheet is suitable for use with new young beginners, either in the private lesson setting or in the classroom piano setting.  (I would not recommend using this worksheet with older students, because there is only room for little hands to be traced on this worksheet!)  In this worksheet, the student is instructed to trace their hands, and label the finger numbers on each finger.

Worksheet Objectives:

  • The student recognizes the left hand versus the right hand.
  • The student learns the abbreviations “LH” and “RH.”
  • The student understands the fingering numbering system for piano (1-5), for both hands.

Click here to check it out now!

Early Childhood Music, Group Classes, improving as a teacher, Music Camps, Rhythm, Teaching Piano

Teaching 2-Against-3 Using Movement

Joy Morin

In answer to a question a received last week, I thought I’d talk a little bit more about teaching 2 against 3, as I had mentioned in a post about teaching music through movement.

To tell you the truth, I have not needed to teach 2 against 3 very often so far, and when I have, it’s been in private piano lesson settings.  In the past, I’ve used a purely theoretical approach (similar to the method described in this article and this article) to teaching the concept, using tapping of the RH and LH, and have been only mildly successful.

However, I have experienced another method that works.  During my undergrad, I took a Dalcroze Eurhythmics course, and we went over a number of different meter and rhythm concepts, including the issue of 2 against 3.  Although I already understood the concept of 2 against 3 prior to that class, it was quite revealing to look at it from the perspective of movement.   Continue reading “Teaching 2-Against-3 Using Movement” →