Tag: rhythm

Group Classes, Music Theory, Printables, Teaching Piano, Worksheets

Just Added: Write In The Barlines #2

Joy Morin

That’s right, a new free printable worksheet has just been added to the Printables >Worksheets page:

Write In the Barlines #2

This worksheet is for use after using the Write In the Barlines #1 worksheet.  This time, students must draw the barlines through both staves of the grand staff instead of through just one staff.  This worksheet has 4 examples in four different time signatures, including 6/8.

This worksheet is designed for the late elementary / early intermediate level student, to reinforce the following concepts:

  • measures
  • barlines
  • ties
  • meters (2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 6/8)

Click here to view and print it now!

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.

Group Classes, Music Theory, Printables, Teaching Piano, Worksheets

Just Added: Write In The Barlines Worksheet #1

Joy Morin

That’s right, a new free printable worksheet has just been added to the Printables > Worksheets page:

Write In the Barlines #1

This worksheet is an one I created a few years ago, and I thought I’d share it here for any of you to use!  My students LOVE taking home “extra credit” worksheets (outside of their weekly assignment from their theory books) to earn extra stickers.  =)

This worksheet is designed for the late elementary / early intermediate level student, to reinforce the following concepts:

  • measures
  • barlines
  • ties
  • meters (2/4, 3/4, and 4/4)

Click here to view and print it now!

Early Childhood Music, Resources, Rhythm

Babies and Music

Joy Morin

Check out this interesting news article, reporting about a research study done on babies and their response to rhythm versus speech.  Here’s the summary from another site reporting on the same research:

Human infants are born to dance, researchers report online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Psychologists from the United Kingdom and Finland played an assortment of classical and children’s songs, drumbeats, baby talk, and regular speech for 120 infants ages 5 to 24 months. Speech inspired little motion, but music consistently got the babies into the groove. They moved to music with a clear rhythm and adjusted their movements as the beat varied. And the better the babies matched their motion to the music, the more they smiled. So while it remains a mystery how humans evolved our musical wiring, it’s now clear we enjoy it and always did.  (news.sciencemag.org)

Also see the corresponding video here.

Whether you believe that humans evolved their “musical wiring” or were created with it, this research confirms that humans have some sort of natural inclination towards music, apparent even at the youngest of ages.  It confirms what we as teachers have always known — humans should be developing their musical ability when they are young!

Isn’t it kind of amazing how well those babies in the video have a natural sense of beat?  I wish some of my students could keep a steady beat half as well as the babies in the video!  =D

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” →

Early Childhood Music, improving as a teacher, Resources

Music & Movement: Inseparable!

Joy Morin

One of the reasons I’ve been considering offering early childhood music classes is because I am a firm believer in the strong relationship between music and movement.  As an undergrad, I took two semester of Dalcroze Eurhythmics which I found incredibly useful.  We learned movements that fit different meters and learned to respond expressively to music through our movements.  I think students would have a much easier time developing a good sense of beat and rhythm if they could learn it naturally through movement.  Even complex concepts such as 3 against 2 seem more natural when approached through movement rather than a purely theoretical approach.

Besides, movement is fun!  =)

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwanie/ / CC BY 2.0