Pianoanne

Dr. Seuss Band Rocks!

2012-02-24T12:28:00.000-04:00

Have you been looking for a great music app with a touch of silly for your iPhone or iPad? Quick, scoot to the app store and download this fun musical instrument game. Your students will love it and I bet you might get a giggle out of it too.

Hurry! Dr. Seuss Band is free for a limited time!

The Quiz Quiz Trade Game

2012-02-20T12:52:00.000-04:00

This is the week that my students are supposed to arrive with their "Surprise Anne Plan" projects. As it turns out my day got started with a wonderful surprise all the way from Iowa!

Remember the Quirky Birds from a few weeks ago? Well, an elementary school teacher from Hartley, Iowa put her own spin on this activity with her grade 2 music class. I love the Quiz-Quiz-Trade game idea and the photos made my day.

And this is why it's so much fun to share.

Hi Anne,

Thanks for sharing your "puppy dog / quirky bird" idea and cards. My 2nd graders finally consistently put the stems on the correct side of the notes. I printed two copies of your flash cards, laminated them and use them to play Quiz-Quiz-Trade. In this activity, every child gets a flash card and they are set loose to find a partner to "quiz". They show the note side to their partner, the partner says "puppy dog" or "quirky bird", and if they get it right, they hi-five and the other partner does the same. If they get it wrong, they say "sorry! better luck next time". Then they exchange cards and go find another partner to repeat the process. It does not take long for everyone to become proficient in recognizing "puppy dogs" and "quirky birds"!

I've attached some pics of the kids playing QQT with your cards.

Thanks!
Sue Archibald

The Surprise Anne Plan

2012-02-17T13:21:00.000-04:00

Nothing makes me happier than a student arriving at a my studio with an extra something they have accomplished on their own. Maybe she turned the page and learned a new piece, surprised me with hands together, composed a song or performed at school. It makes no difference to me how big or small the achievement, I am always happy to celebrate independent learning.

Ninety percent of the time my students will wait to be told what to do and how to do it. Not that I am complaining about following through with instructions, but I am eager for my students to discover the joy of thinking up projects for themselves and just doing it... because it's fun!

So this week I have announced "The Surprise Anne Plan".

I have encouraged all of my students to go home and think of a fun little music project this week. They are preparing to knock my socks off with musical surprises at their next lesson. Oh yes, I have a wishlist... I am hoping for new pieces figured out, lead sheets organized, performance videos, original compositions, songs figured out by ear, creative art work, extra theory pages done or any other bright idea.

I can hardly wait to see and hear what they do. Why not take some time to encourage and celebrate creative independence in your studios this week.

Hooray, Dusty is Here!

2012-02-10T21:43:00.000-04:00

My celtic harp arrived on Monday night from Dusty Strings in Seattle. I am absolutely in love with the rich, warm sound and the beautiful walnut finish. I feel like I have so much room to grow into this harp.

I think my students were equally excited about its arrival. Thirty sets of fingers have plucked the C strings and played the magical glissando. It is amazing to watch how a child's fingers can beautifully fold into the hand with the relaxed ease that I am still trying to master.

Stop looking and the cat

Hooray for levers, now I can move beyond C major and A minor.

You'll find me right here, bright and early every morning.

Please No Quirky Birds

2012-02-06T09:59:00.000-04:00

One of my students inspired this new set of activities for reviewing stem placement on notes. On his theory homework I noticed quite a few stems placed on the wrong side, so I reminded him that stems should look like the letter p or d for puppy dog, not q or b for quirky birds. We had a good laugh as we corrected all of the quirky bird notes.

So I put together a group of related activities to tidy up those quirky birds. The first is a set of flashcards that you may download and print for yourself. The student simply sorts the notes as right (puppy dog) or wrong (quirky bird) stem placement. Print back-to-back on two sheets of heavy card stock.

>> Download the Quirky Bird Flashcard Activity

I also made an image which you may download to your iPad and use in a whiteboard app. Students will place stems correctly on each valentine note, then name all of the notes. More advanced students could make either single or paired eighth notes. Don't forget to buy a stylus for your iPad!

>> Download the Heart Stems iPad Image

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, here is a sweet little activity. Use treats like these chocolate hearts on a large staff and have students add the stems. My staff board is made with sticky craft foam and the staff lines are about 1 inch apart. I used black pipe cleaners for my stems.

Invest in yourself

2012-02-01T11:30:00.000-04:00

When I was in university the idea for doing anything for more than four years made me feel a little squirrely. And now here I am with a good twenty years of dedicated, full-time teaching under my belt. I have always believed in investing in my students and my studio, but it has only been in recent years that I have understood the value of investing in myself.

It is interesting to think about the phases that we go through as independent piano teachers, every decade seems to come with a different set of priorities and strengths. We are always striving to keep our students motivated, but let's not forget how important it is for us to stay motivated so our teaching continues to grow and develop through the course of a long career.

A teacher friend of mine is a runner. She spends countless hours toward the goal of running a marathon. This personal investment sends a valuable message to her students as they watch her train in the snow and cold rain, keeping her focus on the long term goal and achieving it.

I wasn't expecting my latest personal project of learning the harp to have an impact on my teaching. I thought it would be enriching for my students to see a harp in the studio and have little chances to play it, and of course I believe in the value on modeling life-long learning to my students. But I notice that I have become much more particular about hand shape and posture recently. I am spending so much time trying to train my own fingers to play the harp with proper technique, and now I find myself reminding all of my students of the fundamentals of hand position again. You just never know what is going to give your teaching a little growth spurt. It's just a little thing, but small improvements are worth celebrating.

There are so many ways that you can invest in yourself only to discover that it positively impacts your teaching and your students. For some it may be as simple as attending a workshop or convention; take a little time for yourself to practice or improve your credentials; browse the blog circuit and read to gather up new ideas; go to a concert. But I would encourage you to think outside the box, have fun learning something new or push yourself to achieve a goal and watch how it inspires your day to day teaching.

By the way, Dusty has made it to Toronto. Shouldn't be long now!

Waiting For Dusty

2012-01-27T13:12:00.001-04:00

I recently discovered that I have a passion for playing the harp. I didn't say I was good at it yet, but I have the time and motivation to happily work away at it every day. Unlike the years of practicing piano, I never feel like I 'have' to practice. I just wake up wondering if I can get a little better at something each day. Maybe my fingers will close a little flatter or my thumb will relax a bit more. My head knows what needs to happen, but oddly enough the fingers don't always co-operate. But that's okay with me, it's all just part of the journey of learning a new skill. And I think I have finally learned the lesson to trust that slow practice works!

So the exciting news is that I have decided to buy a "grown-up" harp. Oh there will be no new shoes or clothes in my future for some time. But that's okay, because I am in love with the Dusty Strings FH36S in walnut.

Dusty Strings is a well-known builder of fine harps, located in Seattle, Washington. Lucky for me, I happen to have a helpful Dusty Strings rep just down the road who let me try her harp and guided me through all of the logistics of making the purchase. Unlucky for me, there was a huge snow storm in Seattle on the day it was to be shipped. But I just found out that my harp is now en route to Nova Scotia and I will be glued to that tracking number until it safely arrives.

What is she learning to do now!?!

2012-01-25T15:06:00.000-04:00

One thing my students know about me is that I have a lot of interesting hobbies. Every year I seem to tackle a new project con brio! It all started with learning watercolor painting, then digital photography, web design and computer animation. I read, study tutorials and practice until I feel fluent with each new skill.

Last year my learning project was to take my RCM grade 10 and Piano Pedagogy exams. It felt great to work toward these goals and receive the gold medals for both disciplines. I thought I might continue on to do my ARCT, but I think I'll put that on hold and move on to something different.

Last year my husband gave me a lap harp for Christmas. I'll admit I didn't have much time to play it throughout the year as I was so wrapped up in the RCM material. But I got it out again last month and really started working at it only to discover that I absolutely love the harp!

It is very interesting to be a beginner at something (especially something musical). I didn't even know that harpists read on the grand staff and the first time I saw harp fingering I thought it was wrong because it is opposite to piano fingering. Yes, I am really starting from scratch here.

I found a wonderful harp teacher (I've had two lessons) and I find myself wanting to play for hours each day. Since I'm just getting started, I thought this might be an interesting opportunity to begin a little thread charting my progress over the next year or so. You only get to be a beginner once! Of course this has also got me thinking about all kinds of issues including adult learners, the importance of continuing education, self-motivation and independent learning. I'm looking forward to diving into these topics in the coming weeks.

So for now, here is my first video as an adult beginner on my little black Harpsicle lap harp. Wish me luck, I'm at the beginning of my journey.

Icelandic Saga Improvising Contest

2012-01-05T09:01:00.001-04:00

You may remember a project from a few months ago where my students improvised music for a photo slideshow using material from the Pattern Play series by Forrest and Akiko Kinney.

Shortly after I posted our little video on YouTube, my brother-in-law (who is an amazing photographer) asked if one of my students would like to create music for a slideshow of photos he had taken in Iceland. We turned it into a little contest. My six Pattern Play students were allowed to practice with the video for two weeks and then just before Christmas I recorded the six performances. Each student chose an appropriate improv style and focused their attention on subtleties such as pacing, photo transitions and color.

The girls all did a fantastic job with this project and I am so proud of the significant strides they have made in skill, artistry and confidence. I gave Colin the six mp3s so he could listen and select his favorite.

We are very pleased to present the final video, Icelandic Saga:

Congratulations to Olivia Biermann, who did a beautiful job creating the musical backdrop for Colin's photography. Her music successfully reflects the icy blue hues, transitioning into the warm green landscapes and then to the powerful geysers.

Colin Campbell is a fine art photographer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His artistic practice is largely representational, but he also tries to reveal abstract and surreal impressions of my mind's eye. Fine art photography has been his vocation since retiring as a high school history teacher. He has won numerous awards and displays his art in galleries and solo exhibits. Please take a few minutes to visit Colin Campbell Fine Art Photography.

Christmas Lead Sheets For Teens

2011-12-07T14:24:00.000-04:00

I have a studio full of teenagers so for a piano teacher that means I don't hear "Jingle Bells" 15 times every day in December. Believe me, there have been years when that was the case! With older students I enjoy taking the opportunity to teach them how to read lead sheets at Christmas time. We keep it quite simple, but with some flowing left hand patterns they can easily have a number of carols prepared that sound sophisticated and polished.

Typically, our "go-to" left hand pattern is this one (sometimes with some variations or simplifications):

Often we'll add some decorations in the right hand, like arpeggios and mordents. The end product sounds more difficult than it is (but we like to keep that a secret). Most importantly, the students develop confidence and comfort reading simple lead sheets.

I have put together a little collection of six traditional carols in lead sheet format. I put them all in C Major or a minor so I could play them on my harp too. Just click the link below to download the pdf from my dropbox. You can print any pages you like or save the whole pdf on your iPad (I just email the file to myself and click "open in iBook").

Christmas Carol Lead Sheet Collection

Angels We Have Heard On High
The First Noel
O Christmas Tree
O Come All Ye Faithful
Silent Night
We Three Kings

Season's Greetings everyone!

It's Photoshop Friday!

2011-12-02T12:50:00.000-04:00

Marbles wanted to send you all a little holiday message...

Christmas Ornaments Improvisation

2011-11-25T13:33:00.000-04:00

For all of you Pattern Play fans out there, here is a fun little twist on the Simplicity improvisation pattern from Book 1. I call it the "Christmas Ornaments Improv" because the assignment is to hide three Christmas carols in the melody and to decorate with musical ornaments, while maintaining the suggested harmonic progression from the Simplicity pattern.

I have seven students who are using Pattern Play as a regular part of their lesson curriculum and they all enjoyed this project.

This morning I recorded a quick little demo for you to hear. Can you pick out the three Christmas tunes?

I used the Google mp3 player, which is easy to add to your blog, but sorry iPad users it is Flash based so you'll need to be on a laptop or desktop to view and hear.

Oh those snow cancellations

2011-11-23T17:23:00.000-04:00

Winter has arrived with full force. We have gone from raking leaves just a few days ago to shoveling 30 cm of snow today. The seasons change quickly here in Nova Scotia. And along with the snow comes difficult driving and cancellations.

I feel very fortunate that I don't have to be on the roads, but even though it is 4:00 and there are no students sitting at my piano, I have indeed been "on call" all day... a snow day is not a day off. I have rescheduled half of my students for Friday (I haven't heard from the others, which means I should get out of my yoga pants and get ready for some snowy arrivals and Christmas tunes.)

The fact is, storm days are difficult to manage and surely I'm not the only piano teacher who is hoping the snow storms don't all fall on the same day of the week this year.

I want my students to have their lessons, but it does mean an hour of email, phone calls and website updates, an hour of shoveling to make it safe for those who can make it, plus the additional hours of make-up lessons on top of another day's schedule. Please winter, be gentle on us in the coming months.

I am very grateful for my dedicated piano families who are quick to take me up on rescheduling options or are brave enough to get on the roads and make their scheduled lessons. There are no easy solutions on days like these so we all just try to be safe and do our best.

Good Puppy!

2011-11-07T08:08:00.000-04:00

Last week our local Registered Music Teachers group got together for a meeting and we took some time to share some fun game ideas. I created a new little game called Good Puppy and brought along all the supplies we needed so everyone could go home with a new activity to play with their beginner students.

First, you'll need to print the game board. I just sent my file off to Staples and had them print in full color on 100 lb. card stock for less than $1.

Then you'll need to print the question cards. You can print these in black and white on single-sided card stock paper. Each of the three sheets has 12 question cards, just cut them apart along the dotted lines.

So how do you play?

I use this game with private students, I love that we can play in less than 5 minutes. Your student will need a game piece for moving around the board, and a die to shake. I made a puppy game piece from some cute buttons I found at Michael's. You could use a regular die, or make one with different note values on each side.

Place the three sets of cards next to the corresponding dog houses. The goal is to land in every dog house and complete each set of questions. I let my students travel in either direction so they are quicker to arrive at their dog houses. Don't forget to let your student put a treat in the dog dish each time he or she completes a set of cards. I have a little stash of Smarties left over from Halloween for treats.

I made two levels of question cards for you. Level 1 includes: white key names; notes from Bass C to Treble G; intervals 3rd, 2nd, repeat. Level 2 includes: white and black key names; notes from Low G to High F; intervals up to a 6th.

You can download and print the files from the following links:

Good Puppy Gameboard - Print this page in full color on heavy card stock paper. You may wish to have your board laminated.

Good Puppy Cards - Level 1 - Print these three pages in black and white on single sided card stock paper. Cut along the dotted lines to make three sets of 12 cards.

Good Puppy Cards - Level 2 - Print these three pages in black and white on single sided card stock paper. Cut along the dotted lines to make three sets of 12 cards.

Practicing with iSpud

2011-10-25T13:55:00.000-03:00

I have two or three students playing good old "March of the Goblins" by Boris Berlin this month. We have marched around the room, made up silly words and discovered all the repeating patterns. Now we are left with that tricky spot (you know the one, you can see it circled in orange on my student's page).

iSpud

The other day my student came and played her goblins, which is going very well (except for the tricky spot). So I pulled out my iPad and opened up iSpud, which is just like Mr. Potato Head. We agreed that every time she played the problem section she would add an item to Mr. Potato's head. The first few repetitions weren't perfect, but by number 5 she was sounding great. As you can see there is a good collection of mouths, eyeballs, feet and so on. Of course in my mind, that translates to about 10 repetitions... yay.

Just a spoonful of sugar, right? This is a handy and effective little app for encouraging the kind of repetitions required to smooth out a trouble spot. iSpud is a free app for iPhone or iPad. You can also upgrade if you want to and get additional costume themes. Happy practicing!

Spookification!

2011-10-24T14:02:00.000-03:00

My dear friend Mary Charette from Vancouver shared a wonderful Halloween idea with me last week. She is getting ready for her annual Halloween recital and instead of having her students prepare a special Halloween piece, many of them are SPOOKIFYING a favorite song and renaming it.

As you can probably imagine, spookification simply involves transposing major to minor and maybe changing some notes and dynamics. How about these titles...

Twinkle, Twinkle Halloween Star
Skip to my Pumpkin
Spooky on Broadway
Old MacSkeleton

Sounds like good ghosty fun to me!

Interval School

2011-10-21T14:02:00.023-03:00

Ah, the approach to note reading development. Much like LaDona's elusive quest for the perfect assignment sheet, I find that I am on a never-ending tightrope trying to balance intervallic reading with traditional line and space note mnemonics. A little too much in one direction and you have students plodding along as they stop to recite the bass clef line note chant. Too far in the other direction and you have students playing entire passages a step too high because they misread that third in measure 2.

Enter Fuzzy Beluga and his school of fish friends.

I made this fun little activity last week to help me observe how my method book students are doing with basic directional reading (3rds, 2nds and repeats). By leaving out the clef they easily focus on intervals rather than mnemonics. I have them recite as they go along, "G, up a step, up a step...". By doing three lines correctly they will reveal a mystery word like EGG or CAB.

If you are an iPad user and you want to make a reusable workbook in Noteshelf, then you can download these iPad images from my Dropbox. Here's a sample page, there are five of them in the collection.

If you prefer to print and make worksheets, then you can download this five page pdf, which has far less color to save on your printer ink. Here is a sample page of the print version:

If you teach group lessons, you might give each student a different page so everyone gets a different mystery word. And as a extra little bit of work, you could ask your student to add stems to all of the fish (in the correct direction of course).

The Final Improvising Project Video

2011-10-21T09:21:00.000-03:00

Last week I prepared a special improvising project for some of my teen students who are working with the "Pattern Play 1" series by Akiko and Forrest Kinney. My students had been working on an improvisation called Flow, which featured a number of elements based on the E flat minor pentatonic scale.

I prepared a one-minute video of lovely Fall photos that I had taken on Thanksgiving weekend. I saved the movie on my ipad (with no sound of course) and I let them watch the video once so they could plan the mood and anticipate the video length. While watching the video a second time, they each recorded their improvisation on my digital piano using Garageband.

I was very pleased that everyone was successful with this creative project. I picked the top recording to become the official music for my little photo montage. Congratulations Marissa! Nice work. Please take a minute to watch and listen.

Wouldn't it be an amazing project to have students create their own videos and original music. This just might be the year to do it.

My Roots are Showing

2011-10-19T14:08:00.000-03:00

Imagine meeting a distant relative for the first time, fascinated by all the similarities from the shape of your nose to your laugh and gestures. Oddly enough, I had such an experience as I read Joy Morin's recent post about a conference workshop by Marvin Blinkenstaff.

As I read about his "Ice Breaker Activities", group lesson ideas and tips on lesson planning I couldn't help but think... "this is where I come from, these are my roots in piano pedagogy". It hadn't really occurred to me that I had roots.

I can hardly believe it has been twenty years since my Masters degree at the University of Michigan. My teaching has gone through many phases and my studio continues to evolve as well. But reading about "Engine Engine Number Nine", the floor staff and the importance of preparation, presentation and reinforcement, I was taken right back to Ann Arbor where were trained in the tradition described by Mr. Blickenstaff. A tradition which was very different from the Canadian system that I had known at the time.

I have since moved on from the intervallic approach of Music Pathways, but thanks to Joy's workshop summary I can see that the heart of my teaching style continues to stem from the work of Marvin Blickenstaff, Lynn Freeman Olson, Louise Bianchi and of course the instructors at the University of Michigan. Though I didn't realize it at the time I am very grateful for the incredible foundation I received during my Masters degree, clearly it changed me forever and gave me roots that I am proud to show!

My First Classical Music App

2011-10-13T13:10:00.000-03:00

A few weeks ago I was thinking back to the way I learned about my composers as a child. Do any of you recall the Walt Disney record called Great Composers? I loved listening to the narrator tell stories of the composers along with musical excerpts.

Just last week I asked one of my young students if she had ever heard of Beethoven. Nope. Every year a little voice in my head reminds me that I should try to do a better job exposing my students to the music and lives of classical composers.

I was delighted this morning to discover a brand new app for iPad called My First Classical Music. You can purchase it from the app store for $2.99, oh you are going to want to buy this one!

Highly interactive, you can tap words to hear the narrator or tap images to listen to music excerpts. Children can learn about eight famous composers including Handel, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and more. The content is presented with a playful sense of humor. For example, "Mozart is so famous, you can even find his head on the top of chocolates."

Another section within the app features 15 interactive pages of musical instruments. Click on the oboe to hear the duck theme from Peter and the Wolf or watch the giraffe play Saint-Saens on the cello. The recorded excerpts are high quality and children will enjoy the friendly narrations and entertaining animations.

Here is a short promotional video for a sneak peek. Scoot off to the app store, your students will LOVE this.

Line and Space Notes for Noteshelf

2011-10-13T08:41:00.000-03:00

Along with interval recognition as a strategy for note reading, children also need practice with traditional note identification. I have created a collection of eight images that you can use to make a custom workbook for your iPad using the Noteshelf app. You can read more about Noteshelf in previous posts or click here to visit the App Store.

Use your favorite mnemonics to review treble or bass clef line and space notes. The keyboard is included to help reinforce an understanding of range and directional reading. Often I'll have a student complete a page or two while I correct theory homework.

Here is a preview of some of the pages, but just click here to download all eight images from my Dropbox folder.

You can learn how to make custom workbooks for your iPad by watching my video tutorial. Before long you will have a collection of handy booklets that you can use over and over again to present and reinforce important concepts.

Pattern Play Project

2011-10-11T13:07:00.000-03:00

I am about to embark on an interesting creative project with some of my teen students. We have been experimenting with Pattern Play 1 by Akiko and Forrest Kinney, a wonderful supplementary book for inspiring creativity and developing improvising skills.

Most of my teens own this book and have been enjoying the magic of learning various patterns and styles, allowing them to successfully improvise their own music.

This week we are going to put a visual twist on the process. My husband and I enjoyed the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend at a beautiful cottage in Nova Scotia, where I took advantage of the gorgeous fall colors to create a short video of peaceful images. My students will watch the video and improvise using the "Flow" pattern, which they practiced last week.

The video is saved on my iPad, so they can watch as they play at the digital piano. And to spice it up a bit, I will record their improvs using Garageband, the best one will officially be added to my video. I will post it next week so you can all see and hear how we did.

South Milford, Nova Scotia

Kit Kat Rhythms

2011-10-07T13:17:00.000-03:00

Just when you think note values are crystal clear, a 12-year old will come into your studio and tell you that a dotted half note gets 2 1/2 beats. Doh! I just know I can't be the only one.

So I have made an effort to clear up that little problem with my Kit Kat rhythm visuals. I am certainly not the first to use chocolate to help with rhythm concepts, so please remind me if I should give credit to someone out there.

I use these pages on my iPad by creating a custom workbook using the Noteshelf app. You can download my five images by clicking here on my Dropbox link.

If you want to learn how to make custom workbooks for your iPad, I made a video tutorial for you, so you can watch and follow along. Before you know it you will have a collection of handy booklets that you can use over and over again to present and reinforce important concepts.

With this set of images, you can help students visualize how the dot affects various note values. Each page has written drills that can easily be done on the iPad with a stylus. The last two pages include rhythms to clap and count, one set with dotted quarters and another set with dotted eighths.

Have fun and happy teaching.

Mmm... Cookie Rhythms

2011-10-05T12:27:00.000-03:00

How many times have I drawn pretend cookies and pizzas to help students visualize note values? Many students need a little extra help understanding how sixteenth notes, eighth notes and quarter notes are related and we have taken many imaginary trips to Tim Horton's to visualize cookies broken into halves and quarters.

If you read yesterday's post, perhaps your interest is piqued for trying out the Noteshelf app for iPad. I have been having the best time creating background images and building workbooks that I can use over and over again with my students on the iPad.

Today I'd like to share my collection of images that I use when working on eighth and sixteenth note rhythms. Just click here to open my zipped file from Dropbox, the folder contain 5 images which you can save and sync to your iPad. You might want to watch my video tutorial to learn how to create a booklet with custom background images using Noteshelf. I just takes a little practice. By the way, when you download these images they should be rotated so the bar is at the bottom, that way they will fill the page properly in Noteshelf.

Good luck everyone. As Stephen said last week, "the iPad makes everything fun".

Noteshelf for iPad

2011-10-04T14:03:00.001-03:00

Not long ago, I blogged about creating background images for my whiteboard app so I could do written drills with my students on the iPad. The possibilities are endless and my collection of images has been growing to a point where I need to get organized!

I recently found a new app called Noteshelf, which allows me to create and save custom workbooks that I can use over and over again with my students. Now I can design a group of related pages for an even better presentation of a particular concept, plus I can keep the pages organized in handy little notebooks right on my iPad.

The app is more expensive than usual, $4.99(CAD), but it really is a fantastic tool. I use it in almost every lesson to present, review and reinforce concepts. Often I'll ask a student to do a set of pages while I correct theory homework.

I have made a little instructional video so you can see the workflow involved in creating a custom booklet. You are welcome to download and use my collection of images or maybe you'll start creating your own.

Here's a little gift to get you started with your first booklet. With Halloween coming up I like to have some spooky fun presenting 6/8 time. This correlates nicely with Helen Marlais' Write, Play, and Hear Your Theory Every Day®, Book 4 and is a great activity to do along with Christine Donkin's "Witches and Wizards" from the RCM Grade 2 Repertoire.

Here is the link to my Dropbox, the zipped folder contain 6 images to help you present and practice rhythms in 6/8 using the words "skeleton", "pumpkin" and "ghost". Save them on your computer and then sync the images to your ipad. I would recommend creating a folder called Note Shelf and keep all of your images there, it's important to keep your work flow well-labelled and organized. Then follow along with my video to make your first booklet. Good luck everyone!

Stay tuned for more booklet creations and free downloads for your iPad.

Adele With a Twist

2011-09-28T13:05:00.000-03:00

Most teenage students enjoy the opportunity to play music they know and love along with the curriculum of skills and repertoire that we believe is important for their music education. I have been asking what they might like to play for fun this month and the top answer has been "anything by Adele".

It is easier than ever to access pop music online, students can easily hop over to www.musicnotes.com to purchase and download a piano score of any favorite song. However, I like to take the opportunity to help students play from the chords and lyrics sheets that you find at a site such as www.guitaretab.com.

I have been having a lot of success with "Set Fire to the Rain" by Adele, so I'll share my approach with you. First of all, go to iTunes and buy the song, then go to www.guitaretab.com and print the chords and lyrics page. In my studio I have a digital piano along with external speakers, which are set up to play the music on my iPad.

First, my student needs to know that Dm stands for a d minor chord and F stands for an F Major chord. We go through the sequence of eight chords using root position in the right hand.

Then we talk about arranging some of the chords so the moves are smoother. When F Major is played in 2nd inversion it becomes so easy to move from d minor to F Major by simply stepping the thumb down. So now the right hand chords might look like this:

Next, we add the left hand root notes in the bass and give the right hand steady quarter notes.

Then, to make it sound even more like the song we apply a simple pattern to the right hand chords: 5-1-3-1-5-1-3-1. Like this:

Now it's time to try playing along with Adele. Students need to move quickly from chord to chord so you might start off by just playing the left hand bass notes or just the right hand quarter note chords with the recording.

When you get to the refrain, you might like to have the left hand play in octaves for more power, and the right hand could play steady quarter note chords. At the chorus I would continue the left hand octaves and let right hand do the 5-1-3-1 pattern again.

This is a really fun short term project for teenagers and it gives them the basic skills and motivation to go pick their own favorite songs and start building their own chords and lyrics collections. Some other songs that we have done this way include: "Haunted" by Taylor Swift, "The Show" by Lenka, "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus and "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLaughlin.

Cough Into Your Sleeve

2011-09-20T14:33:00.001-03:00

It is only September 20 and the sniffing and coughing have already started. Somehow I thought I had a little more time before starting the dance to avoid the cold and flu germs that come into my studio on a daily basis.

As self-employed teachers we simply can't afford to get sick. Most of us don't have the luxury of taking a sick day unless we want to be faced with a stream of phone calls, emails and make-up lessons.

So starting this week, Vitamin C is part of the daily routine, and I will remind students to wash their hands before lesson time. I buy a stack of face cloths for students to dry their hands on so I don't end up with a soggy towel at the end of each day.

Back in 2007 Rick Mercer was poking fun at the extremes of avoiding germs, but these days students have learned that coughing into their sleeve is appreciated. Enjoy the silly video (Canadians love Rick Mercer!) and you just wouldn't believe who did the music.

Maybe some of you would like to share your studio policies and I'd like to know if anyone is successfully using Skype to help deal with sick days. Wishing you all a healthy Fall teaching season.

Play It Again, Sam

2011-09-19T11:23:00.000-03:00

Last week I picked up a copy of Play It again, Sam... by Marianne Uszler. This quick 60-page read is from the Teaching Keyboard Effectively Yourself series published by FJH. Other titles include Times Flies and That's a Good Question. These self-help pedagogy books focus on specific issues and offer practical hints to teachers. Play It Again, Sam... examines the topic of what, why and when to repeat.

Uszler emphasizes that teachers must be able to distinguish the difference between teaching motor skills versus cognitive skills as it helps us understand how to effectively use repetition and reinforcement in our teaching.

"A motor skill must be repeated exactly in order for it to become a natural habit. Learning a concept, on the other hand, must be reinforced (and in that sense repeated) by using the concept in varied contexts. "Practice" is the word to use when working on a motor skill. "Reinforcement" is a better term to describe internalizing a concept."

iSpud Free app

I suspect we have all have a "magic number" of repetitions required to master a particular motor skill. In my arsenal of practice tricks I use Penny Practice, Smartie Practice, the Practice Posie, Funny Face Practice and the Mr. Potato Head app as ways to playfully encourage students to do enough repetitions to get results. Uszler reminds us that we must also encourage students to think, look, plan and listen to use repetition to its full advantage.

The Practice Posie from www.pianodiscoveries.ca

Her list of helpful hints are good ones to keep in mind for reinforcing musical concepts in different contexts.

The more you call students' attention to groups (rather than to isolated pitch or note names), the more quickly they learn to see connections and make relationships.
The more you vary reading and rhythm drills and exercises (slightly, but continually), the more alert student will remain.
The more you precede rhythmic reading drills with rhythmic experiences that relate to the drills, the more you make students aware that rhythm takes place over an ongoing pulse.
The more short and varied note-reading drills you use to help students establish good reading habits, the more at ease they become with the process of note-reading.
The more you include short ear-training drills and experiences at each lesson, the faster your students associate names and definition with sounds and music making.
The more more you involve students in several learning modes (sight, ear and movement) when learning a new concept, the more quickly they develop an inner assurance that they "own" the concept.

As a final thought (which I highlighted in yellow),

"Remember, the best teachers are those who can - and do - say the same thing a thousand different ways, appealing to many senses and touching a thousand different nerve endings in order to stimulate someone else to independent thought and action."

A First Piano Lesson

2011-09-13T13:47:00.001-03:00

My hand - Age 7

The first piano lesson is an exciting and memorable day. I vaguely remember my first piano lesson with my childhood teacher. I know I traced my left hand and learned my finger numbers because I found my old dictation book from 1975 with my first piano assignment. I learned Middle C, D and E and could hardly wait to turn the page to start using F.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of giving a first piano lesson to a brand new beginner. She arrived with her Mom on Saturday morning with her piano bag, new glasses and a big smile. We had met earlier in the summer, so she knew there would be games and music and of course a kitten to enjoy.

Drip and Rainbow

I believe a good place to begin is with something the child already knows... finger painting! So we started at the table pretending to paint drips and rainbows with our fingertips. We said, "drip drip drip drip" as we tapped short sounds, and we said "rain-bow rain-bow" as we made long sounds. Then I gave her a set of drip and rainbow cards so she could create and tap her own rhythms. This is a point where I like to observe learning style. I find it interesting to notice if students like to use patterns when they create their drip and rainbow rhythms. During this activity I also make a point of asking for right or left hand, which leads nicely into the next segment.

Hands and Fingers

Next we found the page in her Music Discoveries workbook where we could trace her hands and label the finger numbers. From there we were able to play Flashy Fingers, where the student taps a sequence of finger numbers with RH or LH. You can download Flashy Fingers and the finger sequence cards plus other fun teaching aids by visiting my Piano Discoveries website.

High Middle Low

Next we moved to the piano where we took some time to explore the groups of two and three black keys. We made peeping chick sounds up high, mooing sounds like a cow down low and the cat sang "meow meow feed me now" right in the middle. My students learn to verbalize as they play from the very beginning. With eyes closed she could easily identify the sound of the chick, the cat and the cow. Then we placed the high, middle and low cards behind the groups of two black keys as a guide. I sent this photo home to help her remember where to place the cards on her own piano.

Rhythm Blocks

Back to the table where we discovered that in music we use tah for short sounds like the drip and we use half note for long sounds like the rainbow. I have a beautiful set of wooden rhythm blocks which fit perfectly on my Music Discoveries pages. We created rhythm patterns to clap together and then I clapped rhythms for her to notate with the blocks. This is a great follow-up activity to do at home with Mom and Dad.

Up We Go

We clapped and marched "tah tah half-note" around the room and over to the piano. Then we used our high, middle and low groups of two black keys to play "Up We Go" with the left hand...

(low) Two black keys what a breeze,

(middle) short short long sing this song,

(high) up we go high (low) low.

First piano lesson!

My student went home with a treasure chest box containing high/middle/low cards, drip and rainbow cards, tah and half note rhythm blocks and the Flashy Fingers game. Are we having fun yet?

Some of you may remember that I took the RCM Piano Pedagogy Viva Voce Exam back in June. One of the first questions I was asked was to discuss what I would cover in a first piano lesson. I can't think of anything more fun to talk about! I would be happy to give first piano lessons every day of the week.

New Whiteboard Backgrounds

2011-09-06T17:56:00.001-03:00

Piano teachers are discovering that the iPad is a terrific tool in the studio. Little by little I discover how to use "Paddy" in efficient, creative and useful ways.

If you are still reading I am guessing you have an iPad or you are at least thinking about making the investment. And if that is the case, you need to know about buying a Stylus. Of course you can swipe, tap and swoosh with your fingertip, but you can also buy a pen-like device made just for the iPad. This will come in handy if you want to do drawing activities with your students.

I mentioned this app before, but for just $1.99 I would recommend the Multitouch Whiteboard, which you can easily find in the app store. The best part is you can choose your own background image from files you have saved in "Photos". I have an event called "Whiteboard" where I save all of my background images. You can have them too, just visit one of my Dropbox links:

1. View the Dropbox Gallery and download your favorite background images one by one. Just a note, the "save" feature doesn't seem to work on the iPad, so save at your desktop or laptop.

2. Download the complete set of backgrounds in one handy folder. Your computer should easily unzip the folder then import the images to your iPad.

Here are samples from some new backgrounds I created this week. Notice I am using my stylus for drawing.

Draw clefs and landmark notes from the Barnyard Friends

Draw note and rest values

Practice the order of sharps using this template

Draw the order of flats with the layout guide

The blank grand staff has all kinds of uses... just use your imagination

Wrapping Up the Tools

2011-09-03T10:32:00.000-03:00

Today let's finish up those Intermediate Piano Practicing Tools. These twelve techniques give teenagers smart approaches to learning new repertoire plus the strategies they need to solve their own problems in the practice room.

#7 Blocking
#8 Balance
#9 Tap n' Count
#10 Leap n' Land
#11 Articulation Perfection
#12 Shaping Phrases

Here are some repertoire samples from the Grade 5 Perspectives album to illustrate each tool in action.

We can use two valuable tools in "Postlude" by George Fiala. I would first work out the entire left hand using blocked chords while counting 1 + 2 +. Blocking is a great way to establish tactile memory and encourages students to study how the chords are connected.

When hands are played together, balance becomes an important artistic element. Most intermediate students are still developing the technical ability to achieve control of balance. I find that using those blocked left hand chords together with the right hand's melody is valuable as a first step. Think of volume dials on each hand, turn LH down to a 2 and RH up to 6.

Sounding the Accordion by Jeno Takacs provides a good opportunity to review "e" counting with students. I would begin by clapping and counting the RH with 1 e + a syllables. Do the same with left hand to make sure students are observing the eighth rests correctly. But the important learning step here is the hands together Tap n' Count. This helps students work out the large motor coordination before diving into notes and fingering.

The leaping left hand makes "A Slow Waltz" by Dmitri Kabalevsky a bit of a challenge for intermediate students. So we need to train that left hand like a figure skater would need to train a triple salchow. We'll use the Leap n' Land technique, which is a little trick I learned in university (thanks Jani). I find it makes a such big difference in ease and accuracy.

Have your student begin with the very first leap: Low A to the A Minor triad (m. 1) Play the staccato Low A and bounce up to the A Minor triad - but don't play it! Just look and notice if your fingers land perfectly on A-C-E. Do it again. And again. And again. The goal is to train every leap with efficient and flawless tactile memory. Eyes closed? Even better.

Bartok loves to fill his music with staccatos, accents, slurs and such. Students should learn "Jest" with Articulation Perfection from day 1. This is an ideal opportunity to make a little glossary of articulation signs and terms for your student. We work out the touch, sound and choreography of the right hand as if we were getting ready for "Dancing With the Stars". It is the articulation that brings this piece to life with energy and a sense of humor.

"Melancholy Reflections" by Mike Schoenmehl is a beautiful, reflective piece with rich harmonies that appeal to the intermediate student's ear. The phrase structure in this piece lends itself to encouraging students to study melodic contour to help determine expressive shaping. The first phrase is a wonderful example, where we can add a crescendo and diminuendo to suit the rise and fall of the melodic line. Remember, Shaping the Phrases can happen in the initial learning stages, no need to wait to add expressive artistry like a final layer of icing on a cake.

Hope you enjoyed my collection of strategies for the Toolbox. The goal is to teach students to teach themselves.

More Intermediate Practice Tools

2011-09-02T08:05:00.000-03:00

This is a continuation of the post on Intermediate Piano Practicing Tools. Today I'll take a look at three more techniques for the toolbox using repertoire from RCM's Perspectives Series Piano Repertoire 5.

#4 Fab Fingering
#5 Backwards Sections
#6 Push-ups

"Jig" by Violet Archer has got to be one of the most popular selections from the Grade 5 Repertoire book. Kids love it and they want to play it fast! So if the fingers are going to behave the initial learning needs to emphasize Fab Fingering. We start with RH alone on line 1, making sure every fingering is perfect. I ask my students to say the fingering out loud because it slows them down, often I'll have them play slowly with the metronome. Adding the left hand is always easy-breezy and as we look at the form, students are delighted to discover that the A section is recycled a number of times.

It's so tempting to just start from the beginning isn't it? When I teach "Little March" by Talivaldis Kenis I like to mix things up. First we divide the music into six sections and then we learn the piece backwards, starting with section 6. Why? It prevents mindless repetition. It takes more concentration to work backwards. How many times have you sat at the piano "practicing" while thinking about groceries or emails (okay students are thinking about math tests and ringette games). Plus this kind of learning establishes future memory emergency spots.

The other Practice Tool that really works is push-ups... that is Metronome Push-ups. This technique helps students increase the speed of a piece little by little without letting notes and fingering get messy. We set the metronome to 60 and play one section perfectly polished. Push the metronome up two notches and play it again. Keep going until you reach 120 or faster. It really works!

Intermediate Practice Tools 1, 2, 3

2011-09-01T09:10:00.000-03:00

Yesterday I wrote about focusing on Piano Practicing Tools with my Intermediate (Grade 5) students. Today I will look at teaching the first three tools on my list using repertoire from the RCM's Perspectives Series Piano Repertoire 5.

#1 Simplify
#2 "and" Counting
#3 Eight Reps for Success

"The Lake" is a beautiful piece by Alec Rowley. Students can find it visually challenging with the big key signature, accidentals and clef changes. But when they learn how to break it down and simplify, suddenly the piece becomes easy. Line 1 is just made up of four chords. Practice these four positions until they are memorized. Use the pedal, changing on each chord. Now take each chord, play it once then hop it up an octave. That's the pattern, just break it down and simplify to make it easy.

"Cha Cha" by Siegfried Merath is always a student pleaser. But the secret to success is learning it very slowly with "and" counting. My students start by reading through the right hand. We count in 1 + 2 + 3, then start playing on + 4 +. Yes, I insist on counting out loud.

Guaranteed every student will get a little mixed up at the end of the line. So we box the tricky part in m. 3-4 and do eight repetitions in a row. By the fourth or fifth repetition that spot is sounding polished. There are four tricky bits like this one in the piece, so we find them all, circle them and practice each one 8 times in a row. I doesn't take long for the right hand to sound perfectly polished.

Check out the next group of practice tools tomorrow. Don't forget to print your Practice Tool stickers. Just click here to download and print on Avery mailing labels 5160/8160.

The Piano Practicing Toolbox

2011-08-31T13:30:00.000-03:00

When students reach the intermediate level it becomes especially important to pass on solid learning strategies and problem solving skills. I like to think of it as the Piano Practicing Toolbox. If we equip our students with a variety of strategies for different situations, eventually they become able to look at a new piece and make a smart plan for learning. Or if they are running into problems in the practice room they can come up with a solution that gets results.

I have found that Piano Repertoire 5 from RCM's Perspectives Series is a wonderful source for repertoire where students can put a variety of learning techniques to work. I like to focus on about a dozen practice tools with my Grade 5 students:

1. Simplify
2. "and" Counting
3. 8 Reps for Success
4. Fab Fingering
5. Backwards Sections
6. Push-ups
7. Blocking
8. Balance
9. Tap n' Count
10. Leap n' Land
11. Articulation Perfection
12. Shaping Phrases

In the next few posts I'll get into more detail about each of these learning tools and how they may be applied to specific selections from RCM's Grade 5 Repertoire book. In the meantime you might like to download my page of Practice Tool stickers that you can print on a page of Avery 5160/8160 Mailing Address labels. Just click here to access the file in my Dropbox.

Check back soon for more about the Piano Practicing Toolbox!

Studio Open House Days

2011-08-30T13:25:00.000-03:00

Today is Open House Day at my piano studio. This is the day that families drop off tuition cheques and pick up their books and materials for the year. I admit this takes a lot of extra effort of my part, but it means that the first lesson will be all about the music.

Usually I try to send out tuition invoices about two weeks before Open House Day and I try to place my book order 3-4 weeks in advance. "Back to school" is such a busy time of year for families, so I do my best to be organized and make "back to piano" an easy item to tick of that long to-do list.

Families are dropping in at their convenience between 11 am and 7 pm today and tomorrow. It always seems to work out that there is a just nice easy flow of knocks at the door, so I can usually find a bit of time to chat with each family about their summer break.

I'm excited to start teaching again.

Fun Sight Reading Activities for iPad

2011-08-28T09:30:00.000-03:00

Sight reading is a complicated task. There are many individual components that need to work together so students develop fluency, accuracy and confidence in their reading skills.

A good place to begin is with flash cards for quick note recognition. On my previous post I offered six levels for you to download and use on your mobile devices.

Here is a collage of quick activities that you may use with your students to help develop specific sight reading skills. View samples in the thumbnail gallery below.

Tick Taps - This activity isolates the skill of finger independence, observing fingering and playing to a steady pulse. Use these cards in a variety of ways to accommodate many levels. You could begin with RH only, playing the sequence of 12 fingerings at a slow tempo. Move to a faster tempo or subdivide with eighth notes or triplets. More advanced students could work hands together in contrary motion, or read line 1 as RH and line 2 as LH.

Play Say - A good mental challenge for advanced students. Play the notes in one hand while naming the notes in the other hand out loud.

Memory Busters - A large part of sight reading is the ability to store patterns of notes for short term retrieval. Advanced readers are looking ahead, which means we are really playing patterns from short term memory. Give your student a Memory Buster pattern at the beginning of the lesson. Give him/her a few minutes to memorize it (ghost play in the air but not on the piano). At the end of the lesson the student will attempt to play the full pattern on the piano.

Sing Sign Play - An important component of sight reading development is singing. I ask my students to play melodies with RH, sing solfege syllables and sign the solfege with LH. These simple melodies use do-re-mi.

Double Trouble - Clapping single line rhythms doesn't deal with the coordination involved in sight reading hands together. Isolate this skill with the Double Trouble rhythms. You could tap with RH and LH on a table top or think of other creative tapping options like lap slaps or toe taps.

If you like these activites, just click the links to download the zipped file from Dropbox. The images are simple jpegs, optimized for viewing on your iPad. Just save the folders on your computer and sync the images to your iPad. You can keep and organize all of your resources in iPhoto.

Flash Cards Go Mobile

2011-08-25T15:17:00.000-03:00

Imagine how handy it would be to have your flash card collections on your iPad or iPhone. I have created six levels from beginner to intermediate for you to download and use on your mobile device.The image below shows a sample from each level.

If you would like to download a set, just click one of the links below and you will have access to my zipped flash card folder in Dropbox.

Level 1 - Bass C to Treble C with Barnyard Friends landmarks (16 cards)

Level 2 - Line notes and space notes with fingering (24 cards)

Level 3 - Notes with sharps and flats (42 cards)

Level 4 - Ledger line notes (18 cards)

Level 5 - One note in each hand (18 cards)

Level 6 - Two notes in the RH, one note in LH (20 cards)

What do I do after I download the zipped folder?

My favorite way to use these flash card images is in the Photo app that comes with your iPad or iPhone. Here are some hints to get you going. First of all, your ipad will not open a zipped file unless you have an app like Good Reader. Even then, you will only be able to save the images one by one (not good!). So, start by downloading the zipped file to your computer. Most computers are able to unzip the folder automatically. I have carefully labelled the folders and files to help keep you organized.

Now drag the flash card folder into iPhoto or wherever you keep your photos on your computer. I like to organize my images into events, so each flash card level will be a separate event. Now connect your iPad to your computer and do a sync.

Open the photo app on your ipad. Click Events at the top and you should see your new flash card set(s). Click on a set to open the event and then choose slideshow. I like to set my slideshows to randomize the cards and to swap them every 2 seconds. Now go find a student and give it a try.

Does anyone want a video tutorial?

Come visit Piano Discoveries

I have added a new page on Piano Discoveries, which will be devoted to iPad resources that you may download and use. Don't forget to try out the new Barnyard Friends Interactive Game while you are browsing. It is super cute!

The Giveaway Winner...

2011-08-19T08:59:00.000-03:00

This morning I assigned numbers to all of the posts and followers from Monday's Music Discoveries Giveaway post. With the help of random.org we have winner! Thanks to everyone who participated, it was fun hearing from you.

Congratulations Julia T from pianofortestudio.net!

You win two sets of Music Discoveries materials.

Julia, please send me an email with your name and mailing address so I can put your package in the mail on Monday morning.

Top 10 is a Winner

2011-08-18T13:36:00.000-03:00

When I was 10 years old, disco was playing on the radio. I have to say, I was never very interested in "YMCA" and "You Light Up My Life". No, I liked to listen to show tunes! I'm sure the needle on my record player wore out from playing Oklahama, Camelot and My Fair Lady over and over. Maybe that's why I'm so excited about the books I found at the music store last week.

I have a lot of teenagers in my studio this year, so I have been searching for books that would be enjoyable for them, yet filled with well written music. I bought the Top 10 Jazz Standards first, took it home and played it cover to cover, then went back to the music store days later to track down Movie Hits and Broadway Classics.

Beautifully arranged by Sharon Aaronson, the pieces in these collections do exactly what my ear wants to hear and more. The harmonies are rich and pleasing, most of the pieces have an interesting modulation to a new key. Technically, the notes fall naturally under the hand, making each piece a pleasure to sit down and read. Not to say the arrangements are simplistic, they are indeed written for the late intermediate pianist who would appreciate the sophisticated sound.

Top 10 Jazz Standards

Anything Goes • A Day in the Life of a Fool • Blues in the Night • Fascinating Rhythm • Lullaby Of Broadway • Nice Work If You Can Get It • Night and Day • Summer Wind • Take Five

Top 10 Movie Hits

A Whole New World • As Time Goes By • Can You Read My Mind? • Cruella De Vil • It Had To Be You • Over The Rainbow • The Man That Got Away • The Pink Panther • The Wind Beneath My Wings • Theme From "New York, New York"

Top 10 Broadway Classics

And All That Jazz • Beauty And The Beast • Begin The Beguine • Camelot • Can You Feel the Love Tonight • Everything's Coming Up Roses • Home • On the Street Where you Live • Send in the Clowns • Someone To Watch Over Me

I had planned on listing my favorites from each book, but I just couldn't choose. I look forward to using all three collections with my high school students this Fall. They may not know all of these songs, but with the magic of YouTube and the internet it will be fun to do a little research on the side to compliment learning.

Wouldn't it be fun to plan a coffee house evening at a local cafe, where the students can come play while parents and friends relax with a coffee and cheesecake.

Taking Care of Business

2011-08-17T11:48:00.000-03:00

The past two days have been a marathon of studio business preparations. It's the middle of August and I can't afford to procrastinate any longer on preparing invoices, book lists and binders. I always find it interesting to see how other teachers get their studios organized for a new year, so I thought I would share some photos, ideas and files that have worked for me.

(As I have been working away at my computer, I have enjoyed the steady "bing" of emails coming in from the Music Discoveries Giveaway. You are all so great! Remember, the draw is on Friday morning.)

Assignment Sheet Binders:

I prepare assignment sheet binders for all of my students. I like the binders with the clear pockets on the front and back so I can make nice covers. This year I included a back cover with the circle of fifths and keyboard graphic. I know my older students will like the quick and easy reference while doing theory homework.

My assignment sheets are very simple because I want them to be suitable for ages 6-16. There are two assignments on each page, so I print about 500 sheets for the whole studio and fill up all of the binders with 17 sheets each.

You are welcome to download and use any of these resources yourself. Here are the links to Dropbox:

Invoices and Book Lists

I have learned that two weeks notice for tuition payments is about right. So creating and sending out invoices is top priority for me this week. I give families the option of paying in 2, 4 or 10 equal installments. We have two Open House dates at the end of August when families can drop in at their convenience to take care of tuition payments and pick up new books and materials.

I create a pdf of the tuition invoice and email it to each family (that is supposed to happen today). This year I may also experiment with sending invoices via Dropbox. This way I'll be sending a link rather than an attached file, I know some families have issues with receiving attachments. I'm interested in creating a shared Dropbox file for each student, where I can drop and share things like photos, videos, exam results and invoices. Sounds like a topic for another post.

Choosing and ordering new books is always a struggle for me. Should I go order and buy all of the books myself and have parents reimburse me, or should I give them a book list and send them off to the music store? There are equal pros and cons.

Student Files

I find it helpful to keep a simple record for each student. This binder contains lesson notes for all of my students and I leave it open on my piano and quickly make notes at the end of each lesson.

I keep track of lesson dates, cancellations and make-ups here. I also take note of repertoire progress, technique and theory pages.

Here's a link to the Lesson Notes file:

Lesson Notes

I have also started a collection of file folders for my students. This is a new idea for me this year. My thought is that I will save special bits and pieces here, like photos, compositions, exam results and so on. I will keep the file active for the years that the student studies with me. When they decide to stop taking lessons I will pass over the file with the collection of special mementos.

All students stop taking lessons at some point. I always hope that it is done with a positive sense of closure. I believe that looking back at their musical accomplishments will be a rewarding way to finish lessons when that time comes.

Music Discoveries Giveaway!

2011-08-15T12:12:00.000-03:00

You can help me celebrate the new Pianoanne blog and website by participating in my Music Discoveries giveaway.

I created Music Discoveries for my 5-6 year old beginners. It's an all-in-one workbook design with coloring, pencil work pages, solos and duets plus other creative activities. I like to use it for the first two months of lessons before moving to a traditional piano method as I find it creates a solid foundation for concepts such as music alphabet, RH/LH, finger numbers, white key names and basic rhythm.

You can read more at my Piano Discoveries website.

The great thing about the giveaway is that I have done all the printing and binding work for you! I don't sell this material, but I do have a limited number of printed copies for my own students. I'd like to share 2 sets with you! One for you and one for a student, or try it with two students together in team lessons.

Here are the giveaway details. The prize includes:

2 Music Discoveries Workbooks
2 Music Discoveries Alphabet Cards (ready to cut apart)
2 Music Discoveries Rhythm Blocks (ready to cut apart)
2 Music Discoveries CDs (not shown in photo)

How to enter:

Send me a friendly comment on this post. You get two (2) entries if you can also answer the skill testing question: "What is the name of the Music Discoveries character with the big hands?" If you aren't sure, click here to find the answer.
To enter again, be on my list of Pianoanne Followers. If you are already on my list you are entered automatically. (Blogger is currently having some issues with Google Followers not showing up, hopefully that is temporary and it seems to be related to which browser you are using.)

Deadline:
I will generate a draw for a random winner on Friday morning, August 19. I will announce the lucky winner on my blog.

How to claim your prize:
If you are the winner, please send me an email with your name and mailing address. If I don't hear from you by Monday, August 22 a new winner will be selected.

Good luck everyone!

Barnyard Friends Interactive

2011-08-13T14:09:00.000-03:00

Click here to start the game

Many of you are familiar with my Barnyard Friends from Piano Discoveries. It's a fun little strategy for learning landmark notes on the grand staff. I came up with the characters and the concept years ago and it has evolved as I have learned new skills.

I took a course in Flash animation and wondered if I could figure out how to animate my characters with mouth movements and blinking eyes. Did it! And the result was the three Barnyard Friend videos which you can see on YouTube. My students helped me out by becoming the voices of Gina, Cici and the gang.

So now I'm thinking to myself, wouldn't it amazing to learn how to make an iPad app. I'm not quite there, but I did create a fun little interactive game this summer, which students can play online at the computer.

Game 1 - move the Barnyard Friends to their correct locations on the staff
Game 2 - name note flashcards (Bass C to Treble C)
Game 3 - identify intervals (repeat, step and skip)

Just click on the cartoon image above to open the game in a new window. You'll also find the link at Piano Discoveries. Make sure you have at least Flash Player 9 to view and play (sorry iPad users, I still have more to learn). If you haven't updated Flash in awhile, this would be a good time to get that done: http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

Feel free to bookmark the Barnyard Friends Interactive Page so your young students can quickly access the game and play anytime. If any of you have little tweaks, suggestions or feedback I'm all ears.

Welcome to Pianoanne!

2011-08-11T14:09:00.011-03:00

Well hello there! Chances are, you are a piano parent, piano student or a piano teacher. If so, you are in the right place.

I have decided to rework things so that my studio website includes a blog, and my Pianoantics blog includes my studio website. Hope you aren't confused! Maybe this is just an excuse to play in my HTML sandbox, but I thought it would be a fun way to share creative ideas, student accomplishments, useful articles, photos, videos and more. You will find all the same information that was on the old pianoanne website, like my teaching schedule and calendar, studio policies and projects. But now we can also be a bit more social and interactive with the blog.

And for those of you who enjoyed reading my Pianoantics blog, the old posts and comments are here now. Plus you can expect to see even more posts on some of my favorite topics, including creative teaching resources, the use of technology in the studio and lifelong learning.

So give me a little "like" on my brand new Facebook page or sign up as a Google Follower (yes, those things are very motivating). Check in often and don't be shy about leaving a friendly comment. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

How are you using Facebook?

2011-07-16T10:30:00.001-03:00

I am one of those Facebook users with just a short list of friends and family, but I have been questioning whether to let it cross the line from personal contacts to business contacts, and by business contacts I'm talking about piano families and colleagues.

Do you 'friend' your students? Do you use Facebook for studio marketing? Do you use it to communicate with piano parents? If so, what kind of information do you share? Maybe you have two accounts? Or are you like me, don't mix business and personal?

Please take a moment to fill out this little poll. You can click any answers that apply to you. Send along a comment if you have more to share on the topic. I'd love to know how my fellow piano teachers and bloggers are making the most of social media in the piano studio.

Pedagogy Exam vs Professional Development

2011-06-23T16:44:00.000-03:00

It has been an interesting experience to sign myself up for a host of RCM exams this year. In the past seven months I have completed History, Elementary Piano Pedagogy Written and Viva Voce, Grade 10 Piano. In another month I'll be doing another History and Harmony (if I can step away from staining the deck long enough to study). There is a part of me that would love to achieve the goal of getting my ARCT, though that still seems like a long and bumpy road ahead.

I'm not quite sure what this is all about, I'm not really looking to boost my resume anymore. But it does feel good to stretch those mental muscles and push myself to do things that are challenging. I also feel very good about setting this example for my students who are intrigued by the idea that I would choose to do exams 'for fun'.

So my thoughts are on the topic of professional development. There has been chatter in our Registered Music Teachers' Association about the idea of making professional development required. As much as I believe in life-long learning I have to take issue with "who decides what is professional development for another teacher"?

Over the years I have done many things that have changed me and helped my teaching grow:

taking lessons
learning how to build websites
coffee dates with a colleague
teaching piano pedagogy
being part of a blogging community
attending piano pedagogy conferences
adjudicating
practicing
learning how to use iMovie, Garageband and Photoshop
staying up-to-date with new teaching material
creating new teaching material
using technology to enhance teaching

You may notice I didn't put the Elementary Piano Pedagogy Viva Voce Exam on my list. When I signed up for this exam I had very little information to go on. I didn't know anyone who had taken the exam before and I couldn't find very much information online about it. But I delighted in the idea of refocusing my thoughts on the topics that I live and breathe every day.

I was especially interested in discovering who this exam is meant for. Is it for teenagers who might be inspired to study piano pedagogy at university, or for university grads with brand new studios or for experienced teachers who are looking for professional development opportunities?

The exam has come and gone and unfortunately I did not feel that this was a worthwhile endeavor for an experienced teacher. Nor did I feel that it would be an appropriate assessment for a talented teenager with little teaching experience. A university student who is interested in pursuing independent piano teaching might find the experience and the credential more useful.

I can imagine that it is challenging to place all exam candidates on a level playing field regardless of experience. I understood this issue in advance so I made a scrapbook with photos of my studio, projects and students so the examiners would have a better understanding of my background. Still, the first question was, "why would you like to teach piano?" A better initial question would have sparked a discussion on my philosophy of teaching.

It would be interesting to require the candidate to provide a portfolio including a resume, studio policies, photos and so on. It would be very good for a young teacher to work through and prepare these items and would help the examiner ask appropriate questions.

I was disappointed how little time there was to discuss the three method evaluations. After all, the elementary years are largely based upon the use of method books. I was ready to dive in deep, but the opportunity didn't really come along.

A large portion of the exam is weighted on the performance and discussion of a selection of teaching repertoire. It seems to me that a teacher should be prepared to play and discuss every piece in the Introductory, Grade 1 and Grade 2 books. Selecting only four pieces from each level is an underwhelming requirement. Perhaps this is a more appropriate expectation for the Advanced Pedagogy exam which focuses on grade 7-10.

So for me, this doesn't go on my professional development list. The experience did not inspire me or challenge my teaching in any way. I was excited walking into the exam, ready to have fun with the topics that I love, but I walked out feeling frustrated and unable to express my creative teaching style.

Whiteboard for iPad

2011-06-22T05:58:00.000-03:00

Multitouch Whiteboard app

Here is another great iPad app for you to explore. I bought a little whiteboard app last year, which was fun for drawing all kinds of musical signs with my students.

But what I was really hoping to find was an app that would allow me to draw on top of an image that I created and saved on my iPad. For example, if I created a grand staff students would be able to draw clefs and notes using the whiteboard. Found it!

For $1.99 I would recommend the Multitouch Whiteboard, which you can easily find in the app store. You can choose different colors and customize your marker width. Two people can draw at the same time. I especially liked that erasing and clearing did not alter my background image.

I made this image of the staff and keyboard in Photoshop and saved it in my iPad's iPhotos. When you open the whiteboard app you will find the option to select a photo for your background. Voila, a fun and handy teaching aid.

Click here to view and download my background image, feel free to save it and use it with your students. (I am experimenting with Dropbox as a way of sharing files, let's see how this works).

Performance Exam Tomorrow

2011-06-20T16:30:00.000-03:00

When I took my Masters degree I had three fonts and no email. I have since built a wonderful life as an independent piano teacher and have been fortunate to enjoy many interesting opportunities for continued learning and professional growth.

I have not however, pushed myself to perform the way I did in university. Why on earth would anyone choose to go back to the nerve wracking experience of performance anxiety, master classes and hours upon hours of practicing?

But this year I decided I would start heading down the path of doing my ARCT diploma. There are many hoops to jump in order to achieve this goal. So far I have hippity hopped through three exam requirements and tomorrow I am doing my grade 10 performance exam.

I don't suppose I am the typical exam candidate. They are more like to see very serious high school students and university music majors arriving on exam day. But I am perfectly serious about it and have been working consistently to prepare. Mind you, I haven't had the luxury of playing for a teacher or peers, but I've had my repertoire memorized for several months, technique is clean, aural skills and sight reading are both consistent.

And yet I find myself feeling nervous.

I have been telling myself what I tell my students... the goal has already been accomplished, the performance and the mark are just icing. Trust the fingers and go make music!

Flashcards Deluxe iPad App

2011-06-17T09:11:00.000-03:00

For those of you who are out there with your iPods and iPads in the teaching studio, here's another app that I have found very useful. Flashcards Deluxe is a powerful little flashcard app which you can use to study just about anything.

I am taking a performance exam next week and I was looking for a way to randomly quiz myself on the technical requirements. It took me about 10 minutes to set up my content and now I have my own personal examiner.

I can imagine using this app for:

Music terminology testing
p[[[[[[[[ (my kitten Mauzy typed this one)
Technical requirements testing
Ear Training (yes, you can add sound)
Composer identification (yes, you can add images)

Here are some of my favorite features:

Customize the background color, fonts and layout
Organize your decks into folders
Include images and sound
Three response levels: 1) Wrong 2) Right and 3) I kind of know
Just tap to check your answer or swipe to advance to the next card
You can even print the answer on the screen with your finger.
Share flashcard sets with other people.

You can create your own flashcards right in the app, but if you are making a lot of cards you might prefer to create the file on your computer. You do this using either a spreadsheet program like Excel or a simple text editor like TextEdit. There are good instructions to follow on the Flashcards Deluxe website.

There are a few ways to get your flashcards into your device. You can do it through Dropbox or Google Docs. The way I did it was by connecting my iPad to my computer with the USB cable and then transfer the file using "File Sharing" in iTunes. Again, the website has good instructions to follow until you get used to the process.

So for the price of a coffee, I would recommend checking out this great little teaching aid. Read more at www.orangeorapple.com or download a Lite version at the iTunes Store and try it for free.

Exam Day

2011-06-15T16:16:00.000-03:00

This morning was my Elementary Piano Pedagogy Viva Voce exam. With only a two page description of the exam in the syllabus I wasn't sure what to bring or what to expect. So I brought everything, better to be prepared! The examiner's last comment to me was, "would I be needing a mule to take everything away?"

Here's what I brought with me:

Three piano methods to compare
My Teaching Repertoire Samples
A variety of supplementary books (solos, duets, theory)
Music Discoveries and The Barnyard Friends
Dry erase board with activities
Box of games, flashcards and teaching aids
Scrapbook of photos of my studio
The Young Composers book
My iPad

So for those of you who are wondering, here's how the Viva Voce is broken down (from the 2008 RCM Piano Syllabus):

Discussion of general pedagogical topics, the beginning student, and the professional studio (25 points)
Teaching rhythm, technique, musicianship, and other essential skills (25 points)
Performance of selections from the Teaching Repertoire Sample (14 pieces) (25 points)
Detailed pedagogical discussion of selections from the Teaching Repertoire Sample (25 points)

The 45 minute exam was essentially broken down into two components. First I sat with the examiners (2 of them) and they asked questions about beginner methods, duet material, what I do in the first lesson and how I approach technique. Then I was asked to play six selections from the Teaching Repertoire Sample (I had prepared 14 pieces). Following each piece I was asked a specific question, for example "what would you tell a student about a minuet?"

The decision to take these Pedagogy exams was an experiment. So what were my goals?

I believe in gently pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Signing up for a series of exams is a good way to grow.
I wanted to see if the Elementary Piano Pedagogy exams would be suitable for some of my older teenagers who are interested in learning to teach. I thought it might be fun to plan a special curriculum for young teachers. A good mama duck tests the water before sending in her ducklings.
I thought the exam experience would be motivating and inspiring for me. As teachers we have to look for ways to keep our teaching fresh and fun.

For those of you who might be interested in taking this exam, I hope this post is helpful. I know it can be difficult to find out what is really involved beyond the syllabus. I happen to also have some very strong thoughts on the whole experience. "Honk" if you want to know what I really think.

Piano Pedagogy Viva Voce Exam

2011-06-14T13:02:00.000-03:00

My Viva Voce Exam for Elementary Piano Pedagogy is tomorrow! I am excited about it because I love to talk about piano teaching and it just doesn't get better than discussing elementary methods, materials and resources.

This exam is part of the RCM Pedagogy Certificate Program. The Viva Voce component is a 45 minute one-on-one exam in which the candidate needs to discuss a variety of topics including: general pedagogy, how to manage a studio, beginner methods and working with children from beginner to grade 2.

The one clear requirement of the exam is to prepare a sample of 14 pieces of teaching repertoire from various sources (mainly the RCM Repertoire Series). Otherwise, the requirements and examination topics are quite vague.

So I will go in armed with my favorite books, teaching aids, my iPad and a scrapbook of goodies. I will do my best to be delightful instead of nervous and hope that The Barnyard Friends and Penelope the Hand Position Pig make a creative impression.

Has anyone out there done this exam before? I will continue to follow my Dad's excellent advice, "do the best you can with what you've got".

Ah... tidy book shelves!

2011-06-13T12:15:00.000-03:00

The first thing I like to do when teaching has finished up for the year is clean up my book shelves... ah! After giving out sight reading material for a whole month my lending library had become a complete disaster.

As you can see I had some help from my new little buddy, Mauzy.

I got inspired by Jen's Spring Cleaning post and bought some cardboard magazine holders from Staples to hold groups of books. Maybe I'll get crafty and decorate the fronts this summer.

I'm wondering if most of you lend out material to your students? After some years the books get so ragged and worn and sometimes are never returned. I suspect that students and their parents don't even realize the cost involved in building and replenishing a lending library. I would be afraid to do the math, but I'm guessing that $1000 per shelf is a realistic estimate.

Do you have a lending system that works for you? Do you have a library fee or a sign-out binder? Maybe you don't lend out books at all. I try to teach my students to respect books by keeping them well organized. I've often thought that I should ask students to erase pencil markings when they return a book to the library after learning a special piece. Any bright ideas out there?

Once Upon a Time...

2011-06-08T09:38:00.000-03:00

Click here to view collection

One of my favorite projects in my studio is the Young Composers Collection. Every year I devote 4-5 weeks to having my students compose, notate and record their original compositions. Usually I do this in November to coordinate with Canada Music Week, but this year we tackled our project in May. It was a fun way to finish the year.

I like to choose an overall theme for the entire studio, this year the theme was "Once Upon a Time". Students were encouraged to use music to tell a simple story. My students tend to compose using one of three distinct approaches:

Start with words or a poem to help define rhythm and structure.
Create musical ideas to describe each part of the story.
Create an overall character or mood.

The project went through a number of phases:

Students get started on their creative ideas.
I help them solve how to notate their music by hand.
Using Finale PrintMusic students learn to notate on the computer.
Everyone creates an illustration and a story.
They helped with scanning, typing and formatting the digital book using Pages (iWork).
Photo shoot! I make sure I take pictures of my students every year.
Everyone recorded their own compositions using Garageband. After recording they learned how to edit the file to remove wrong notes and improve timing. Then we export the file as a mp3.

In past years I have had the Young Composer Collections printed and students purchased them for $15. This year I decided to deliver the final product digitally. Families can download, save, view and print as they like. I also created a special webpage attached to my studio website where anyone can view and listen to the entire collection.

Click here to take a look at our Young Composers Collection Webpage. I think they did a beautiful job! You might be interested in the little mp3 player that I used, it was free and not difficult to customize for my webpage.

During our last week of lessons, it was fun to dig out the old Young Composers books and flip through the compositions that students have created over the years. My students found it rewarding to see how they have grown and improved. I have Young Composers books dating back to 1994, well before most of my students were born! Here are some more recent cover themes: The Critter Collection, After School Fun, My Science Project and Celebration in Color.

The best thing about this project is that every student emerges as a star. Everyone works together toward a common goal and learns so much about music notation, artistic expression and technology.

The Ultimate White Board

2011-06-03T10:33:00.000-03:00

I have been a fan of Glory St. Germain's Ultimate Music Theory books for awhile now. Many of my older students write the RCM Theory Rudiments and her workbooks have become our favorite resource for exam preparation.

I just received an email announcing their revised workbooks and answer books. But what really caught my attention is her new Ultimate White Board. Here is a link to her YouTube video demonstration.

The Ultimate Whiteboard is a two-sided white board with staff lines, keyboard and circle on one side and blank on the other side. It includes the dry-erase marker and the eraser. It’s perfect for drawing the Circle of Fifths, Key Signatures, Time Signature, Scales, Cadences, Chords, Ledger Lines and association with the placement of notes on the staff to keys on the keyboard. (Size: 11 x 16 inches)

Sounds like a fantastic teaching aid! Read more by visiting her website.

We Did It! 100 Hours!

2011-05-29T17:05:00.000-03:00

We did it! In three weeks my students worked together to sight read for 100 hours. Everyone pitched in with 10 minutes or so each day. We are raising money for Vision Health Month so students will be bringing in donations, which we will give to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind on behalf of the studio. The CNIB piggy bank is just waiting to get filled up.

It was fun watching the thermometer going up each day. I kept it up to date on my studio website. The student who was responsible for reaching 6000 minutes was very pleased with herself on Saturday.

This project has also given me some added inspiration to develop a sight reading program over the summer. I don't teach during the summer months because I need a big block of time to bring all of my creative ideas to life. This summer it's going to be all about sight reading! I have some great ideas and of course you will be the first to know as my material develops. For those of you who are on the fence about an iPad, this just might push you over the edge.

Spring Recital... We Are Winding Down!

2011-05-18T09:51:00.000-03:00

Recital Program

The past month or so has been full of interesting projects at my studio. As each goal comes and goes I can feel the year is quickly winding down.

RCM practical exams
Musicianship exams
RCM Theory exams
Sight reading for 100 hours
Studio DVD Recording
Spring Recital
Young Composers Project

The Music Room

This past weekend we had our Spring Recital. We are very fortunate to have access to a special venue called The Music Room. It is a small, intimate space for about 100 people. Students have the opportunity to play a beautiful Steinway concert grand.
In the hustle and bustle of concert day I didn't have time to take pictures, but hopefully some of my piano parents will soon send me photos, as we did some group shots at the end of the concert.

I had a little extra fun with the program this year. I opted for a swirly design on bright spring colors. Oh and we had matching butterfly and flower cookies too!

I have read many blog posts on creative ideas for theme recitals. This is one area I want to improve next year. My recitals tend to be rather traditional and I would love to put more effort into creative performances. As soon as May settles down the brainstorming for next year can begin.

Piano Pedagogy Certificate Program

2011-05-12T10:07:00.000-03:00

The Piano Pedagogy Certificate Program from RCM is designed to strengthen the qualifications and teaching techniques of private studio teachers. Pedagogical ability and accomplishment are assessed through a three-level examination and certificate program.

Elementary Piano Pedagogy (teaching beginner to grade 2)
Intermediate Piano Pedagogy (teaching grade 3 to grade 6)
Advanced Piano Pedagogy (teaching grade 7 to grade 10)

The Elementary Piano Pedagogy Certificate is awarded upon completion of three components:

Grade 9 Piano Certificate - requires the Grade 9 practical exam along with theory, harmony and history co-requisites.
Viva Voce (oral) Examination (45 minutes) - Candidates must plan a balanced program of fourteen teaching repertoire samples and be prepared to perform and discuss teaching approaches for each. There is a discussion of material used for sight reading, technique and ear training. Beginner piano methods are described and compared. Additional topics include general pedagogy, the professional studio, working with beginning students, how to develop technique, sense of rhythm and artistry.
Written Examination - A 3 hour exam in which the candidate will discuss general pedagogy topics, the professional studio, beginner methods, the beginning students, technique, artistry and strategies for teaching selected repertoire.

(The information above is from the RCM Piano Syllabus 2008.)

I decided it would be ~~fun~~ interesting to work toward completing this program. My first written exam is tomorrow morning. I would love to hear from those of you who have done these exams before or have prepared students for them.

Sight Reading Month is Working!

2011-05-10T09:54:00.000-03:00

Last week I presented my students with the idea that we would work together as a studio to sight read for 100 hours this month. We will be raising money for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) because May is Vision Health Month.

I put together a BIG box of random sight reading books. At each lesson the students pick out any two books to borrow for the week. We are trying to keep it fun and not too tricky.

We will be tracking our sight reading minutes for four weeks. To reach the 100 hour goal, each student will need to sight read for just 10 minutes each day. The first ten minutes are done during lesson time, where we have been sight reading duets together. Fun!

Yesterday was the first day that charts started coming back to me and we are off to a great start! All of my Monday students spent time sight reading and made a good contribution towards our 100 hour goal. I found an online thermometer generator that I will put on my website so students can watch us get closer to our goal. I wonder if we can do it?

It's Photoshop Friday!

2011-05-06T08:15:00.000-03:00

It's Friday, so you know what that means. Oh, and it's my birthday.

So why am I blogging?

2011-05-05T11:20:00.000-03:00

Many of you have been blogging for years. I am so impressed by this. I have only been at it for two months and already I have run into a week where there just isn't time to do it all.

Maybe this is a good time to share why I started this blog.

In March I signed myself up to take a number of exams through the Canadian RCM system. I am a dedicated self-learner so I made this my year to brush up my playing skills and musical knowledge. Other years you would have seen me poring over textbooks learning HTML or trying to figure out how to animate cartoons. You know by now, I have a lot of hobbies.

In nine days I'm writing a Piano Pedagogy exam. I have to say, the requirements for this exam are quite vague and I suspect that experience alone will get me through most of the questions. However, I am not so bold to think that I shouldn't study or prepare.

I could have gathered up all of my pedagogy texts and curled up with a coffee to read for two months. But instead I decided the best thing for me is to make a regular habit of thinking, writing and reading about teaching.

Creating this blog has been a wonderful way for me to 'study' for my exam. It gives me a place to ponder and pursue a variety of topics as they come up in my teaching life. Plus I love reading what all of you are thinking about and working on in your studios.

So "The Art of Successful Teaching" and "Practical Piano Pedagogy" will remain in my bookshelf, I will trust in my own thoughts and experience and continue to be inspired by all of you as I count down to my exam next Friday.

May is Vision Health Month

2011-05-02T12:16:00.000-03:00

I feel the need to do something special in my studio to remind my students that sight reading is fun! Wendy shared an idea that she saw in the April MTNA e-Journal about National Sight-Saving Month and how Patricia Powell uses this as an opportunity to raise funds for a local visual health charity.

This is a great idea! Starting today my students will be keeping track of how many minutes they sight read each day. I have a big box of sight reading material which I will lend out. We will keep this up for four weeks.

Here is the little chart that each student will receive at the beginning of each week.

I will ask parents and friends to make pledges for the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind) in support of Vision Health Month based upon the number of hours we collectively sight read as a studio. I think a good goal for the month is 100 hours. I am planning on pledging $1 per hour of sight reading.

I think this is going to be fun!

My old cassette recording discovered!

2011-04-25T08:57:00.001-03:00

When I was 15 years old I played the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in our music festival. The festival was an hour away so my older brother drove and went to the competition with me. He wanted to record my performance so he hid a small cassette recorder in his coat pocket.

The other day I was rummaging through a box of old stuff and look what I found. I haven't heard this cassette in years. In fact, I don't even own a cassette player so it has just been sitting on my desk all week.

This weekend, my husband and I took a little road trip to visit his parents. I brought my old tape, knowing that they are set up to record from cassette to Garageband and then burn to CD.

We popped the cassette into the tape deck and I quietly hoped that the 25 year old tape wouldn't break into pieces. Rewind to start. Play. Sure enough there was the crackling of the recorder in my brother's winter coat, then the second piano's introduction and then me.

Here is part of the recording (this is Google's Flash player). I'm also experimenting with Dropbox as a solution for easily sharing files. Let's see if this works.

Honestly, I don't remember playing like this when I was 15. I'm so pleased to have this recording with all of it's crackles and terrible sound quality. I hope my students will one day look back on their video recordings with the same pride and delight.

Maybe some of you would like to take a trip down memory lane on your own blogs this week. Do you have old photos or recordings from your musical childhood? Do you have a way of preserving memories for your own students?

Look Ahead Folks!

2011-04-19T08:55:00.000-03:00

Sight reading is like driving a car. You're just taking a leisurely drive along on a nice country road. Look ahead so you don't hit any potholes, and if you do please don't turn around and drive over it again!

Personally, I love sight reading. As a kid I was always at the piano figuring out how to play new songs from the stack of music books we had in our storage closet. Throughout high school and university, sight reading for church choirs and singers was my bread and butter.

When I was little, I liked it when my special Grampie Bain would take me for a drive, but sometimes I'd feel car sick because he had a habit of taking his foot on and off the gas. Then he'd drive really slow so he could wave to the neighbors. Why do my students sight read like this?

Some teachers do not agree with counting out load when sight reading, but personally I think it is an essential basic skill. When students are verbalizing they are far more likely to sight read with an accurate sense of rhythm instead of guessing. It's like showing your work in math. These days I insist on "and" counting (1 and 2 and) because it slows them down to a more realistic tempo. It is important to find the speed at which they are able to process the notes on the page. Before my students sight read I ask them to raise their right hand and repeat, "and" counting always makes it better.

But here is the issue I am struggling with...

I find that most of my students are not able to look ahead and process the measure that is coming. They seem to struggle with reading fluently. I should point out that I am referring to students who are 12-16 years old, who should be able to process material at a more advanced level.

I am trying to come up with some ideas to help develop the ability to look ahead. It just isn't enough to work on note flashcards, clap n' count rhythms and weekly sight reading.

Here are a few ideas that I think I should explore further:

Flashcards with single notes in RH and LH to be played together. I think it would help train students to quickly process two or three notes at once.
Flashcards with one measure patterns which are studied then played memorized. Students need to process larger patterns and see groups rather than reading note by note.

I tend to use the Four Star Sight Reading Series since many of my students follow the RCM curriculum. I wonder if any of you have other favorite sight reading books?

Is there anybody out there using a series called "Improve Your Sight Reading" by Paul Harris? These look very interesting, but I've never had a chance to take a close look.

"Honk" if you wish your students were better sight readers too.

Video Shoot Behind the Scenes

2011-04-18T09:56:00.000-03:00

My best hint for videotaping is...use a tripod. You may think you have a steady hand, but believe me a tripod makes all the difference. I'm using a Canon T2i DSLR camera, which shoots in HD video.

Do the very best you can with audio. The camera's audio quality is just okay, so for special projects I try to record the audio from a separate source. This little Handy Recorder sits on top of my piano and records in stereo. I import the files into my computer and swap out the audio. The microphone in my camera picks up all the room noise, rain on the windows, trucks driving by and distorts the piano. This little Handy Recorder is a great solution.

The top of my piano is never this tidy! The trickiest thing for me is lighting. I love my big windows, but it's difficult shooting into the light. I bring in extra lamps for as much light on the keys as possible.

Then I take the video and audio files and transfer them into my computer. I use iMovie, the free software that comes with Apple computers to create each video. All I have to do is replace the audio, add some text and some nice transitions. If you have a YouTube account it is easy to export the video to YouTube. When all of my videos are complete, I will collect them into a DVD project and burn a master for duplication.

The Annual DVD Project Begins

2011-04-17T10:42:00.000-03:00

As of today we are officially finished with scales, triads and such. Last week I had 12 students take RCM exams and 12 students take Musicianship Exams. We are done with skills and drills and now we are ready to have some fun!

So the next big project (which begins today) is videotaping for our annual Studio DVD. Everyone prepares a favorite piece and we record it during lesson time this week.

I will need to invest quite a few hours to prepare the videos for DVD. But it's easier than you might think using a combination of Garageband, iMovie and iDVD.

The final project is a complete Studio DVD which everyone receives. Each family pays $10 to cover the cost of professional duplication. It is so nice for students to be able to look back and see how they have grown and improved with their music over time.

I also post my students' videos on YouTube for a period of about two months. They love being able to share it with friends and family who otherwise would never have the chance to hear them play piano. I keep these videos in my own YouTube account so I can watch and control comments. After two months I delete all the videos.

I find that this project is also a very good way to recruit new piano students. Spring is the time of year you want new families to contact you for Fall registration. The best form of advertising is word of mouth and the videos stir up interest and excitement for piano lessons.

Just Practice! iPod App Review

2011-03-24T10:44:00.000-03:00

This year I decided to challenge myself to some professional development goals. So I signed myself up to take several exams this spring (more about that later, that's a whole different topic).

I picked out my repertoire and I've been practicing like mad... and it feels great!

Being an organized/creative sort of person I thought it might be motivating to keep track of my practicing on my new iPad. After a bit of exploring in the online app store I discovered a wonderful free app called Just Practice. It's a Practice Log for musicians based on the premise "Plan your Practice, and Practice your Plan".

You start by creating a list of pieces with goals for the week. Each practice session is logged along with your comments for the session. A metronome is included and you can record yourself for critical appraisal. View reports by day, week and by piece to see how well your plan has been followed.

Here's a quick little video demo that I did just for you. If you watch closely you'll notice how little I practiced last week... hmmm... I'd better find a better balance between blogging and practicing!

This is Mikey. You'll Likey.

2011-03-23T09:38:00.000-03:00

My husband bought me a present. He was away all weekend and came back with Mikey!

I've been wishing for a really easy way to record the piano and quickly be able to email the file to a student. Wouldn't that be handy?

Mikey is a professional Blue microphone designed to work with most iPod models. Sadly, it isn't compatible with my iPad, but it works like a charm with my iPhone (did I mention I'm an Apple fan?)
It records in stereo with three different sensitivity settings. The middle setting is perfect for recording piano.

All you have to do is download a recording app from the App Store. BlueFiRe is the free app recommended by the Blue Microphones company. Unfortunately there was no email feature, so I found another app called iProRecorder and it does the job very well for just $1.

Here is a recording of me playing Bach's "Prelude in B Flat Major". I just emailed it to myself and uploaded to Blogger. Let's see if this little Google mp3 player works... give it a try and let me know (it's a Flash player so mobile users may not see it).

Now let's listen to a comparison. I recorded myself (Faure's Barcarolle #4) using the iPad built-in microphone and then again using Mikey on my iPhone. Check out the results!

iPad built-in mic:

Mikey:

Dear Anne Crosby...

2011-03-22T08:51:00.000-03:00

Every so often I get a little surprise like this in my mailbox (yes, real mail)

More Clothespin Fun

2011-03-21T08:59:00.000-03:00

Back to the clothespins. I can't believe that after all these years it never occurred to me that clothespins make the best little fingertip workout!

I can remember "making donuts" with my students by pressing fingertips 1-2, then 1-3, 1-4 and 1-5; trying to keep the shape rounded with no knuckle buckles.

You can find all kinds of fun little clothespin gadgets at your favorite craft store. My singing frog was unfinished so I painted her yesterday and I think my students will love making her "sing" this week.

We did the fingertip workout with the ladybug clothespins last week and it worked like a charm. Using fingers 1-2 we squeeze and let go about four times... no knuckle buckles! Then switch to fingers 1-3. Students quickly discover that the finger 1-4 combination is more difficult and we just try to get a little press from fingers 1-5.

Gee, I feel like I should make a finger aerobics video! Now that would be fun.

Creative Transposing

2011-03-20T10:21:00.000-03:00

When I started taking piano lessons, learning how to transpose was not part of the curriculum as it is now. I started with middle C and learned the notes one by one completely oblivious to intervals, chords and keys. I just read the notes in front of me and I was pretty good at it.

During my masters degree we used an intervallic reading method with our young children, this was a whole new approach for me. Our students were superstars at reading skips and steps and flew through their five finger patterns and circle of fifths. Transposing based upon interval reading was a standard ingredient of the weekly lesson plan.

These days I prefer to use transposing to encourage creativity and imagination; the perfect musical playground is Piano Adventures, Level 2a.

Major Minor Match

By this time my students have learned their white key major and minor five-finger patterns - they know all about "finger three goes down one key". We also play the Major Minor Match game, which you can find on Piano Discoveries.

As you may know, transposing is introduced with "Ice Cream" and "More Ice Cream" and is encouraged throughout the book. But transposing from C Major to G Major hardly captivates the imagination, so I like to give some of these pieces a more creative twist.

In "My Daydream" we are watching the fluffy white clouds in the sky. What happens when we transpose down to A Minor? The clouds become dark and stormy.

"The Woodchuck" is in a very good mood when played in G Major. Could we make him sound like an angry woodchuck by transposing him to G Minor? Play him more slowly D Minor and it sounds like all that wood gave him a tummy ache! Would he sound like a sleepy woodchuck if we played him quietly up high in C Major and with the damper pedal?

We can also give "Pirate of the North Sea" a variety of moods and characters by transposing and changing the dynamics and range. What fun!

Penelope the Hand Position Pig

2011-03-19T08:12:00.000-03:00

I think Penelope speaks for herself! If you are lucky you can also find the matching chick, frog and dog.

Penelope the hand position pig

Clothespin Project Revealed

2011-03-18T07:26:00.000-03:00

The other day I had a little bag of clothespins sitting on my desk and I wasn't quite sure what I would create. It looks like they have become a matching game for my junior level students. Hangin' Out the Socks was a hit yesterday!

I designed a template for you with empty socks so you can print and fill in your own musical terms and signs. Just click here to view and download the template from Google Docs. This is my first time using Google Docs, hope it works for you. You can also download the template by visiting my Piano Discoveries website.

Print in full color on heavy card stock
Cut the page in half and trim
Tape the pages together in the middle for a long landscape
I printed two pages so I could have another set of socks on the flip side (which means there is another sign on the other side of the clothespin)

This is a great place to test musical signs, note values, dynamics and music terminology. Have fun!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T09:17:00.000-03:00

When I saw Sheryl's St. Patrick's Day post I thought, "that's it, I'm doing something special for my St. Paddy's Day students". So I prepared my little baggies of chocolate coins and I know they will love it.

I have a lot of rather advanced teenagers in my studio this year, sometimes I forget to have a little fun with them.

Thanks for the bit o' inspiration.

A Clothespin Project

2011-03-16T10:47:00.000-03:00

Every so often I like to wander through the aisles at Michael's and pick up a few things that have the potential to become teaching aids.

Yesterday I found a package of 24 little clothespins. I didn't know at the time what they might become, but today an idea is starting to brew!

My fellow bloggers, you are all so wonderfully creative. I wonder what you would do with a bag of clothespins? Have you seen Jen's Clothesline Rhythms? Who else has a smart idea to share?

Check back in a couple days to see how my project turned out.

Review "Write, Play, and Hear Your Theory Every Day"

2011-03-15T13:10:00.000-03:00

I have been pleasantly surprised with the Write, Play, and Hear Your Theory Every Day series by Helen Marlais (published by FJH). I used the first three levels with about a dozen students this year and the curriculum fit like a glove.

The sequencing of concepts is very well planned, and it adapts beautifully as a supplement to a variety of beginner methods. Personally, I like using it alongside Hal Leonard level 2, Piano Adventures 2a and RCM grades 2 and 3.

The page layout is friendly for children. My students are eager to jump in each week and complete a few new pages during lesson time, plus they are perfectly successful with finishing pages at home. The book follows a consistent plan for skill development including written theory, rhythm activities, sight reading, ear training and always a fun activity page. I found it to be a perfect blend of variety and routine.

I don't know how FJH does it, but the price is amazing! The books come with a CD and still are priced well under $10.00 in Canada. Personally, if I could buy the books without the CD I would. I gave the recordings a good try, but I found they slowed down my lesson pacing and I needed more flexibility with some of the ear training exercises. If a student was working independently at home the CDs may be more useful.

Book 1 - introduces the basics including intervals, guide notes, basic rhythm values, accidentals, half step and whole steps, and five-finger patterns.
Book 2 - students learn more notes on the staff as well as intervals, half and whole steps, major and minor five-finger patterns, key signatures and more.
Book 3 - introduces new concepts such as ledger lines, intervals up to an octave, major one-octave scales beyond C, G and F major, naming major key signatures, dotted quarter notes and additional music vocabulary.
I discovered on the FJH website that book 4 is now available. It introduces new concepts including: 6/8, relative minor scales, major and minor key signatures, primary triads and the dominant 7th, subdominant and dominant 7th chords and cadences.

If you are looking for a break from your favorite method's theory book, Write, Play, and Hear Your Theory Every Day is an excellent alternative. I give it the P.U.F.F. Award for being practical, useful, friendly and fun!

In My Dreams

2011-03-14T10:15:00.000-03:00

In My Dreams (1996)

My first collection of piano solos, In My Dreams, was published 15 years ago. I had recently completed my masters degree and was teaching full time in a tiny apartment (and loving it!)

The pieces were written for my young students at the time. I wanted to provide music that was fun to play, impressive to hear and captured the child's imagination. At the same time I felt it was important to include the technical tools and musical concepts they were learning. I love knowing that those children are now off living their lives with university degrees, jobs and families of their own.

I was extremely fortunate to have the Frederick Harris Music Company agree to publish the collection. It has been used on countless exams, festivals and recitals over the years. I have a treasure box full of letters from students and teachers who have written to me about playing and teaching these pieces.

More recently, I have discovered my In My Dreams solos popping up on YouTube. Just a month or so ago a family sent me a video of their daughter performing "Robots" complete with her Robot costume and Robot voice. What a delightful treat!

So I thought it might be interesting to record myself and post the videos on YouTube for teachers and their students to use as a study tool. The link below is my performance of "In My Dreams". It has been a great teaching piece for dotted quarter note rhythms, balance and legato pedaling.

You can view the video recordings of the entire collection by visiting my In My Dreams videos page.

The other solos include:

In My Dreams
Little Elves and Pixies
Can't Catch Me
Moonlight on the Water
Robots
Floating in Space
Funny Puppy
The Stormy Sea
The Waterfall
Celebration

The Ladybugs Teaching Aid

2011-03-13T12:13:00.000-03:00

If you have already visited my www.pianodiscoveries.ca website you likely know that I love to create teaching aids, games and an assortment of colorful activities for my students.

Without a doubt, the ladybugs are a favorite teaching aid in my studio! They are wonderful for visualizing all sorts of patterns from scales and triads to advanced intervals.

Initially I made my set of ladybugs for the Leaping Ladybugs game, but they seem to get used for so much more! They are colorful and fun. How can theory be dull when you are building scales with friendly little ladybugs?
You just need two things from your craft store:

a package of 8 really cute buttons (I'd love to make a set of bumblebees or frogs)
a pack of clay that bakes in the oven

Cut the clay into 8 equal squares and roll them into spheres (about 3/4 inch). Then press the buttons into the clay to make a hole on top and a flat bottom surface (you don't want them to roll around). Remove the buttons. Now bake the clay according to the directions. When they are cool you can snap the buttons back into their holes. I put a bit of glue in the hole first just to make sure they stay in place.

Have fun, this is a quick and colorful rainy day craft that will add a bit of 'play' to your teaching.

Crayola Dry Erase Activity Center

2011-03-12T17:31:00.000-04:00

My dry erase board

It can nearly break the bank to laminate all the worksheets and activity pages we create for our students. Driving home from Staples one day last summer (having just spent way too much money on laminating) I thought how clever it would be to have some kind of pocket contraption that allowed you to slip a worksheet inside and then use dry erase marker on the surface.

I thought I was about to become a millionaire! But apparently Crayola thought of this brilliant idea before I did.
The dry erase activity center from Crayola is the best thing ever! It comes with four markers and a little eraser tool, which mount to the sturdy board. Just slip your 8 1/2 x 11 sheet in the side slot and you are ready to go. In Canada it was under $15.

My dry erase board is always out on the theory table and gets used constantly. My young students practice their clefs and landmark notes here and the older students fill in the circle of fifths chart.

Make your own activity sheets or you can download various pages for free at www.pianodiscoveries.ca. I find it's worth investing a little extra money on full color printing with good quality paper.

Thanks Crayola!

Meet Patrick the Penguin

2011-03-11T09:19:00.000-04:00

Patrick the Penguin

You can usually find Patrick the Penguin somewhere on my baby grand. He comes out frequently to help my young students with a rounded hand shape.

You see, Patrick likes to get cozy in the igloo.

Make a rounded hand shape, like an igloo and Patrick can go inside. Don't let the igloo melt!

Oh, watch out for a wrist mountain. Patrick is too nervous for downhill skiing, he would rather go skating on a nice level arm. Sit back on the bench with nice piano posture and Patrick will come out for a skate.

I "heart" my iPad

2011-03-10T13:01:00.000-04:00

I am a huge Mac fan.

When the iPad became available in Canada last year I wasn't completely convinced it was for me. It's a pricey item, so I wanted to be sure that I would make the most of it in both work and play.

So I pored over my pros and cons and eventually the pros won. Now it is my favorite thing and I use it all the time when I'm teaching.

It is very handy having my entire iTunes library ready to go at the push of a button. It is easier and faster than ever to listen to recordings with the students. The iPad has speakers, but I can quickly connect to my external speakers and have amazing sound.
YouTube is a great resource during lesson time. For example, my senior students enjoy hearing their repertoire performed by a variety of pianists. I can only wish I had that resource at my fingertips as a teenager.
Having quick and easy access to the internet is a convenient tool during lesson time too. We often check Google images to see pictures of the composers, helping bring them to life as real people. Or we may look up images to help visualize the title of a piece, like "Hornpipe" or "Pagoda".
Being able to retrieve email quickly and quietly on the iPad helps eliminate phone interruptions. I don't answer the phone during lessons, but it's nice to stay on top of email from piano parents when things come up last minute.

These are just the basics of what an iPad has to offer in your studio. I haven't even touched on all the apps that are available plus other creative uses that I have discovered this year. We have much more to talk about.

The iPad is quick, convenient... and awesome. That's important to me when every minute counts during lesson time.

Menagerie by Olson

2011-03-09T13:41:00.000-04:00

Menagerie by Lynn Freeman Olson

It's only fitting that my first real blog post should take me all the way back to my early piano studies.

When I was 8 years old, my teacher gave me a collection of piano solos called Menagerie, by Lynn Freeman Olson. Since my sister's name is Lynn, of course I thought he was a she for the longest time; I couldn't exactly Google the composer's name in 1976.

I remember these as the first pieces that truly captured my musical imagination. I felt that I was creating the character of each delightful critter with my fingertips.

I played every song in the book, but my favorites were "The Sandpiper" who hopped along the black keys as though running on the beach, "The Flamingo" who made beautiful shimmers in the water, and "The Prickly Porcupine" whose sad tale came to life in a mysterious 6/8 time signature.

I recall having the opportunity to play these pieces on the local radio station. I only vaguely remember the details because I was so nervous. But I do remember being in that tiny recording room with the old upright piano and microphones. And I can still feel the thrill of sitting at home with my parents hearing my performance on the radio.

Note from my teacher, Hetty Jackson (1976)

While studying at the University of Michigan, I discovered a modest collection of masterclass videos by Lynn Freeman Olson (that's when I discovered she was he). I am pleased and proud to have received my training in the spirit of his approach to piano pedagogy. He died in 1987, but his style of teaching and composing continue to have an influence on me.

As a final note (having just done the math), Olson would have been just 25 years old when Menagerie was first published by Oxford University Press in 1963. I was about the same age when my first collection of piano solos, In My Dreams was published.