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).
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!
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...
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).
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
Pattern Play 1
(Inspiring Creativity at the Piano). By Akiko and Forrest Kinney. For Piano. Piano improvisation. Pattern Play. Book. 48 pages. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company (FH.PT01)
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...more info
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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. 
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."
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.
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...more info
