Christmas Ornaments Improvisation

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

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 Game

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.