Category: music lessons

Another Valentine’s Day Themed Music Activity!

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Conductor's BouquetThis Valentine’s Day Themed Conductors Bouquet is going to be used in 3 ways in my studio next week:

– To teach kids which hand plays treble clef notes and which plays bass clef notes

– To teach kids how to feel different time signatures by conducting with the wands

– As a decoration to brighten up the studio so I can see kids’ faces light up as they enter for their lessons

When students arrive for lessons, I will be playing Bob Marley’s “One Love” and Annie Lennox and Al Green’s “Put A Little Love In Your Heart”. The Student will take a wand from the bouquet and using the correct hand for the symbol on the heart join me in conducting the song. We will extend the activity by conducting some of the pieces that they are working on as well. At the end of their lesson they will get to take the wand home to keep!

Here’s what you need in order to do this activity:

1. Valentine’s Wands from Dollar Tree (They come in packs of 3)

2. A sharpie marker to draw bass clef and treble clef symbols on the hearts

3. A nice vase to keep them in

4. Songs of different time signatures

That’s it!

Before we go I have a question: What other Valentine Themed songs can you suggest with different time signatures that can be used in this lesson? Please let me know in a comment below!

Valentine’s Day Piano Fun

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Valentine's Piano ActivitiesValentine’s Day gives piano teachers loads of ways to infuse fresh excitement into the piano lesson! Today I’m highlighting an idea from Susan Paradis’ blog which helps kids review notes on the grand staff. Her great idea is centered around an intriguing question,

“Are You A Line Or A Space?”

If you are looking for a quick, fun, and effective music theory activity with a Valentine’s Day theme to start or end your piano lesson you should definitely give this one a try!

Click the video below to hear what one of my students said when I asked her the question…It will make you LAUGH!

Tomorrow’s post will feature another exciting idea from a piano blogger! In the meantime, check out these past Valentine’s Day posts from Kids & Keys:

Music Heals Broken Hearts – A Rhythm Notation Activity

Valentine Steps – Practice reading stepping patterns on a staff

It Takes Two Generations…

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Become an even wiser piano parent by reading this!

elissamilne's avatarElissa Milne

This year I have had a handful of gorgeous beginners taking lessons with me. I’m trialling new material for beginners and I need a cohort of children of different ages, genders, interests and learning styles so I can really test a range of approaches I believe will be more effective than the approaches I’ve used in the past. I haven’t auditioned these new students prior to accepting them into my studio –  inviting a diverse group of children to explore the piano and learn musicianship and performance skills with me gives me my best chance of testing my material (as well as keeping me on my toes!).

Of all the diversities amongst these beginners the greatest is probably this: some children come from families of professional musicians while some come from families where no one has ever learned an instrument.

What does this mean? On the surface it means that…

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Quick Lesson Plans for Teaching “G” on the Grand Staff and Keyboard

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giraffes

Go ahead, accuse me of seeing EVERYTHING through piano eyes. I can’t help it. I just do! Really I just look for ways to use things I love in my piano teaching. What’s the latest thing I love to be incorporated into lessons? The giraffe!

The giraffe is my absolute favorite animal because it’s long neck allows it to see everything. The other thing I like about giraffes is that they are pretty quiet. I like to think that it is because they are so busy watching all the things that their long neck makes it possible for them to see! Here are two ways to use this information for piano lessons:

Keyboard Topography: This works well with very young students age 5-6 and under. Using a toy giraffe that fits on the piano keys (I bought a finger giraffe from Oriental Trading Co.), place the giraffe on the G key. Help your student find all the G’s on the piano. Then read the story “Giraffes Can’t Dance”,  and every time you get to the phrase “Giraffes Can’t Dance” have the student play the G key. You can even add in an extra “Giraffes Can’t Dance” after each page so that the student gets a lot of practice at finding the note.

Grand Staff Notation: This works well with students of any age. Show the student a visual of a giraffe. (I bought mine at T J Maxx and it sits on my piano). Draw a high G on the Grand Staff or Treble Clef Staff. Point out that just as the giraffe is tall enough to look down on all the other animals, the high G sits up high enough on the staff to look down on all the other notes. Then whenever your student has trouble remembering that high G note, just point to your giraffe to remind them!

That’s it! 2 lesson plans from 1 simple prop.

Presenting Songs As “Gifts”

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Joy Gift

What are most piano teachers thinking about in October? Christmas! Yes, we have to think about Christmas now so that our students have a chance at sounding great when they play Christmas Carols for friends and family during the holidays. Of course it is never to early to help children understand that nothing just happens and that getting good at something takes time. That is why this week in my studio, students are receiving their “Christmas Presents” from me. These are not your ordinary Christmas Presents! They are literally the gift of music. Each child has a wrapped present with their name on it and inside is a label (available on Susan Paradis’ website) with the title of their Christmas piece. At first  the children are a little bit confused because they are used to getting toys and other items when they unwrap gifts – never just song titles! That’s when I begin to explain to them that this is their very own solo that no one else in the studio will be allowed to play!

Happy song gift

The next thing is that they get to keep the box with their song title and put it on their piano at home. I tell them that they should practice this song every day at home and then check inside their box afterwards to see if mom or dad has left anything special inside for them. Of course I give the parents a warning beforehand. Parents can choose whatever incentive they want to give their child. It can even be something as simple as an “I’m so proud of your playing” note.

One more thing makes this activity so fun – they get to see the unopened presents of other students and begin to wonder out loud what’s inside and why their box is bigger or smaller than the others! Sometimes they even want to know what they can do to get a bigger box next time!

Song Gifts

 

Return To Music Day

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The dynamic duo at teachpianotoday.com is doing it again – bringing us an amazing opportunity to get out and do some good with music. Trevor and Andrea Dow are the ones who brought us Piano Geek Week, Shh… Your Piano Teacher Thinks This Is Practice, and a host of other resources. Their latest venture is Return To Music Day. Return To Music Day is set for Oct. 19, 2013 and is designed to get all those people who gave up lessons for whatever reason to come back! Maybe it’s the adult who regrets not having stuck with lessons as a kid or maybe it’s the kid who has been begging for lessons and parents said they couldn’t afford it. They are out there and you know them!

Thanks to Return To Music Day you can be their hero by offering them a piano lesson for just $5.   Yes, just $5. But wait – there’s more! Not only are you only going to charge $5 for this lesson, you are going to donate that entire $5 to a worthy organization – Musicians On Call. Musicians On Call provides musicians to play for patients in hospitals. But wait – there’s even more! By participating in Return To Music Day you will not only get that warm fuzzy feeling of having done something good for others, but you will also get to grow your studio!!!

I am participating in Return To Music Day and I hope you will be too! Get more details and sign up at www.returntomusicday.com

 

Congratulations To…

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Congratulations to Carly for winning the SightReadPlus ipad app giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered the drawing. Stay tuned to Kids & Keys for more creative piano teaching tips and another giveaway coming soon…

SightReadPlus App Review and Giveaway!

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SightReadPlus

Sight-Reading can be a very intimidating thing for piano students. We take a great deal of time teaching students how to practice to perfect pieces, and although they may not enjoy doing so, at least they get to do it without having an audience present. On the other hand a significant part of being a musician involves playing from scores that you have never seen. Hence, the need to practice sight-reading. The difference with practicing sight-reading is that you cannot stop and correct mistakes. You cannot play the same exercise multiple times because then you are not sight-reading!  When using printed sheet music exercises for sight-reading practice students tend to practice in the same way that they practice their lesson pieces.  All of this can be very frustrating for both student and teacher. That’s why in my opinion the iPad app SightReadPlus is such a great tool. Read on to find out why I think so!

Appearance: There is no clutter here! SightReadPlus has a very simple appearance which is free of distractions. If you have students with ADDHD, autism, dyslexia, or students who are very easily distracted (as I do) then this app is definitely one to try in your studio! I also like the appearance for older students (teens and adults) because it does not have a cartoonish feel. Lastly, I’d like to point out the calming blue background.  I’m not sure if the developers chose blue intentionally, but I love it because it counteracts the tension that the idea of sight-reading can evoke.

Cool Features For Students:  When students ace an exercise they get a fireworks show!  Another great thing is that the app is designed in such a way that the student can do it independently. Hand position guides prevent the necessity of the student having to ask the teacher “where do my hands go?”  There is even a finger number guide to help the student as well. As if that were not enough, the student can also touch the Rhythm button to practice clapping the rhythm before attempting to play the exercise. That’s right, no embarrassing moments here!

Cool Features For Teachers: First and foremost is the fact that this app is used with your acoustic or digital piano!!! It listens to the student play his or her instrument and gives immediate feedback. The ability to track an unlimited number of students by name is brilliant! Many other apps only allow tracking a very small number of students which can be quite frustrating especially when new students enter your studio. Another thing I find useful about SightReadPlus is its somewhat secret feature that allows the student to practice 5-finger patterns. This feature is tucked away inside the equally awesome Key Choice feature that allows you to choose the key of the sight-reading exercises. Finally, as a teacher I LOVE that there are 40 exercises in each level and when a student struggles with an exercise they are automatically required to do further practice before moving on. This shows the student that it takes a LOT of practice to develop sight-reading skill. According to one of my 11-year-old students, “It makes you want to get it right because you don’t want to redo the exercise!”

My Wish For Future Updates: One thing that would make this app even more amazing would be the addition of exercises that drill Grand Staff sight-reading.

Cost: $7.99  While the cost is more than a lot of other apps, there are no in-app purchases. That’s right, once you purchase the app you get to use ALL of the features!

I would like to give a special Thank You to Melissa Harris,  President of Cape Cod Music Apps, Inc.  for giving me the opportunity to test this app with my students.  Melissa has also graciously offered one lucky reader a FREE copy of SightReadPlus for use in their studio as well!!!