Has anyone met a piano student who doesn’t LOVE sheet music? There’s something especially exciting and motivating about the stuff. My students love to play it… and some of them also love to MAKE it. During summer lessons, I make an extra effort to encourage creative projects in my studio. Many students opt to compose a piece or two (or three…). Once they’re satisfied … Continue reading
Reader Bethany Ostler wrote to me this week and gave me permission to share this fun winter-themed composing worksheet she created: Students can choose an idea from the sheet and use the lyrics given to create the first line of a composition, then add several more lines of their own. Some students might also choose to use the ideas as an inspiration for a … Continue reading
Many of my elementary students are bringing in first drafts of their Halloween compositions to their lessons this week, which has been a breath of fresh air for me! I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how competent many are becoming at writing on the staff, and also at how creative they’ve been about adding “sound effects” like pedal and 8va markings, dynamics and articulations to make … Continue reading
This week is the first group week of the new school year in my studio! I’m really excited to be starting group lessons again – they’re always my favorite part of each month. I’ve been busy working on some new activities, which means I’ll have LOTS of new things to post over the next week or two (to make up for all the posting … Continue reading
One of my goals for this summer’s lessons is to have my students do more composing. There was a really interesting article on the ComposeCreate blog last month that inspired me to incorporate more writing into my lessons. In a nutshell, the author suggested that writing music is great training for reading music – especially for students who struggle with notereading. … Continue reading
As a follow-up to the Connect-A-Chord game I used at my April group classes, I whipped up several short melody harmonization worksheets. I’m planning to do more composing and improv with students over the summer, and these make a great “warm-up” activity to get us thinking that way again. The Connect-A-Chord game challenged students to think of all the possible triads that could go … Continue reading
It’s group week in my studio this week, which meant it was a perfect week to work on some Halloween-themed activities. I always use group lessons as an opportunity for students to perform for each other, then spend extensive time on rhythm, listening and theory for the rest of the hour. Here’s what we’re doing this week: I found some fantastic re-written lyrics to the … Continue reading