“All intellectual improvement arises from leisure.” ~Samuel Johnson~ I ran across this quote last week, and thought it was a perfect sentiment to share during this Spring Break month. I hope during this busy springtime season that all of you find some time to refuel your creative juices and enjoy a little bit of silence. Wishing you all a happy spring break!!
I’m really excited to get to share a new series of posts with all of you this spring! Sensory Spotlight posts will give you all a little glimpse into some of the fun, hands-on toys and activities we use in my studio when we’re learning new pieces (or perhaps working on some trouble spots in not-so-new pieces!). I hope you enjoy!! Resistance Band Rhythms Does … Continue reading
Welcome, KCMTA members and friends! I’d like to say a big “thank you” to all of you who came out for the “Get Off the Bench!” workshop. I hoped you walked away with some fun new ideas to try with your students this semester! If you’re new to this site, I’d encourage you to take a look through the “Teacher Resources” menu above. You’ll … Continue reading
Happy New Year! To kick off 2012, the folks at Alberti Publishing are offering readers a $5 off coupon, good for any sheet music download from their site. Visit www.albertipublishing.com and enter the code APB560 at checkout. If you haven’t visited their site before, you’ll definitely want to stop by check it out. They have a wonderful (and ever-growing) collection of download-and-print pedagogical piano … Continue reading
It’s group lesson week in my studio… our last group week before Christmas! A couple of my groups have been working on chord analysis skills this semester, and so this month I thought it would be fun for us to do a little Christmas-themed review. Many familiar Christmas carols can be played with only a few simple diatonic chords, so they’re perfect for … Continue reading
Many a study done in recent years has shown that music, (and specifically learning to play music) makes us smarter. A new study I ran across this weekend adds an interesting new twist to what we already know about the benefits of music study: childhood music study may have lifelong impact – even into our old age. This article about a study done by … Continue reading
Greetings, WMMTA members and guests! Thanks for allowing me to join you for your kick-off meeting – I was honored to get to spend the evening with such a wonderful bunch of teachers!! As promised, here’s the link to a digital copy of the list of resources in your workshop handout, complete with links to the different resources I mentioned: I hope you’ll enjoy … Continue reading
Somehow, between returning to teaching lessons, recovering from vacation, and preparing for an exciting workshop this Friday, all of the fun new game ideas I meant to share this week haven’t made it into posts yet. But… in the meantime, here are a handful of odds and ends you might find useful, interesting or entertaining: Musikopoly Incentive Editable Files are OnlineFor any of you who … Continue reading
Let me start with a disclaimer: This post has absolutely NO educational value. That said, I couldn’t resist sharing. I discovered this little piece of student artwork last night as I was digging through my office closet, pulling out supplies for the new studio incentive I’m working on at the moment. A former student drew this on a marker board one day as … Continue reading
The winners of the Pianimation launch store giveaway are……. #3 – Alice, who wins a copy of Hands-On-Rhythms, and #25 – Karen, who wins a copy of Head and Shoulders, Ears and Toes Congratulations, Alice and Karen!! Look for a separate email from me with links to download your copies. Thanks to all of you left comments and kind words about the site – … Continue reading