An “off” day in the studio a couple of weeks ago provided the inspiration for this activity. I’d like to blame this on a change in the weather or perhaps a few brains that had checked out early for Thanksgiving break, but I spent a day listening to student after student play through familiar Christmas tunes, missing notes and seeming oblivious to the errors. Call … Continue reading
It’s group lesson week again in my studio, and since it’s our last group lesson week before Christmas break, I’ve been incorporating Christmas tunes and themes into many of our activities. I used the following activity with groups of first-year students this week: In previous groups, we had been learning to recognize simple melodic patterns (up, down, repeat) both aurally and visually. For this activity, I made signs … Continue reading
Sometimes the best ideas come from students! This new twist on a couple of old games was born last week during an elementary student’s lesson. We were ready to take a mid-lesson break from the piano and I had materials for Boomwhacker flashcards handy (see previous post). My student had other ideas! She ran over to a bowl of alphabet cards I had on a … Continue reading