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2019 Summer Review Challenge Calendars!

5/22/2019

My summer review challenge calendars were a big hit last year...so this year I decided to do three new calendars: one for June, July, and August of 2019!

These calendars are a fun way to help students review and keep up their skills over summer break. Students are given a challenge for each day of the month, including:

Listening to a famous piece of music (all of the listed pieces can be found easily on YouTube)
Sight-reading a new piece
Reviewing a favorite repertoire piece
Playing a piece for a friend
Reviewing scales, chords, and music vocabulary
Improvising
Playing a familiar tune by ear
Clapping and writing out rhythms
Reading about famous composers

I tried to keep these challenges short (most can be done in 5 minutes or less) and broad enough that they are accessible to students of all ages and levels.

Get your free summer review challenge calendars HERE. Enjoy!

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Freebie Alert!

5/17/2019

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Like many of you, I am in the midst of end-of-the-school-year craziness here! However, I wanted to pop in and let everyone know that my piece "Party Time Rag" is the weekend freebie over at Piano Pronto!

This piece is from my "Hit Singles" collection and is playable by either right hand or left hand alone--and features a special "party time" surprise in the middle! This one-hand collection would be great to have on hand (pun intended) for those students who come to lessons with a broken arm or wrist--and the pieces could also be used as technical studies for any student that wanted to develop dexterity in each hand.

Click HERE or on the cover above to get your free copy. And while you are at Piano Pronto, check out my "Hit Singles," Ready to Rock," and "Let's Quest!" collections that are on sale for a limited time!

I'll be back soon with a wrap-up of my studio-wide "Living Composer" project, as well as more fun summer freebies for your students. So, stay tuned!

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My Favorite Teaching Tools: Part Two

4/19/2019

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Click HERE to read "My Favorite Teaching Tools: Part One."

Today I am sharing another inexpensive teaching tool that I find myself using again and again with my students--mini erasers! I found my lucky cat Iwako puzzle erasers (pictured on the left) on Amazon, but any small eraser will work. It just needs to be a good size to fit on the piano keys. And cuteness is always a plus!

I have found these erasers to be helpful for a variety of activities--from theory, to technique, to practice skills. I have used these with my youngest students, and even my middle- and high school students love them. So, without further ado, here are a few ways you can use these erasers with your students!

Mini erasers are the perfect size for identifying patterns on the keyboard. Place them on the piano keys to practice:

Identifying key names, landmark notes, and high or low notes
Finding half steps and whole steps
Building intervals
Building major and minor scales and chords
Inversions of chords

Erasers make working on technique fun! Try the following technique activities with your students:

Imagine making a “house” for the eraser to work on a rounded hand shape.
“Ride” the eraser across the keys on the back of the hand to play a smooth legato.
Bounce the eraser off the hand when playing staccato notes.
Roll the eraser forward off the front of the hand when lifting the wrist to finish a phrase.

Erasers make great practice buddies! These tiny tools can be used to help students practice in a variety of ways. For example:

Line up the erasers on one side of the music. Each time your student plays a line correctly, they can move the eraser to the other side of the music.
As a student plays a piece, have the erasers "act out" the correct articulation, dynamics, and/or tempo for the piece.
Have the eraser come to “investigate” when a problem arises as a student is playing a piece (wrong notes, poor hand position, etc). Ask students if they know what their tiny practice buddy spotted!
Use the puzzle erasers to redirect students who have trouble listening and following directions. Line up 3 erasers on the piano at the start of the lesson. Each time a student shows that they aren’t listening and following directions, remove one eraser. At the end of the lesson, offer a reward for the erasers that are left on the piano.

What do you think? Do you use puzzle erasers with your students? What are your favorite ways to use them in your lessons? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments!

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2019 Summer Review Challenge Calendars!

Freebie Alert!

My Favorite Teaching Tools: Part Two

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