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Sale Alert! "Perfect Patterns" for $9 with free shipping!

4/27/2018

Sale alert! My "Perfect Patterns" book is on sale this weekend only for $9 with free shipping!

If you are looking for pattern-based pieces that can be learned quickly and will capture your students' attention, this book is for you. This collection has five 5-star reviews! One reviewer, Melinda, writes:

"Perfect Patterns is filled with upbeat, interesting, contemporary sounding pieces that both young and old will enjoy and will definitely grab the attention of your picky students! Excellent collection!" --Melinda

Click HERE to see and hear the music from "Perfect Patterns!"

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Free Landmark Note Worksheets!

4/26/2018

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A great way to build strong note-reading skills is by teaching "landmark" notes: notes on the staff that are easy for students to memorize and identify quickly.

The landmark notes that I have found to be the most helpful for my students are shown in the picture on the left.

To help students practicing identifying and drawing these landmark notes, today I am sharing six free worksheets that you can use with your students! Each worksheet focuses on just 2-3 of the landmark notes pictured above. Click on the photos below to download each set of PDF worksheets.

Worksheets 1 and 2:
Treble G, Bass F, and Middle C.

Students learn to use the treble and bass clefs to find these landmark notes quickly.

Worksheets 3 and 4:
The 3 C's: treble, middle, and bass C.

Students learn to count 3 spaces up or 3 spaces down on the staff to find treble and bass C.

Worksheets 5 and 6:
"Ground" G and "Floating" F, plus a review of drawing the 3 C's.

The terms "ground" G and "floating" F are great hints to help students remember the locations of these landmark notes.

What do you think? Do you teach note-reading using landmark notes? Please leave a comment if you find these worksheets to be helpful for your students--I would love to hear from you!

P.S. Don't forget to check out the other free worksheets and teaching resources on my "Free Stuff" page HERE.

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"The Carnival of the Animals": A Group Class Listening and Improv Activity

4/20/2018

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Today I would like to share a fun activity that my students did at their most recent group class. (See my other group class lesson plans HERE!) I have done this activity a few times now with my students and it is always a hit! It is a great way to incorporate music history into the lesson and get students thinking like a composer.

First, we start by learning a bit about French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, who lived from 1835-1921. Here are a few fun facts about Camille Saint-Saëns:

Like Mozart, Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy. He played his debut concert at age 10, where he offered to perform any of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas from memory.
Saint-Saëns was an accomplished organist and worked as a church organist upon finishing his studies at the Paris Conservatory. Upon hearing him play, Franz Liszt declared that Saint-Saëns was the greatest organist in the world.
Saint-Saëns taught composer Gabriel Fauré, who in turn taught Maurice Ravel.
“The Carnival of the Animals” is one of Saint-Saëns’ best known works. Completed in 1886, it contains 14 short movements and was originally written for an ensemble including two pianos, strings, flute, clarinet, xylophone, and glass harmonica. It was such a humorous work that Saint-Saëns insisted that it not be published in his lifetime, as he was afraid it would detract from his image as a serious composer! The only movement he allowed to be published in his lifetime was “The Swan.”

Next, we listen to a few movements from “The Carnival of the Animals.” I ask students to guess what animal they think each movement represents. Then we discuss how Saint-Saëns represented that animal in the music using instrumentation, tempo, and pitch. The movements that I have found that work the best for this activity are:

"IV. Turtles”—this clever piece contains the melody from Offenbach’s famous “Can-Can Song” played very, very slowly. Be sure to play students a snippet of the original, up-to-tempo “Can-Can” theme first so they get the full effect!
"V. The Elephant”—students usually guess this one correctly as soon as they hear the first low melody notes!
"VII. The Aquarium”—many students recognize this piece from its use in TV commercials and movies. It has a magical, floating feeling that perfectly depicts a school of underwater creatures as they dart and swim around.
“X. The Aviary”—the opening flute solo sounds just like a bird song, making this movement easy to recognize!

Finally, I tell students that it is their turn to create a piece that represents an animal! I put several animal names in a hat (at this most recent class the animals included a bear, frog, snake, kitten, snail, and a cheetah) and each student must draw a name from the hat and improvise a piece at the piano to represent that animal. The other students then must guess which animal they hear! I remind students to ask themselves the following questions, both when creating their improvs and when listening to the other students:

Is this animal noisy or quiet, big or small?
Does this animal move quickly or slowly?
Does this animal hop, or move smoothly?
Is this animal friendly or scary?

It is always fun to hear what creative ideas the students come up with to depict each animal—and it is usually surprisingly easy for the other students to recognize each animal correctly! This activity often jump starts ideas for new compositions for my students that we can continue working on in their private lessons.

What do you think? Have you ever used “The Carnival of the Animals” as part of a lesson? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments!

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My Position on "Positions"

4/6/2018

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“Positional” reading (when beginning students play pieces with a limited number of notes that stay in one place, or “position” on the piano) is a hot-button issue among piano teachers here in the U.S. Some teachers think that positional reading is a valuable teaching tool, while others think it is the worst pedagogical invention of the 20th century (to paraphrase a comment from a recent discussion thread on this topic!).

So, what is my position on “positions”? I think that positional reading, used correctly, can be a good thing! Today I will be sharing my thoughts on positional reading--the good, the bad, and how it can help your students.

The Benefits of Positional Reading

Our fingering system for piano playing is based on the idea of economy of motion—playing groups of notes without moving the hand in order to create smooth phrases. A benefit of positional reading is that it encourages students to use all five fingers equally, developing finger strength and navigating melodic phrases without moving unnecessarily. This is an important skill for students to learn, as many students tend to favor their strongest fingers (typically 1, 2, and 3) when given the option.

Positional reading also teaches students to look for scale patterns. In fact, instead of using the term “position,” I prefer to talk with students about what scale a particular passage uses. For example, if a particular passage uses only the notes C, D, E, and G, it probably makes sense to prepare the hand for a C scale so that the notes can be played without moving. I think that helping students to look for these patterns is a good thing! It encourages students to read in “chunks” as opposed to note-by-note, and it prepares them for the day when they will need to determine the most logical fingering for their pieces on their own.

Finally, the limited number of notes present in “positional” pieces, and the comfort of staying in one place on the piano, can be very helpful for students as they are learning to read notes on the staff. I find that starting students with just a few notes on the staff, then adding more only as they are comfortable, is a logical way to help students become secure note readers.

The Drawbacks of Positional Reading

Problems arise with positional reading, however, when students begin to associate a particular finger with a key on the piano (for example, thinking that their thumb is always on C). Students can also use positional reading as a crutch, asking their teacher what position a piece is in instead of using the fingering to determine their starting place. However, I have found that there are several ways to eliminate these issues! Here are my tips:

Encourage moving around the keyboard using rote pieces and creative activities. Once students experiment with playing pieces all around the keyboard, they quickly learn that their thumb won’t always be on C! Because these activities don’t require note reading, they make it easier for students to play in a variety of starting places with confidence. Look HERE for my favorite beginning improv activities using the black keys.
Encourage students to watch fingering carefully, even for “positional” pieces. I get students in the habit of naming the first note and first finger number used in a piece right away. Students quickly learn that the questions “what position is this in?” or “where do my hands go?” are met with the response “you tell me!” I also created a card game found HERE to help my students practice the concept of matching a note and finger number on the piano.
Transpose. I have blogged about the benefits of transposition HERE. I encourage my students to transpose their pieces as soon as possible. Even a simple three-note piece using only C-D-E can also be played on F-G-A, or G-A-B, or even Gb-Ab-Bb! Students are usually intrigued to find that they can play the same piece in many different places on the piano. I also created transposing challenge worksheets to use with my students that you can find on my "Free Stuff" page HERE.
Supplement. If a student is using a method book with a positional approach, I like to supplement with sheet music or a book from a different method series that uses a different fingering pattern. This way, students get security from playing the “positional” piece, but are stretched a bit by playing a piece that starts in a different place on the piano.

So, you have read my thoughts on positional reading—I would love to hear yours! Do you teach “in positions?” Why or why not? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

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Sale Alert! "Perfect Patterns" for $9 with free shipping!

Free Landmark Note Worksheets!

"The Carnival of the Animals": A Group Class Listening and Improv Activity

My Position on "Positions"

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