Chrissy Ricker
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July Professional Development Challenge!

6/28/2018

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I received several kind comments about my summer review challenge calendars--thank you! (If you missed my blog post about these calendars, you can find it HERE).

​One teacher, Roni, commented that the tasks looked so fun she wanted to do them herself. So I thought, why not create a challenge calendar for teachers? We spend so much time finding fun summer music activities for our students--why not take some time to do a few professional development activities for ourselves?

So, today I am sharing a July Professional Development Challenge--one task for each day in July that teachers can use to help review repertoire, brush up on technique, plan for the upcoming school year, and more! Get your free copy HERE, or by clicking on the picture below.
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I will be doing a weekly wrap-up each Saturday of how my challenges for the week went. I would love to hear from you, if you would like to join in!

What do you think? Do you have professional development activities planned for the summer?
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An Art-Inspired Improv Activity

6/14/2018

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As I mentioned in my previous blog post HERE, this summer I am having fun doing more improvisation and composition activities with my students. Today I would like to share an activity that I have done with several students recently that has been a big hit—using artwork as inspiration for an improv activity!

This improv activity can be done using these 5 steps:


1. Choose your inspiration.
Find a piece of art that your student would like to use to inspire an improv. Some of my students enjoy using their own original artwork for inspiration. For other students, we find images using a Google search or Pinterest. Artwork depicting nature, such as animals or landscapes, are always a good bet if your student needs help finding inspiration.

2. Choose 3 adjectives that describe the artwork.
These adjectives might describe the artwork itself, or they might describe how your student feels when looking at the artwork. For example, a painting of a waterfall might inspire the adjectives: flowing, peaceful, or colorful.

3. Decide how to represent each adjective through music.
Using the adjectives your student has chosen, experiment with sounds at the piano. What sounds would best represent each word--high or low, loud or soft? Would major or minor scales or chords work best? Should you use staccato notes, or hold the damper pedal? Have fun experimenting with ideas to fit each of the words your student has chosen.

4. Create a story using your adjectives.
Once your student has several musical ideas in mind, put the adjectives together with some action words to form a story. Using our waterfall example, our story might be: The water trickles slowly, then begins flowing down the waterfall. A peaceful pool forms at the bottom of the waterfall, where colorful flowers grow.

5. Put it all together.
Help your student put the musical ideas together using the story you created to structure the improv. Remember: there are no wrong answers!

What do you think? Do you use artwork as inspiration in your lessons—either for improvisation or performance? Let me know in the comments below!

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Let's Quest! Volume 3 now available!

6/5/2018

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The third book in the "Let's Quest!" series is now available!

Let's Quest! Volume 3 features intermediate-level solos and duets inspired by video games, anime, sci-fi, and fantasy.

Like the previous two volumes, this book is also chock-full of technical challenges and opportunities for expressive playing! Some of the pedagogical concepts in Volume 3 include:
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  • key signatures of up to 4 sharps and 5 flats
  • a variety of time signatures (cut time, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8, 12/8, and shifting meters, oh my!)
  • large leaps in the left hand (waltz-style playing)
  • fast chromatic scale and major/minor arpeggio passage work
  • melodic voicing and rubato
  • ensemble playing

Here are a few of my favorite pieces from the collection:

 
Click HERE to see and hear all the music from this collection!
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    Author

    Chrissy Ricker is a pianist, teacher, and composer from North Carolina. These are her thoughts on teaching, composing, and all things music.


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