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July Professional Development Challenge--Week 5 Wrap-Up and Final Thoughts

7/31/2018

Read about the July Professional Development challenge HERE. You can read the Week 1 wrap-up post HERE, the Week 2 wrap-up post HERE, the Week 3 wrap-up post HERE, and the Week 4 wrap-up post HERE.

Wow, this month flew by! I learned so much from doing this challenge, and I am proud to say I completed every task on the calendar. Woo-hoo!

Here is a wrap-up of the last 3 tasks for the month, and my final thoughts on this challenge:

Shop for one new piece to learn for your own enjoyment.

Done! I decided to purchase a collection I could learn for my own enjoyment that would help build my studio library too: the complete volume of Grieg’s “Lyric Pieces.” I have taught a few of these pieces, but I did not own the entire set. I think these will be fun pieces for me to practice, as well as teach to my advancing students.

Play “Happy Birthday” by ear.

Done! This is another challenge that I definitely need to do with my students this year—everyone should know how to play “Happy Birthday” without sheet music!

Write down 1 goal for each returning student in your studio.

Done! I found there were several goals that kept popping up as I made my list:
- Reviewing note-reading. I am expecting some rustiness as my students return from summer break. Time to dust off my Note Rush and Flashnote Derby apps!
- Focus on scales. My new assignment sheets have a circle of fifths, which I am hoping will make it easier for me to assign scales—pentascales for my littles, one octave for my later beginners, and multiple octaves for my middle and high school students. I have determined that this will be a big focus for this year!
- Ear training. Many of my students enjoy playing pop music by ear, and I am hopeful that my new Earpeggio app will be a good addition to the ear training worksheets and games I have been using already. Ear training is also a practical application for the scale study that I will be working on with everyone. As is…
- Composition. I want every single student to compose something this fall and write it down (either with traditional notation or something less formal for my little ones).

My final thoughts on the challenge:

I need to make practicing new repertoire a priority. Now, in my defense, I do “play” piano every day. I play the music I am composing; I play the accompaniments for vocal students I am working with; I play duets with a friend. However, my inner piano teacher knows that “playing” is not the same as “practicing.” I need to be better about really practicing new, challenging repertoire on a regular basis. And this challenge has shown me that I do have the time to do it when I make it a priority.
I need to keep investigating new repertoire for my students. I tend to get in a rut—assigning the same pieces over and over. I have discovered new music during the course of this challenge that I really like, and that I think my students will like too! I need to make more of an effort to teach pieces that are new to me...and there are plenty in my library that I haven’t taught yet!
I need to keep adding new apps, materials, and ideas to my teaching toolbox. I had fun reading articles, researching apps, and brainstorming ideas to try with my students this fall. I feel better organized and more energized to start lessons again because I made the time to think creatively about what I wanted to cover with my students this year, and how.
And the most important thing I learned from this challenge…there is time to practice and try new things if I make it a priority! There will always be an excuse for me not to practice, or to take the time to research new music and new ideas. However, this challenge has really shown me that I do have the time in my schedule to do these things—I just have to make it a priority and hold myself accountable for getting it done. Kind of sounds like what we tell our students about practicing, doesn’t it?

So what do you think? Are you going to set professional development goals for yourself this year? It is not too late to take part in this challenge--click on the first link in the article above and challenge yourself to do some of these tasks in August! I think it will energize your teaching for the coming year and help you set some goals for yourself--I know it did for me!

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July Professional Development Challenge--Week 4 Wrap-Up

7/28/2018

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Read about the July Professional Development Challenge HERE. You can read the Week 1 wrap-up post HERE, the Week 2 wrap-up post HERE, and the Week 3 wrap-up post HERE. Feel free to join in!

Week 4 of the professional development challenge is done, and my summer break is almost over as well. I feel like I am getting organized for the fall, though--how about you?

Here are my thoughts on how Week 4 of the challenge went:

Practice a piece from your library you have never played before.

Done! I decided to go back to the Beethoven sonata I listened to in Week 2’s challenge, the Op. 90, and practice the first movement. Before I knew it, an hour had gone by. I am going to continue practicing this movement. It has just enough of a challenge (especially the left hand broken chords that make me wish I could reach a tenth!) to make me really need to slow down and practice, but not so much that I feel overwhelmed. I think one of the most important things I have learned from this entire professional development challenge is that I really need to spend more time practicing—not just preparing for performances, but practicing consistently to keep up my skills and to keep learning new repertoire.

Write 16 measures of last week’s improv on staff paper.

Done! I call this little tune “Toodle-y Doo.” Just something silly and catchy.

I am especially proud of my treble clef cat at the bottom. :)

Do 15 minutes of gentle yoga or stretching exercises.

Done! This challenge might not sound piano-related, but I have learned that for me, doing Pilates on a regular basis has helped me to become more aware of my posture, breathing, and any tension I might be having when I practice piano. I need to get back into the habit of doing this daily!

Sight-read a teaching piece from each style period.

Done! For this challenge, I pulled out my trusty “Classics to Moderns” books and selected a few pieces by composers that I don’t teach as often as I should.

I think I found a few good alternatives to some of the pieces I find myself teaching over and over. The pieces from this collection I especially enjoyed were:

“Rigaudon” by Handel: a fun piece with an active left hand—would be a good choice for a student that needs something a bit more challenging than the A.M. Bach notebook pieces.
“Allemande in G” by Carl Maria von Weber: I really liked this one! It had a charming melody, played first by right hand and then left hand, and a fun little trio featuring practice with grace notes and left hand octaves.
“Russian Polka” by Glinka: this piece reminded me of the “Tetris” theme song, which is itself a Russian folk song called “Korobeiniki.” I have a few students that would definitely enjoy this one.
“Poor Blind Woman” by Villa-Lobos: I was familiar with most of the modern selections in this book by Bartok and Kabalevsky, and I didn’t find some of the other selections very appealing to be honest. But I enjoyed this piece, which would be great practice for left hand octaves and had some nice modal sounds. And the title lends itself to some good discussion of story-telling and interpretation, don’t you think?

Clean out and organize your music for the fall.

Um, in progress! So this was the challenge that I have been dreading, since I have squirreled away music in bookcases, desks, and file cabinets in two different rooms in my house. I was way overdue for an organizing session—and not just for the books, but also for extra copies of worksheets, scribbled lesson plans, composition sketches, concert programs...all of those little bits that tend to collect over the course of the year. There is still work left to be done, but I made good strides today cleaning out and throwing away old, out-of-date materials I don’t need, collecting unused music that I want to use with my students this year, and organizing my studio copies of method books and supplemental collections. I think I might even put out a box of “freebies” for my students to choose from when they start their lessons for the fall; I think that would add a little excitement to their first lesson back.

Listen to a piece by a woman composer.
- Done! I listened to a few pieces by Florence Price, including movements from her Symphony in E minor and a portion of her second violin concerto.
- Florence Price was the first African-American woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. Her music is melodic and distinctly American, containing influences from African-American spirituals. I look forward to listening to more of her music!

Read a blog post or article about a pedagogical topic.

Done! The newest issue of American Music Teacher magazine arrived this week, and today I read the article “Better Than Good” by Andrea McAlister. I thought this was a well-written article about the importance of choosing our words carefully when teaching our students. My main takeaways from this article were:
1. The importance of providing praise in addition to feedback.
2. The importance of “effort-based” praise as opposed to “talent-based” praise (for example, praising a student for how well they practiced a piece during the week, not just how well they played it at their lesson).
3. The importance of treating our students like fellow musicians, and asking questions that encourage them to think for themselves.
4. The importance of really listening to our students’ responses to our questions.

So that wraps up Week 4! Coming next week, I will share my thoughts on the final 3 tasks for the month, as well as what I have learned from doing this challenge.

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Student Assignment Binders

7/26/2018

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One of my goals over summer break was to create assignment binders for my students to use this coming school year. In the past, I have always asked my students to bring spiral notebooks to lessons for me to write assignments in; however, I sometimes find myself scrambling to write things down at the end of our lessons. I wanted a more organized way to make sure I was covering everything in our lessons and providing clear practice goals for the week. As a bonus, 3-ring binders are great for storing the extra worksheets and composition projects I have been creating for my students!

To make this a cost-effective project, I shopped around and found a good deal on 1 inch 3-ring binders at Target--the ones I am using were 89 cents each, and have a plastic cover (so I can insert a cover page) and pockets on the inside. Since I am using our laser printer at home to print the black-and-white assignment sheets very inexpensively, all I needed to purchase were the binders and paper, which ended up costing about $1 per student. Not bad (and tax-deductible)!

Next, I gathered the materials I wanted to include for the beginning of the school year. My binders will include (pictured above):

Binder cover. I created a simple black-and-white cover that my students will be able to customize by adding their name and coloring the piano. My sticker enthusiasts might want to decorate this page using the stickers they earn in their piano lessons, too.
Assignment sheets. I found a great template HERE on the 4d Piano Teaching blog, which the creator, Spring Seals, made available as a Word document so it can be customized. Thank you, Spring!
Practice Tips and Tricks page. I created a short practice guide, featuring the most common tips I remind my students of during their lessons. I thought it might be a helpful reminder for my students as they practice at home during the week. You can download the practice tips and tricks page HERE.
Repertoire and Wish List page. I have blogged about this page a few times now. It has been extremely helpful for my students to write down a list of their favorite pieces and the goals they have for the coming year on this page. It is a great first-lesson-of-the-school-year activity to do together, as well. You can download the Repertoire and Wish List page HERE.

I intend to add more pages to the binder as the year progresses--blank staff paper and a calendar of events are the big ones that I anticipate adding first. This was a pretty simple project, but I am excited to give these binders to my students when they return for lessons--I think they will be a big help this year!

What do you think? Do you create assignment binders for your students? Any other tips you have for keeping students organized and on-task?

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July Professional Development Challenge--Week 3 Wrap-Up

7/21/2018

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Read about the July Professional Development Challenge HERE. You can read the Week 1 wrap-up post HERE and the Week 2 wrap-up post HERE. Feel free to join in!

Week 3 is done, and aside from one challenge that was done a day late, it was a success! I am continuing to get organized for the fall and explore new ideas for my teaching this year.

Here is my wrap-up for week 3:

Listen and analyze the first movement of a classical sonata.

Done! For this challenge I chose to listen to the first movement of Mozart’s Sonata in A minor, K. 310, performed by Daniel Barenboim (thank you, YouTube!). Now, I feel like I am breaking some kind of piano teacher code by admitting that while I admire Mozart’s compositional talents, he is not one of my favorite composers to listen to. However, I really enjoyed this movement. I suspect it has something to do with the stormy minor sound and the almost Romantic-sounding harmonies he uses here.

This movement is in sonata-allegro form, with Theme 1 being a forceful minor theme with a recurring dotted eighth-sixteenth note rhythm, and Theme 2 being a more delicate, whimsical theme in C major. The closing theme of the exposition provides quite a left hand workout! The development section begins with Theme 1 played in C major, but quickly descends into chaos, with diminished seventh chords and chromatic melodic patterns abounding. The recapitulation features Themes 1 and 2 returning in the home key of A minor. Upon reading some history about this sonata, I learned that it is one of only two minor sonatas Mozart ever wrote, and it was written around the time of his mother’s death. Perhaps that accounts for the passionate sound of this movement.

Improvise a piece using the I-vi-IV-V chord progression.

Done! This is my kind of challenge. I improvised a short little tune that I look forward to writing out on staff paper as part of next week’s challenge.

Play all the major and minor chords in root position and inversion.

Done! I should have my students do this challenge, too! Being able to play chords and their inversions quickly is so important to improvising, playing by ear, and lead sheet playing. I do drill chords with my students pretty regularly, but I bet a timed challenge would motivate my students to practice their chords even more. Something to keep in mind for the fall!

Sight-read 3 pieces by living composers.

Done! For this challenge, I chose to sight-read a few pieces by a living composer that I know personally: Tom Lohr, one of my former college professors. I sight-read three pieces from his “Meditations and an Exaltation on Medieval Chant Melodies.” It would take more than just sight-reading to really delve into these pieces, which are a lovely mixture of chant-like melodies combined with rich harmonies. But I enjoyed the challenge of sight-reading these pieces. I don’t play enough contemporary music with shifting meters and modern harmonies—and I really should!

Make a list of new games, apps, and materials to try.

Done—but a day late! On the day of this challenge, my husband had a vacation day from work and we decided to take a trip to the zoo. So, I was late getting my challenge completed for this day, but I did get to feed a giraffe! That has to count for some kind of professional development, right?

On to the new materials I hope to try this year!

Super Metronome app: I have the lite version of this app, which is basically a drum machine. I plan on upgrading to the full version and using it to create rock beats for my students to practice their scales with in their lessons. Has anyone else used this app with their students?
Earpeggio: I have been on the hunt for a good ear training app for a while. So far I have used “Hear it Note It,” which is fun but doesn’t allow much customization, and “Tenuto,” which has some good interval training exercises but doesn’t have any melodic ear training practice. I also have “Ear Master,” which looks a bit intimidating for some of my younger students. Today I found “Earpeggio,” which I am hopeful will be a good addition to my app toolbox. I especially like the melodic dictation exercise, which can be customized to include only step-wise melodies or melodies with larger intervals.
“Write That Down” composition book from Piano Pronto: this book has been on my radar for a while, but I finally downloaded it and I think it will provide some great guided composition activities for my students this year. I especially like the “tasty templates” (one measure melodic ideas that students can choose from and write on the staff in whatever order they like) and the pop templates (a left hand pop-style pattern is provided and students create a melody to go with it).

Listen to a concerto you have never performed before.

Done! I listened to “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” by Ben Folds. I have been a long-time fan of Ben Folds, an NC native who formed his band the “Ben Folds Five” while living in Chapel Hill, not far from where I grew up. So I was really excited to learn that he had written a piano concerto. Since I myself enjoy composing music in a contemporary classical/classical crossover kind of style, I was really interested in hearing this piece. At times I was reminded of film and video game music, especially in the lush string melodies that Folds wrote. There were sections reminiscent of Gershwin, and even a few Mozart-like piano phrases thrown in. It was a melting pot of classical, jazz, and contemporary styles that I found unique and enjoyable. I recommend giving it a listen, especially if you are a fan of Ben Folds!

List 3 things that worked well in your studio last year.

Done! In no particular order, here are 3 ideas that I implemented over the past year or so that have worked well and I will continue to use this fall:
1. Note Rush app. This is hands down the best app purchase I made last year. My students love trying to “beat” each level and the colorful backgrounds they can choose from when they play the game. It has also been great practice for matching a note on the staff with a specific key on the piano—a very important concept for improving sight-reading skills. This app will be in heavy rotation this fall, I am sure!
2. Musicianship binder. Last year, I organized all of my various “musicianship” worksheets--transposing, guided composition, play-by-ear challenges—into a binder that I kept stocked throughout the year. This worked really well to keep me organized and made it easy for me to pull out an extra worksheet to assign my students during lessons. I will be adding more of my new finds to this binder in preparation for the fall.
3. Repertoire/Wish Lists for each student. I posted these simple sheets HERE, and I have been giving them out to my students at the start of each school year and after Christmas break. It has been enlightening to have my students write in their own words what their “wishes” are for piano—often things I would never have guessed! It has also been helpful (and confidence-building) for my students to have a special place to make note of their favorite pieces from the past semester on a repertoire list. I will continue to give out these sheets to my students at the start of each semester.

So that is Week 3, with a giraffe thrown in for good measure. Any thoughts on the challenge so far? I would love to hear your ideas!

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New Collection of One-Hand Pieces!

7/16/2018

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I am excited to share my newest project for Piano Pronto--a collection that I hope will serve a practical purpose in your studio!

"Hit Singles" contains 12 pieces at the late elementary to early intermediate level that can be played with either left or right hand alone. This collection is perfect for students that can only use one hand due to an injury, or as technical exercises for students that need to develop more agility in one hand.

Some of the technical concepts contained in this collection:

Quick jumps across the keyboard
Playing right hand in bass clef (or left hand in treble clef)
Pedaling by ear
Stretching the hand (using sixths, sevenths, and easy arpeggio patterns)
Playing melody and harmony in the same hand (simple voicing)

This collection contains a variety of styles. Here are a few of my favorite pieces from the book (demonstrated first by the left hand, then by the right):