Chrissy Ricker
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Saint Patrick's Day Freebie: a traditional Irish jig!

2/25/2020

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Saint Patrick's Day is just around the corner! So, today I am sharing a free arrangement of the traditional Irish jig, "The Irish Washerwoman."

In addition to being a fun introduction to Irish folk music, this elementary arrangement also reinforces counting in 3/4 time and holding tied notes, as well as stretching the right hand thumb away from the other fingers.

Since this piece uses only the first six notes of the major scale, this arrangement also makes a great transposing challenge piece for your late elementary and intermediate students.
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Click HERE or on the picture above to download your free PDF of this piece! 
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Updated Transposing Challenge Worksheets!

6/12/2019

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One of my goals for the upcoming year is to help my students become more comfortable playing in a wide variety of keys. Studying scales is great--but I have found that scales make the most sense when students have a practical application for the scales they are learning.

To that end, I have updated the "transposing challenge" section of my Free Stuff page to include 8 revised transposing challenge worksheets! These worksheets will help students progress from transposing simple five-note melodies played by one hand, all the way up to playing melodies using the entire one octave scale harmonized by primary chords.

These worksheets are a great way to give your students more practice with pentascales, one octave scales, and primary chords in all 12 major keys. They also build reading skills by encouraging students to look for interval patterns and blocked and broken chords.

Click on the links below to download any of these free worksheets:

  • Challenge #1: Jingle Bells (5 note melody, RH only)
  • Challenge#2: Ode to Joy (5 note melody, LH only)
  • Challenge #3: Row, Row, Row, Your Boat (5 note melody with simple LH harmony)
  • Challenge #4: Deck the Halls (stretching to a sixth in each hand)
  • Challenge #5: Alouette (5 note melody using I and V7 chords in LH)
  • Challenge #6: For He's a Jolly Good Fellow (extended melody using I, IV, and V7 chords in LH)
  • Challenge #7: Country Gardens (using the entire major scale with I, IV, and V7 chords in LH)
  • Challenge #8: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (extended melody with I, IV, V7 chords in each hand)​
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Free Christmas Resources

12/14/2016

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​Holiday recitals are over, contest pieces are picked for next year, and only one lesson left before Christmas!

What's a teacher to do?



Check out my free Christmas themed worksheets! These are a great way to get a little extra theory and ear training practice in before Christmas break. 
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  • Christmas transposing worksheets: Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls
  • Christmas ear training worksheet: HERE
  • Christmas sight reading: HERE
  • Christmas ensemble piece: HERE

I will definitely be using these with my students as we wrap things up for the year. Will you be doing anything special with your students as 2016 comes to a close?


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A Christmas Transposing Challenge!

11/7/2016

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With the Christmas season approaching, it is a perfect time to mix in some holiday themed musicianship activities with your students!

Transposing is a great activity to reinforce intervallic reading, get students playing in a variety of keys, and encourage careful listening. (Read my previous posts on why I teach transposition and how I introduce it to my students here and here.) Today's post will feature three holiday transposing worksheets, all of which can be found in the "Free Stuff" section of my website. Click HERE to see all my transposing challenge worksheets.

  1. Jingle Bells Challenge: this is a great first transposition project for students. This shortened version of the song uses only five notes, is RH only, and provides lots of finger numbers to help students new to transposing.
  2. Ode to Joy Challenge: this is a LH only transposition challenge featuring just five notes.
  3. Deck the Halls Challenge: this challenge is appropriate for older students, and uses both hands. 

What do you think? Will you encourage your students to transpose some of these familiar Christmas tunes this year?
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Transposition Challenge Worksheets

9/26/2016

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Read my previous posts on why I teach transposing here and here.

If you are looking for more transposing activities to do with your students, take a look at my transposition challenge worksheets! These worksheets can be found in the "Free Stuff" section of my website here. 

I will be adding more transposing challenge sheets to the site, including some Christmas transposing challenges! So, stay tuned!
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    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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