Category: Young Beginners

The Bear and the Bird: A Story-Based Improv Activity for Beginners

12/31/2019

The new year is always a great time for incorporating a few fresh, creative activities into our lessons! With that in mind, today I am sharing one of my favorite creative activities for beginning students: a story-based improv activity.

This is a great activity for helping students become comfortable creating sounds at the piano away from the written page. I tell students that for this activity, I am the narrator and they are my "sound effect engineers." Their job is to choose a sound on the piano that they think fits the story as we read it together.

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Free Printable: "March Madness" Technique Flashcards!

3/19/2019

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My students love playing flashcard-style games to drill note names and rhythms. So, I had a thought--why not create a similar game to practice technique? So, today's free printable is a set of technique flashcards with a basketball theme that you can use with students of all ages to make practicing technical movements fun!

There are many different ways to explain technical movements to students--however, the analogy I have found most helpful for most of my students is that of a ball--bouncing, rolling, dropping, or rocking. It helps my students to make the connection between technical movements at the piano and sports--just like they do drills and warm-ups at basketball or soccer practice, drills and warm-ups are equally important at the piano.

I think drilling these movements away from the piano also helps students to focus on how each movement should feel, without having to worry about what notes are being played. You can do this movement with an imaginary ball, or a real one if you like!

Here are the technical movements introduced in each flashcard and how I teach them:

1. Swing and drop. This technique helps students to practice relaxing their arm and shoulder and using their arm weight to drop onto the piano keys. How to do it: have students swing their arms to fully relax. You can check for relaxation by lifting the student's arm and gently shaking it--have them do the same to your arm so they can feel how heavy a relaxed arm is. Once the arm is relaxed, on the count of 3 drop onto the piano keys (or your lap for practice). Just like a ball being dropped, there will be a slight rebound at the bottom--this will keep students from "pushing" into the keys when they play using arm weight.

2. Bounce the ball. This is the technique I use to teach students to play with a relaxed, non-legato touch with a flexible wrist. It is also the beginnings of playing staccato. How to do it: have students pretend they are dribbling a basketball. Make sure they are moving their arm slightly and keeping their wrist flexible (you can demonstrate how silly it would look to dribble with a tense arm and wrist).

3. Roll the ball across. This technique is the foundation for legato playing, as students learn to transfer their arm weight across their hand as they play each finger. How to do it: have students pretend they are rolling a ball across the piano keys. Tell them to notice how their arm moves along with their hand as they roll.

4. Roll the ball forward. This technique helps students to lift their wrist in preparation for phrasing. It is also a good way to help make sure students are playing with a relaxed wrist and arm. How to do it: have students imagine that their hand is resting on top of a ball as they roll the ball forward. This movement should help their wrist lift naturally. It may also be helpful to imagine that they have a tiny ball on top of their hand, and as they "roll forward" and lift their wrist they are rolling the ball off the front of their hand and onto the piano keys.

5. Rock the ball. This technical movement teaches students the feeling of forearm rotation. How to do it: have students imagine that their hand is resting on top of the ball as they gently rock the ball from side to side.

Once students are comfortable with these movements, you can use these cards in different ways during your lessons. Here are a few ideas:

Use the flashcards game-style. Flip each one randomly and have students demonstrate the technique. Start with one or two cards and add more as students are comfortable.
Use the flashcards as students are playing their scales. Choose one of the first four cards and have students incorporate it into their playing of that scale.
String several flashcards together. For example, have a student: 1) drop the ball, 2) roll the ball across, and 3) roll the ball forward. These are the technical movements required to make a lovely legato phrase!
Match up the flashcards to a student's music. Go through a piece that your student is currently learning and choose which technique might be helpful in each part of the music. For example, are there loud notes where a "drop" would be helpful? Are there staccato or legato passages that would require "bouncing" or "rolling across"? Where might a "roll forward" help to shape a phrase?

Click HERE to download your free "March Madness" technique drill flashcards!

What do you think? How do you teach technical gestures to your students? Do you have any tips to help make practicing technique fun? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments!

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A Fun Technique Game for Your Teaching Toolbox

11/16/2018

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When working with beginning students, I have three initial technical goals:

Creating a relaxed, round hand shape.
Playing with the correct part of the finger without collapsing the joints.
Playing with a non-legato touch, using the arm and maintaining a flexible wrist.

These goals can be challenging for small hands and fingers! However, I have found a great teaching tool that is working wonders with my students—the game “Last Mouse Lost.” I discovered this game at the recommendation of another teacher on Facebook last year, and I have been incorporating it into my lessons in different ways over the past year with great success.

Although this game has official rules, I use it a bit differently--as a teaching tool for helping students to see and hear that they are landing on the correct part of their finger and to practice dropping onto each key with a bit of arm weight and a flexible wrist. It is also a great way to review finger numbers with young students. Here is what I do:

Place the game on the closed piano lid.
Demonstrate for students how to “pop” each row of bubbles with one finger (use fingers only—no thumb). You will use a light, bouncing motion of the arm with a flexible wrist, floating up slightly after you pop each of the bubbles.
Call out a finger number and ask students to “pop” a row of bubbles. Make sure students are maintaining a round, relaxed hand. If you see tension developing, stop and have students gently shake the hand to release the tension. (Or, if you are goofy like me, you can sing the Taylor Swift song “Shake it Off”!)
If students land on a bubble correctly, it will press all the way in with a satisfying “pop.” If students land on the wrong part of the finger, or without enough arm weight, the bubble won’t pop all the way. This is a great visual and aural reminder for students that they are doing this exercise the right way.
Once the student has popped all the bubbles, flip the game over and repeat with the other hand.

After we play this game, I open the piano and have my students repeat the movement on the piano keys. They should be able to hear the difference this makes in the sound—they will get a nice, fat tone because they are playing each key using their arm weight and the correct part of their fingertip. We do this game at the start of the lesson to get students thinking about how their arms, hands, and fingers should feel as they play. You can also pull the game out and do a quick refresher if you see bad habits creeping in as students are playing their pieces.

I think the best thing about this game is that it turns a rather difficult technique that can be the cause of much frustration for young students into something fun. I have even used this game as a “gentle reminder” with a few of my older students—especially those that have chronically flat fingers.

I purchased “Last Mouse Lost” on Amazon HERE, but you should also be able to find it at your local toy store or in the toy section of your local big box store.

What do you think? Any favorite teaching tools you like to use to work on technique with your students? I’d love to hear your suggestions for making technique practice fun!

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Free Halloween Resource Round-Up!

9/25/2018

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Looking for a few Halloween activities to do with your students this October? Today I am sharing links to the Halloween resources available on my website!

Click on the pictures below to download free music, a composition activity, and a rhythm game. Or, scroll down to find a link to search for all of the Halloween-appropriate solos and duets in my music catalog!

Free primer piece

Free early elementary piece with optional teacher duet

Free elementary piece

Free composition activity

Free rhythm activity

For more Halloween fun, click HERE to search my catalog! Select the level you are looking for, then select "Halloween" under "Search by genre." You will be able to listen to each piece, as well as click on a link to see and/or purchase the music.

Do you have any fun activities planned for your students for Halloween this year? Please leave a comment below--I'd love to hear from you!

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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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The Bear and the Bird: A Story-Based Improv Activity for Beginners

Free Printable: "March Madness" Technique Flashcards!

A Fun Technique Game for Your Teaching Toolbox

Free Halloween Resource Round-Up!

My Position on "Positions"

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