New Item in Teaching Studio Store: Composer Valentines!

February 8, 2013 Jennifer Boster

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Today I have a fun Valentines Day activity to share with you! New to The Teaching Studio Store is our “Composer Valentines” activity. This activity is included in our “Musical Valentines” lesson plan and has been expanded to include activities for older students and private students as well.

Students receive a Valentine from a famous composer and learn about music appreciation! It’s also a great way to teach about how music conveys feelings and emotions.

Included in this packet are templates to make 12 different Composer Valentines, instructions on assembly and ideas and suggestions on how to use these with students of all ages. We originally created it as an activity for a class of preschoolers, but it is easily adapted for private students of all ages. These would also be a super cute handout for your students for Valentines Day, especially if you include some candy or chocolate! Just a fun little Valentines Day activity.

The packet is 17 pages and is available for digital download in The Teaching Studio Store. Happy Valentines Day, and I hope you enjoy!

Also, today is the last day for our giveaway!!! Be sure to enter for a change to win a free copy of the entire “Musical Valentines” lesson plan! Ends tonight at 10:00 pm, Central Time.

New Freebie: Musical Memory Game

February 7, 2013 Jennifer Boster

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Sometimes young students need a more exciting way to learn their notes on the staff. I mean, flashcards are great and all, but can get a little old. This week I made a little memory matching game for a student who needed a new way to work on her notes. This game is super simple (and let’s admit it, it really isn’t THAT different from actual flashcards, but puts a new twist on it!) and it’s a nice way to shake things up a bit. Plus you get to get off of the bench for this one (a definite plus!)

Now available on my “Free Printables” page is a Musical Memory game.

My daughter was more than obliged to get in the picture and demonstrate the game!

Students match Middle C Position notes to their letter names

I laminated mine with my laminator and love how they turned out! These will last for a long time.

Whatever activities you decide to use with your young students, I encourage you to get off of the bench more often and find new ways to bring fun and excitement into lessons!

Download the musical memory game here or visit my Free Printables page. Enjoy!

Also, be sure to enter our giveaway for a free Valentines Day preschool music lesson plan! Giveaway ends Friday, February 8 at 10:00 pm Central Time.

I LOVE a giveaway!!

February 6, 2013 Jennifer Boster

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It’s February, and LOVE is in the air! I’d like to share the love with a brand new Early Explorers preschool music lesson plan and a GIVEAWAY!

I love this month…such a fun time to celebrate love. What do you love? Here are some things I LOVE lately…

…the amazing weather here in Texas…I love having the windows open all night long and going to the park with my sweet kiddos (without jackets!)

…the exuberant kicking of baby #3…did I mention I’m expecting?

…that I have been focusing more on preschool music classes lately and a little less on private lessons…it’s a fun season in my teaching life, and my kids love it as well!

…THIS guy

…all of my wonderful readers (YOU!) who have continued your interest in my blog and my lesson plans despite my recent occasional presence here 🙂

…that part of my “nesting” this time around is involving finally getting all of my preschool lesson plans UP in the Teaching Studio Store, so I can share the love with all of you!

And on that note, I’m so excited to announce a brand new Early Explorers lesson plan, Musical Valentines – just in time for Valentines Day!

This lesson plan is for one 1-hour class and is geared toward 3- and 4-year-olds. It is all about the musical alphabet, and of course the LOVE of music! We talk a lot about how music conveys feelings and emotions, and how much we just plain love it.

In this fun Valentines Day themed lesson plan, children will enjoy learning and singing a cute song about music to Beethoven’s “Fur Elise;” will love composing their own Valentines Day song; will be excited to receive a Valentine from a famous composer; and will have fun learning all about the joy of music through song, play, movement, listening and art. It includes many printables, including a student Take-Home Booklet! This lesson plan has 74 pages and is in downloadable e-book format.

One of you lucky readers is going to win a FREE copy of our “Musical Valentines” – just in time for Valentines Day! It would be wonderful for a small group class of young students, an at-home preschool group or any preschool music class.

If you’d like to enter our giveaway, just leave a comment below! To receive one extra entry, post about this giveaway (your blog, facebook wall, etc.) and leave an extra comment letting me know you did so.

Giveaway ends on Friday, February 8 at 10:00 pm Central Time.

The lesson plan is already available in The Teaching Studio Store, so go check it out!

Happy Love Month 🙂

My Recommendations

January 11, 2013 Jennifer Boster

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I don’t know about you, but I love reading and learning about pedagogy, different teaching methods, and anything having to do with music. And it’s great, because each different season of life I am in I am interested in some different facet of music education. Right now I am focused more on learning about early music education, since I have young children of my own!

I wanted to have a place where I could give my recommendations on pedagogy and other music books that have really helped me become a better teacher or that I have really enjoyed. I will gradually be working on updating my “I Recommend…” page to include my favorites, and I hope that some of these will help you as you strive to be a better teacher as well! Instead of just a big list, I am trying to include reasons why I like each book, and what some of my favorite sections were.

And since I am one of those people who always has a big stack of books to read (instead of just one at a time) and who has a huge wish list of books to read, I will also have a “Books to Read” section, of books that I have not yet read myself but that look interesting to me 🙂

My latest book I picked up is “More Than Music: Studying Suzuki Piano.” I figured I didn’t really know much about Suzuki’s methods, and since it is very relevant to young children I thought I’d give it a read. So far I love it (at least the few pages I have read since I started it yesterday!).

What books about music have you enjoyed recently?

Music Totes & New Years Practicing Resolutions!

January 10, 2013 Jennifer Boster

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Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. And oh, by the way…remember me? 🙂 It’s been awhile! I’m so happy to be back today to show you some super cute music totes that are perfect for carrying those piano books around.

I remember when I was about six or seven, my Mom made my sister and I tote bags for our piano books. Mine was lined with pink fabric and had a pink apple painted on the outside pocket. I sure got a lot of good use out of that bag, and I still treasure it today!

Margaret from Southpaw Crafts contacted me about trying out one of her cute music totes and I was so excited! I love this “Piano Gal” tote and have put it to use holding all of the current piano music I am working on (New Years practicing resolution, anyone??). (Speaking of practicing, one of my dear teachers always told me that I should always be working on a Bach Prelude and Fugue and a Beethoven Sonata – so inside my tote bag I’ve got my trusty Well-Tempered Clavier to learn Fugue #1, which I love but have never learned, Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata 3rd movement – my kids LOVE to sing along! – and a Chopin Scherzo for good measure!)

Anyway, back to Southpaw Crafts – Margaret has a nice variety of quality music totes in her Etsy shop. I love the cute sayings, such as “Keep Calm and Practice On,” and the simple look of the black and white vinyl lettering and graphics. These are so fun for students – I think having a fun bag for their music and flashcards is a nice motivator! She also has some other cute music-related items in her shop, including some cute “rest” throw pillows (perfect for your studio’s waiting room!) and a kitchen “staff” apron. Head on over to her shop and check it out! Also, she let me know that she will be hosting a giveaway on her Facebook page, so be sure to “like” it to get all the details.

Happy practicing!

Bus Station Sonata

October 25, 2012 Jennifer Boster

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Just a fun YouTube video I wanted to share….

Passersby in a bus station were recruited to each play a note or two in Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. What a fun way to get lots of people involved in some music-making!

Teaching Tip Tuesday: Listening Assignments

October 23, 2012 Jennifer Boster

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Teaching Tip #11: Listening Assignments

I think it’s really important to get our students listening to more music. Sometimes I get really into it and assign awesome, hard-core listening assignments (like listening to a whole bunch of pieces by a specific composer, and writing down things you like about each piece, and such). But sometimes I think it’s important to just throw in a quick, simple listening assignment that goes along with whatever the student is working on.

Simple listening assignments are great ways to teach about music history, famous performers, the musical periods, or about musicality and interpretation.

Have a beginning student playing the super simplified “Ode to Joy”? Have them listen to the REAL deal and see how joyful it sounds!

If a student is learning a classical piece, have them listen to some good recordings of the piece and get some interpretation inspiration!

One of my students played a simple piece in her method book that sounded a bit impressionistic – in fact, it was almost exactly like the first line of Debussy’s Reverie. We talked a little about impressionism in music, and I played a line or two of the piece for her, and then assigned her to go home and listen to the whole piece.

I recently had a student playing in her Faber & Faber “Popular Repertoire” book the song “What a Wonderful World.” Well, she had never heard the song before, and didn’t know who Louis Armstrong was! So I assigned her to go home and look the song up on YouTube and take a listen.

Listening assignments can be simple and spur-of-the-moment, but they will really help our students become better musicians (and maybe enjoy playing their pieces a little bit more!)

Review: Carol Encores

October 22, 2012 Jennifer Boster

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Who else is starting Christmas music in their studios? I love this time of year. I already started playing Christmas music on my own ages ago, and now am getting my students going on some Christmas music of their own. So exciting!!

I recently have had the opportunity to try out a new book of advanced Christmas solos for piano by Amy B. Hansen, a friend and accomplished pianist/composer who shared some great insights with us about composing a couple of years ago, and I am loving it! Carol Encores is a great collection of Christmas carols that are definitely more advanced than many collections out there. These arrangements will really give your students something to work on. They are a fresh and original collection of well-loved and classic carols that will really add a flourish to a Christmas recital.

These arrangements contain lots of fancy runs, two-against-three rhythms, and beautiful and original motifs, include lots of hand over hand motion, and really utilize the whole range of the keyboard. While all seven of the arrangements are showy enough to wow any recital audience, about half of them are slower and more lyrical. My favorites include the beautiful and flowing arrangement of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” and the fun and joyful “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” (and I am still trying to master the great runs up to speed on this one!).

I think this is a book that both you and your more advanced students will really enjoy this Christmas season. Carol Encores can be purchased here.

Here’s a fun music video featuring some of Amy’s music – it gives you a great preview of her style used in her Christmas music.

Teaching Tip Tuesday: Teach those chords!

October 16, 2012 Jennifer Boster

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Teaching Tip #10: Teach those chords!

I have recently discovered the importance of teaching chords. Lately I have been really trying to get all of my students, all ages, playing major and minor chords all over the piano and in different inversions. A huge help in this has been in using my technique booklets – My Muscle Builders Book and My Muscle Builders Book 2. My students have amazed me in their chord-playing and I really think it is helping them become overall better musicians.

Understanding and being able to easily play chords, in different inversions, helps students in learning their pieces. SO, so often their method book pieces have a melody line in the right hand and chords in the left hand (whether block chords, broken chords, or whatever figuration the notes are in). When students don’t understand chords well, each measure can be a struggle to learn. Many students need to stop and “figure out” the notes of each measure. BUT, if they are good at chord-reading and have a good understanding of primary chords used in a key, all you need to do is have them take a look at the piece and point out the basic harmonies. They will see that a piece may only consist of C, F and G7 chords, and will be able to learn it SO much faster because they are already pros at playing those chords.

Many of my students have also started playing a bit from fakebooks, and it is so fun to see them use their chord-playing knowledge to fill in the harmony (all on their own!!) of a fun, familiar song. I really have been enjoying this awesome Disney Fake Book (Fake Books), and it has a great variety of songs, some easier ones that my students have been enjoying, and some harder ones that I have been having a lot of fun with as well!

So teach those chords! Let’s create a generation of great, well-rounded musicians, shall we?

Teaching Tip Tuesday: Highlight It!

October 9, 2012 Jennifer Boster

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Teaching Tip #9: Highlight It!

Happy Tuesday! I’d like to thank all my great readers who keep coming back even after such intermittent posting on my part 🙂 I’d like to get back to sharing some simple teaching tips each Tuesday that have helped me in my own studio – and hopefully they can give you some ideas to help in yours! Sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference.

Today’s tip is about highlighters. I love to keep a highlighter marker near my piano to use during lessons. Then I have my students use it to sort of analyze a piece they are working on, and to isolate and highlight a specific thing they need to work on.

I have a student who just learned a piece in their book very well – that is, he learned all the notes perfectly but I didn’t hear much change in dynamic levels. So I had him take the highlighter and go through the piece and circle all of the dynamics.

Slurs are another great one – have your student highlight the slurs or phrases in a piece to help them remember to play them nice and legato.

Whatever a student is learning or struggling with at the moment is a great thing to circle or highlight. Having the student actually do the highlighting puts them right in the middle of the learning process; rather than watch you circle the things that they missed in their music, they have the opportunity to take a good look at their own music and figure it out on their own.

What are some simple ways you involve the student in the learning process? Do you have any particular ways you typically like to mark up the student’s music?