I wanted to share something fun that has been really great for my young students (and my young son loves it too!). Sometimes (especially with young students who have the wiggles) sitting on the piano bench for an entire lesson is just out of the question. Young children need to move around, their minds and imaginations sometimes go at a mile a minute, and their attention spans can be so short at times.
So at times like this, I like to whip out my roll-up piano
So I need to tell you about some awesome piano/music software that I just bought.
I currently have a little student who is preschool-aged (not to mention an almost-3 son who LOVES learning about music and piano with his mommy). Because of Janina’s recommendation, I decided to buy Pianomouse Goes to Preschool. And let me tell you, I absolutely LOVE this software
This software is published by Pianomouse (and I just discovered that if you go to their website, pianomouse.com, they are currently updating their software and creating a new product line for 2011 – can’t wait!) and it is made for children ages 3 through 5.
Some things I love about this software:
Children select games from the interactive menu screen. As you move your mouse over each picture, the names of each game are narrated by the fun characters.
The software consists of twelve different games, some of which have a couple of different levels –
Gone Fishing
The Apple Note Farm
Musical ABCs
Khachaturian’s Keyboard
BOUNCE!
Pianomouse Coloring Book
Clara in the Concert Hall
Meet a Famous Composer
Pianomouse Concentration
Instrument Parade
Puccini’s Musical Hopscotch
Pianomouse’s Music Workshop
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| Image Credit |
If you were to teach a beginning student for maybe a few months or a year, what would you hope that they would know by the time they stopped taking lessons from you? In order to feel like you gave them a great foundation to build on, and that their new teacher will be able to pick right up where you left off without needing to reteach concepts, what would they need to know? Even if they will be continuing to study with you, what would you like them to know and learn early on in their study to lay a great foundation for their piano study over the course of the rest of their life?
Here’s a little list I came up with of skills & knowledge I would want my students to have. These are pretty basic, but sadly a lot of young students don’t really know these basic things. If I got a young transfer student who knew and really understood all of these things and was able to play them well, I would be thrilled!
Technique
*good hand position – curved fingers, no collapsing knuckles, plays on the fingertips instead of flats of fingers
*legato playing – able to play nice legato phrases, including lifting of the wrist at the ends of phrases
*staccato playing – able to play nice, short staccatos – see my “basketball analogy” 🙂
*dynamics – plays good, contrasting forte and piano
Theory
*knows all the notes on the grand staff – and really knows them – not just by finger numbers or by playing in C or G position
*basic understanding of intervals and primary chords
*knows and understands the rhythms of basic notes – quarter, half, whole, eighth
*knows and understands sharps and flats
We hope you have found our theory posts and links helpful! Remember, we keep a list (which we update often) of helpful resources for each topic we cover on this blog. Check back often for new great links!
Now for our poll results! Looks like about half of the voters use lots of creative games and activities to teach theory, and about half go the more traditional (boring?) route of going through the theory book together and assigning pages.
The “other” response was:
“I teach theory through their songs, every week!”
I don’t know about you, but I feel motivated to try more fun theory games and activities in my studio.
I am very excited about our next topic, which is Balancing Teaching & Family.
We, as music teachers, are so lucky in our career. Not only do we get to do something as wonderful as teaching music, but most of us have the option of doing this right from the comfort of our own homes (and even those who teach outside of their homes usually have a lot of flexibility). This has so many wonderful advantages, but also brings up a lot of challenges that face many of us as music teachers – how do you balance teaching and family?
I feel that this is a very important (and very personal) issue and decision, and is one that is constantly debated over and over again in my mind. The way you decide to balance this not only affects your spouse and children, but can affect your teaching and your studio in many ways. As many of our readers have families and have expressed interest in this topic, we are excited to focus on it this week, and are excited to read what our readers have to say. We hope to explore some challenges, things to consider, ideas, options, and insights into this important subject.
And we hope to get a lot of comments and input from our readers, for we know that many of you are in the midst of raising your own families, have already raised a family, or hope to someday raise a family. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter!
Jenny Bay, what an awesome post! I completely agreed with everything you said! I just came back from a workshop devoted entirely to using technology in the studio to teach theory – so I thought I’d share what I learned!
The presenter had a very extensive computer lab (which I hope to one day attain!), and he went through each of the programs that he uses for his students, the pro’s and con’s, and which ones he felt were “absolute musts” for the studio:
1. Space Flight Music Notes Flash Cards. This one is AWESOME! I just downloaded it yesterday, actually, and the best part is – it only costs $5! Yes! If you go to ShareSoftware24.com and type in “Space Flight Music Notes Flash Cards”, the program will come up. Best of all, you can download the treble clef FOR FREE! If you want the full range (treble and bass clef), that’s when you pay the $5. It is TOTALLY worth it – the presenter was saying how his students absolutely LOVE this game, and they WANT to play it, even when they don’t need to! It works just like music note flash cards – except MUCH more fun. There’s a little space ship that zaps alien enemies, and if you get the correct note, your space ship will zap the enemy – but if you get enough notes wrong, the alien enemies will eventually overtake your ship! I’m addicted to it already! And the best part is – THE STUDENT IS LEARNING THE NOTES!
*Addendum: Since I made this post, the cost for Space Flight music note flashcards has gone up! It’s now $9.95, and unfortunately, there seems to no longer be a free download option for treble clef only. Thanks for the update, Malinda! It’s still TOTALLY worth it, though.
2. Alright, enough on Space Flight Music Notes. The presenter’s next favorite was MIDIsaurus. I’m sure most of us have heard of this one. The reason our presenter loved it so much was because there are a TON of different activities and exercises to teach each of the components of theory. Also, as a teacher, you can go in and tailor a course of theory lesson plans for EACH of your students – so it’s tailored to what THEY need. Also, just like Space Flight, this one is A LOT of fun for the students – he’s never had ANY student complain about these. He showed us a demo, and I can’t wait to buy it!
You DON’T need a MIDIkeyboard for it (like I thought) – you can do it with just a computer. The only “downside” is that now you have to download MIDIsaurus, and each year, the download expires (it’s on a timer), so you have to purchase the update – which costs $80 per year. But! If you do a computer lab fee, that should cover it. (Because I’m in Idaho, I’m charging $2.00 per month for the lab fee – that’s 50 cents a lesson! Totally affordable, and so far, no parents have complained).
The age range for MIDIsaurus is 4-11, and it’s published by Town4Kids.
3. So what do to with the students who are too old for hatching dinosaur eggs and alien space ships? Use Practica Musica! This one is GREAT for high school and college students because there aren’t any of the “cutesy” little things – but it still can start at the very first level of theory. This program also has excellent rhythm and pitch-and-rhythm exercises, too. It has a one-time cost of $89.99 and it’s published by Ars Nova.
4. Another one that the presenter loved was Pianomouse Preschool. He didn’t get to do a demo on this one, but I’m excited to purchase it when I have preschool-aged students. It’s published by Pianomouse, and it’s for ages 3-6. It costs $19.49 (not bad!)
Here are some other ones that the presenter thought were good, as well as others that he had some reservations about:
MusicAce Maestro, published by Harmonic Vision. This one comes in 2 volumes, and it costs $109.95 total. What he didn’t love about this one is that their order of lessons can be a little…unusual, so as a teacher, he’s found himself having to rearrange the lesson order (which can take a LOT of time). Also, he didn’t like their rhythm exercises because there’s a delay – which can be very confusing, and not effective, in teaching a student rhythm!I was going to buy this program, but now that I went to the workshop, I’ve decided to buy some other programs first.
Theory Games, published by Alfred. This one is for ages 6 and up and costs $18.95. He did say that his students tend to get bored with this one, mainly because it’s the same set of games over and over again – at each level, the games stay the same, it just gets a little harder. It’d make more sense to save up and buy the MIDIsaurus, since there are a LOT more games available and greater depth of coverage.
Children’s Music Journey, published by Adventus, and made for ages 4-10. It costs $66.45. Unfortunately, we didn’t go over this one in the workshop, but the presenter said he loved it, and that he’d consider this one to be one of his staples for the studio.
I hope that was helpful! The presenter went over some other technology-based music tools for the studio, but those weren’t so much for Theory (maybe we’ll have another post on those!) I know now that I want to buy MIDIsaurus and Practica Musica (as well as those Space Flight flash cards I already bought!) to get a good coverage of all the levels and ages for my studio. I’m also very excited to start my computer lab, so I can have the students come 20 minutes early, do their theory on a FUN program, and then we can devote the entire 30 or 45 minutes of our one-on-one lesson time to just technique and repertoire! I’m so excited!
free tools, worksheets, sightreading genie, dictionary of terms, infinite supply of manuscript paper, rhythm machine, articles, music crosswords and games
www.practicespot.com
Well hello!
I have been a bit missing in action lately, but yesterday I finally finished my NCTM portfolio (wahoo!). We are going to extend the theory topic for a few days because I think we need to cover some online resources and theory games. Stay tuned for a post later today on some awesome resources, and we would love some comments from YOU on your favorite theory games.
Have a great day!
Ah, music theory…most of us are music nerds and we love it! We get excited about things like secondary dominants and diminished seventh chords. But why do so many of our students hate it? I suppose it is because it feels like the boring “work” part of music. But to not teach theory to our beginning students would be like a kindergarten teacher teaching her students to read the letters in the alphabet, without teaching them to write them. I would like to talk briefly about several ways in which theory can be taught so that it becomes an integral part of each student’s study, and not a separate activity, hated and often “forgotten.”
Theory Worksheets
Okay, so these are important. If you have your students using a method, there are theory pages each week that support the concepts in the lesson book. Have your students get in the habit of doing these from the very beginning. Review them in the lesson, and talk about how they apply to the piece they learned. These pages don’t take long, and if you don’t act like they’re boring, young students will usually do them quite enthusiastically.
Theory Games
This is like the fun version of theory worksheets, and it’s worth taking 5 minutes in the lesson to have some fun with theory. A group class is another great opportunity for theory games. I’m not going to try to give examples, because there are so many more creative teachers than I, and great resources on the internet.
Theory Lab
Many teachers incorporate some kind of computer lab into their music studio. This lab can include fun theory computer games as well as ear training tapes, CDs, and videos that can all reinforce theory concepts.
Technique
Here’s a place where we don’t always think about applying theory, but most technique exercises are theory-based. Five finger scales teach the theory concepts of whole steps, half steps, major and minor scales and chords, and key signatures. Other technique exercises teach intervals, major and minor chords, primary triads, inversions, etc. Talk about these concepts when you teach the exercises, and often later on as well. Students won’t remember or understand everything at first, but the more you talk about it, the more it will begin to make sense, and what they are doing in their written work will have a tactile and visual application.
Applied Theory
Speaking of application, if theory is ever to have any real impact on a student’s piano study, it must be constantly and thoroughly applied to the music they are playing! For instance, the most basic theory concepts a beginning student must learn are note names, intervals, and rhythm (note values). It goes without saying that you won’t just send a student home with a worksheet on these concepts, and never talk about them in the lesson. You will be constantly asking, “how many counts does this note get?” or “what is the interval between these two notes?” So from the very beginning of a piano student’s study, you are helping them apply the theory to the music. As soon as chords are introduced into the students’ pieces, you can talk about how triads are the basis of our harmonic system. Soon enough you will be able to use terms like “V7 chord,” “dissonance,” and “leading tone.” I used to be afraid to use words I thought a beginning student might not understand, until I realized that they won’t ever learn them unless I use them! And every concept must be taught again and again for them to really learn it. Even very young students can hear dissonance and resolution, so give them the words to describe it. The more you talk about how and why music works the way it does, the faster their skills in reading, memorizing, and interpreting music will develop. And they’ll enjoy it more along the way.
Hello, again! We’ve finally moved into our new home in Idaho and I’ve already gotten a few student referals (yes!). I went to a workshop for piano teachers this past Friday entitled “Incorporating Technology into your Studio”, and it turns out that technology is a BIG deal here in Idaho (which I love!) Even the elderly teachers who have been teaching for 50 years use MIDIsaurus and other computer-based theory exercises. I love it and I’m going to buy MIDIsaurus and a couple other computer theory programs in the next couple of weeks. But here’s my question:
How should I handle computer lab fees? I originally thought I would charge a $5 computer lab fee per month (keeping in mind the cost of living in Idaho). However, when I went to the workshop on Friday and asked the same question, a lot of the teachers said they tried doing a monthly fee, but a lot of the parents would try to save money and say “Well, what if I just had my son take piano lessons without the computer instruction, so I don’t have to pay the monthly computer lab fee?”
I obviously want to avoid that, because theory and ear-training are such an integral part of piano lessons! So some of the teachers suggested doing a yearly Materials Fee, which covers computer lab costs. I originally had my materials fee set for $25, BEFORE I added my computer lab. I thought maybe it should be $50 for the yearly materials fee, but it sounds like that might be too high for Idaho (I already had to drop my monthly lesson rates by $15, and it’s STILL on the high side!) So what would you do? I’m having some students come for auditions next week, so I need to have this ironed out by the end of this weekend! Thanks!
Holy moly – another week come and gone already? Now this poll, I think, is very interesting. If we had had a few more voters we could probably draw more conclusions from it 🙂 However, notice that only 1/4 of the voters learned correct technique right from the beginning. Isn’t that sad? What can we learn from this? – the importance of giving our own students a great start in technique!
This next week’s topic should be a fun one – Teaching Beginning Theory!
I can’t wait to hear all your *amazing ideas* for FUN and EXCITING ways to teach theory to your beginners. Because let’s face it, theory can be kinda boring…but it is oh-so important. Here’s looking forward to a great week!
Don’t forget to take our poll of the week, located on our right sidebar. And if you haven’t already, we’d love it if you could take a minute or two and fill out our reader survey!
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