Rebecca W. Music

Welcome!

2010-04-29T09:05:00.000-04:00

Welcome to those of you visiting from The Teaching Studio blog! Please take a look around, I hope that some of my ideas and resources can be a help to you.

(And, to those of you who haven't visited The Teaching Studio yet, go check it out- it's worth your time! Just click the image above, or the link in the right sidebar.)

A Quick Little Student Inspired Idea

2010-04-16T20:50:00.001-04:00

Forgive my neglectful blogging lately - I'm currently dealing with lots of semester-end stress and I am more than a little swamped. However, please rest assure that come May 1st, there will be lots of new blogging material to read, and some fun printables! WooHoo! Meanwhile, I shared this brilliant idea I had (well, maybe not brilliant, but I was pretty pleased with myself) on the Faber Piano Adventures Forums the other day, and thought that it might be of use to some of you, too!

First, some background: right now I am currently teaching one of my four (almost five) year old students to read notes on the staff. We've been working our way through the note names on the staffs - but not using any books, simply activities. Here's the breakdown of how I taught her the space notes of the treble clef over the course of three weeks:

The first week, we cut strips of paper and glued them down on a sheet of paper to make a staff- then we labeled all the notes. This particular student enjoyed getting to color and decorate her poster. Whatever works!

The next step was a stroke of sheer luck, and I can't take all of the credit for it, as my student was starving, but I didn't want to waste lesson time giving her a snack. Note: Normally I don't feed children during their lessons, but this student comes right after dance class (therefore she's pretty hungry) and I babysit her on a more than regular basis, so I made an exception!

Anyway, what did we do? We wrote the notes on my whiteboard staff as a reference and we used pretzels to make a staff and chocolate cheerios for the notes. She had to name the notes before eating the cheerios.

Then, the following week, we used the same pretzel and cheerio activity but, as we played the game, I erased one note name from the white board at a time until she could name every single note.

It worked like a charm! She now knows all of the spaces of the treble clef, and so now we'll start with the lines at her next lesson!

Has anybody else ever created an activity for a student on a whim?

Giveaways!

2010-04-08T22:17:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not hosting a giveaway (yet.) But there are quite a few going on right now, and I thought I'd compile a list! Go enter!

Anya @ Notes of Joy is giving away a set of Bea's Keys.

The Teaching Studio is giving away the picture book A Winter Concert

MckMama is giving away an iPad (no, she's not a music teacher, but the iPad is worthy of posting. Believe me.)

I think I'm missing one or two, but I can't for the life of me remember where or what they are. If you know of them, please leave a comment and let us know!

Thought for the Week - March 29, 2010

2010-03-29T23:45:00.000-04:00

The artist is not a special kind of man, but every man is a special kind of artist.

- A.K. Coomaraswamy

LEGO Bricks and Music Lessons?!

2010-03-26T15:49:00.001-04:00

Have you heard about the Lego Smart Creativity Contest? I just heard about it today from a homeschool discussion board, and (though I never thought about using LEGO products in my lessons before) I think I foresee them making an appearance at upcoming lessons. I mean, how cool does this idea (taken straight from the website) look:

LEGO My Music- Rythm Study

LEGO Smart Creativity Contest Entry (SEPTEMBER WINNER!)

By Paula Augustine, Home school mom and private music instructor

Steps: 1. Give each group of 2-3 students a LEGO Smart Kit. 2. Give them 3-5 minutes to work together and line up their bricks into a rhythm composition. 3. Let each group share their rhythm composition and explain what each brick 'symbol' meant. They will need to work together to decide how to organize the bricks into length is to be played and be able to play it together when finished. I had one group use some colors as rests! Another group used dotted rhythm patterns.

Lesson Learned: The students learned to work together, work creatively, and how use symbols to communicate with the class.

Anybody else interested in entering the 2010 contest? Just visit their website here to pre-register. (The first 10,000 get a free mini LEGO kit!) I think my students and I will definitely be able to come up with some creative activities... and knowing how creative some of y'all are, I have no doubts that your ideas will be equally as great!

Leave a comment if you decide to participate, too!

If You Haven't Already, Check These Out!

2010-03-25T22:54:00.000-04:00

Thursdays are my crazy days so I haven't had much time to write a "real" post, but, I thought I would take some time to note a couple of entries from fellow bloggers that you might have missed:

Natalie's 2010 MTNA Conference Blog Index
Natalie blogged about each of the sessions she sat in on at this year's MTNA conference in Albuquerque. (I hope I spelled that right!) Lots of good stuff!

Joy's List of The Best Piano Jokes
I'm kind of enjoying slipping these jokes into my lessons!

Laura's Post on Creating Our Own Variations
This one is of particular interest to me this week, as I'm making all of my students begin composing their own music, and then taking techniques like transposition and variation to them. Some of them weren't too thrilled at first, but they're getting into it now!

The Teaching Studio's "Something Fun for Your Waiting Area"
I love picture books about musical topics, so I loved this blog entry! I have a few favorites, too, that I'll be sharing with y'all sometime in the not so distant future!

Do any of you have any blog entries you'd like to add to the list?

Introducing The Brian Waite Band

2010-03-24T16:17:00.000-04:00

Have you heard of them? I hadn't until last week. I downloaded several of their songs, stuck them on a CD in my car CD player... and... well... I'm kind of ashamed to say it, but I've left it there playing on repeat for several days! (Yes, even when there aren't any children in my car!)

I'm looking forward to using some of their songs with my early childhood classes. They currently have five CD's out:

(These are links, by the way, so that you can check them out on Amazon.com and hear clips of their songs!)

I particularly like the songs Jingle Your Bell (from the River of Life CD) and Can't Sit Still (from, naturally, the Can't Sit Still CD). I haven't listened to Stick Game, Musicmaker, and I Like to Sing (from Musicmaker) all the way through yet, but I think those look promising for my early childhood classes, too!

Check them out and let me know what you think... for now, though, I'm off to teach!

My Week in (Gray Scale) Review

2010-03-23T08:33:00.000-04:00

What have I been up to in the last week?

Well, the week started with a little bookshelf rearranging...

Then I got into a little summer camp planning...

(Can you guess what I'm going to do with the map?)

Some pipe-stem cleaner and alphabet bead grand staff teaching...

and (with my younger students) a little bit of piano puzzle making...

What have YOU been up to in the last week?

Thought for the Week - March 22, 2010

2010-03-22T11:35:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so, about that missing in action thing... Sorry again. I don't know what happened to last week! How about a post everyday this week to make up for it? ;o) That sounds good to me, I've kinda missed the blogosphere!

Anyway, without further ado, here is your thought for the week:

"Music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions. People everywhere are the same in heart and spirit. No matter what language we speak, what color we are, the for of our politics or the expression of our love and our faith, music proves: We are the same."

- John Denver

St. Patrick's Day Teacher Guilt

2010-03-17T22:48:00.000-04:00

It occurs to me that I haven't been around here much this week! Sorry y'all! I haven't forgotten about you, I've just been super busy. You see, I had this brilliant idea on Sunday night to clean my office... and... well... here it is Wednesday and my office is an even BIGGER mess, because I decided to completely rearrange and reorganize it.

I never (ever) do anything half-way.

Anyway, in the process, I completely disappointed some of my students. I bought some lovely smiling shamrock stickers last year, and I ended up forgetting about them completely when St. Patrick's day rolled around. This year, however, I remembered and got them out! Except then I decided to clean my office, and... you guessed it, misplaced the shamrock stickers. Shame on me.

AND... We didn't play my St. Patrick's day game at all today. It's all good and well, we've been playing it all month, but lessons today went by SO FAST! It honestly felt like my kids walked in the door and walked right back out.

To relieve some of this guilt, I told all of my students that we'll celebrate St. Patrick's day next week. Mostly because I am NOT holding onto those stickers for another year. No way, no how.

Despite all of this, I DID remember to wear green today.

Anybody else having "one of those days?" (Or, in my case, "one of those weeks.")

Thought for the Week - March 14, 2010

2010-03-14T14:18:00.005-04:00

Note: I'm moving "Thought for the Week" to Sunday, so that I can do other posts on Monday. Now you'll get to "see" me four times a week!

... and, yes, this thought references the saxophone, but it applies to any instrument!

"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn."

- Charlie Parker

Early Childhood Music Classes: 18 Months - 3 Years

2010-03-12T11:34:00.000-05:00

I've spent so much time focusing on piano lessons, that I've neglected to address my early childhood music classes until now! It's a downright shame, too, because teaching my little ones is one of my favorite parts of teaching! Thanks, Joy, for posting about your early childhood class ideas and reminding me to get on it! I'm borrowing your list of things to consider as a jumping off point. (Hope you don't mind!)

Location/Space
The larger the space, the better... sometimes! I've learned that having too much space can be distracting to children, and they spend more time running around then participating! If you're looking for a place to teach, I would search out area dance studios. Their rooms are usually the perfect size and many studios (at least in my area) are willing to rent out space in the mornings when they aren't offering classes- anything to defray the cost of rent, especially in this economy!

Parents' Presence
The class I teach is Mommy & Me, due to the fact that it's during a morning out program at a local church. However, even if it wasn't, I wouldn't teach these little ones without their Mommies around! It's great for these little ones to see their Moms enjoying the music, and it gives them the chance to make awesome memories together.

Materials
You'll need a wide selection of music and child friendly musical instruments. I keep Egg Shaker Pairs, Castanets, Sandblocks, Rhythm Sticks and Scarves handy - enough for each child to have one or two (see class size below). I also have some ribbon dancers that I made (I'll post about those before too long).

I also use a wide variety of music. I love Rachel Rambach's songs, as well as music from Baby Einstein (Particularly the "Meet The Orchestra" CD) and Wee Sing. I used to feel tremendously guilty about using Baby Einstein and Wee Sing, but the kids LOVE it. (Another word of advice, don't feel guilty about using the same songs over and over, particularly if the kids like the songs. Preschoolers LOVE repetition.)

Class Size
Generally, I limit all of my classes to 6-10 students. For the early childhood classes, I try to keep it at 6-8. Too many small children = lots of chaos!

Class Duration
With this age range, 30 minutes is about all I can get before the kids begin to lose interest. Kindermusik offers 45 minute classes for this age range. I think it really depends on your group of kids, and what type of activities you incorporate. I believe Kindermusik may also include a story and craft project (although I can't swear by it) which might help to hold interest a little bit longer!

Sessions
I recommend charging monthly for early childhood classes, but I would also give parents the opportunity to pay for an 8 week (two month) session and only charge the for 7 weeks, making it clear that this is the better option. (So that if you have to miss a week, you're not losing money - it's not uncommon with early childhood classes for things to come up unexpectedly, and I like to be flexible!)

Goals
At this age, my main goal is for the children to enjoy and LOVE music. However, I also use it to introduce students to basic aural skills (high/low, fast/slow, etc.)

Hope that these thoughts help! Please let me know if you have any specific questions, and I'll do my best to answer them!

A St. Patrick's Day Game

2010-03-10T12:31:00.000-05:00

This is a kind of (read: very) cheesy game that I made up for my students. They LOVED playing it, though. (They are so easy to please!) I loved the fact that it encouraged them to learn their notes so quickly!

Things you will need:

Your handy scale blocks
This printable gameboard, created by yours truly
Leprechaun coins

Note: My Leprechaun coins are not actually from Leprechauns. (Shh! Don't tell my students!) They are actually sequins - 20mm gold sequins created by Darice to be specific. You can, of course substitute whatever you wish, but do not attempt to make Leprechaun coins by painting a bag of small wooden disks with gold acrylic paint. I may have tried this, and I may have lived to regret it.

To Play:

1. Decide which of the following notes you want to reinforce:

Treble Clef Lines
Treble Clef Spaces
Bass Clef Lines
Bass Clef Spaces

2. Lay out your gameboard, toss all of your scale blocks into a container, and pull out your Leprechaun coins. (Making a great show of the coins as if they are magic is optional, but I prefer it!)

3. Have students draw from the scale blocks, and place their Leprechaun coins on the corresponding rainbow lines or spaces. (i.e. If you decide to reinforce treble clef lines, and the student draws a "B" block, they will place the coin on the third line of the rainbow. Conversely, if you've decided to reinforce bass clef spaces and the student draws a "B" block, they should throw it back in the box and draw another.) Clear as mud?

4. The first line or space to reach the pot of gold (or the line or space with the most coins when time is up) "wins."

Thought for the Week - March 8, 2010

2010-03-08T09:41:00.000-05:00

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.
- Ludwig van Beethoven

Five Things Every Teacher Should Have: Business Cards

2010-03-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

When I started teaching, I printed my business cards on the perforated, print-and-tear cards. I held off as long as I could in having cards professionally printed due to the expense. However, these days, I have professionally printed cards that I love, and I use my print-and-tear cards for making music games. The best part? The cards cost me very little!

Enter Vistaprint. Using their website, I was able to quickly and easily "design" my cards (and by design, I mean, choose my background and enter my information) and save myself a bunch of hassle and struggling with my printer.

(Rest assured, my last name and phone number ARE on my actual card!)

Now, typically I would not recommend getting Vistaprints free cards, as they have the Vistaprint logo on the back (henceforth, making them look less professional, in my opinion) however, they are currently offering the special that I got my cards on - 250 premium cards for free! (Except the cost of shipping.) They have tons of fabulous designs! You can find out about this deal HERE.

However, I thought I'd also pinpoint two other websites that offer business cards - keep in mind, though, that I have no personal experience with these companies. (However, if you do, please feel free to chime in with your comments!)

Zazzle has some really awesome business card designs. In fact, I am almost tempted to order my next set of business cards from them! They even have some MySpace and Facebook themed business cards (though I certainly do not recommend those for teachers trying to send a professional message!)

Moo also has business cards and mini cards that are to die for, and I've heard pretty good things about this company. They're a little bit more expensive, but they look like they might be worth it, depending on your taste.

So, there you go, a couple of options for business cards... hopefully I've inspired you to get out and get creative!

Previous Posts in the Five Things Every Teacher Should Have Series:

The Studio Website

DIY Music Whiteboard (It's Easy. Really.)

2010-03-03T09:08:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting a small music whiteboard for quite some time (something like this or this) but I wasn't wild about the price. Then, yesterday morning, while wandering through Wal-Mart (of all places) I had the idea to DIY it!

There's really nothing to making one of them. Just gather your materials and stick them together! Here's a list of the "stuff" that I ended up using:

Small poster frame (mine was 12x18) preferably made of plastic instead of glass.
A grand staff (I printed this one from Susan Paradis' Teacher Resources)
A paper keyboard (I have a pad of them that I purchased from Jeffers Handbell Supply, but you can print them here for free if you don't want to buy them!)
A large sheet of scrapbook paper to use as a background

Once you've gathered the materials, just assemble your printouts and diagrams and stick them in the frame. That's all there is to it! See how mine turned out?

It only ended up costing me $4, and I'm so pleased with the way it ended up - especially since I will be able to make several of them for the cost of just one of the store-bought boards mentioned above.

Thought for the Week - March 1, 2010

2010-03-01T14:12:00.000-05:00

We know an age more vividly through its music than through its historians.

- Rosanne Ambrose-Brown

I Know, I Know...

2010-02-26T07:42:00.000-05:00

It's another YouTube video. But I promise this one is worth your time... and I'll be back to regular posts next week - I PROMISE! :o)

Aren't they cute? Here's their story:

Using Scale Blocks with Young Students

2010-02-24T11:51:00.001-05:00

Mix up an octave or two of scale blocks and have students place them in order – forwards and backwards.

Place one or a more blocks on their corresponding keys, and have students fill in the remaining blocks.

Mix up all of the blocks and have students draw them at random, placing them on their corresponding keys.

Start an egg timer. Point to a key and have students grab the corresponding scale block. Repeat and see how many blocks can the student collect before the timer runs out!

Repeat activity four - but instead of playing a key, display a flashcard of a note on the treble or bass staff.

Draw a staff on a blank sheet of paper and have students place the blocks the proper lines/spaces.

Choose a word that can be spelled using the music alphabet, draw the needed blocks, and have students build it on the keyboard.

Choose a word that can be spelled using the music alphabet, draw the needed blocks, and have students build it on the lines and spaces of the staff.

Mix up the blocks and have students draw them at random, placing them in a row on the music rack as they go. Then have them add rhythm to compose a song.

Repeat any of the activities above, but reverse roles and let the students “teach” you! Be sure to make lots of silly mistakes for them to correct!

Piano Can Be Cool (But You Already Knew That)

2010-02-23T15:26:00.000-05:00

Here are three YouTube videos that I CAN'T WAIT to show my students... so I figured I'd show them to you in the meantime. Enjoy!

Thought for the Week - February 22, 2010

2010-02-22T17:58:00.000-05:00

"Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other; because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul."

- Plato

Neat New Website!

2010-02-18T21:30:00.000-05:00

While surfing the Piano Adventures Piano Club forum the other day, I came across the website of Debra Krol who runs Tiny Tinkles Piano Studio.

Debra has some excellent printable resources for piano teachers and students - including a pre-reading version of Axel F that some of my students are going to LOVE! My favorite part of her website though was her Listening Blog, where she has linked to various YouTube videos with different styles of music. She even includes... the Potter Puppet Pals?! Yes, it must be seen to be believed! What a fun idea!

Thanks, Debra, for sharing your resources!

Five Things Teacher Should Have: The Studio Website

2010-02-17T11:03:00.001-05:00

Note: As I've been getting the ball rolling on a bunch of business-related stuff this week, I got to thinking about what advice I would give new teachers, and I ended up coming up with a list of five things that I think every new teacher should have (or at least look into). For the next few weeks, I will be blogging this series along with my regularly scheduled posts! I hope that this advice can be of help to some of you.

I have a confession: when I started teaching, having a website was the farthest thing from my list of needs. Sure, I thought it would be nice, but I didn't think it was entirely necessary, and (I justified) it would just be another expense. However, as time passed, my opinions began to change for two reasons:

1. I received e-mail after e-mail asking the exact same questions

2. I realized that I always checked out the website before using the services or purchasing the products a business offered.

Having decided it was time to do something, I set out to find an economical and easy to maintain webpage. I have some basic skills with HTML, but (to be honest) I didn't (and still don't) have the time or energy to invest in building a webpage from scratch. Additionally, I wanted something that would give me a professional domain name, for a low cost, without any ads.

Impossible, right? I thought so, too. However, I've discovered that this isn't the case.

I built my website through Webs.com. Webs allows individuals and small businesses to create webpages for free with a domain name like rebeccawmusic.webs.com (which do have ads) or upgrade their package to a custom domain name (mine is www.rebeccawmusic.com) for $19.95 a year (that's about what I charge for one lesson)! Editing is simple, too, just drag and drop. Weebly.com has similar features and allows you to have a free spot on the web (just like Webs does) or upgrade to a pro account with a custom domain name for $3.99 a month (assuming you sign up for a year).

In this day and age, there are so many options and choices for creating webpages - even for those who are not technologically savvy! Take the time to look into it, because even setting up a webpage with just your contact information, a short bio and a photograph or two, goes a long way in making you look like the professional you are!

Thought for the Week - February 15, 2010

2010-02-15T12:21:00.000-05:00

"The things I learned from my experience in music in school are discipline, perseverance, dependability, composure, courage and pride in results. . . Not a bad preparation for the workforce!”

- Gregory Anrig

What have you learned from your own music education? What things do you hope to teach your students through music?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T12:18:00.001-05:00

I just love Kristin Chenoweth! (And Joshua Bell!)

BTW, if you're like me, and you now have to have this song on your iPod it's available for purchase here as an MP3 Download. Just click the album cover!

Enthusiasm for Learning

2010-02-12T14:10:00.002-05:00

Note: Something a little different today, since it's Friday!

I love teaching my younger students for so many reasons, but my favorite reason is their enthusiasm.

One particular six-year-old student has so much energy and so joy. She started lessons less than a month ago, but each week, she comes bouncing in my front door, huge smile on her face.

"Oh Miss Rebecca," she says, "I couldn't practice my piano today because I had to go to dance, but guess what I did!"

"What did you do?" I ask.

"I pretended like I had a piano in front of me, and I practiced my finger numbers!"

We sit down at the piano, and she proceeds to place her red and green Twinkle Stars (used to mark C and G for "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star") on the piano. I help her fix their placement, ("Oops!" she giggles when I correct her) and she starts to play. Her performance is far from flawless, but overall she does beautifully, her confidence making up for a hesitation here and a skipped note there.

I tell her to keep practicing, and we turn the page. Her books come with a CD of all of the songs, so I stick the CD in the stereo. We sing along with one song, playing the piano as we go, then the next. Ending each song with a dramatic flair, hands in the air and an excited "hooray!" she never wants to stop.

"Let's do another song!" she says.

She's mildly disappointed when I tell her that I can't give her that many songs, but it doesn't take long for her to get right back to her cheerful state. After all, we have to work in her workbook, a prospect which greatly excites her.

As I get out the colored pencils and find the page in her workbook, she dances around the room, singing the songs and making "graceful wrist rainbows" - our topic of the day. She makes up her own songs, too.

"One key, skip to the other!" she sings, then pauses to explain: "That helps me to remember the black keys!" Though I’m not entirely sure how it helps her, I smile and offer my encouragement.

Then, too quickly, it’s time for the lesson to end. I close her assignment notebook and pull out my sticker sheets… stars, smiley faces, tiny frogs and big sparkly frogs. She selects a red smiley face, sticks it to the front of her notebook and bounces right back out the front door, pausing for a split second to smile over her shoulder and call out, “see you next week!”

I smile as I close the door, wishing that I had half of her energy and enthusiasm.

Fun Freebies in February

2010-02-10T14:02:00.000-05:00

Laura, over at The Piano Studio posted a blog entry to let us know about a fun famous musicians wall chart that's free for download. I saved it and printed it out, and look forward to using it with my composer studies. (More on that another day!)

Debra of NotebookingPages.Com has some awesome Valentines Day lined pages and cards, as well as some neat artist and composer notebooking pages. I'm storing my Valentines pages for next year - I've got some cute ideas (think: making a book or wall of things students love about music lessons, composers they love or pieces of music they love) but I don't have quite enough time to carry them out this year!

Amazon.com is offering I Love the 80s, Vol. 1 (1880s) as well as The Orange Mountain Music Philip Glass Sampler Vol.I and Eternal Baroque. I love growing my iTunes library, especially with free samplers!

And finally, the last freebie comes from me. Nothing too exciting, just some piano key flashcards that I remembered while searching through my teaching files this morning. I figured I might as well share in case somebody could use them.

Enjoy!

Thought for the Week - February 8, 2010

2010-02-08T13:26:00.001-05:00

Teaching music is not my main purpose. I want to make good citizens. If children hear fine music from the day of their birth and learn to play it, they develop sensitivity, discipline and endurance. They get a beautiful heart.

-Shinichi Suzuki

What is your purpose in teaching? How do you communicate it to your students?

Are You Ready For Some [Piano] Football?

2010-02-06T12:21:00.000-05:00

Because I'm a pretty cool piano teacher (sometimes) I came up with a game for one of my little football stars who didn't want to learn the names of the white keys... and it worked. By the end of his lesson, he knew every white key name!

You'll need:

Scale Blocks (see Natalie's post here)
Mini Footballs (I printed mine on cardstock and glued them to buttons)
Goalposts (also known as "straws trimmed and taped together")

To Play:

Toss all of your scale blocks into a bowl, bag, hat, box or whatever you have handy. (I used a small hand drum.)

Decide how large you want your field to be (depending on how much time you have) and place your "goalposts"

Note: I used very skinny, flimsy straws and slipped them a fraction of a centimeter down between keys. Bad for my piano? Probably, but my piano saw 30 years of (much worse) abuse before I purchased it. If you are concerned about your keys, you could make a base out of more straws or a bit of modeling clay.
Place your footballs at their starting positions. Team Bass Clef goes on middle C, Team Treble Clef goes two keys over on E.

Take turns drawing a scale block and moving the football to the corresponding key. (Team Bass Clef always moves lower towards their goal post, and Team Treble Clef always moves higher towards their post.)

The first team to score a touchdown (pass their goal post) wins!

Variations:

Use only one football and have team Treble move it up, and team Bass move it down. This makes the game a little bit more like real football, but takes up a lot more time in the lesson.

Penalize students for "going out of bounds." In other words, if they land their football on the wrong note, they have to go back to their last position.

Offer the chance to earn a "point after touchdown" by answering a random question about whatever they're currently learning. (i.e. "What does forte mean?" or "Name one piece of music that Mozart wrote.")

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

2010-02-05T11:50:00.000-05:00

As you've probably already noticed, I've changed the layout of my blog, and I hope that you all like the changes as much as I do. The blog should be much easier to read and navigate now, and the changes will allow me to streamline this blog with a couple of other exciting projects that are still in the works!

... For now, I'm just going to leave you all in suspense about said projects while I work on a post about a super fun (easy!) new game. :o)

When it Rains it Pours

2010-02-01T16:26:00.000-05:00

... No, that's not a reference to the weather around here today! Although it could be! Whatever happened to "The Sunshine State?" But, I digress ...

It's actually a reference to how many of my students will be needing new books this week! Anybody wanna wager a guess as to how much money (and time) I spent at the music store over the weekend?

Check This Out! - The Deal of The Century

2010-01-04T21:55:00.001-05:00

When it comes to purchasing classical music, I head to Naxos first. They offer high quality recordings at a low price. So, imagine my thrill last week when I discovered that they were offering 24 hours of classical music for $9.99 on iTunes!

Naxos has taken 22 of their full-length albums and compiled them into one AMAZING collection. Which includes:

BACH, J.S.: Brandenburg Concertos, Vol. 1
BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonatas Nos. 8, 14 and 23
BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2 / Serenade No. 2
CHOPIN: Nocturnes (Selection)
DEBUSSY: Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune / Nocturnes
DOWLAND, J.: Dowland's Tears - Lute Music, Vol. 2
DVORAK: Symphony No. 9 / Symphonic Variations
FAURE: Requiem / Messe Basse
GRIEG: Orchestral Music
HANDEL: Messiah (1751 Version) [double album]
HAYDN: String Quartets Op. 76, Nos. 1- 3
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN: Heavenly Revelations
LISZT: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Totentanz
MOZART: Requiem in D Minor
PALESTRINA: Missa Papae Marcelli
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Sheherazade / The Tale of Tsar Saltan
SCHUBERT: String Quartets (Complete), Vol. 1
SCHUMANN, R.: Kinderszenen / Papillons / Carnaval
TALLIS: Spem in alium / Missa Salve Intemerata
TCHAIKOVSKY: Nutcracker / Swan Lake (Excerpts)
VIVALDI: 4 Seasons / Wind Concertos
WAGNER, R.: The Ring (Orchestral Highlights)

I purchased this collection for my own library, and I'm recommending it for my students, too!

'Twas the Lesson Before Christmas...

2009-12-14T20:03:00.001-05:00

This week is my last week of lessons this year! Hard to believe, isn't it? I woke up this morning and decided that I wanted to do something special for my students this week, so I chose to do these 5 little things that were a whole lot of fun!

I made up a rule for lessons this week - no lesson books allowed! Instead... We played Christmas songs exclusively and did this fun Light Up The Tree Worksheet by Susan Paradis instead of theory books. (Hint: My kids LOVED using Neon Crayola Twistables instead of the usual colored pencils, because it made the lights "glow")

Of course, what fun would a lesson be without GAMES! I did some surfing online and chose Susan Paradis's Snowflake Keyboard Race, which all of my students absolutely LOVED! (We couldn't just play it once - they requested to play it several times over!) I also downloaded and printed Wendy Stevens's Name That Christmas Tune. I used it as a sight-reading exercise (play it and name the tune). Remarkably, even the kids who are challenging to work with when it comes to sight-reading - enjoyed and were successful at this game! (And those cards aren't exactly easy, either!)

To top off the lesson each student earned a Christmas sticker for their sticker collections (more on that another day) and a candy cane or Christmas cookie.

While I can't make every lesson this fun, it certainly was a fun tradition that I look forward to repeating in the years to come!

Check This Out! - Musopen

2009-10-26T10:39:00.000-04:00

I came across Musopen a while back while compiling my "Listening Room" project. It is full public domain downloads of classical music, that can be used for various projects. From the website:

Musopen is an online music library of copyright free (public domain) music. We want to give the world access to music without the legal hassles so common today. There is a great deal of music that has expired copyrights, but almost no recordings of this music is in the public domain. We aim to record or obtain recordings that have no copyrights so that our visitors may listen, re-use, or in any way enjoy music. Put simply, our mission is to set music free.

Public domain works are not protected by U.S. copyright law and are free to be used, copied, performed and distributed by anyone for any purpose, even if sold for profit.

I've been finding various ways to use this website in my lessons. One of my students is using My First Piano Adventures, and really enjoys learning about all of the composers! She told me that she listens to the corresponding CDs every night while she goes to sleep, and she was very disappointed to find out that Book C didn't have a CD with it. So, what did I do? As we've been studying the various composers, we've been going to Musopen and creating a CD of their works! Problem solved!

I hope that some of you find this resource as useful as I do... It was just too cool not to share!

Why I Do What I Do

2009-10-24T22:23:00.000-04:00

It's been an interesting last few months to say the least, trying to fast-forward my way through my Bachelor's degree in order to earn my Master's degree, changing degree programs several times, gaining students, losing students, almost quitting teaching...

And then, suddenly things settled out, and I had a revelation of sorts.

Teaching privately is hard work, but I've realized in the last few weeks that I wouldn't give it up for the world. There are so many moments when I love my job:

- When I get the joy of seeing student's faces light up when they learn to express their creativity in new ways.

- When students work for WEEKS to master one technique and it finally clicks.

- When my students collect their weekly stickers on the cover of their assignment notebook and insist on counting them each week to "find out how many lessons they've had" and then recount the stories of lessons past.

- When the drama classes and clubs that I've spent weeks with - painstakingly auditioning, casting, teaching, coaching, directing, pleading with to PLEASE learn their lines, and to stay focused for just a FEW more rehearsals - take their final bows, and I have to work hard not to let the tears flow because I'm just that proud of them.

Those are the moments when I realize that it's worth it. Those are the moments that every scheduling problem, frustration with lack of practice and feeling that I am not a suitable teacher melt away, and I remember why I do what I do.

Why do you teach?

Favorite Piano Methods

2009-08-10T14:21:00.000-04:00

Today, over at the Music Matters Blog Natalie has posted about her preferred piano methods, and asked us to share our opinions. My opinion was a bit long-winded to post in the comments section, so I figured I'd post it over here for y'all to read and share!

My preferred method for teaching piano is the Faber Piano Adventures program. I really like the firm pedagogical standpoint it comes from... And my students like the fun illustrations, the theory books (I've never ONCE had a student complain about an activity in these books!), and the music that is actually EXCITING to play! Generally when I teach out of these books, I only use the Lesson, Theory and Technique books - not the Performance books. I'll explain that later...

For my younger students, I choose (without a doubt!) the Faber My First Piano Adventure books. These books have worked miracles with the many little ones that I've taught. When I teach out of this method, I do use both books (Lesson and Writing) as well as the CD, but I do not use a lot of supplementary activities. I find that I simply do not need them.

Now, all of that being said, I do have a student that is currently using the Alfred Basic Piano Library. I don't think that it's a bad piano method (it's the way I learned), but it certainly is not my favorite. When I teach out of these books, I only use the Lesson and Theory books (although I have been known to use only the Lesson book with this series, just writing out activities for the student to complete).

How do I make up for the missing books?

The short answer for the missing "Technic" book in the Alfred series is this: pentascales and chords. I truly feel that my students time is better spent learning and practicing their scales instead of the exercises provided.

As far as the performance books go, I choose to go without, because I would rather devote the time to supplementary material that meets the needs that each of my students have. Most often, I look for music that I can provide them with free of charge. Making Music Fun has tons of supplementary music that my students LOVE to play - mostly simplified classics. I also let them know that if they want to purchase any supplementary book that goes along with their level and method, I will gladly teach them to play it!

I must admit, I am somewhat non-adventurous when it comes to supplementary books, but I'm always looking for more! What elementary or early intermediate music do you use to supplement your lesson books?

I'm BACK!

2009-08-10T14:00:00.000-04:00

After a nice long (not quite intentional) break from blogging, I am ready to make my return!

I look forward to sharing lots of new ideas with you all in the upcoming school year!

The Listening Room Project

2009-07-16T19:35:00.000-04:00

One of the things I have been stressing recently in my camps, classes and lessons is a love and appreciation for classical music. You would be surprised (I know I was) at the way my students sit riveted listening to and watching performances of classical music. I started working a week or so ago on a project for my students - a "Listening Room" on my studio website. I have scoured the internet, searching for good music for them to enjoy, without having ot pay tons of money.

I put this list of links to different orchestras, ensembles and performers that make recordings of their concerts available free of charge. Please feel free to share this list with your students and blog readers! All I ask is that you link back to my blog, and if you know of any other sources, pleases share them with us in the comments section!

Click HERE to visit the Listening Room!

Check This Out! - Two New Blog Discoveries!

2009-07-13T12:23:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check out the list of links on the sidebar on the left! I've added two new blogs to the list:

Listen and Learn

The Piano Pedagogy Page

A Video (...and a story)

2009-07-10T13:23:00.002-04:00

Guess who our composer of the day is!

My students make me smile:

   "Wow! He's REALLY old!"
   "He died WHEN?! 1971?! My DAD wasn't even born then!"
   "How do we have videos from that long ago?"
   "Wasn't that before video cameras?"

Good for a Smile!

2009-07-04T22:09:00.002-04:00

Have you seen these little arts advocacy PSA videos from Americans For The Arts? I remembered them yesterday after posting about my
piano camp kids and their silliness!

Embracing the Silliness

2009-07-03T22:09:00.000-04:00

I have to say, I have some of the most creative students you will ever meet. I've been using a combination of the composer notebooking pages from notebookingpages.com, the composer bios from the book The Story of the Orchestra and various listening examples I've compiled. It seems, though, as hands on, interactive and exciting as I try to make it, it's evidently not quite enough for my students.

Last week, we learned about Bach. I learned all sorts of things I never knew about Bach while looking over their notebooking pages at the end of class. For example: Did you know that Bach was a space alien? He had blue skin, and green eyes, with orange hair! Furthermore, it turns out that his name wasn't even Bach, it was... Are you ready for this? Chew-BACH-a!

This week I decided that I was not going to give them the chance for such silliness. I elected not to give them the full page coloring sheet of Brahms. But, that didn't stop them. This week, they dubbed Johannes Brahms "Santa Brahms" and informed me that he looks "scary," and proceeded to relate him somehow to the Godfather (I didn't quite understand, probably because they didn't understand).

My first instinct was to be frustrated. However, upon more thought, I've decided to embrace it. Call me a bad teacher, but they remember the facts. They read the information. Even though they colored the great composers crazy colors, I bet that if I showed them pictures of Bach and Brahms, they would be able to recognize who was who... and (most importantly) they are learning that classical music can be fun, and doesn't have to be stuffy.

I'm pretty sure that Bach and Brahms will forgive me.

"The trouble with music appreciation in general is that people are taught to have too much respect for music, they should be taught to love it instead."

-Igor Stravinsky

New Look!

2009-07-02T20:32:00.000-04:00

What do you think of the new look of the Rebecca W. Music blog?

I updated the homepage, too, so head on over there (the link is now conveniently located at the top of the page!) and check it out!

Check This Out! - iTunes

2009-06-27T15:36:00.000-04:00

While browsing iTunes the other day, I went to take a look at what is offered in iTunes U and came across some great free recordings of classical music, done by Columbia University. If you want to listen and download for yourself, just search for "Columbia University Orchestra" in the iTunes Store. It should bring up several recordings... click "See All" in the box labeled iTunes U for the free downloads! If you have trouble finding it, let me know and I will post some links, because you really don't want to miss out on these!

While you're there, you might also try searching for "Classics For Kids" to learn about composers, or search for "Little Kids Rock" for free guitar lesson or drum lesson videos (again selecting whatever is in the iTunes U box).

Enjoy!

Lapbooking - The New Trend in Teaching Music

2009-06-17T18:00:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd start compiling a list of Lapbooking activities for any students or teachers who might be interested. If you have, or know of, any fabulous websites and blogs with musical lapbooking resources, please let me know and I will post them here!

Starting with Lapbooks

Squidoo Lapbooking Introduction

Everything you need to know about lapbooks - ideas, examples, directions, etc.

Homeschool Share Lapbook Templates

Templates for every kind of pocket, book and fold you could think of to be put inside your lapbook!

Music Specific Lapbook Pieces

Homeschool Share Lapbooking Resources

Filed alphabetically. Check underneath the topics "Composers" and "Instruments."

Joyful Music

Tons of music lapbooks and file-folder games. Includes a lapbook on Carnival of the Animals, Nutcracker and Peter and the Wolf

Lapbook Ideas

The Daniel Academy

This homeschooling Mom combined the lapbooking and notebooking activities to make a super cool "Folderbook." Worth a look!

Lowe Piano Studio - Guest Post by Heidi Neels

Heidi wrote an awesome post on lapbooking for Laura's blog. Very inspiring!

Music Lapbook Sets You Can Buy

Famous Composer Notebooking Pages

Folderbooking? These pages are perfect for putting in the folders.

Homeschool In The Woods Composer Activity Pak

Covers 42 composers and 29 movements from popular works in 6 fun activities.

Check This Out! - Composer Activity Pak

2009-06-02T16:46:00.000-04:00

Laura over at Lowe Piano Studio is hosting a giveaway for a really neat Composer Activity Pak from Homeschool in the Woods. I'm entering it, for a chance to win this awesome resource for my students to enjoy, and I thought some of you might be interested in the giveaway, too! (Especially all of my homeschool families!)

Check out the Composer Activity Pak giveaway here, and check out Homeschool in the Woods here!

Check This Out! - Amazon.com

2009-05-30T22:48:00.000-04:00

I am completely addicted to iTunes. I purchase so much music that I'm afraid it may have killed my last computer. However, now that iTunes is straying from their $0.99 downloads and it's becoming increasingly harder for me to find what I want, I'm having to find other outlets! Today, while searching for a piece of music I couldn't seem to find anywhere, I remembered to try the digital downloads at amazon.com.

One word: Wow.

I think from this point forward I will probably be buying ALL of my music at Amazon. Go check it out for yourself! They have an amazing amount of (100% legal) FREE music, as well as a ton of inexpensive classical music. It's a great way to build your music library!

Case in point:

Scroll down to "Classical" on this page, then click $4.99 and under. FABULOUS deals!

Then, try searching "Classical," and sort the results by price. There's even a ton of FREE stuff! You may have to click around, but I was able to download several free jazz samplers, as well as some music from around the world this afternoon!

Enjoy!

Early Childhood Music: Shakers!

2009-05-07T11:39:00.000-04:00

Raise your hand if you have a few extra plastic Easter eggs laying around! Only me? I figured that was probably the case. But on the off chance that you DO have a few left (or have something that you can substitute, like film canisters or mint tins), here are 5 super easy music activities that you can use them for.

But first - take your Easter eggs, open them and fill them with a variety of household objects, and then superglue them shut. Here are my eggs:

Two eggs, each filled with a handful of gravel
Two eggs, each filled with three coins (a penny, a nickel and a dime)
Two eggs, each filled with 4 uncooked lima beans
Two eggs, each filled with a single paperclip
Two Eggs, each filled with a pinch of rice

If you are doing this at home, talk to your child about what they are, and what kind of sounds they might make as you fill them. Ask them which ones they think will make the loudest sounds, which ones will make the softest sounds, and even open ended questions, like, "What kind of sound do you think this will make?"

Ready for the activities?

1. Have your child match the eggs that have the same sounds. This is GREAT for auditory discrimination.

2. Ask questions about the sounds of the eggs - Which one sounds like it has metal in it? Which one sounds like it has rocks in it? Which one sounds like it has the most in it? Which one sounds like it has the least in it? Which one is the loudest? Which one is the softest?

3. Grab an egg and dance! Turn on music and let your child move and groove to the beat. Any kind of music is fine!

4. Shake a rhythm and have your child shake it back - then reverse roles!

5. Sing this song (to the tune of Row, Row, Row, Your Boat) as you shake your shakers. I learned this one from my Early Childhood Music & Movement class:

Shake, shake, shake your shakers

Shake them high and low!

Shake them all around the room,

Whichever way you go!

Shake, shake, shake your shakers

Shake them left and right,

Shake them all around the room,

Shake them out of sight!

Have fun! If you have any other ideas for activities, feel free to share them in the comment section!

Composer Of The Month: Johannes Brahms

2009-05-01T13:58:00.000-04:00

CLICK HERE to read about Johannes Brahms life.

CLICK HERE to download and print a coloring page of Johannes Brahms in PDF format from Making Music Fun.

CLICK HERE for some beautiful Brahms piano music. It is FREE to listen to, and FREE to download!

Extra Credit Scavenger Hunt!

Answer these questions and bring them to your May lesson to earn a prize!

1. Where was Johannes Brahms born?

2. What is Brahms birthday? How old would he turn this month if he was still alive?

3. How old was Brahms when he started piano lessons? How old were you when you started piano lessons? Were you older or younger?

4. Listen to some of the recommended music. What is your favorite piece composed by Brahms?

5. What musical period was Brahms from: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionistic or Modern?

Thought For the Week of April 19

2009-04-19T22:43:00.000-04:00

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

-Pablo Picasso

This week (and beyond) how can we encourage artistry in our students? How can we prevent smothering the creativity that our students were born with?

Sorry for the "retro-post." I wrote this in advance and then forgot to hit "post" on Sunday... and again on Monday. I'm going to pretend like I didn't, and post it with Sunday's date. You won't tell, will you?

Check This Out! - Animusic

2009-04-17T19:49:00.000-04:00

Natalie over at Music Matters Blog reminded me about these super cool Animusic music videos with her most recent giveaway. I'm thinking these might make an appearance at an upcoming lesson! You can get a sneak peek here:

What do you think?

Thoughts for the Week of April 12

2009-04-12T15:58:00.000-04:00

This weeks quote theme is about being in the moment and enjoying the present - one of the best (and maybe one of the worst) things about the performing arts.

-----

Music is one of the best ways to enjoy the present. It's not much fun to look forward to hearing music or to remember what a song sounded like last week, but music right now absorbs you and places you in the present moment.

~Sonnett Branche

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What I love about theatre is that it disappears as it happens.

~Lusia Strus