If you haven’t already done so, you should register your studio at Music Staff. Registration is free and allows you to list your studio in a database of music studios searchable by potential students. Even if you already have a full studio, the more you get your name out in the public eye, the more effectively you will be able to present a professional image for your own studio and for the music teaching profession as a whole.
Monthly Archives: October 2005
Music to My Ears!
What a pleasant surprise it was to me when 8-year old Joey announced part way through his lesson that he had chosen another piece to work on. “Because it will make me have to count,” he said and then quickly added, “and I need to work on my counting.”
Ah, yes! An early convert to the absolute necessity of developing excellent rhythm skills!
Organized Worksheets!
The best thing happened today! A student was having trouble with a particular rhythmic concept and I realized I had a worksheet that would help reinforce at home what we had just been working on at her lesson. Now, a week ago, I would have had to rummage through several folders full of worksheets to find the appropriate one, only to find that I had given out the last one and would have to try to track it down on-line again and print off a new one. Of course, this would have to wait until the following week, since I couldn’t use valuable lesson time to do this, providing that I remembered to do it at all before said student arrived the following week for her lesson. Sound familiar?
Well, no more! Last weekend I decided I absolutely had to figure out a better system for keeping all those great worksheets organized. So, this is what I came up with:
I labeled each binder with a different category: rhythm, note identification, intervals, scales-keys-chords, musical terms and symbols-puzzles and riddles, composers-instruments, listening, general, blank staff paper – nine in all.
I placed master prints of each worksheet in a sheet protector and then placed them in the corresponding binder. Any additional copies of worksheets were 3-hole punched and placed directly following the master sheet.
So, today, I grabbed the “rhythm” binder off the shelf, flipped to the appropriate worksheet, pulled out a copy of it and sent it home with my student. Isn’t organization wonderful?!
Group Class Travels Back in Time
At our group class the other night, we traveled back in time to the Renaissance. I turned off all the lights in the studio and lit candles all around the room. As the students arrived, they heard the sound of monks singing Gregorian Chants
1. Listen – we focused on the chants of the Renaissance period for this.
2. Learn – we discussed the terms tempo, touch, dynamics and mood. I wrote each of these on the white board and the students had to come up with terms or symbols that fit into each of these categories. The student who came up with one got to write it on the white board.
3. Create – the students were split into two groups and were given a set of descriptive scenes. From them, they chose one and had to work together to come up with a way to create music depicting that scene. They could use rhythm instruments, the piano and their voices to create the sounds. After the allotted time, they played their music for the other group and the other group had to guess which scene they were portraying. This was a blast and the students did an amazing job!
4. Interpret – each student explained the tempo, touch, dynamics and mood of their piece and then performed it for the others.
Throughout the class, the students filled in key words on this Blank Music Bingo card that I made for the occasion. At the end of the class, we played Bingo, with them “X”ing out the appropriate squares on the card as I gave the definition or description of the term or symbol. (I decided not to outright give them the name of the term or symbol, that way they would have to use the information they just learned in order to win the game.) The winner received a CD of his choice from a stack of CDs I keep on hand for prizes.
Here are a couple of pictures from the class:
A little glimpse of the candle-lit studio.
The boys’ group works together to create a musical sound byte for “a funeral march for a beloved soldier.”
The girls’ group poses for a picture while working on a musical sound byte for “a hurricane wiping out a town.”
Other possible scene choices included:
a circus acrobat walking on a high rope
a little boy playing with his new puppy
a horse pulling a heavy load up a steep hill
a man running a race and winning a gold medal
a group of high class citizens at a ball
As the students left, I gave them the hidden message worksheet I posted about here. A fun time was had by all and we look forward to our next group class!