Category Archives: Fun Extras!

Young People’s Concerts

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Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a Young People’s Concert put on by our Wichita Symphony Orchestra. I have been organizing a group of homeschoolers to attend for several years now and this was by far the best production I’ve ever seen!
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Here’s a shot from our seats in the box! After some young students from the youth symphonies performed Bach, and a mime enacted visual entertainment for a Rossini overture, the part I was most excited about commenced – Carnival of the Animals!

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It was even better than I could have imagined! The Ogden Nash narration was included in the performance and a troupe of dancers did a masterful job portraying each selection. The coolest one was The Aquarium with its use of black lighting for an amazing visual effect!

If your area has a Young People’s Concert program, I highly encourage you to check it out!

Taking Classical Music to the Masses!

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Earlier this week, one of my students (are you reading this, Luke? :-) ) commented how much he loves classical music and would like to help other people develop more of an appreciation for it. Apparently Daria van den Bercken feels the same way, especially about the keyboard works of George Frideric Handel. For anyone who has ever bemoaned the piano’s lack of portability, think again! Check out this amazingly innovative approach to sharing the music of Handel with audiences everywhere. And I do mean everywhere. :-)

Handel hits the road! from Daria van den Bercken on Vimeo.

Daria plans to record Handel’s works next January. Her passion for his music is evident: “There have been moments in my life when certain music — more than normally — struck a chord in me and I felt this sense of incredible beauty. It happened again a while ago when playing the keyboard works of George Frideric Handel.” I look forward to keeping up with her Handel at the Piano project via Facebook and Twitter in the coming months!

(HT: Chris Foley of the Collaborative Piano Blog)

Top 10 Classical Works Used in the Movies

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In the latest mailing from Mid-America Piano, they included a fun list of Top 10 Classical Works Used in the Movies. I have no idea how they come up with the data for this list, but I thought it was pretty cool. I don’t recognize the titles of a couple of these, so I’m curious to look them up and see if I recognize the music!

  1. Adagio by Samuel Barber
  2. Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner
  3. Piano Concerto No 2 by Sergei Rachmaninov
  4. Flight of the Bumble Bee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
  5. Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss
  6. Symphony No 5, Adagietto by Gustav Mahler
  7. Cavalleria Rusticana, Intermezzo by Pietro Verdi
  8. La forza del destino Overture by Giuseppe Verdi
  9. Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi
  10. Canon by Johann Pachelbel

Check out the original post for quick links to live stream and/or download these pieces!

Check Out My Latest Tech Toy!

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Yes, it’s true. I am just now getting into the latest mobile technology. And really through no fault of my own. I’ve been contemplating the purchase of an iPod Touch or iPad for a while now, but hadn’t settled on which path to choose. The folks at YourVirtuoso.com made it easy for me. At the MTNA conference this year, one of the coupons in our little coupon book had info about their website with a link where you could visit and be entered in a drawing to win a free iPod Touch. I had completely forgotten about it until I got an e-mail last week saying that my name was drawn as the winner!

My beautiful 32GB, 4th Generation iPod Touch arrived at the end of the week and I’ve been in love ever since! :-) It’s been great fun exploring some of the available apps, synching it with my iTunes account, configuring all the settings, and using their new Facetime feature to chat with my sister across the country. So, so cool!

And now I’m trying to rack my brain and remember all the great apps that everyone has told me about over the past several months. Any suggestions? What are your favorite apps? Any fun music education ones that you like to use with your students? I can’t wait to put this to good use in my studio!

Clavier Companion Goes Digital

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I really love magazines. Not to say that I’m always good about reading through them, but sometimes it’s nice to tackle a two-page article instead of sitting down with a whole book. Without a doubt, my two favorite industry magazines are Clavier Companion and American Music Teacher. They are always full of insight and inspiration – so valuable for growth as a music teacher!

Clavier Companion recently announced the launch of a digital edition that “contains all of the articles in the current print issue, with many enhancements, including

  • Audio and video files in selected articles
  • Live links in articles and advertisements
  • The ability to search the entire edition
  • Add bookmarks, print pages, save to your computer, and e-mail articles
  • Active table of contents

The digital edition is very easy to navigate and is handy for reference or something to read quickly while I’m sitting at the computer. As much as I love technology, though, I still can’t give up my printed books and magazines. There’s nothing quite like flipping through pages, underlining inspirational quotes, and jotting notes in the margins. :-)

A Break from the Regularly Scheduled Programming…

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…to have some fun! Several weeks ago, Sheryl, of the fabulous Notable Music Studio blog, contacted me to let me know that she had bestowed upon me the highly sought after and coveted Versatile Blogger award. Okay, so maybe that’s a bit overly dramatic, but hey, an award is an award, right?! :-)

In order to receive the award, there are certain criteria that must be met. Namely, I must share seven random things about myself. Fair warning: read on at your own risk.

  1. I have an obsession with looking up words in the dictionary. For starters, I looked up the word, “versatile” to get an official definition of this award before I accepted it. The definition reads, “capable of or adapted for turning easily from one to another of various tasks, fields of endeavor, etc.” Is it just me or is this a cleverly disguised way of identifying someone with ADD? As in, can’t stay focused for any length of time on a single task. :-) Hmm…guilty as charged. I am horrible at multi-tasking and sticking to one thing for a long time, but I do often move quickly from one thing to the next to try to accomplish as much as possible in a short amount of time.
  2. I change my own oil. In my car, that is. My brother-in-law taught me how about five years ago and I’ve been doing it ever since. The once or twice I’ve had my mechanic do it, I always regret it because the next time I go to do it myself, I about twist my hand off my wrist trying to unscrew the oil filter.
  3. If you invite me to go target practice with you, I’ll be there in a heartbeat! I love shooting and have a bruise on my shoulder right now to prove it. :-) Last weekend, I shot sporting clays with a friend of mine and I think his 12-gauge shotgun that I tried once did me in. Better stick with the 20-gauge until I get more experienced! I’m saving up to buy my own gun right now, but I’ll probably start with a handgun and go for a shotgun a little later.
  4. Last year I published my first book, Pajama School, and even though I adamantly refused to consider writing another book after that long and difficult process, I think I’m starting to get the itch again! I’ve had an idea floating around in my mind for a while, so right now I’m praying about it and waiting to see if I should launch this new project or not.
  5. This might really make me look like a geek, but I actually enjoy tracking expenses, setting up a budget, and balancing my checkbook. I have been known to record $.25 expenditures in my bookkeeping program just to make sure that I have an accurate account of all my finances. (My Dad is in the financial industry and began training me in finances at a young age, so I blame him for this!)
  6. Whenever I travel to a new place, I love to pick up the free homes magazines and look through them to get a feel for the area housing market. And if someone in my family travels somewhere, they know to bring these magazines back for me! Maybe this stems back to the days when I thought I would become an architect and spent hours drawing up plans for all sorts of houses…
  7. I love to cook and experiment with new recipes, but I have a habit of destroying kitchen appliances. We’ve been through several blenders, a couple of food processors, and who knows how many hand mixers. I contend that the manufacturing standards aren’t high enough, but my family just runs for cover when I don my apron and put on my chef’s hat! ;-)

So, there you have it, folks. A little glimpse into my life outside of music and teaching. Maybe five years from now I’ll share more! But for now, let’s see if we can get some of my favorite bloggers (who haven’t already been nominated) to divulge tid bits about their lives as well. :-) Here are my seven nominations for the Versatile Blogger Award:

Chris Foley of The Collaborative Piano Blog

Joel of So You Want to Teach

Jenifer Cook of The Church Pianist

Gerald Klickstein of The Musician’s Way Blog

David Cutler of The Savvy Musician Blog

Natasha Banasiak of Notes from A to G Piano Studio

Steve Engel of Music Ed Lounge

If you don’t have a blog, but would be willing to share seven things about yourself (especially if you want to share something that will make me feel less like I’m the only geek around…), the comments are all yours! I’d love to get to know some of you better.

New Suzuki Violin Recordings and Giveaway!

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Early on in my teaching, I began hearing about the Suzuki method. I did some preliminary research and was fascinated by the concept and approach. So, I decided to go a step further and went to a Suzuki Institute. What an incredible experience! Even though I ultimately decided to adopt a more traditional approach for my studio, some of the principles I learned at the Institute have greatly influenced my teaching. The Suzuki teaching philosophy is named after its founder, Shinichi Suzuki, and has become the preferred method for most string students. I personally don’t think it is as effective for piano, but wow is it impressive to see the musicianship of those little string players on their tiny instruments!

All that to say, it’s exciting that Naxos has recently released a new series of Suzuki CDs. I gave the first one to one of my studio families whose children also take violin lessons to see what they thought about them. The Mom said, “The other CDs I tolerated; these I actually enjoyed listening to!”

Here’s what Naxos has to say about them: “Suzuki Evergreens is a 7 volume series of recordings that covers all 8 books of the Suzuki method for violin.  The violinist on the recordings, Takako Nishizaki, was a student of Shinichi Suzuki and she was the first child to complete the Suzuki course.  She was awarded a teacher’s diploma for the method at age nine. Ms. Nishizaki’s Father was very active in the early stages of the development of the Suzuki Method and for many years, taught at the Matsumoto summer school.”

You can find more information and listen to samples on the Naxos website page for them. And…Naxos has kindly offered to giveaway the first three volumes of this new series to three Music Matters Blog readers! Just leave a comment below to be entered in the drawing. For double entry, just post about the giveaway on your blog or Facebook with a link back to here and the n leave a second comment indicating you did so. (Since you already have three chances to win a CD, this will double your chance to six! :-) ) The drawing will be held Thursday, October 14, at noon (CST).

5 For Fun! Games and Activities for the Private Piano Lesson Now Available!

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5 for Fun! Games and Activities for the Private Piano LessonThis has been a long time coming, but I was finally motivated to push through and finish this project in time for a workshop I gave recently to our local music teachers association! Announcing: 5 for Fun! Games and Activities for the Private Piano Lesson. (See below for a special discount code!)

Over the years, I’ve come to see the value in using simple games and activities to help students learn or cement various musical concepts. Often times when I have a student struggling with something or I know they need to learn something for an upcoming evaluation, I spend some time brainstorming to come up with a fun activity or game that relates to it. Many of those ideas have made their way onto this blog, but now I’ve compiled a collection of 5-minute games and activities for the private piano lesson and organized them in an easy-to-find and easy-to-implement layout that I hope will be beneficial for lots of other teachers as well!

Categories in the book include Keys on the Piano, Notes on the Staff, Intervals, Chords, Key Signatures, and Rhythm. Each page contains the game name, a list of supplies, step-by-step instructions on how to play the game, ideas for variations, and links to related resources on the Internet. There are a total of 28 games (more if you count the variations!), plus an appendix at the back with additional resources.

I’ve actually put together a whole package that includes: an instruction sheet, cover file, the eBook in a format for easy computer viewing, the eBook in an easy format for printing, and the eBook in black and white for monochrome printing. You can download the package and feel free to print as many copies as you want to use in your studio!

As an extra special way of celebrating the completion of this project, I’ve set up a discount code so that if you order by the end of this week, you can get $5 off the regular price of $15! Just order through the Resources page and then enter this code when you checkout: 65Y126PP

I hope you and your students have tons of fun with these games! We sure have had fun with them in our studio! :-)