Category Archives: Videos

Travel Tour #3 – Including Out-of-State Students via Skype!

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Last night was our third Travel Tour of the year, going along with our theme: An Italian Intrigue. For the first time ever we included a couple of my out-of-state students via Skype. It worked wonderfully! Here’s a brief video recap from the occasion:

Activities for the group class included:
Mixed Messages – students had to translate Italian musical terms to complete English sentences. The winning team members each won a Free Travel Pass!

Board Patrol – as each student performed, the others were placed in pairs and given a board labeled with one of the following: Dynamics Board, Tempo Board, Articulation Board, and Mood Board. They had to listen and write on the board as many elements as they could come up with that they heard in the performance.

Key Signature Lesson and Scramble – Thanks to the Teach Piano Today blog for the inspiration for this activity!

Monday Mailbag – Video Recording on the iPod Touch

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I’ve been looking into buying a tablet or something similar to use in my studio.  I would like to be able to record video and watch it back right away, and then later upload to YouTube.  Would the iPod Touch work well for that?

At this point I pretty much feel like the iPod Touch can do anything, including transport you into the galaxy. :-) I use my iPod Touch almost every day to do video recording in the studio. Here are a couple recent videos I’ve shot in the studio using the iPod Touch exclusively:


This is a short compilation I put together using the free Splice app.


This narrated video was done using the free Videolicious app.


Here’s a simple, straight from the device, rendition of What a Friend We Have in Jesus that I recorded in preparation for the Christmas Recital. It’s as easy as finishing the recording and then selecting the option to upload it directly to your YouTube channel. The iPod Touch does all the work of connecting and uploading while you can move onto something else. Within minutes, the video is live and accessible to the world!

I’ve done lots of video recording over the years and this is by far the simplest and most efficient approach I’ve found!

Remember, if you have a question you’d like to contribute to next week’s Monday Mailbag, leave it in the comments below or send me an e-mail sometime this week with Monday Mailbag in the subject line!

Watch Our 2011 Christmas Recital

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Even though we weren’t able to live stream our Christmas Recital (like we did in 2010), a friend of mine video recorded the event and we’ve uploaded it to YouTube for your viewing pleasure!

I didn’t realize until after it was posted that the credits at the end rolled through at the speed of light! So, here is a list of pieces included in this year’s program for those who are interested (all of which should be available through Sheet Music Plus):

O Come, Little Children
Arr. Phillip Keveren

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Arr. Catherine Rollin

‘Twas in the Moon of Wintertime
Arr. Joseph Martin

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
Arr. Lyn Freeman Olson

Mary, Did You Know?
Mark Lowry
Arr. The Band

We Three Kings
Arr. Nancy Faber

We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Arr. Catherine Rollin

Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow with Go Tell It on the Mountain
Arr. Melody Bober

There is a Redeemer
Arr. Ellen Banks Elwell

Joy to the World
Arr. Lloyd Larson

The Little Drummer Boy
Arr. Nancy Faber

Away in a Manger
Arr. Nancy Faber

A Cradle Prayer
by Rebecca St. James

Silent Night
Arr. Melody Bober

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
Arr. Nancy Faber

What Child is This?
Arr. Melody Bober

The First Noel
Arr. Melody Bober

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Arr. Mona Rejino

Sing Hallelujah
Arr. Mark Hayes

Sing We Now of Christmas
Arr. Martha Mier

Panis Angelicus
Cesar Franck

Amazing Grace
Arr. Wendy Stevens

And Can it Be?
Arr. Marilynn Ham

Pat-a-Pan
Arr. Carol Klose

O Come, All Ye Faithful
Arr. Melody Bober

Angel Medley
Arr. Melody Bober

Carol of the Bells
Arr. Kevin Olson

What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Arr. Lenny Seidel

My Savior, My God
Aaron Shust
Arr. The Band

Some recent videos from the studio!

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the importance of making music at every lesson. There are so many things that I want to fit into our 45 minutes together each week, but if I had to pick just one thing, I would make sure that in some way or another the student gets to experience making music at their lesson. This might entail improvising, learning something by ear, playing a performance-ready piece, or enjoying an ensemble with another student. Here are some of our recent musical experiences in the studio. Enjoy!

Lucas improvises on Under a Glass Sky:

Graham plays Whirling Leaves:

Joey plays an original composition:

Hayley and Landon play Ode to Joy:

Olive plays Nocturne:

Desiree plays Carol of the Bells by ear:

Luke and Natalie play A Mysterious Adventure:

Noelle, Naomi, and Amanda play Impromptu:

Check Out Alfred’s Piano Workshops Online

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One of the things I love most about attending publisher workshops is finding out about the latest materials and getting a chance to hear new music. In a brilliant move, Alfred Music Publishing has posted a collection of piano workshops on-line for easy viewing. The video clips are less than five minutes each and are titled so that you can quickly find and watch ones that present materials in which you’re most interested. What a great way to familiarize yourself with a variety of repertoire and find just the right pieces for upcoming events!

Breakdancing…to Bach?!

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Who would have thought that the music of one of the greatest composers of all time could serve as the backdrop for a troupe of breakdancers from Berlin?! I confess, I’ve kind of had a thing for breakdancing ever since I was first introduced to it by a group of Hmong teenagers when I was working at a camp for urban kids just north of LA. The way Flying Steps has interwoven Bach’s art of the 18th century with a contemporary art form is pretty incredible. I think it can serve as an inspiration for all of us to think more creatively in our approach to music and how we share it with others.

HT: Classical Archives

Visit Music Museums Without Leaving Your Studio!

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Anyone traveling to any cool places this summer? Will you be checking out any museums while you’re there? There’s so much to be learned by visiting museums and exploring the exhibits! That’s one reason I was really excited to come across this Virtual Museums post by About.com’s Music Education editor, Espie Estrella. Here are a couple:

Music Instrument Museum – just click on the gallery links to view pictures and descriptions of all sorts of instruments designed and constructed by students. This could rally get the creative juices flowing for you and/or your students!

Virtual Instrument Museum – this place is AMAZING! There are way more instruments than I ever knew existed! If you ever need to look up or research an obscure instrument, this should be your first stop. Each instrument page includes images, facts, and all sorts of additional information. Check out the erhu page as an example of what you’ll find. And just for fun, here’s one of my favorite erhu performances (probably because it’s the only one I’ve seen…but it’s really cool! :-) ):

Who Says Movie Music Can’t Be Virtuosic?!

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A friend of mine posted this on Facebook the other day, and it is SO cool!

I’ve watched it multiple times already and have had fun exploring Jarrod Radnich’s website. I also found a link to an interview with Jarrod that I’m looking forward to listening to soon!

I sent the link to the video right away to one of my students who I hope will learn this arrangement. He likes to learn by watching videos like this, but in case he needs it, we can also order the sheet music from the web store. What fun!

Boil ‘em Cabbage Down is a Hit!

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A couple weeks ago, I mentioned my group class collaborative experiment. As you’ll notice in the video clip below, we didn’t get everything polished, but we did have a ton of fun! We only had a few minutes for this activity, so it was all sight-reading and playing by ear for the students. They all responded really favorably, though, to making music together on their different instruments. We had a cellist, a guitarist, a drummer, a trumpeter, a xylophonist, a keyboardist, and several pianists. It’s definitely something I would recommend doing, and hopefully we’ll do it again, too!