Guest post by Jennifer Foxx

I had the opportunity to do an encore presentation this year at the state conference on a topic that I enjoy. I think for some teachers, when they hear the word technology they panic, thinking it’s way too complicated or they just have no desire to be a part of it. My goal with this presentation was to show that technology does not have to be complicated. I first shared some of the simple technology tools that teachers can use in the studio and probably already use, whether in the studio or just at home.

Some basic technology tools would be: Computer (doesn’t matter if it’s a desktop or laptop), Audio tool (CD Player, iPod, MP3, etc.), Digital Recorder (this can also be your smartphone), Video Camera (I love my FLIP!), DVD Player/DVD’s (this can also just be the DVD drive from your computer), Midi Keyboards (at least 61 keys), and Printer (I recommend an all-in-one model).

Then I went into creating a music lab, but for those teachers that didn’t have a lab they could still apply some of these ideas in their studio.

Benefits of a Music Lab-

• Allows students to drill and follow up with what they are learning in the lesson. Such basics as note names, intervals, chords, terms, symbols, key signatures, ear training, and much more.
• A music lab is a good selling point to parents looking to give their children as well-rounded a musical education as possible.
• Having a music lab can serve as additional income, if a lab fee is charged. I would recommend including your lab fee with your lesson tuition and not making it optional. Another idea is to have a yearly lab fee when students register.

Setting-Up (You do not need a separate lab room in order to set up a music lab.)

• Possible setup – one computer, specific assignments, MIDI keyboard, network for Internet and simple technology tools listed previously.
• Make sure the student at the piano can’t see the computer monitor, or they will be distracted.
• Having a separate computer for the studio is ideal. However, you can set up a user just for your studio.
• A good set of headphones is absolutely essential. I like the big headphones that cup over the students ears.
• Remember, you do not need to go out and buy everything at once. Start small and build. Don’t have a computer you can use for your music lab and/or can’t afford to buy one yet? Start with the other simple technology tools.

Scheduling Options

• Students come 15-30 min. before their lesson or stay 15-30 after their lesson. While you are teaching one student, another student is working in the lab.
• Rotating – Students rotate every 20-30 min. within an hour/hour and a half. (ie: Student 1 works on computer, Student 2 works on keyboard or writing station, Student 3 works with Teacher, then rotate).

Music Lab Subject Ideas

• Composer/Music History
• Composition/Improvisation
• Ear Training
• Note Reading
• Rhythm
• Sight-Reading
• Theory
• Creativity and More!

Suggested Resource Materials

• Studio Makeover Technology Addition (Michelle Gordon/Michelle Sisler- www.ImaginationisKey.com)
• Electrify Your Studio (Sandra Bowen/FJH Music)
• The Well-Tempered Lesson Plan (Renee Lacey/Trail Creek Systems- TrailCreekSystems.com- see other products)

In addition to tons and tons of internet resources that are out there you can use with your students, here are some sample ideas of books/workbooks to use during lab time:

Lab Log

Double Click Curriculum (see www.KeystoImagination.com – these are great student log books that have most of the prep work done for you for your computer lab!)

Theory Fun

TCW Theory books

Dot to Dot Note Speller (Bastien)

Color by…Interval, Note Monsters, etc. (Alfred)

Technique

Finger Builders (Pace)

Keys to Success (FJH)

Nate’s Piano Plates (Major, Minor, and Harmonic scales)

Improvisation

Discover Blues Improvisation (FJH)

Discover Beginning Improvisation (FJH)

Pattern Play (Frederick Harris Music)

Chords

Folk Songs and Fun Songs – Fake Book for the beginning student (Jane H. Calder)

Composition

Music by Me (FJH)

Young Composers Notebook (Frederick Harris Music)

Ear Training-

Ear Training Books with CD (Alfred)

*This is just a sample of books out there; there is soooo much out there that you can use during lab time!

One of my high school boys has an insanely busy schedule this semester. In fact, in March his mom e-mailed me about the possibility of him taking off the months of April and May and resuming lessons in the fall when his schedule is a bit more open again. I explained to her that because I budget my income based on the number of students, I would have to fill that slot and couldn’t guarantee that there would be an opening again in the fall. Since I really didn’t want to lose this student and he didn’t want to discontinue lessons, I suggested that we just spend the remainder of the semester honing in on sight-reading skills and weekly reviewing one piece in preparation for his senior recital next year.

This worked really well until he took a job last week that has an unpredictable schedule. He wasn’t going to be able to make it for his lesson, so his mom had the brilliant idea of having his two younger brothers come for a theory lesson during that time. They both recently started playing other instruments, but she wants them to have a good understanding of theory and hasn’t been able to work with them on it much yet. That sounded like a great idea to me, so the first week they came, I introduced the concept of the staff and had them learn all the bass and treble clef notes. It was a huge chunk of information all at once, but we played some fun games and I sent them home with a worksheet. They ended up coming back again this week and we played a quick review game – both of them knew almost all their notes instantaneously! We moved into understanding pulse and rhythm and learned some basic note values, then did some rhythm activities. We had a blast!

So…thanks to this mom’s suggestion, we’ve discovered a great way to work with students who have busy schedules for a season, but still want to continue lessons and keep their spot – providing, of course, that they have younger siblings who could benefit from some fun theory classes!

Last weekend, our local association sponsored our annual Music Progressions evaluations. Students are evaluated in performance, keyboard facility, applied theory, rhythm and pulse, sight-reading, written theory, and listening. We call them student evaluations, but in reality we all know that it’s an evaluation for us as teachers, right? Hence, I was inspired to compile this [facetious] list of the Top Ten Reasons to Participate in Student Evaluation Programs:

1. You don’t have enough stress in your life, so you relish the thought of frantically trying to prepare your students for a whole series of tests in all areas of musicianship.

2. You enjoy seeing the glassy-eyed look of your students when you use strange foreign terminology like “tempo” and “dynamics” that your student has obviously never heard in his life.

3. You want your students to realize that as good as they may feel about themselves and their musical abilities, there is always room for criticism and lower-than-average scores.

4. You feel it’s important for students to be subjected to performance on a wide variety of pianos, including ones that are out of tune, missing keys, lacking pedals, or produce a ringing sound throughout the duration of the performance.

5. You love being scrutinized by your colleagues and forever thereafter wondering if they’ll think of you as the teacher whose student forgot all his scales.

6. You enjoy the mental stimulation of trying to keep track of all of the requirements for each of the ten levels so that you can [theoretically] be preparing your students for their evaluations throughout the year.

7. You delight in the spontaneity that ensues when you realize you have forgotten some of the afore-mentioned requirements and must quickly teach your student all the varieties of 7th chords so that she can properly play them, identify them in questions, and write them on her theory test.

8. You like experiencing the adrenaline surge that comes from standing with your ear to the door of the room in which your student is performing and hearing her take the andante-labeled piece at 200.

9.You appreciate the opportunity to expand your vocabulary while looking for creative ways to convey the scores to each student while simultaneously encouraging them to continue in their music studies.

10. You think it’s healthy to contemplate a career change and submit your resume to different companies on an annual basis – just in case you missed your calling after all.

And that concludes the 2010 MTNA Conference! There are a lot of sessions to navigate through, so I thought it would be helpful to put together this handy index so that you can see them all at a glance and quickly get to specific topics. I hope you all have enjoyed attending the conference virtually!

Saturday
Opening Session – Welcome and An Evening of Chopin

Sunday
Morning – Hot air balloon excursion in Albuquerque, Hot Air Balloon Capital of the World!
Early Afternoon – Exhibit Hall and Kjos Exhibitor Showcase
Late Afternoon – Develop Active Listeners through a Dynamic Series of Group Piano Activities by Cindy Tseng
Later Afternoon – Group Piano Games by Erin K. Bennett, NCTM
Dinner – Division dinner at Tucanos Brazilian Grill
Night – American Pianists Association Recital

Monday
Early Morning – Exhibitor Showcase FJH Succeeding at the Piano by Dr. Helen Marlais
Mid-Morning – Not Only Fur Elise: Gorgeous Unknown Compositions by Well-Known Composers by Dr. Peter Mack, NCTM
Late Morning – Sight Reading Strategies for the Beginning and Intermediate Student by Dr. Pamela D. Pike
Early Afternoon – Alfred Exhibitor Showcase Piano for Busy Teens by Melody Bober and Gayle Kowalchyk
Mid-Afternoon – Efficient Learning and Memorizing when Practicing to Perform by Barbara Fast, NCTM
Late Afternoon – Independent Music Teacher Forum and Survey Results
Early Evening – Exhibit Hall wanderings
Dinner – Get-together with virtual friends!

Tuesday
Early Morning – Exhibitor Showcase The Frederick Harris Music Co.: Inspiring Creativity at the Piano with Pattern Play – A Look at the Complete Series by Ray and Akiko Kinney
Mid-Morning – Creating Learning Communities for Young Students by Stella Sick and Kristin Shoemaker
Late Morning #1 – Let’s Play Chamber Music! A Guide for Young Pianists by Carolyn Bridger
Late Morning #2 – Free Piano Teaching Resources Online! by Michelle Gordon, NCTM
Noon – Poster Session and More Exhibits
Early Afternoon – Exhibitor Showcase Alfred Publications: Exploring Piano Classics by Nancy Bachus
Mid-Afternoon – Everything You (and your students) Should Know About Pianos by Clarence Zeches
Late Afternoon – ConferenceXP: A Versatile Video Conferencing Tool for the Performing Arts by Jose Feghali
Early Evening – Reception for Nationally Certified Teachers of Music
Late Evening – 19th-Century Salon Recital of the Works of Frederic Chopin

Wednesday
Early Morning – Total Body Integration for Pianists by Paola Savvidou
Mid-Morning – How Did They Teach? Ideas from the Past about Keyboard Instruction by Sandra Soderlund

Sight-Reading Strategies for the Beginning and Intermediate Student
by Dr. Pamela D. Pike

Dr. Pike began her session by iterating the importance of sight-reading and the realization that most of our students will become amateur musicians who need to be fluent sight-readers.

“Coping with unexpected change is the goal. This is what real sight-reading is – playing the notes, rhythms, dynamics that you know, but in a context you have not played before.” Richard Chronister

Sight-reading involves:
1. Perception (decoding patterns)
2. Kinesthetics (executing motor skills)
3. Memory (recognizing patterns)
4. Problem-solving skills (improvising and guessing)

Dr. Pike proceeded to expound on each of these areas and offer additional insights based on her research on the subject.

Gestalt Principles – we look at lines and shapes in groupings and recognize them as familiar objects based on past experience. Similarly, in music-reading, an excellent sight-reader will immediately assimilate notes into recognizable/familiar chord patterns because of having experienced it previously.

Helpful terminology to understand sight-reading research:
Perceptual Span – how far ahead the pianist is looking in the score.
Eye-Hand Span – how long a pianists can keep playing once the score has been taken away.

Playing an instrument involves two things: Perceiving and processing visual cues and executing fine-motor skills. Research has shown that pianists who have a good sense of keyboard topography are more successful at sight-reading. The critical link that connects the visual and kinesthetic aspects of sight-reading is memory. In many respects, it is only exposure to great amounts of sight-reading material and repertoire that can effectively prepare one to be a fluent sight-reader. The more you play music, the more you build a cognitive memory of familiar components contained in music.

How can we help our students develop this skill?
Consistency and the amount of time matter! There has been a lot of buzz lately about the 10,000 hours required to develop expertise in a skill. The same holds true with sight-reading. Regular sight-reading should be assigned and completed on a daily basis (10 minutes of dedicated work on this a day is more effective than a 30-minute block of time once a week). Students also must develop good problem-solving skills. They have been spoon-fed material and are accustomed to working in groups, rather than individually.

Repertoire pieces with broken chord patterns should be played as blocked chords. Dr. Pike encouraged attendees to compose written exercises to help students see the chord patterns. Based on research and experience, students will sacrifice rhythm in favor of pitch almost every time. For that reason, Dr. Pike posits that pitch drills should be more numerous than rhythm drills. She continued by displaying additional repertoire pieces and explaining how she would help students “chunk” the pieces to aid sight-reading.

Group Piano Games: Making Learning More Enjoyable
by Erin K. Bennett, NCTM

Ms. Bennett began with an introduction, reminding us of how fun group classes can be. We shouldn’t become too bogged down in logistics. She then went on to outline thirteen reasons for incorporating games into your teaching:

Why Incorporate Games?

• games hold students’ attention
• students relax and learn faster when they’re having fun
• students learn to work cooperatively
• students feel progress and a sense of accomplishment
• students are empowered to learn, rather than be taught
• students will happily repeat games
• games appeal to multiple learning approaches
• games are adaptable to different ages and different subjects
• games create a manageable sequence of skills
• memory training happens naturally through play
• games allow teachers to evaluate comprehension and track student progress
• games infuse joy into the structure of the classroom
• games are fun for teachers, too!

Ms. Bennett went on to outline two different types of games:
Teaching Games: design to instruct (new skills, drill one component of a more complex skill); and
Performance Games: design to assess (listen to and evaluate student progress, good for skills approaching level of mastery)

Specific Teaching Game Ideas
Relays – can be used for learning repertoire by having students line up behind the piano bench and take turns playing one measure at a time, while keeping the rhythm flowing seamlessly throughout the piece.

Telephone – person at the back of the line taps a rhythm pattern on the back of the person in front of them. That person then taps it on the person in front of them. Continue this pattern until it reaches the front of the line. Compare the final rhythm with the rhythm that started the game. This could also be adapted to a melodic by-ear game.

Changing Harmonies (pictured above) – one student improvises a tonal composition with a very slow harmonic rhythm. The remaining students are arranged in a line and walk around the room in one direction until they hear the harmony change; then they change directions. If a dominant 7th chord is played, the whole class freezes until a new harmony is played.

Specific Performance Game Ideas
Jeopardy – choose categories and questions related to applied keyboard theory; let each team of 3-4 students come up with their own team name. After the question is fully asked, whichever person stands first gets to represent their team at the piano (alternatively, regardless of who stands first, the team of the first one standing may select any team member to represent them). In order to most effectively demonstrate the game, Ms. Bennett had the whole audience participate in a playing of the game. Categories included: I-IV-I-V-I Progression, Harmonization, Sight-Reading, and Major Scales. (The Jeopardy PowerPoint template was downloaded from Microsoft Online for free.)

Musical Chairs – have one student begin playing their repertoire (its helpful to specify a minimum number of measures) while the others walk around the chairs/benches that have been placed around the room. The one who is without a seat is the next one to perform. In between the performances, the teacher can offer feedback/suggestions on the performance. (An audience member suggested that if a studio doesn’t have the space, you could use a set of black cards, with one red card mixed in, that the students pass around while the music plays; the one left with the red card is the next one to play.)

Scale Races – includes preliminaries, quarter-finals, semi-finals. Two students are placed at a piano/keyboard and are given a specific scale to play. The one who plays the fastest and most accurate wins and advances to the next level. Beauty and accuracy trump speed.

Rhythm Bee – students line up single file and are shown a rhythm card that they must clap and count. Could also be used for sight-reading excerpts.

Truth or Dare – especially useful in preparing for a large-scale evaluation. Truth cards would contain specific skills. Dare would contain more challenges. Broader categories could be used, such as: Truth=minor scales, two octaves, hands together, as determined by the teacher; Dare=improvisation only, or sight-reading only.

Her parting words? Be fun!

Most of us teach because we love playing music, we love working with students, and/or we just love teaching. Few of us run studios because we just love doing recordkeeping, filing taxes, and handling other aspects on the business-side of things. I will confess, however, that I love the challenge of strategizing and coming up with good systems to set in place to streamline business operations. If you have a good system in place, staying organized is easy! Here are a few organizational systems that help me maintain some semblance of sanity.

1. Music Teacher’s Helper – If you’ve been reading here for any length of time at all, you know that I am a HUGE fan of Music Teacher’s Helper! Even though I haven’t even tapped into every feature that it offers, this has streamlined my bookkeeping and makes it a breeze. I love the way it keeps my finances organized and presents a professional image for my families since each of them have an account to receive automatic invoices, check records, pay on-line, and more. I’m in the highest cost bracket at $24.95/month, but it is so worth it for me!

2. Managing Receipts – This is a very simple binder system, but it’s essential for record-keeping and tax time! I have one binder for each of my businesses that serves to collect the receipts for the whole year according to the month in which the purchase was made. And then I archive the receipts for three years, so I have two other binders (again, one for each business) that each contain the monthly sheet protectors filled with receipts from the previous three years.

3. Student Worksheets – There are so many great resources on-line, but I needed a way to have just the right worksheet available at the tip of my fingers when I ascertained that it would be beneficial to a particular student. This binder system is what I developed for that purpose and it has served me well for several years now. I have a similar, but separate, binder set-up just for the sight-reading drills that we’re using this year.

4. Printed Music – When it comes to music books and sheet music, we’re all familiar with the Overflowing Piano Bench Syndrome and the impossible-to-keep-organized bookshelves, right? These file cabinets have been incredible for keeping music organized! Plus, with items like this that students will be accessing, it’s important to have a system in place that makes sense to them and is easy for them to utilize as well.

Those are some of the key areas that I’ve worked on over the past several years. This year, I’m hoping to come up with a better system for listing music books that I need to purchase for students and a way to keep track of what books/pieces students have used/learned. Any suggestions?

What makes you really excited? Studying music history? Sight-reading new repertoire? Dreaming up game ideas? Improvising arrangements of familiar tunes by ear?

Capitalize on your own area of interest to build the enthusiasm of your students. Invest your excitement into putting together creative assignments for your students. For example, plan a group class around composers and have every student present a brief report on a composer of their choosing. Or host a “Sight-Reading Super Stars Challenge” and let students put star stickers on a chart on the wall for every piece they sight-read throughout one month. Or pull out a deck of flashcards and come up with a fun, short game that you can play for the first five minutes of every lesson one week. Or hold a Name that Tune challenge where you print up a list of possibilities and give it to the student for reference; then play various tunes and have them see if they can identify which one it is from the list on the sheet.

One of the most effective approaches I ever started was developing a year-long practice incentive theme for my entire studio. Our whole year is built around the theme and I build in enough structure so that it functions like a lesson plan for the whole year, commingled with enough flexibility to customize the assignments for each student and for any specific needs throughout the year. I was able to spend a bit of time organizing my files over Christmas break and have put together a Resources for Sale page that highlights outlines each of the practice incentives that I currently have available, including the newest one that I finally added – Mastering the Mystery of Music! I’ve included not only the ready-to-print files, but also the original Word Doc files that are fully editable so that you can use the basic idea but customize and adapt it for your studio. Plus, this program also includes lesson plans for 6 correlating group classes throughout the year, complete with objectives, games, resource links, and weekly clues. (This is the kind of thing that gets me really excited, and brainstorming up a new idea every year definitely re-ignites my enthusiasm! )

One of the things that I really wanted to work on this year with my students was building their sight-reading skills. This was a key objective that I took into consideration when planning this year’s practice incentive. With the help of Susan Paradis’ Notes in the Fast Lane worksheets, I am seeing some great improvement in this area!

I made multiple copies of each level and placed them in sheet protectors in a notebook. One of the Cosmic Challenges that the students can select each week is “Speed Notes.” In order to pass that Cosmic Challenge, the two levels that they take home must be played the following week with 100% accuracy. Yes, the student actually gets to practice the worksheet all week long! The notes are random enough that even those with really good ears find it almost impossible to play back the patterns by ear even after a week of practice. But for the rare student who actually does memorize the pattern, I just randomly select the lines for them to play. After the initial shock of me making such a request, we find out if the student is really reading the notes or not.

One of the reasons I really like these worksheets is because while the notes are random, they are also placed in the context of a grand staff where the student can still have some sense of intervallic (or at least directional) relationships between notes. This is an aspect of sight-reading that is lost when only individual note flash cards are used.

I’m doing several other things to help build sight-reading skills, but this is proving to be one of the most helpful so far. Plus, the students love the challenge associated with it and are eager to get through as many levels as they can!

I was wondering if you and other teachers would share their policies for students getting their practice time in if they are sick? I have had the flu for 7 full days and realized how completely it knocks one out…I thought of my students, and think if they get it that I should most definitely have compassion on them in regards to their piano practice! But with the season ahead, I’d like to glean from more experienced teachers about how to have a balanced view of piano practice!

This is a good and timely question! Most of my students put in 5-7 days of practice each week, so I tend to be very lenient with them if they have an off-week due to sickness, travel, or an unusually busy schedule. I always tell them, that’s life! As long as they are putting in consistent effort most of the time, I totally understand that there will be weeks like that. When that happens, I usually ask them if there’s anything in particular they want to play for me, or anything that they had trouble with that they’d like to go over with me.

If there are things they’d rather not play, but just want me to reassign, I have no problem doing that. Then we spend all the extra time playing games, sight-reading duets, or improvising. Basically, I want them to leave excited about what we did and energized to put in a good week of practice. That’s far more motivating than laying a guilt trip on them and making them feel bad for what they didn’t accomplish.

Feel free to share any additional thoughts or suggestions on how you handle lessons with students who have been sick and haven’t practiced!

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!