Each week, I try to think of some fun activity to start off each lesson. Hot on the heels of the previous week’s A Galaxy of Composers group class theme, I was inspired to do a composer-oriented listening activity with my students. I grabbed my favorite composer resource book (comes with a CD!) – Accent […]
Teaching
Happy Birthday, Chopin!
Yes, I know I’m a day late. Yesterday, March 1, was the 200th birthday of the renowned Frederic Chopin. 200 is a pretty big milestone, though, so I think it’s acceptable to prolong the celebration for a little longer. 🙂 Thanks to Gerald Klickstein, of The Musician’s Way Blog, for putting together a great collection […]
Monday Mailbag – Memorizing Incentive
Do you have any incentive ideas for a memorizing contest, or something of that nature to encourage memorizing pieces? Some of my students are very beginner, and some are older students who have transferred (or who have REALLY applied themselves). How do you make it equal for both types of students – the 6-year olds […]
A Compendium of Composers
Yesterday, I shared a little bit about the Galaxy of Composers group class that we held in the studio last week. In preparation for this each student selected (or was given) a composition by a composer of interest to them. I tried to keep the duplicate composers to a minimum, but of course we did […]
Group Class Briefing Session: A Galaxy of Composers
In keeping with our Exploring a Galaxy of Music theme for the year, last week’s Briefing Session (a.k.a. group class) was themed A Galaxy of Composers. Here are a couple shots from the evening: I held this session at the studio, so twenty of us crammed into the small space to listen to performances, play […]
Monday Mailbag – Taking Time Off
How do you schedule the right to take a week off each semester? This is the exact wording from my studio policy: The schedule for each semester, including weeks that there will be no lessons, is posted on the website (here) and included in the September newsletter each year. The schedule is structured to allow […]
