I am a student teacher and would like some tips on teaching technique via games. I have a 7-year-old student who is struggling with “keeping fingertips tall” and “keeping a rounded hand shape”. I find technique drills are not working and I hate to make technique seem like the enemy. Do you have any games […]
Teaching
Fun Friday Film
Here’s the latest great YouTube video that I’ve come across, thanks to my sister. Anyone who grew up on Disney classics like I did will appreciate this fun a cappella medley of some of the favorites by the Doo Wop Shop A Cappella group:
New Coolest Website!
One of my students is working on playing worship songs from lead sheets this year and periodically runs across chords that she hasn’t learned. Yesterday the A Maj 9 chord stumped her. I don’t exactly play Major 9 chords everyday, either, so I decided to look it up on-line just to be sure that I […]
Free Music Curriculum Galore!
I know I’ve been to Jennifer Fink’s fabulous Pianimation website dozens of times, but for some reason I either never realized or forgot about the amazing collection of free music curriculum sets she has available to download. Whether you want to help a student understand how to improvise using the Blues scale, need some extra […]
Monday Mailbag – What Curriculum Do You Use?
Do you have any set “curriculum” you follow as far as what you expect students to learn/cover over the course of a year? I know there is the Carnegie Hall Achievement Program that provides “expectations” for each year of study. Is your incentives program for setting goals for students each year? Yikes! These are the […]
Creativity on the Cutting Edge
Last Friday I presented a session to two of our local music teachers associations. It was titled “Creativity on the Cutting Edge” and dealt with the philosophy and use of mobile technology in the studio. I had a lot of fun putting ideas together for the presentation, and gleaned a lot of inspiration from a […]
