Blog Posts

Classics for Kids - Classical Music Podcast

6/29/2016

Have you ever tried finding age-appropriate music podcasts for young musicians? Look no further...Classics for Kids, a service of Cincinnati Public Radio, brings the classics to life for young musicians with bite-size podcasts full of educational and entertaining content.

From Ludwig van Beethoven to Leonard Bernstein, Classics for Kids covers a range of composers and continues to add new podcasts each week. Each music podcast is six minutes in length, with an average of four podcasts on each composer. Naomi Lewin does an excellent job writing each podcast and defining musical terms for younger musicians. Also, the podcasts are filled with beautiful samples of each composer's musical masterpieces.

My piano students love Classics for Kids, and one student asked what piece played during the introduction of every podcast. After contacting Classics of Kids, I discovered it was from Amilcare Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours. They sent me a link to this YouTube video, and the Classics for Kids theme song can be found approximately 7:40 into the video.

However, this piano student also wanted to play the sheet music, so I found a piano reduction of Dance of the Hours and wrote a simpler version for young musicians who enjoy listening to Classics for Kids. A digital copy of the sheet music is available for FREE and contains the theme song in both A Major and C Major.

Classics for Kids Theme Song
File Size:	247 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

3 Comments

Pipe Cleaner Musical Magnets

6/21/2016

1 Comment

Let the creativity begin! Pipe Cleaner Musical Magnets is a musical craft that requires little prep, but it is tons of fun for young people.

Materials:
Pipe cleaners (variety of colors)
Round magnets (Warning: not for children under 3 years)
Hot glue gun

Easy Prep:
1. Spread out pipe cleaners on trays to make it easier for the young people to find the perfect color.
2. Heat hot glue gun.

Have fun creating!

At last year's piano party, I enjoyed watching my piano students be creative with the pipe cleaners. After making a couple musical notes and instruments, several piano students decided to make friendship bracelets for each other. They had a wonderful time.

I'd love to hear your creative ideas for pipe cleaners!

1 Comment

Which Came First? Musical Edition - Piano Party Game

6/14/2016

0 Comments

Which Came First? Musical Edition - Piano Party Game

It's finally here...a fun group game for teen and/or adult music students. Which Came First? Musical Edition is the perfect group game for a piano party! And best of all...it's FREE!

How to Play:
1. Form 2 or more teams; shuffle the deck and place the cards question-side up.
2. To begin, Team A draws a card and reads the question, "Which came first? Henry Mancini or Antonio Vivaldi?" (or whatever musical person, piece, or item is on the card).
3. Team B picks an answer.
4. Team A reads the back of the card to reveal the answer and learn about music history. If Team B was correct, they get to keep the card, otherwise it goes to the discard pile.
5. First team to 7 cards (or whatever number you choose) wins!

Which Came First Musical Edition Printable.pdf
File Size:	369 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

The card design and format is based on the card game, Which Came First? The Chicken or the Egg. To find answers to these questions, I utilized the Internet, and I would not have been able to create this without a multitude of informational websites. The credit due these wonderful websites is found in the PDF below.

Which Came First Music Edition_Internet Links.pdf
File Size:	118 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

I would love to continue adding content to this game, so if you have any ideas for Which Came First? Musical Edition, please comment below!

0 Comments

Singing and Memorizing Hymns

6/7/2016

0 Comments

If you're like me, you often find yourself spending numerous hours cooking and cleaning your kitchen each week. Over the last several months, I have been using this regular time each week to sing and memorize hymns. In order to memorize all the verses to a hymn, I have to pay more attention to the lyrics, which allows to me to discover the entire message of the song. Singing hymns throughout the day helps me to focus on the Lord, and not on my earthly circumstances.

I came across the idea to post hymns on the inside of my kitchen cabinet doors at a friend's home. Recently, I have begun propping my spiral-bound hymn book on the kitchen window ledge so I can sing more hymns. One of my favorite hymns is Yesterday, Today, Forever; especially verse two.

Yesterday, Today, Forever
Words by Albert B. Simpson, 1890

O how sweet the glorious message simple faith may claim
Yesterday, today, forever Jesus is the same.
Still He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick and lame
Cheer the mourner, still the tempest, glory to His name.

Refrain

Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never! Glory to His name!
Glory to His name! Glory to His name!
All may change, but Jesus never! Glory to His name!

He who pardoned erring Peter never needest thou fear,
He who came to faithless Thomas all thy doubt will clear;
He who let the loved disciple on His bosom rest
Bids thee still, with love as tender, lean upon His breast.

Refrain

He who ‘mid the raging billows walked upon the sea
Still can hush our wildest tempest, as on Galilee;
He who wept and prayed in anguish in Gethsemane
Drinks with us each cup of trembling, in our agony.

Refrain

What are some of your favorite hymns?

0 Comments

Piano Lesson Evaluations

5/28/2016

0 Comments

Sometimes it is difficult for homeschool evaluators (especially if they don't have a musical background) to understand and correctly evaluate everything a student is learning in their piano studies. To solve this problem, I create piano lesson evaluations for my homeschooled piano students to put in their portfolios every May/June. Click for a Sample Piano Student Evaluation

A piano lesson evaluation is a summary of a piano student's accomplishments throughout the school year. It encourages piano teachers to evaluate the progress of each student and their strengths and weaknesses. One homeschool evaluator told me she loved the piano lesson summaries because they explained the musical concepts that the students had covered, which enabled her to write a more accurate description of the student's musical achievements in their evaluation.

This idea was inspired by my own piano lesson evaluation from my high school piano instructor. In my sophomore year in high school, my piano instructor wrote a summary of what I had accomplished in my music lessons that year for my PHAA evaluator. It was such a blessing, and I still treasure my piano teacher's summary.

0 Comments

2016 Spring Piano Recital

5/13/2016

0 Comments

Our Spring Piano Recital was lots a fun with eleven piano solos and ten piano ensembles. In fact, one of my young students told me after the recital was over, "I wish the recital was just now starting!" because they had enjoyed it so much.

2016 Notes of Joy Piano Studio Spring Piano Recital Group Picture

This year at the studio, we held our first ever Piano Practice Competition. To acknowledge my piano students amazing hard work, I awarded certificates of achievement at the recital. Six students earned the Gold Certificate of Achievement with 30+ hours of practice in seven weeks.

In the middle of the piano recital, my brother and I perform a juggling and piano entr'acte created especially for my piano students (so they can relax for a minutes and enjoy the piano recital). This year my brother added a couple more difficult tricks including tossing it once over his left shoulder. Enjoy!

0 Comments

2015 Piano Party!

7/18/2015

1 Comment

One of my students' favorite events is our annual Piano Party. It gives my students and their families an opportunity to meet others attending the studio. The ultimate goal is to build camaraderie between my students and spend a fun-filled afternoon together. Each year there are organized games for the students to play while their parents relax and fellowship in the shade.

What Note Am I?

A fun game to begin any musical party with is What Note Am I?, a twist on the original Who Am I? game.

Instructions:
1. Print off various notation symbols (I also included a flat, sharp, treble cleft, and bass cleft to make it more challenging).
2. Use masking tape to secure the piece of paper to their back.
3. Clearly explain that they are to guess what music note symbol is on their back by asking questions (i.e quarter note, half note, etc).
4. When a student thinks they know the note symbol on their back, they say, "Am I a (ex: quarter note)?". If they guess correctly they are done.
If not, I guide them to the answer by asking them what they already know about the note on their back and using a couple tools I created especially for this game. One tool is a page with a sample note and the name of each part, the other is a page with helpful questions.

What Note Am I? - Game Materials
File Size:	236 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

This PDF file contains both pages that help students ask questions and visualize the note on their back.

1 Comment

Patriotic Arrangements

6/16/2015

0 Comments

On June 7th, I attended a home school group program in which three of my piano students performed. We worked several months in preparation for this event and I was excited to see each student do a fabulous job!

Two of my students, in Level 2B, performed original arrangements of "America the Beautiful" and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee." One of the reasons I created these arrangements was to challenge them with additional hand movement beyond the five-finger position. This also expanded their note reading skills.

My other student, in Level 6, performed "You're a Grand Old Flag" from a fun patriotic arrangement book, titled Let Freedom Ring, by Phillip Keveren.

look inside

Let Freedom Ring! 14 Patriotic Favorites Arranged For Piano Solo. Arranged by Phillip Keveren. Piano Solo Songbook, Phillip Keveren Series. Americana. Songbook (no lyrics). 55 pages. Published by Hal Leonard (HL.310839).

America the Beautiful - Level 2B Patriotic Arrangement

The sheet music is available on Sheet Music Plus.

My Country, 'Tis of Thee - Level 2B Patriotic Arrangement

The sheet music is available for FREE here.

0 Comments

The Eclipse - Piano Six Hands

5/18/2015

0 Comments

I wrote this piano six hands composition for the 2015 Spring Recital with these young men in mind. After practicing it together a couple times, I asked them to think about the overall sound of the piece and choose a title. One of them brought up the change in the piece between minor and major which made him think of light vs. darkness. It wasn't too long before they decided on "The Eclipse".

Their piece was a highlight at the recital because the audience could tell they were having fun playing it together.

The sheet music is available for FREE here.

0 Comments

Ode to Joy - Guitar/Piano Duet

5/18/2015

0 Comments

One of my piano students recently began taking guitar lessons. To encourage her in her guitar studies, I arranged "Ode to Joy" into a beautiful guitar/piano duet for her and her sister to perform at our 2015 Spring Recital. My brother plays guitar and he helped me write the guitar part – in fact, he actually taught me how to play it on the guitar.

They both did a great job at the recital!