I always know when we have a good lesson and my student is super excited about her new songs, because she will run out the front door saying, "I've got to get to my car piano!" :)
This Friday funny happened with one of my six year old students who is very bright and loves music. Before she started lessons and got a full size piano, she had a small toy keyboard that she liked to play with. Her parents now keep this keyboard in the car to occupy her and her younger brother on long trips.
I always know when we have a good lesson and my student is super excited about her new songs, because she will run out the front door saying, "I've got to get to my car piano!" :)
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With back to school time approaching, I thought I would share a tip that really helped me to get organized last year!
If you have read some of my other blog posts, you know that I enjoy incorporating different elements of musicianship into my students’ lessons. Ear training, transposing, improvising and composing—these are all skills that I want my students to learn. However, most of my students take thirty minute lessons, and every minute is precious! It can be difficult to cover our core lesson activities (repertoire, technique, theory) and have time left over. Last year, I came up with a way to keep myself organized and help me incorporate more musicianship activities into my lessons: the musicianship binder. My binder has tabs for ear training, composing, and transposing. I also keep it stocked with staff paper. I put worksheets that I create for my students in the binder, and anytime I come across an idea that I want to use with my students, I print it out and put it in my binder too. Since everything is printed out and in one place, it is easy to grab an activity for a student. I try to rotate through activities so that we do something different at each lesson. It is also fun to plan ahead and put together a few activities around a common theme. Right now I am putting together activities centered around fall, Halloween and Christmas. What do you think? How do you organize the extra activities you use with your students? ![]() To read why I think it is important to teach transposition, see my post here. So, you are ready to teach your students to transpose. Now what? My secret weapon for teaching my students to transpose: puzzle erasers! I got this idea from Diane Hidy’s wonderful site (www.dianehidy.com), and my students love them. Of course in my studio we use cat erasers. :) I start by spending a couple of lessons playing with the erasers and learning how to identify half steps, whole steps, and major pentascale patterns (WWHW) on the piano. I ask students to build a pentascale pattern, then play it an octave higher following the pattern of the erasers. Once students are comfortable building major pentascales, we take a simple five finger song in the key of C major and try transposing it to a different key. Students build the scale with the erasers, put their fingers on the keys an octave above, and play the song in the new scale using the same finger numbers. I encourage students to look for patterns by asking questions: is the melody stepping or skipping? Going up or down? For homework, I give my students a transposition challenge sheet. The sheet contains a simple five finger piece and a check box for each major key. I ask students to check off each key they can play their song in, with the goal of playing in all twelve keys. For a good first transposing challenge worksheet you can use with your students, click here! As students progress, I have additional transposition challenge sheets with left hand songs and songs that use both hands with simple harmony. This is a great activity to do with familiar folk songs and Christmas songs, many of which have a narrow melodic range and simple harmonies. So, what do you think? Do you have any tips or tricks for teaching transposition to your students? Please leave a comment below! This Friday Funny is also known as the day I taught piano lessons in my pajamas.
Where I live (in the southern U.S.) we don't get much wintry weather. Even a small amount of snow and ice can shut down the schools and make driving an iffy proposition. So, when we had a freak snowstorm a few years back, I thought it better to be safe than sorry and cancelled my piano lessons for the day, leaving phone messages for all of my students. However, one student that lived close by didn't get the message. His father had a four wheel drive vehicle and they were out and about that day seeing the snow-covered sights. I had just settled down with a cup of cocoa when I heard the doorbell ring and saw a face peeping in the window. I sheepishly went to the door, still in my flannel PJ's, and let my student in. I told him I had cancelled lessons for the day, but if he didn't mind me teaching in my pajamas and fuzzy slippers we could go ahead and do our lesson! We all had a good laugh about it--but ever since I make sure to put on real clothes on snow days--just in case! Thanks for being someone I can look up to…
Those were the words on the card given to me by one of my students, a graduating high school senior. This student was truly a joy to teach—straight A student, volunteer in her community, and a beautiful pianist who enjoyed arranging her own songs. I was sad to see her go, but excited for her as she looked toward the future and starting college in the fall. I was struck by the words she wrote. She didn’t say, “thanks for teaching me how to play piano,” although I am sure the sentiment was there. What she said was so much more meaningful, and made me reflect on all the things I am to my students aside from being just their piano teacher.
Teachers: you are more than just a piano teacher. In fact, piano might be the least important thing you teach your students. You are giving them someone to look up to. And, if you are like me, you will learn more from your students than they will ever know. |
AuthorChrissy Ricker is a pianist, teacher, and composer from North Carolina. These are her thoughts on teaching, composing, and all things music. Looking for teaching ideas related to a specific topic? Use the "search" feature or scroll down to see blog posts organized by category!
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