Caught Practicing and April News!

Well Hello, All!

We had a great first week of online lessons last week with a huge turnout for our Piano Jams and almost 100% attendance from our studio student body in regular lessons!  Navigating Zoom has been a learning experience for us all but it’s coming together!  I cannot being to thank you all for your flexibility AND for the words of encouragement and enthusiasm that have poured in over the last week!  You all are SO AWESOME and keep me inspired!

So just a few things to keep you updated.  I will try to keep it brief as I know there has been no shortage of emails coming into your inboxes this week!

LESSON TIMES AND ZOOM LINKS:

We will continue with the format that we established last week: lessons on Zoom! I will email you your secure Zoom link again this week. I have been creating folders for you in Google Drive to share with you that will contain homework/lesson notes and more music for you and will begin sharing those!

CAUGHT PRACTICING (Practice Incentive):

I am extending the Caught Practicing Practice Incentive until April 10th!  That gives you TWO MORE WEEKS to catch your student practicing the piano and send in a picture to me.  I’ll make a special posting that can be shared in our newsletter AND their name will be entered into a draw for a gift card!  So far we have Levi, Keira, Adams and Nathan in the draw so their odds are pretty good right now! 😉

SPRING RECITAL:

Our Spring Recital is currently being re-worked.  I am looking at a couple of possibilities one being postponing and the other being an online recital.  I will keep you posted, so keep choosing and practicing that recital piece!

SPEAKING OF PRACTICING:While you begin to create a new schedule for your family, I thought it would be helpful to share some tips for incorporating home practice into your new routines.

1. Set aside time each day that will always be “piano practice time”. Post a schedule on your fridge and stick to it as best you can. Your children will appreciate a predictable routine right now. Practice is more likely to happen if it takes place at the same time each day. I recommend practicing in the morning as your children will be fresh and free from other distractions that will inevitably happen over the course of a day.
2. Try to be present during your children’s practice, even if you are just listening. Depending on age, your children may need basic assistance (organizing materials, reading my lesson notes, troubleshooting) or they may simply appreciate your physical presence in the room. Sit and have your morning cup of coffee as your children make music. You’ll likely look forward to this “break from reality” too!
3. Keep your piano area free from distractions. For piano to become a happy reprieve, turn off the TV, remove younger siblings or pets and make the practice space welcoming. Be sure to declutter and organize materials so they are easily at hand. Your children may enjoy taking on the project of creating a “piano practice nest” (making their piano area cozy and welcoming).
4. Be encouraging and positive about your children’s attempts at the piano. Don’t worry about fixing mistakes you may hear (that’s my job!) and instead be a cheerleader to your children’s learning efforts. Mistakes can be easily fixed. Right now, the focus should be on being enthusiastic about the learning process.
5. Provide “reasons” for your children to practice. I know that family members who are not in physical contact with you right now would LOVE to have recorded performances or live FaceTime performances of your children’s music-making. Prepping for any sort of performance can be very motivating to children.
6. Play piano games with your children! We all are finding ourselves with extra moments in our days now when we would normally be driving around to extracurricular activities. Take advantage of this newly-acquired time and have some fun while building important musical skills. I have digital piano games I can send you to print off and “craft” if you are interested!

In a time when your children’s schedules and routines have been turned upside down, there is one thing that can remain: music! Music has always given people hope, and people have always turned to music in difficult times.

With all of the changes that have happened so rapidly in our children’s lives, the piano can be very helpful in maintaining a sense of normalcy in the weeks and months ahead. During these times of physical distancing, your children will find themselves with more free time. Playing the piano can help fill the void that the loss of other activities has created while also providing a sense of purpose, control, and accomplishment.

I will continue to strive to provide fun, motivating material that they will be excited to practice and I look forward to helping the piano be a constant in their lives during this time.

As always, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask!

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Exciting News! We are now ONLINE

Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, all piano lessons and music classes have been taken ONLINE so that students can continue to enjoy music and continue their musical progression from the safety and comfort of their homes!

Camping Themed Lessons and Free Games!

Wow, what a heat wave we have going on here!!  It’s almost impossible to cool down without air conditioning.  Our kids having been begging for a pool for years, but Ken has been reluctant to commit to the upkeep so they finally took matters into their own hands and saved up their money and bought a pool for our yard…one  that is 18 feet wide and 4 feet deep!!  I have to admit, I’m really enjoying reaping the benefits!

Last week we had our second installment of summer lessons and it was a camping theme!  We had three fun camping-themed games that we used and I thought I’d share them with you, they are a lot of fun whether you are actually headed out camping or doing a little stay-cation.  If you are on the go, two can be used without a piano and one could be used if you had an iPad (or just play some major or minor music from your phone or iPod).)

The three games were discovered on the Teach Piano Today website and then slightly adapted to fit our camping theme!  Here they are:

1. Sly As A Fox:  Print the board and the game cards!

This is the story the students and I adapted into a camping theme! 😉  Along with their instructions!

One sunny morning a chicken accidentally wandered too close to a campground. Quick as a whip a sly fox who had been contemplating what to make for dinner on his crackling campfire cornered her outside his campsite.  “Please!” she begged… “Don’t eat me! I have barnyards to scratch! I have eggs to warm! I have worms to chase!” The fox (whose stomach was larger than his heart) was just about to toss her into his cooking pot when he remembered something. You see, this fox played the piano and he had some theory homework to hand in the next day. Naming bass clef notes had always been his weakness and this week’s assignment had been a bass clef doozy. “Do you read music?” He asked the bewildered chicken. “Of course!” She clucked, “I used to sing in the Barnyard Chorus!” “I’ll make you a deal” said the fox. “If you can correct my theory homework, I’ll let you go.” The chicken stared wide-eyed at the fox, “Okay! I’ll do anything!” The fox licked his lips as he put his paw around the chicken’s quivering back. “But if my theory homework comes back too many mistakes… you’ll be tomorrow’s soup!”

Game Play: Put the cards face down in a stack.  Put the game board in front of both of you. Your child is the chicken. Have her flip over cards one at a time and decide whether the named note on the card is “true” or “false” as fast as she can.  The teacher keeps track of her correct incorrect answers by placing the card on the “correct” or the “uh oh!” game board. Tally her results once the card pack is finished.  Do the correct cards outnumber the “uh oh’s?”…Is she free… or is she soup?

       2.  Serving Up Steps and Skips

Pretend you are camping and it’s breakfast time!! Let’s flip some eggs!

Instructions from Teach Piano Today: “This activity is a simple sorting game that reinforces your child’s ability to identify notes that step, notes that skip, and notes that repeat.To begin, give your child a flipper and have him sit in front of the frying pan. Instruct your piano student to use the flipper to turn over any two eggs. When the notes on the two eggs have been revealed, ask your student to compare the two notes and determine if they represent repeating notes, stepping notes or skipping notes (they can use a keyboard, tinsheet or iPad keyboard to help them if they like. Once identified, have your student place the two eggs onto the corresponding plate.

Your child can continue playing until all 6 eggs are removed from the frying pan and placed onto an appropriate plate (note: some plates may be left empty). When all eggs have been served, mix them up, place them in the frying pan and play again!”

3. Smore’s Chords (another great idea that I am sure I found on Teach Piano Today but for the life of me can’t recall so here is how I used it)

This is an ear training game.  Give you child the ingredient to a smore:  2 graham crackers, a piece of chocolate and a marshmallow.  THen play major or minor chords or melodies or youtube snippets and if they hear major they will build a smore with only the marshmallow, if they hear a minor they will add the chocolate for that dark delicious sound! 😉

 

We actually did just get back from camping the week before this lesson!  One of my favorite things to do while camping after a long day of hiking is sit by the fire and read.  I like a variety of summer reading…from Dean Koontz mysteries to inspirational books that help me learn and grow as a teacher or parent.  I have a couple of great suggestions for you as piano parents if you’d like to get some refreshing ideas for the fall…or to use this summer.  One is written as a story and is such an easy ready and the other is helpful tips….but again a quick and easy read!!

The first one is called Coffee With Ray by Nick Ambrosino, an inspirational novel about a teacher who inspires his students to be independent learners.

The second one is 101 Piano Practice Tips by Tracy Selle.  It’s a goldmine of upbeat and creative ways to get your student to the piano!!  Use the ideas for the summer or lock them away for the best year of practicing yet starting this fall!!

 

I hope you enjoy the free games as well as the books!  If you think your student would love a fun and motivating summer lesson (and enjoy some time out of the heat in a nice cool studio), our third and final installment of summer lessons is next week and the theme is “Roadtrip”.  Email for more details!

In the meantime, enjoy the weather!!

 

 

 

 

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