ComposeCreate.com » Reviews of teaching materials

Fantastic New Games

Wendy — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:00:49 +0000

Wow, I have just discovered another incredible website with fantastic new games! I remember Anne Crosby’s name from her book In My Dreams which I used with a student ever so long ago. Her compositions were delightfully fresh and appealing to my difficult-to-please student.

Well, Anne now has a new website called Piano Discoveries which provides a new online piano method for kids as well as some beautiful, professional looking games and worksheets at no charge. She does provide an easy way to donate if you wish to show your appreciation. I’m sure you’ll be amazed at her creativity. You must run to check out her site!

A few of my favorite games on her site include Leaping Ladybugs for drilling half and whole steps and The Funny Farm Game to review general music concepts.

HT: Ms. Natashia

Preparing for Fall

Wendy — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:00:43 +0000

I am now on a break from teaching until mid-August when I begin my fall semester. During the next few weeks, I’d like to prepare for fall by doing the following:

Establishing achievable overall goals for my studio.
Organizing my games, resources, music so that I can access and use them easily.
Brainstorm on how to help my students stay organized and be efficient with practice.
Prepare materials for the first lesson in August

I’m sure there are more things things that I need to do, but I’ll be doing well to get these done. So in the next few weeks, I’ll post about some of the new things I’ll be doing for the fall and new materials I’m anxious to use. I’ll also be asking some questions on the ComposeCreate Facebook page about what you are doing to prepare for fall. Please join the discussion there or in the comments section of any post!

Teaching Piano in Groups (Author Interview)

Wendy — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:00:49 +0000

Christopher Fisher, Assistant Professor of Piano at Ohio University), has just written a new book called Teaching Piano in Groups. This book is a one-stop compendium of information related to all aspects of group piano teaching. I am sure it will become required reading for piano pedagogy students across the country. In addition, this book looks like it should be on the reading list of every independent music teacher.

I knew Chris in college and was impressed by his diligence, commitment to excellence, and kindness to those around him. I am certain that his book is a well researched and extremely well written resource for group teaching. Chris has graciously agreed to do an online interview with me for this blog.

Tell us about your inspiration to write this book.
During my undergraduate and graduate studies, I became enamored by the transformative power of the group piano learning environment. It was during this time that I started teaching piano in a variety of group formats, and began witnessing astonishing growth and development in my student’s overall level of pianistic achievement. As a result of these experiences, I have taught in some form of group ever since and have become a passionate advocate for group piano teaching.

As they saying goes, “Two heads are better than one.” I believe strongly in the potential of group learning environments and I acknowledge that many others share this conviction. Still I realize there are those who have never given group teaching a chance. Because of this, I set out to write a guidebook for the novice piano teacher with the hope of inspiring interest in the instructional format while creating a reference resource for the experienced teacher. Furthermore, as a university pedagogy professor, I was motivated by the fact that there existed no text that was explicitly devoted to group piano pedagogy. Teaching Piano in Groups was designed to fill this void.

What kind of book is this?
Initially, I set out to write a comprehensive narrative on all aspect of group piano teaching. While admittedly I’ve found such an attempt to be futile, I have made a concerted effort to cover the most salient features of group piano teaching and the intricacies involved in teaching children and adolescents, university music majors and adult hobby students.

Who might find this book helpful?
It is my hope that all piano teachers will find the book helpful in some manner, from the novice pedagogy student to the veteran group piano teacher. I trust the book will serve as both a handbook and reference resource, and will inspire renewed interest in and thoughtful dialogue regarding teaching piano in groups.

What is your favorite part or topic in the book?
Since I’ve been deeply invested in this project for the last three and a half years, I must confess that it is quite a challenge to identify a favorite part or topic. With that said, I have a great interest in the application of cooperative learning theory to group piano teaching and continue to dedicate a significant amount of time to research in this realm I am also a connossieur and collector of effective group instructional strategies and activities, so it was a particular thrill to present a few of my favorite in this book.

Are there any misconceptions about group teaching that you would like to address?
There remain teachers who regard group piano teaching as an inferior mode of instruction and, who as a result of this opinion, categorically avoid teaching in groups. As one who is wholly convinced of the potential of the group piano learning environment and its manifold benefits, I feel committed to demonstrating how group teaching, when conducted properly, can both positively and profoundly transform student learning experiences.

Piano teachers often cite the disparity of student levels in groups as a primary concern. I see this as an enormous advantage rather than an insurmountable hindrance. Because of this dynamic environment involving students with unique abilities and individual differences, students stand to learn something from one another and can contribute something meaningful to the group. Further, the potential for groups to motivate students to higher levels of achievement is an undeniable benefit. Indeed, the efficacy of group piano teaching is proven and the list of its merits is expansive. It is my hope that all piano teachers will experiment with group teaching in some fashion if they have not already. And if they have in the past and have failed, I encourage them to try again and to seriously consider ways to enhance the effectiveness of their approach. As is the case with any venture, anything worth doing is worth the effort necessary to carry it out with success. To be sure, group piano teaching is an investment that has the potential to pay huge dividends.

What is your favorite part of teaching in groups?
I am always invigorated by the dynamic exchange of information and knowledge among students in the group piano learning environment. It is thrilling to witness students being actively involved in their own and each other’s learning. This sense of ownership and accountability propels students to higher levels of learning and skill refinement. And beyond this, teaching in groups is simply great fun!

Chris’s book may be purchased from Amazon or Oxford University Press.

American Music Teacher Reviews Easy Hymn Solos

Wendy — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:48:13 +0000

Each month, the American Music Teacher, a magazine for members of Music Teachers National Association, contains a section of new music reviews. This month’s magazine (April/May 2010) contains a review of my Easy Hymns Solos Books 1-3, published by Hal Leonard.

Carolyn True, D.M.A. of Trinity University was the reviewer. Here are some of her comments,

Easy Hymn Solos are a colorful addition to the Christian/Gospel repertoire…. As the title of the three levels indicates, the arrangements are stylish, evocative and many will appeal to any student. The loveliest pieces are the slower, easier hymns where Stevens manages the difficult balance of writing for a beginning student–writing simply without being simplistic.

Thanks Carolyn for the thoughtful review! See page 48 for the full text.

40-50% off New Schirmer Performance Editions

Wendy — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:00:16 +0000

If you have not seen the new Schirmer Performance Editions that have been updated by Hal Leonard, I would encourage you to take a look at these. The editions are on a light tan colored paper making them easy on the eyes. Each new edition contains important historical notes about the piece and each piece has been carefully edited to be consistent with the historical style of the piece. The new editions come with CDs which contain beautiful performances of the pieces.

Do not confuse these with the old Schirmer editions which seemed to contain questionable editorial marks. These are excellent editions that any teacher and student will want to have in their library.

Prima Music is having a sale on Schirmer Performance Editions and you can get from 40-50% off the list price. The sale is from now until April 1st.

Review #2-How Sweet the Sound

Wendy — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:00:19 +0000

If you have never checked out Susan Paradis’ website, Piano Teacher Resources, you must check it out. Many of the games that my students play each week are from Susan’s site! Especially useful to me have been her ideas and worksheets for games, steps and skips, and theory.

Yesterday, Susan published a review of my new book How Sweet the Sound. You can read the review here. Thank you Susan for taking the time to play through and review the pieces. I really appreciate it!

New Review of How Sweet the Sound

Wendy — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:15:13 +0000

Natalie, over on Music Matters Blog, has posted a review of How Sweet the Sound, my newest collection of sacred arrangements. She begins by talking about her performance of the first piece at her local music teachers’ meeting:

I had recently received Wendy Stevens’ newest book, How Sweet the Sound, and fell in love with the first arrangement – Day of Arising. It’s a gorgeous setting that just makes the piano sing

She then details several high points of many of the pieces and makes this statement:

Each of the other intermediate/late-intermediate arrangements are also enjoyable, offering the fresh, vibrant, elements that players of Wendy’s music have come to expect and love.

You can see a PDF sample and audio samples on the previous blog post. Prima Music has just notified me that they will be stocking this book. You can also order directly from the composecreate site:

How Sweet the Sound
10 arrangements for solo piano
Late Intermediate, 48 pages
$17.50
Published by Augsburg Fortress

Review of Irish Celebration

Wendy — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:00:35 +0000

Don’t forget to enter the Irish Celebration giveaway. You have until Friday, January 15th at noon to enter by commenting, blogging, or tweeting about the piece. Enter by leaving a comment on this post: Irish Celebration Giveaway.

Susan Paradis has posted a very thorough review of Irish Celebration on her useful piano blog. Thank you Susan for your kind words and thorough review!

Splash Cats

Wendy — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:00:30 +0000

Solo Time Music Games is a company making and selling music games that I have recently discovered. Solo Time sells music games for elementary and early intermediate students covering a wide variety of concepts. Their motto, “Putting the flash back in flashcards” is aptly chosen as their games are very colorful and attractive to young students.

Lois, one of the creators sent me one of her games to review called Splash Cats. This game is for beginning students and drills the concepts of white key note names and notes on the treble and bass staff from Bass G to the Treble G space. Students are given beach ball flashcards with pictures of notes (on the keyboard or staff) and asked to “Throw the ball into the right bucket…Don’t get wet!” Students then place the flashcard into the correct bucket.

I had this game sitting out to play with a young student when my son, not a piano student, asked to play it. You could tell he was just drawn to the cute blue cats on the board as well as the colorful beachballs. I told him the answers to the flashcards so that he could put them in the appropriate bucket and he had a blast!

Then, I gave it to one of my young students to play and she enjoyed it as well. It definitely helped reinforce note names and white keys names.

I also thought that several other games looked extremely interesting on the SoloTime site. Here are some that I would encourage you to check out:

Burger intervals (differentiating between Major, minor, and perfect intervals on the staff)
Pyramid triads (very creative game for reinforcing the look of root position, 1st inversion, and 2nd inversion triads)
Three’s a Triad (for building triads)

Music for Young Children teachers may be interested to know that each game has a code on it that tell you with which levels of MYC curriculum these games work. For example, the Splash Cats game has SS1, SS2, SB1, and MB1 on it (and on the website).

There are many more interesting looking games and I would encourage you to check them out. Lois is wonderful about responding to any questions I had so I’m sure she would be happy to talk with you about any of the games.

Keyboard Puzzle

Wendy — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

I was teaching a young student the other day and remembered that I had a great little game for teaching the white keys. These Keyboard Puzzle Flashcards are shaped such that they only fit on the correct key. I gave the students 7 D pieces and asked him to place the pieces on all the D’s. Then, I did the same for the C’s and the E’s. He then asked if he could do the rest of the letters even though we had not gone over these yet. He really enjoyed the activity and it reinforced the idea that every key has a specific name and “shape” in the topography of the piano.

I got these flashcards from Flo at Pianimals. If you are not familiar with it, Pianimals is an early level curriculum that teaches the students to read music by finger number initially. Although that might seem “dangerous” to some teachers, I have found that it is quite effective in reinforcing finger numbers in students at the early levels. The pieces are all familiar folk songs and children get very excited that they are able to play songs that they know even at the first lesson. Books B and C move on to teach the student how to read music, so it is not a “read by finger only” approach. I’ve had good success with several students in this program (especially students who might need to move more slowly than others).

Flo has graciously posted the pdf of this puzzle on the free section of their website. She says to feel free to take advantage of this free resource for young students!