Recital Themes
Tired of the usual spring or fall recital? Well, you might not be the only one–your students might be a little bored as well! Our local music teachers association came together recently and talked about different recital themes we could use to liven up our yearly performances. Teachers who have done this before mentioned how much more interesting the performance is as well as how much more excited their students are when there is a theme. Below, I have compiled a list of over 40 themes from our local association as well as ComposeCreate Facebook followers. I’d love to hear what ideas you have tried!
Music at the Movies
by ginnerobot
- Provide popcorn for guests (or ask a local popcorn store to supply the popcorn)
- Have a door prize of popcorn bucket and popcorn
- Used digital keyboards for fun sounds
- You could make this an “Academy Awards” recital and find oscar like trophies to award to students
- Find a red carpet for the students to walk down!
Music Around the World or Musical Travelogue
- Each student asked to present a paragraph about their piece (like Music around the World)
- Students mark where the piece was from on a map
- Make the program look like a passport
- Here’s a long list of world music pieces divided by level
New! Rhythm Menagerie: Explorations in Rhythm
Rhythm Menagerie is an exciting, reproducible PDF resource that features fun and intriguing activities to explore new rhythmic concepts. Rhythm Menagerie is much more than just a set of your typical clapping exercises! Each unit showcases a unique animal and often incorporates some of the fun antics of that animal in the student’s activities. Students will learn about the crazy looking Tarsier, the beautiful Wingtipped Nightjar, the Jerboa Jumping Mouse, the Javan Flying Frog and much more!
Rhythm Menagerie is designed to take away distractions like note reading so that students can focus on learning new rhythms. This 92 page PDF resource is designed to be a comprehensive approach to teaching and practicing rhythm and can be used alongside any method. It is designed to be used in private lessons, but can easily be incorporated into group lessons as you will see in this video:
There are 8 units in Book 1 and each unit includes 11 pages of activities for the new rhythm concept. Giving the student only 1 page each week will create excitement for completing the activity and anticipation for the next activity. Each unit includes the following:
- An introductory page explaining the new rhythm concept as well as 5 different ways to practice it on the first week it is introduced:
- Single line rhythm pages in 3 different levels. Here’s a sample of the Level 1 and 2 single line rhythms in Unit 1.
- Two-handed rhythm pages in 3 different levels. Here’s a sample of Level 2 and 3 two-handed rhythms in Unit 3.
- Fun with sounds rhythm pages in 3 different levels. Here’s a sample of Level 1 “Fun with Sounds” from Unit 6 and 2.
- And a stunning certificate of completion for each unit.
The rhythmic concepts covered in Book 1 include:
- Quarter and Half notes
- Dotted half notes
- Whole notes
- Quarter rests and ties
- Half rests and whole rests
- Eighth notes
- Eighth rests
- Dotted quarter notes
To order Rhythm Menagerie, simply place it in your cart and checkout! You can either use your Paypal Account or pay with a credit card if you have no account. A link to your product will appear when you return to the site after you have paid. This link will also appear in the email receipt you will receive at the address with which you paid on Paypal. Simply download the PDF file and save it to your computer, then print as many pages as you need whenever you need them! Go to the store and click on the Rhythm Menagerie cover to see even more samples.
$34.99
Visit the tips page to see how students can help pay for your printing costs.
Do you have other questions about using Rhythm Menagerie? Visit the Rhythm Menagerie Tips page.
Visit the store to see other products from ComposeCreate.com
*Music on the Rhythm Menagerie video is provided by IMMusic Inc. who also created the orchestrations for Wendy’s Returning to the Piano book. Check out their free jingles to use in your own creative activities.
Read MoreSurprise Music in Zambia
At NCKP this year, there was a new feature called Ped xi. This session was supposed to mimic the “ideas worth spreading” mantra of the TED talks. Since I love many of the TED talks, I attended these sessions and was inspired by several of the ideas shared. While listening to the 2nd talk by Kristin Shoemaker called “Mud Huts, MIDI, and Light Bulb Moment,” my attention was immediately piqued when I heard my name from the podium! Evidently, there is a student in Zambia Africa who loves to play “Cherokee Lullaby” from the Hal Leonard Pre-staff Piano Recital Showcase series. Kristin showed a video of the young girl named Beauty as she played this piece and it just made my day!
Later, Kristin shared with me that another student named Merel is featured on her website “being creative” with the same piece (click on Photos and Clips). She does a beautiful job of singing, playing, and transforming the 4/4 piece into triple meter. As you know, I’m all about encouraging students to be creative, so this just thrilled me. I’d love for you to listen and see the kind of impact that Kristin is having in Africa.
If you think that only tech savvy teachers like Kristin can do this kind of distance teaching, then you would be wrong. Kristin herself admits to not being that tech savvy when she started. Here is a great interview with Robin Pfeiffer about how she does this. I’d encourage you to watch this if you need any encouragement that you too could teach from a distance. If nothing else, distance teaching can allow you to do lessons with your own mildly-sick students or students who don’t come to lessons due to weather issues. I have done phone lessons and Skype lessons with students in the last 2 years and this has greatly helped my students to continue to be faithful in their practice even when their lives might be temporarily disrupted. It is a great time saver and I look forward to using it more and more in the future.
Read MoreNew Piece: Scatterbrained Scarecrow
I’m so excited to tell you about my new piece, just in time for your fall programs! It’s called Scatterbrained Scarecrow and it’s a Level 3 piece with lots of fun rhythms, staccatos, and hand crossings. The most difficult rhythms are only eighth note pairs! Here’s what Hal Leonard says about the piece:
This scarecrow ode is a little scatterbrained, with its frequent cross-overs and 4/4 and 3/4 meters! Kids will love the keyboard choreography and “crazy energy” of this new gem from Wendy Stevens.
You can see a sample of the music by clicking on the Closer Look from the Hal Leonard website.
As usual, I’m going to be doing a giveaway of the piece. Just leave a comment in this post by Sunday, August 7th (I made a mistake in the last email and am extended the date because of it). I’ll use a random number generator to choose a winner on Monday. I’d love to hear what kind of fall recitals you all do! You can receive extra entries by commenting about doing any of the following:
- Leave a comment. I’d love to hear about your fall recitals!
- Blog about the new piece linking to this post.
- Share the post by emailing a link to a piano teaching friend.
Hal Leonard Offer Expires July 31st
I just wanted to remind you that the 40% off Hal Leonard offer expires July 31st. Here’s the info from the VIP page:
Read MoreCheck out all the new music just in time for spring recitals. Order up to two copies of each of these specially selected publications at a 40% discount. Additional copies of all the titles featured in ths offer may be added to your order at regular retail price. Please enter ad code EP411 at check out when prompted so the 40% discount can be applied to your order.
SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE OFFER! Receive Scales, Patterns and Improvs – Book 2 book with 2 CDs (00296737, retail value $9.99) FREE when your order totals $80.00 or more. (Dollar amount reflects total discounted purchase price excluding shipping.) Please enter ad code EP411 at check out when prompted so the free gift can be added to your order.
New Release: Just for Kids
Mona Rejino has a new book out that looks like just plain fun for everyone! The book is Just for Kids and features elementary pieces about all kinds of favorite activities of children. I think this is going to be a big hit in my studio for spring recital pieces. There’s even a left-hand along piece called “Broken Arm Blues” for your students who have an injury this spring! Mona has graciously donated a copy of this book for a giveaway. So after you have read this post, you may enter the drawing by doing any or all of the following: 1. Commenting, 2. FB’ing or 3. Tweeting about this article, linking back to this page.
Here is an interview I had with Mona about Just For Kids:
1. What kinds of pieces are in Just for Kids?
Just for Kids contains topics that are relevant to children all over the world. Songs are built around many typical activities that kids participate in such as flying a kite, eating pepperoni pizza, taking a vacation, and dreaming of a visit from the tooth fairy.
2. What was your inspiration for writing this book?
Over the past few months I made it a point to ask my elementary-age students what their favorite activities and life experiences were. As you can imagine, I received a huge variety of answers! However, I also found that many kiddos shared the same ones, from their desire to be a rock star to dreading Monday mornings after a great weekend. Some things are universal!
3. Please talk about one of your favorite pieces in the book and why it is your favorite.
The first piece I wrote for this collection is called “I Wanna Be a Rock Star.” Over the summer I asked one of my five-year old students what she wanted to be when she grows up. With her big blue eyes sparkling and with no hesitation whatsoever, she replied that she wanted to be a rock star. Don’t we all! This piece basically fits a 12-bar blues progression, yet in a rock style. I love to improvise in this way with my students, so now we have a written out improvisation.
4. What ages of students do you think will enjoy playing pieces from this book?
The target age for this book is five to ten-year olds. No student would be too young, and I think any student younger than middle-school age would relate to these pieces.
5. Do you think students might be interested in performing any of these pieces for a spring recital?
I would hope so. Four of the eight pieces include teacher accompaniments which fill out and enhance the student parts. “Aquarium Dreams” is a short solo built entirely on the whole tone scale. It uses pedal throughout, and can easily be taught by rote. This selection was inspired when I saw children at the pediatrician’s office staring for long stretches of time at the beautiful fish swimming in the aquarium. They were completely immersed in observing these interesting creatures, and I wrote this song in the hopes that it would introduce students to a world of sound they may not have experienced before.
It seems like every spring one of my students breaks an arm, usually before the recital! I wrote “Broken Arms Woes” for left hand solo to give these students a musical voice even when they are not at their physical best!
6. Can you describe the level of this book in detail?
Just for Kids is elementary level. All of the pieces are in five-finger patterns, with an occasional chord, hand over hand arpeggio, and some pedal for color. There is some hands together playing, but on a very rudimentary level. I believe that any second year student would feel comfortable playing the pieces in this book.
7. What else would you like to share with us about Just for Kids?
Students of this age and level are among my favorites to teach. They are so eager to learn and experience new sounds on the keyboard! My hope is that many students will relate to these situations and connect with the music in a special way. Some of these stories will be their own, and they can express themselves through the music on a personal level.
Thank you Mona for taking the time to answer these questions. I’ve already ordered a copy for one of my students!
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