Hello Students! Be sure to look under the calendar for blog posts related to your lessons. Here is our current calendar of events:
August 1
Summer schedule resumes
August 8
No Lessons
August 15
Fall kick-off group lesson
August 22
Fall schedule begins
September 5
Labor Day, No lessons
2011 Christmas Cover Art Contest
This year, I am asking the residents of one of our local retirement villages to be the judges in our Christmas Cover Art Contest. I made this display for them and asked them to choose their favorite from both the elementary and the older student selections. I’m always amazed at my students creativity and drawing abilities. Drawing is a skill that I never got as a child and still wish I could develop. Our theme for our recital this year is “My Favorite Things.” I asked each student to draw something inside the given...
read moreHoliday Sight Reading Challenge
On the goal setting form I had students fill out in August, many of my students expressed that they wanted to be better sight readers. In the past few months, my students have participated in a Sight Reading Challenge in which every day they practiced I said I would give a certain amount of money to a local charity. I am going to write more about this at another time of year. But, my students were so excited about that challenge that I wanted to do another one from now until Christmas. Well, I suppose I have to show you the chart on which...
read moreCandy Corn Polyphony
This week, we had our fall group lessons and I had a fun time tweaking our games to go with a fall theme. I had a particularly good time figuring out what to do with my older kids who were studying monophonic, polyphonic, and homophonic music. We also had to do a segment of ear training on 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, and multi-metric meters. A fall theme for these subjects? Yes indeed! Here’s what we did: Monophonic, Polyphonic, and Homophonic With my Level 9 students, I wanted to think of a way to teach these concepts while connecting it to...
read moreJuly Challenge: Lead Sheets Week 4
This post is for all my piano students. Here are this week’s lead sheets for the July Challenge: Michael: Week 4 – Lead Sheets Elementary Chloe, Bethany, Jana: Week 4 – Lead Sheets Intermediate Sarah and Nicole: Go to this website and look at all of the free, downloadable lead sheets for praise songs. Download one that you know or would like to learn and practice this using the skills you learned at Music Menagerie...
read moreJuly Challenge: Lead Sheets Week 3
This post is for all my piano students. Here are this week’s lead sheets for the July Challenge: Michael: Week 3 – Lead Sheets Elementary Chloe, Bethany, Jana: Week 3 – Lead Sheets Intermediate Sarah and Nicole: Go to this website and look at all of the free, downloadable lead sheets for praise songs. Download one that you know or would like to learn and practice this using the skills you learned at Music Menagerie...
read moreJuly Challenge: Lead Sheets Week 2
This post is for all my piano students. Here are this week’s lead sheets for the July Challenge: Michael: Week 2 – Lead Sheets Elementary Chloe, Bethany, Jana: Week 2 – Lead Sheets Intermediate Sarah and Nicole: Go to this website and look at all of the free, downloadable lead sheets for praise songs. Download one that you know or would like to learn and practice this using the skills you learned at Music Menagerie...
read moreJuly Challenge: Lead Sheets Week 1
This post is for all my piano students. As you know, I am taking the month of July off of teaching, so I am challenging each of you students to learn new lead sheets each week in addition to at least 2 new pieces from your books. Here are this week’s lead sheets: Michael: Week 1 – Lead Sheets Elementary Chloe, Bethany, Jana: Week 1 – Lead Sheets for Early Intermediate Sarah and Nicole: Go to this website and look at all of the free, downloadable lead sheets for praise songs. Download one that you know or would like to...
read morePiano Camp 2011 Video
Have you been wondering what we did at our Music Menagerie Piano Camp this year? Well, wonder no more… Wanna come next year?
read more2011 Spring Recital
Well, today was our 2011 spring recital! The students did a wonderful job and it was fun seeing and hearing them play so musically. What a difference one year can make in a students’ playing! I thought you might enjoy a picture of some of the students and a picture of our wonderful punch! The punch can be made by combining room temperature Sprite with Raspberry sherbet. The proportion is flexible, but I’d start with 1-2 two liters of Sprite mixed with 1/2 gallon of sherbet. It makes a beautiful froth and is delicious!...
read moreCreativity at Christmas Time: Jingle Bell Variations
Since the topic this week is encouraging creativity in our students at Christmas time, I thought I’d re-post the “Theme and Variations” challenge that we completed in my studio last year. It was great fun and there is still time to do a small version of this project in your studio for Christmas. Here is the post from last year: If you have heard the Composition for Kids lecture, you have heard about the Theme and Variations challenge that I have suggested to “encourage creativity.” This last month, I...
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