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
2010 Christmas Cover Art Contest
Thank you to all you students who submitted artwork for the 2010 Christmas Cover Art Contest. This year we chose to have an animal theme, so each picture was to incorporate animals into a Christmas idea. Since there was only 1 entry in the older division, the student who entered and I decided that we would just roll all of the entries together this year. Students, please vote on your 2 favorite entries. Send me an email with your name and your 2 votes. Please vote by Tuesday, December 7th. Congratulations to you all on your wonderful...
read moreDeadline Extended: Help your students recognize a great opportunity
The questions for Mona are trickling in and someone told me that I might not have allowed enough time to tell teachers, who would tell their students, who needed to think about questions, and then needed to submit them! So, I am extending the deadline for submitting questions to Mona to this Friday, October 1st. Another thing that occurred to me as I spoke with my own students about submitting questions was that students often do not realize a great opportunity when they see it. Just as children don’t understand how scales, chords,...
read moreMona Rejino’s Life Outside Music
Too often, when we only know someone in one context, they get stuck in our minds existing only in that specific context. Sometimes we see a teacher as someone always teaching, not someone who enjoys competitive cycling. Sometimes we see a pastor as someone dressed up always helping people, not someone who works out at the local Y. Since this frequently happens with me, I thought it might be good to ask our featured composer, Mona Rejino what she likes to do outside of teaching and composing music. (Don’t forget about the opportunity...
read moreWho is Mona Rejino? Things you may not know…
I hope you and your students are thinking of some questions to ask Mona for our composer interview! Please submit these in the comments section of this Composer Interview post. Here is a brief preliminary interview with Mona which discusses interesting things you may not know. What are some things about yourself that teachers and students may not know? I have been a lifelong pianist, and that is literally a true statement. Around age four I began to try to pick out tunes by ear on my grandmother’s piano. They were simple nursery rhyme...
read moreCartoon Character Contest: People’s Choice Award
Thank you all for voting in our Cartoon Character Contest! Each of the students received at least 1 vote, so I know that they will enjoy reading what you have written about their creativity. For this picture, the “People’s Choice Award” was: Sarah (Entry #4) Here is her motive for this picture: Entry 4 A close second was Nicole Entry 3. s s For this picture, the “People’s Choice Award” was: Josh (Entry 7) Here is his motive for this picture: Entry 7 Talon Some of my students are still on...
read moreCartoon Motive Contest: We Need Your Vote!
Teachers, I need your help in the Cartoon Motive Contest which I will be explaining in detail tomorrow. I will be awarding a “People’s Choice Award” to the student who receives the most votes in this Cartoon Motive Contest and I need you to be my “people” to find the best motive! Please vote on your favorite motive for the winning pictures by leaving a comment below. Remember, vote on the melodic motive that you believe best represents the character. Choose one motive for Cartoon Character #1 and one...
read moreCartoon Motive Contest: Winners
For all of my students, I am posting the winning cartoon characters that you chose today at your group lesson. Congratulations to Sarah and Michael for winning the art contest. I am so excited about posting the rest of the fabulous artwork at a later date! Please read the character description to help you compose your music motive. To my teaching friends…this is a new composing project I am doing with my students. I will write more details as the project progresses. Stay tuned! Character description: “My character is a...
read moreGetting Your Kids to Practice
Marci Pittman, an Independent Music Teacher from California, recently informed the teachers on the Yahoo Piano Teacher forum about a great article called “Getting Your Kids to Practice.” This article contains some wonderful tips for parents to use in assisting their students with home piano practice. Here are just a few practical suggestions from this article: Tie the length of practice to a goal rather than a clock. [Things like: "I will get the first 2 lines of music with perfect notes, rhythm, dynamics and with no...
read morePiano Explorer Winners
The Piano Explorer has announced its annual Composition Contest winners. Two of my students were featured in the following way: Bethany–her artwork is displayed on the front cover of the magazine! Jana–received an Honorable Mention in the Younger Division of composition winners. Congratulations to all my students, Paul, Nicole, Sarah, Bethany, Michael, and Jana who submitted excellent compositions this year! I can honestly say that each student improved their composing skills dramatically this year and came up with great...
read moreRhythm Worksheets
The files that most often get downloaded off of this site are the Rhythm Worksheets. So, I thought I would highlight these for those of you who have not seen them yet. Rhythm worksheets and other helpful PDFs for teachers are under the Wendy’s Piano Studio tab under the submenu: Teaching Resources. There are 2 sections with rhythm worksheets: 1. Music Progressions Rhythms This section features a set of 10 levels of rhythms that correspond with the Kansas Music Teachers Association (and the Washington MTA) curriculum called Music...
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