The Notable Travel Agency

With a trip around the world planned for this summer, we certainly can't do it without a tour guide...or two!  Meet Mr. Julio and Brent!

Mr. Julio is the more serious of the pair.  Brent is just learning the trade and...well...he's been known to "get a bit carried away" at times.  They both plan to guide the studio's campers through a fun trip around Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South and North America!  Let's hope Brent keeps himself in check!

Puppets are a very fun way to engage children.  They have a way of keeping kids' attention spans and are  visually appealing.  It's easy to be silly and keep everyone laughing.  I've decided to use them with my upcoming World Adventure camp this summer to start and end each day.  So the "Notable Travel Agency" has been born!  

I'd love to hear how you may have used puppets in your studio or class.

You've been 'stached!

I've been extremely busy and I plan to share more of that with you, but in the meantime I thought I'd share a fun game I put together!  We're using it at group lessons and it's good for loads of laughs!!  It all started when I discovered this item at a local store...

Mustache Duct Tape!!!  So cute!  I actually saw it a couple of months ago, started to put it my cart and TOLD myself to put it back until I figured out a way to use it.  Yes, I talk to myself...alot! 

Anyway, I finally came up with an idea so I trotted back to the store and bought two rolls along with a 20" x 30" while foam board.  From there, I completely covered the foam board with the duct tape.  I even lined up the mustaches...yes, I talk to myself and I'm a bit neurotic about order!  From there I added three sets of colored circles and some letters with the name of the game...."You've Been Stached!"

So Cute, right?  The duct tape in the background SO makes it!  There's a start and a finish using all three colors together and since I didn't label them, it allows us to go in either direction.

Here's how to play (or at least one way as I'm sure you can come up with loads of ways also!).  Determine what music concept you want to work on...or what three.  The sky's the limit.  Grab your own set of questions or flashcards!  For example, if you want to review rhythm with your students, review it 3 ways, such as clapping out a rhythm example, find a missing note value in a rhythm example or determine a time signature based on the notes shown. 

Each player must answer a question based on the color they are currently on.  So if you determine purple (or whatever color you use) to be clapping the rhythm, the player must clap it successfully in order to roll a die and move forward.  They remain in the purple area until they successfully complete answers and the die allows them to move into the orange area.  You'll notice that I set it up to go in each area twice.  The first one to hit the finish circles and successfully answer a question wins! 

Now here's a few tricks I added (the fun we teachers have!!)!  In a few of the circles around the board, I have added some mustaches.

If a player lands on one of these circles by the roll of the dice, they receive a card of the same color.  The cards say "You've been 'stached!, "You get to 'stache an opponent!", "You get to remove your 'stache", "Lose a turn", "Take an extra turn!", "Stache your teacher!".

Add a few 'staches on sticks and you're set to go!  Yes, they have to "wear" the musctaches throughout the game.  VERY funny!  Keep in mind that you can review ANY concept or concepts.  The board is super easy to make and you can make it as simple as possible.  My students LOVE these big game boards which is why I use foam boards often.  And, I can get a lot of kids playing on one board at once. 
If you would like to use the cards in your own studio or classroom, they are available on my website here.  Print pages 1-2 as many times as colors you choose.  If your choose 3 colors like I did, print pages 1-2 on each of the three colors.  You can use page 3 for the back of all the cards.  On page 4, I've added some mustaches you can cut out of cardstock and attach to dowel rods or straws.

I hope you find this as fun as we have!

Ear Training Blog

I recently found a great site that focuses on ear training and has many FREE printable games that would be excellent during lessons.  The site is Ear Training and Improv for Confident and Creative Kids.

There are some really fun and creative ideas!  I'm really looking forward to spending more time looking at this site.  You should check it out!

World Adventure!

Here's a look at what I've been working on for the past couple of months...

Camps are coming up in a few months and there's lots of activity going on to get ready!

I've put together a camp that celebrates music around the world.  We'll be traveling to 6 continents and visiting countries within those continents.  We'll be learning music but also learning about inventions and games that are common to those countries (all with a music twist, of course!). 

Stayed tuned for more info...

In the meantime, if you are considering a camp this summer, be sure to check out RoadTrip USA! and Meet the Composers!  Both are available in my online store - just click the tab at the top of this page!  I'm also working on putting together my Discovery Camp which will be available for purchase soon!

Sorry for the Delay!

For those of you who have sent me requests for information and files, please be patient.  My brand new computer (only 8 months old) apparently had a bad hard drive and it quit on me over 2 weeks ago!  Yep...completely dead!  After a repair and recovery, I'm working on getting everything reloaded and all my files off my external hard drive.  I'm hoping I am able to retrieve all or most of what I had! 

As soon as I am back to "normal", I will begin answering all your questions and sending out files you requested (assuming I still have them!). 

ALSO!  I've been working on a new camp for this year and an update of a camp I did a few years back! Be sure to watch for some upcoming ideas and possibly some new camps for sale! 

An Irish Group Lesson

I realize we are now passed St. Patricks Day, but I thought I would share a bit about what I did at my group lessons last week.  In the spirit of the holiday and as a link to this year's studio incentive, I wanted to have a bit of a "green" lesson with the focus on rhythm.  Most of my students are close to or just beyond the rhythm challenge so I wanted it to be the focus. 

To begin the day, we started with a rhythm game that focused on everyone's first name.  It amazes me how kids can spend so much time together over years and still forget each other's names!  So I wanted to work on that as well!  I didn't get a picture of this because I had to lead the activity, but hopefully I can describe it well enough...

To begin, we all stood together in a circle.  I had two group lessons this week; the largest group was 15 students and this game worked for both groups.  I started out tapping a steady rhythm on my thighs and asked them to join in.  We quickly had a nice steady beat going.  Then I started saying each student's first name in beat, pointing to them as I went along.  Once they got the hang of it, I stopped saying their name and just pointed to them, expecting them to say their name instead.  Once they could do this well, the fun really began!  I would randomly point to someone and their challenge was to say their name without missing a beat and within the steady rhythm.  I got really silly with them and pointed back and forth sometimes going between two students several times or even repeating a student over and over.  If they missed it or lost the rhythm, they were out of the game and had to sit.  The last one standing won the game.  My students LOVED this and we actually played it again at the end of the group lesson!

After that I showed them three YouTube Videos:

The "Irish Washerwoman"

"Amazing Grace" by the Celtic Woman

A performance by Riverdance

 

We talked about various styles of Irish music and these videos showed them a variety.  We also talked about the rhythm of each video and how the performers had to work together to keep a steady beat.  They enjoyed watching all three of them as they were just short/long enough to keep their attention.

 

From there, we worked specifically on note values.  I divided each group into students of the same level so I had three groups.  I then showed each group rhythm cards where they had to add or subtract the note values to come up with the total beats.  The challenge?  They had to be the first to shout out the correct beat in order to win a gold coin.  The cards were easier or harder depending upon the students level.   They really enjoyed this and worked hard to be the first one to shout out the answer.  I must say it got a bit loud, but they had fun!  There was a lot of laughter and excitement!  I didn't make anything extra for this game, just used cards I already had in the studio.

 

The other game we played involved this fellow!

Not Chopin, but the cute little guy in the front!  We played Irish Hot Potato!  I went to the piano and played the "Irish Washerwoman" and just like the first video we watched, the tempo gradually increased.  Their job was to pass the hot potato in rhythm and try not to be the last one holding it when the music stopped!  Again, another fun game they loved.

We also had a quick photo shoot...

These glasses are always a hit and as you can see, I have a quite a few "hams" in my studio!  After the photo shoot they enjoyed some holiday inspired cupcakes I made before going home.  All of that easily took 90 minutes. 

 

It's amazing how fast the time goes when you're having this much fun!



Curvy Chords!

I realized as I was working with many of my students on chords and chord inversions that I didn't have a really good, fun way to review them.  I have loads of games and activities devoted to note identification, rhythm, terminology, etc., but nothing that I felt worked well to review chords, so...I put on the 'ole thinking cap and came up with...

CURVY CHORDS!

This is actually a very simple game, but hopefully makes a big impact on my students! Using a green foam board, I cut out 1"x 2" rectangles in 3 different colors. Altering them, I adhered them in a curvy motion around the boards, hence the really "original" name! Then I added die cut letters to make up the title of the game and the words, "start" and "finish". As a bit of excitement during the game, I randomly added an eighth note to a few of the rectangles. I cut these out with a fun punch that one of my students gave to me. After that was all done, I simply applied contact to the board! Easy, peasy!!

Then, I put together three sets of cards.

 Again, three different colors to match the colors of the rectangles I put on the board.  Here's how the game works...students move around the board with the roll of a die.  The color their game piece lands on determines the color of the card they pick.  The cards ask them to do one of three things...Play It! They are asked to play a specific chord on the piano.  Name It!  They are given three letters of the musical alphabet and asked to put them together in root position in order to name the chord.  And Invert It!  They need to play or name a chord in first or second inversion.

If they can correctly answer/play what is asked of them on the card, they can leave their game piece on the new rectangle.  If they can't, they must return their game piece to their previous position.  Obviously, the first to reach the finish wins! 

To add a bit of excitement to the game, each color also includes three specialty cards that say, "Your a Chord Master!  Take an extra turn!", "You've curved off track! Lose a turn!", or "Invert your game piece!  Switch places with another player.".  As far as the little eighth notes on the rectangles, I use those as bonus spots.  If a player lands on a rectangle with an eighth note and can correctly answer the card, they get a bonus and can move ahead 3 extra rectangles!  In addition to the game board you will need to make, and cards you can download here, you will need game tokens (like those cute smiley face erasers?), and a die.  And of course, you will need students who are eager to work on their chords!

 

I hope you enjoy using the game in your own studio! 



 

Working on Steady Beat

Sometimes the simplest idea is the most effective and I certainly discovered that today, thanks to one of my students!  We were working through her lesson and she was having a bit of trouble with her steady beat.  It's something we work on a lot, but today it just wasn't there.  So I told her that we needed to stop and work on it together.  As I was thinking about what to try with her, I must have said something like, "Let's see, what should I use...".  She quickly caught on to that and said, "I know what we can do!".  She grabbed a set of dice, I grabbed the metronome and here's what we worked out together...


She rolled the dice and that became the number of measures we beat out.  I selected the metronome setting and away we went.  At first she had trouble staying with the metronome (she's only part way through her primer book and I hadn't introduced the metronome yet), but slowing she caught on and after the 4th roll, she was beating those rhythms perfectly!  Then I changed metronome setting and magically, she stayed with the beat!  When we stopped this activity and went back to the piano, all was well again!  That steady beat was right on!

This turned out so well that I think it would also be a really great way to introduce the metronome with my students!  Out of the mouth of babes, right?...

Double Star Week!

The incentive program I am using this year, A Star is Born! has been very successful with my students. 

They get very excited to see their progress around their own game board as well as the large studio game board where they can see how their progress matches up to everyone else!  And as is typical, there are students who haven't missed a week of practicing and "lead the pack" and there are students, who come close, but don't always meet their practice requirements.  This week as a way to encourage everyone and to show a little LOVE this Valentines Day (or week!), I implemented "Double Star Week". 

If a student meets their normal weekly required practice time, they receive two stars instead of one!  You would think I'm telling them they've won the lottery!!  Last week when I told them about Double Star Week and reminded them to work hard this week, they really lit up and got excited.  So far this week, every student has earned both stars!  And, I'm seeing the results in their playing!  I really love that part!  It's February and for us here in Connecticut, it's about 3/4 of the way through our winter and given the Blizzard we just had, even the smallest of "treats" gets us excited. 

Jen Fink blogged about some similar ideas on her blog, Pianimation.  You can read about it here.  Is there something small you can implement in your studio that will energize your students?  I would love to hear your ideas!

Do You Have A Studio Inventory?

The other day I was at the music store and purchased a piece of music only to find out when I returned to my studio that I already had a copy!  Ever happen to you?  Or do you realize that you had the perfect game or activity to help a student learn a concept, but didn't remember it until after your lesson planning and the student's lesson?  As music teachers, we accumulate a LOT of stuff - really great stuff, some of which we have worked hard to put together, but then we have the challenge to remember it all and remember where we put it!

I'm definitely an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of girl and since I don't like a lot of clutter out in the open, I forget what I have!  Besides wanting to be able to recall all the resources I have, I also recognized that as a business owner, I need to have a clear value of what my business is worth.  We all have loads of music, games, instruments, etc. and it adds up quicker than you think!  Filing our taxes is now upon us and some of the information we need can take lots of time to put together. Having an inventory, especially one with monetary value included can be a HUGE help.

Well...I decided to "get my act together" and about a month ago started to put together a studio inventory.  Simply, I made a spreadsheet to record every piece of music, resource book, game, instrument, camp supply, piece of office equipment, etc. that I had.  It was also a great exercise in purging!  I'm about 3/4 of the way through everything and can say that it's been very eye-opening - not only to the amount of stuff that I have, but to the amount of monetary value I am storing.  (Incidently, this is also great information to put together for insurance purposes.)

To give you an idea as to what I did, the spreadsheet I put together has a tab for sheet music, resource material, instruments and accessories, office equipment, athletic equipment (for camps & group lessons), and audio equipment.  To give you an example of some of the information I wanted to include, under the music tab I included:  Title, Level, Composer/Arranger, Publisher, Style (such as method book, jazz, pop, technique, etc.), number of copies I have, instrument piece is intended for (while most of what I have is for piano, I also teach guitar and ukulele and have music for several other instruments), and the purchase price. 

As you may know, when you set up a spreadsheet, there are numerous ways to sort the information which alone makes putting together an inventory extremely valuable.  Once it's all done, my job will be so much easier when doing planning.  I'm also working on a way to have the information readily available on my iphone as well so that when I visit the music store next time, I can make sure I'm not re-purchasing something I already have! 

Do any of you have an inventory?  I would love for you to share your ideas of ways that you keep track of what you have and suggestions that may have worked for you.