One of the first harmonizing activities I like to do with all levels of students to compose interesting harmony is to harmonize and re-harmonize a familiar folk tune. I particularly like to do this with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as […]
Creating Interesting Harmony: RE-harmonizing Read More »
There’s now a pretty extensive index of how to work on composing melodies with your students. Check out the Index of Composition Corner Articles for lots of ideas! Several of you have asked about how to proceed with harmony, so
Harmonizing Compositions Read More »
Recently, I published an Index of Dollars and Sense posts so that you can quickly find the areas that interest you. I’m getting more and more questions about teaching composition, so I thought it might be helpful to also post
Index of Composition Corner Posts Read More »
I wanted to revive the Composition Corner Q & A segment since I’m getting all kinds of questions via email and Facebook, especially about composing difficult rhythms for students who can create them but not read them. Recently, Becky asked
Students Who Compose but Can’t Read Difficult Rhythms Read More »
You’ve probably already seen me announce this on my Facebook page, or perhaps have seen it announced by all the many wonderful piano teaching bloggers out there, but Finale Notepad 2012 is now free! Download it here. Here’s what Finale
Finale Notepad 2012 is Now Free! Read More »
Over the years, I’ve had my students critique each other a number of times. Mostly its been for their performances of pieces in our group Performance Classes. We’ve used a variety of materials to do this from the Performance Class
Thanks to a teaching friend* on Google+, I was alerted to a short article by Stephen Hough called Can You Be a Musician and Not Write Music? which talked about how the 19th century public would have viewed musicians who performed,
20th C Scandal: Performing but Not Composing? Read More »
Okay, my fellow teachers, musicians, and friends, we need your help! Would you be willing to judge my student’s lyrics for our lyric writing contest this year? Here are the details: Our Christmas recital theme is “My Favorite Things” and
Judge these Lyrics Please? Read More »
Do you ever wonder why there isn’t more excitement about what you think are fun projects in your studio? Shouldn’t art projects, composing their own music, sight-reading challenges, etc. be thrilling for students? I’m reading a book called Using Technology
The End-of-Project Sharing Element Read More »
This year, I’ve decided to make “Creativity at Christmas” my theme for this year’s Christmas recital. I have a whole list of creative projects that students will be encouraged to participate in and many of these will be shared at
A Fun Christmas Jingle Bells Project Read More »
Ignite the Spark!
August kick-off webinar
Join hundreds of teachers at this energizing webinar where we unveil new Fuzzies, Color, Beautiful Wonders, Adventure, & video game music! Plus stickers, new catalog, organization & teaching ideas!
