Idea Share #11 was one of our best yet! Our “Holly Jolly Music for All Ages” webinar was filled with fantastic music, fabulous ideas, and so much creativity from ComposeCreate® teachers all over the world who shared amazing ideas!
If you missed the webinar, we introduced some truly beautiful and joyful new pieces, including:
- A new duet arrangement of Pat-A-Pan from Jason Sifford
- An arrangement of He Is Born for piano, C instrument, and drum from Diane Hidy
- I Saw Three Ships
- Snowdrops, a beautiful and melancholy wintery piece.
- An O Come, O Come Emmanuel arrangement written for early elementary students. Part of the “Beautiful Places” series!
- O Come All Ye Faithful – this was Wendy’s least favorite Christmas carol until she wrote this arrangement!
- An elementary-level, very mature-sounding The First Noel arrangement.
- A Christmas Little Fuzzies adventure that will have students laughing!
- The last piece in the All Is Calm Collection – a beautiful, heartfelt arrangement of Silent Night.
We are so thankful for each of you in our ComposeCreate® community that came to the event and your willingness to share!
An Unruly Crescendo and How to Prevent One
During the webinar, Wendy talked about something Diane Hidy recently said to her – “I wish parents understood that from August through December, our lives are a big crescendo”. Watch below to see how Wendy keeps that crescendo from getting unruly, and how we can use it in our own lives and when preparing for Christmas as teachers. The concept led us to this webinar’s Idea Share question, and some amazing answers!
Here was the question for this Idea Share and some of my favorite responses:
1. How can we make Holiday Recitals easier?
- Lisa: Open House at my church and parents bring a tray of goodies. There’s no program to print since the kids walk to the piano when they are ready. They simply take turns and people eat and drink in a casual atmosphere. I do this every other year.
- Anamarie: I have taken the pressure off my kids. We do carols and crafts. No parents because it’s top secret while we make gifts.
- Deanna: My holiday recital isn’t an in-person recital, its a video compilation. I have my students decorate their piano and wear holiday sweaters/Santa hats, etc. Then I record each student at their lesson and edit all the videos together with an intro and ending and send the video out to all the parents who can share it with all their friends and families.
There are many more ideas in the PDF download!
ComposeCreate® recital template packages are another great way to save time during a recital! These templates have everything you need – from invitations to compliment cards, programs, and even posters!
Thank you to everyone who attended the webinar and watched the replay! And a special thank you to those who submitted ideas. We’re so grateful to be in a community of teachers who are so willing to share successes and failures so we can all thrive. These Idea Shares are downloaded by hundreds of other ComposeCreate® teachers, and it allows us to all learn from one another! Let us know in the comments if you have any other ideas to add!
What’s a Piano Teaching Idea Share?
If this is your first time reading about our Idea Share, here’s a quick overview:
During the webinar, we ask teachers to answer a question that we think would benefit all piano teachers. After receiving answers from both webinar sessions, we compile them all into a free downloadable PDF so that you have access to ideas from the entire ComposeCreate® piano teaching community!
Idea Shares 1-10can be found here:
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #1- Encouraging books, creative ideas, injecting energy, online games
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #2 – How teachers are lightening their load
- Rhythm Idea Share #3 – Teaching rhythm
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #4 – Gadgets and gizmos, lifesaving ideas, marketing ideas
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #5 – Taking care of yourself and Energizing Ideas
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #6 – What are you excited about and Best Marketing Tips
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #7 – Student holiday gift suggestions and Making the holidays less stressful
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #8 – What new things are you doing and Adding a Composer of the Month to your studio
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #9 – How does surprise enhance students’ learning?
- Piano Teaching Idea Share #10 – How would you introduce this piece to students?
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