I can definitely say that I am tired of online lessons.
I will never forget teaching my first online COVID lesson. Mainly because I cried afterwards. Now I can look back and laugh, but man that first lesson was rough. And honestly, some of them haven’t gotten much better!
No matter how many times I teach online, there’s always something bizarre that happens – was that an extra rest you just added to that piece? Or was it the sound delay on Zoom? Why is your cat sitting on your lap during this lesson? Did you just pull a cheese stick out of your pocket and start eating it while I’m explaining this concept?
Even though we’re doing our best to be kind and accommodating, we all feel like we’re one bad day away from just lying on the floor and bawling. This is the reason Wendy decided to write Short Sheets®. Even if I wasn’t a part of the ComposeCreate® team, I would tell you that these are a lifesaver – and not just for those of us tired of online lessons!
What are Short Sheets®?
Short Sheets® are Wendy’s answer to the “Zoom weariness” we’re all feeling with online lessons. Standard length pieces are just too much material, especially for beginning students, and it’s difficult to teach fingerings and technique over a screen.
Short Sheets® are sets of three, one-page solos that are pedagogically sound. This means you can focus on and develop the musicality and concepts your students need to be learning, but in a concise and efficient manner that allows them to actually finish a piece.
These are so helpful for those of us who are tired of online lessons because they lighten our load and can make online teaching easier.
What Students Can Benefit from Using Short Sheets®?
While these are ideal for online lessons, Short Sheets® have been a solution for a lot of other pain points I’ve experienced in my studio. I have a few examples below:
- One of my beginner students also has some learning disabilities, and being able to focus on just one page has been wonderful. Because these sound “cool”, he feels he’s progressing at the same rate as his older siblings, and they give him the confidence he needs to keep striving in lessons.
- I received a transfer student who couldn’t identify any of the notes on the staff, or some of the note names on the keyboard. He was embarrassed by his lack of knowledge, so we tried the Fun Foods Short Sheets®. They made him feel comfortable playing, gave him something fun to show his parents and siblings the first week of lessons, and gave him a confidence boost.
- One of my students is a major Type A, overachiever, who loves “passing pieces”. Short Sheets® allow him to do so in the midst of his lengthier pieces.
These also make wonderful pieces for over-scheduled students who don’t have time to practice. They’re also great for reviewing or teaching concepts that students didn’t quite grasp in methods books!
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Bundle: Elementary Short Sheets® 2Original price was: $74.95.$66.99Current price is: $66.99.
New Short Sheets® Perfect for Online Lessons!
We’re not the only ones who are tired of online lessons – our students dislike them just as much as we do! That’s why I’m SO excited for the new Short Sheets® sets that Wendy just released. I think there’s something each of my students will enjoy in these sets – including my adult students!
The Whither the Weather Short Sheets® set is one I’ll be using for my teen and adult students. They’re C position elementary pieces, but sound mature. They’re also wonderful pieces for teaching phrasing, which is how I’ll be using them for a few students who have been struggling with the concept since going online.
Pick Your Favorites is going to be a huge hit in my studio with a couple of my younger students. Kids love telling us about their favorite things, and when we take a genuine interest in what they find important, it builds so much trust and relationship. My favorite piece from the set is Octave Options, because I know my students will find it hilarious that they get to choose how to play the ending!
Birds and Bugs is another Short Sheets® elementary level set, and I already have it in my rotation for spring and summer songs. They’ll make wonderful pieces for reinforcing or teaching concepts like accidentals and articulation. Because there are no eighth notes, students can focus on some of those concepts without feeling “bogged down” by worrying about the rhythm at the same time!
Space Adventures is one I’ll be using right away with the recent landing of the NASA Rover on Mars! Many of my students learn about space and the planets in first or second grade, so these elementary level pieces are perfect for students in those grades.
Dinosaur Days is a late elementary Short Sheets® set that has really fun and interesting motives. One of my students has been dying to learn songs with triplets since his older sister learned, and Smooth Move Dino is going to be such a fun way to reinforce the rhythm!
What are the Benefits of Using Short Sheets®?
Short Sheets® provide relief and help for those that are tired of online lessons, but they can be used beyond the pandemic to keep lessons motivating.
- Sight-Reading: Because the pieces are short, they make great sight reading tests (especially for those prepping for theory exams or festivals). The length is also a benefit if you have a student who hates written theory tests. Using 2 or 3 pieces to review written and aural theory, rhythm, etc., is a great way to “test” students in a new way.
- Interview: I also plan to use these in my studio for student interviews. The short length means I can have potential students play through a few of them to get a better idea of where they’re at musically.
- Better Readers: Our students become better readers as they’re exposed to more music. Short Sheets® are a great way to expose our students not only to more music, but different styles of music. This can also be a way to “hook” a student who isn’t really interested in lessons. With fun songs about dinosaurs, bugs, Monster trucks, freezing weather, and more, kids can get really into the theme of the piece!
- Incentives: They’re fantastic for incentives, challenges, and other studio ideas that function outside of a method or repertoire book. The Studio License means you can use them over and over again for your students, making them a great choice for yearly challenges.
New Short Sheets® Leveling Guide!
It’s not my best teaching moment, but I admit I have stuck with the method book longer than I should have in this season of online teaching. Why? Because the ease of knowing exactly what to do next is enough of a benefit to warrant continuing in the book.
But our new Short Sheets® Leveling Guide is designed to make choosing pieces for your students a breeze – and you don’t have to feel so tied to the method books when you have this guide.
The guide is listed in order of difficulty, so you just keeping going down the list as your students learn pieces. Not only does it tell you the name of the piece and provide a URL for the piece (so you can purchase pieces as you go instead of all at once), it lists the concepts that are covered. You can know before ever opening the PDF the highest difficulty of note values, rests, hand position, and more, so it’s easy to know which concepts you’ll be covering with your students. It definitely helps with the tiredness of online lessons to know I have a go-to guide!
You can get the Short Sheets® Leveling Guide here free and I have already started implementing it in my own lesson planning!
New Music Minis™!
Music Minis™ are something brand new Wendy has created, and they add another layer of fun and value to the Short Sheets®! Music Minis™ give you the main motives from each Short Sheets® piece. It’s just a simple measure or two on a separate piece of paper, enlarged so that it’s easy for online students to see when held up to the computer.
Wendy has a great game for students with these minis that are simple and effective:
Ask students to see how many facts they can name about the Music Minis™ card in one minute (ex: the left hand plays a G, the first note is E, etc.).
We’ll be doing a post in the near future about even more games and activities you can do with these, so stay tuned for some fun new ideas!
Motivating and Exciting My Students
The Short Sheets® sets have been such a great way to motivate and excite my students, and they’ve been a gift during this time of teaching online lessons. Online lessons are still frustrating, of course, simply because they’re not the way I ever planned on teaching. But having music that I know is pedagogically sound, engages my students, and is short enough for them to “pass” a piece even when they’re online feels like a really big win. Especially on weeks when I’m reminded we’ll be doing things this way for awhile still.
Have you used Short Sheets® in your studio? I would love to hear the ways you use them, and what ideas you have regarding the Music Minis™ as well! Leave a comment below!
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~ Amanda Slyter
HOW to send a link to my students from this site so they can use the Short Sheets® in our “challenge” program would be SO helpful. Do I have to print each piece out separately for EACH student? Time consuming! You must have a way of sharing with students other than teacher doing all the printing work?????
Once you have purchased a piece, our license permits you to email the PDF to any student to whom you are directly teaching the piece. So they can print it themselves.
You also could certainly have them purchase the Short Sheets® themselves. They don’t get the advantage of it being a “studio license” as they can’t share it with you or anyone else, but they can certainly purchase it themselves.
Hope that helps!