An Excellent Article on Sequential Warm-Ups

It's a busy day for me here between juggling lessons and then Ash Wednesday service at church, but I wanted to share an excellent article I read yesterday regarding piano warm-ups.

I have to admit that I probably don't put enough emphasis on this as a teacher. While I typically have my students start with scales in lessons and when they practice at home and then move on to technique (either from Piano Adventure or some other type of technical warm-up), I probably don't spend enough time emphasizing why this is so important.

I've been trying to improve in this regard, and that's why I so appreciated a recent blog post from Jason over at The Piano Pedagogy Page. He discusses the importance of sequential warm-ups as part of the student's weekly lesson. I totally agree with him! I'm going to see if I can make this type of approach to warm-ups more a part of my weekly lessons, while helping my students understand just why it's so important.

Has anyone else had success with taking time for sequential warm-up at the start of each lesson? I'd love to hear your thoughts and any tips you may have to help students understand the importance of thorough warm-ups!

Let's Think Spring with a Pentascale Worksheet!

For group lessons this month, I'm really going to be drilling key signatures, the circle of fifths, and...pentascales! This is one of my favorite concepts to drill with my young students. Teaching them the simple pattern (Start-W-W-H-W) we discover new pentascales together and experiment with transposition. I'm always amazed at how quickly they pick it up and how well it sticks- usually! :)

But for those who need a bit more practice, and as a good review, I've designed this worksheet that drills a few simple pentascales, as well as tonic and dominant (a concept that always seems to be a little harder for my students to grasp!). If you don't teach pentascales outside of the Piano Adventures series, your students should be ready for this sheet by the time they're in Level 2A and begin learning D, A, Cm, and Gm. If you teach pentascales earlier, then this worksheet can be used anytime. it's available for download on my printables page.

Let me know if you have feedback or suggestions!

Ash Wednesday, Lent, and the Church Pianist

Other than Christmas, I consider the upcoming season of Lent the most stressful season for church musicians. While I absolutely love this contemplative season of the church year, the extra responsibilities it places on me as a musician often find me contemplating all the extra music I have to prepare rather than the spirit of the Lenten season!

I spent a good portion of this morning pulling out books and reviewing and selecting music for this week's Ash Wednesday service. As often happens during one of these sessions, I'll pull out a book that's been sitting on the shelf for a bit and re-discover what a treasure it is! I LOVE it when that happens! :)

Here are a few of those 'treasures' I found this morning with highlights on my favorite selections:

"The Cross and the Crown" arranged by Anna Laura Page
I'm still not quite sure exactly when and where I stumbled upon this book, but I absolutely love the selections. The stylistic variety is excellent (there's nothing I hate more than to find a book that contains arrangements that all sound alike!) and the hymns are so tastefully arranged that this book really is a must-have for church musicians! My favorites include: "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" (pure fun to play!), "My Jesus, I Love Thee", and "What Wondrous Love Is This" (a hauntingly beautiful arrangement). It's hard to pick just a few because I love each and every arrangement in this book- a rarity for me.

"What Can I Play on Sunday? Book 2: March & April Services arranged by Cindy Berry
I've asked myself that very question many times, and this particular series of books have been lifesavers for me on numerous occasions! The arrangements are usually well-done and are very accessible- especially appreciated when I find myself in a last minute pinch! While I'm not crazy about every selection, there are several tasteful arrangements that I plan to use for upcoming services, including, "Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us", "Just As I Am", "All Glory, Laud, and Honor", and "Were You There?"

"A Month of Sundays: Easter and Lent" arranged by Jan Sanborn
Last but not least, another treasure that I haven't even fully explored yet! I've only had time to play through about half of this book, but I'm liking what I've heard so far. While some of the harmonies are a bit less traditional, I'm excited to find more contemporary arrangements to use in upcoming services, including "What Wondrous Love is This?", "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna", and "Beneath the Cross of Jesus".

I'm sure that there are other books out there that are staples for church musicians during the Lenten season, and I'd love to hear what some of yours are! Please feel free to share your favorites- I'm always looking to add to my collection :)

Structuring Lessons: Leaning to be Flexible

You casually glance at the clock, only to realize that there are a mere FIVE minutes remaining before the lesson time is up. A quick glance at the lesson plan and what's been accomplished thus far leaves you wondering just where the time went and how you can bring things to a close in such a short period of time...

How many of us teachers have found ourselves in that type of scenario? I know I have! I'd like to take a few moments this afternoon to think together about the question of lesson structure and how we as teachers can make sure we stay on schedule while getting the most out of the limited lesson time we have with each student.

The most important thing to remember when preparing a lesson plan is flexibility! I don't know how many times I've meticulously planned a lesson only to see it go off completely differently. I used to feel frustrated when that happened, but over time I've gotten to the point where I'm ok with it. We can never predict how a student will react. Students aren't machines, and no matter how hard we try to cater to individual personalities there will always be surprises.

It's also important to remember that outside influences we can't see and have no control over will impact a students' level of preparation for the lesson and their attitude during the lesson.

With these factors, it's easy to see that if you as the teacher are not prepared to bend a little from your set lesson plan you're setting yourself and your students for frustration and perhaps failure.

So yes, there are things we as teachers can't control about lessons. In the coming week, I will be posting my thoughts on what we can control in our student's lessons and how to make the most of those elements. I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback as well!

But until the next post, try to enjoy the challenge of a lesson that goes slightly different than expected/planned! Learn to think on your feet and make the most of what you have to work with. Expect the unexpected and learn to capitalize on it! That's what good teaching is all about ;)

Finger Number Worksheet

I have taken on several beginner students in the past month, all of which seem to need a little extra work with getting comfortable with finger numbers. In trying to come up with multiple creative ways to help them drill the finger numbers, I came up with this worksheet.

After tracing each hand, the student gets to use a little bit of artistic creativity! I've only created a worksheet for the RH so far, but a corresponding LH sheet will follow soon! These worksheets are available for download on my printables page.

Question of the Week: Feb. 28, 2011

Time flies! We're already into March. Last week's question resulted in some excellent discussion on adult students. Thank you so much for everyone who shared their advice on their experiences.

This week, I'd like to focus on another issue that I find myself struggling with from time to time (no pun intended ;) ) in my studio: time management! I teach lessons back-to-back and sometimes it's really hard to cut off lessons the minute that particular student's time slot is up. If I go over, I give the next student their full allotment of time, but usually this finds me getting behind before too many lessons have gone by- ugh! :(

I have more questions along this line- but for this week just want to focus on the issue of lesson length. Any teachers out there have advice on how to try and keep lessons the proper length without running progressively later and later?!

Lily Pad Interval Game

Interval recognition is key to good sightreading skills, and with that in mind I've designed this simple game for my students. You can use it with individual students, or in a group lesson setting as a game for teams.

Print the lily pads using card stock. Place the lily pads on the floor or table top. (You can pick and choose which lily pads to use depending on the students skill level or if there are specific intervals that need work). Then give each student or team a stuffed frog. Hold up an interval card (Jennifer Fink has some great 'interval tower' flashcards available at her website here) and see how fast the student or team can identify the interval and make their frog leap to the correct lily pad!

I'm looking forward to trying this game out in upcoming group lessons, but please give me any feedback you may have from using the game and if you have any suggestions. I wasn't too pleased with the image quality on the lily pads. You can find the game on my printables page.