Article: Music Teaching Philosophy

 A parent shared found this interesting article on Music Teaching interesting from the The Parents' Review,  A Monthly Magazine of Home-Training and Culture, edited by Charlotte Mason.   A philosophy of music teaching that is worth reading! 
And teaching in general, as seen from the  motto of the magazine, 

"Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life."

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ALL Music symbols Source Document

Here you go, if you are in a pinch, and have no way other than drawing and taking a picture, you can snip and paste an obscure symbol off of this chart.   Since I like using noteflight.com for typing up music, or at least get a start on there, I have not used this "music symbols source document" yet.

I've played from a lot of sheet music, folks, and I can tell you, about 3/4 of these symbols you'll never encounter! Unless your specialty is modern atonal and avant garde instrumental compositions from obscure academic composers. 

Something I Like on Facebook!

How and Where to Look for a Piano, Part 2

I wanted to follow up my previous post with sharing this website:

piano adoption.com  

Thanks to Music Matters Blog for posting this!

How and Where to Look for a Piano, Part 1

[Note: I forgot this post and left it unpublished from almost a year ago, but the information is still great!]

Looking for a piano?  These resources may help:

 Finding Your Piano - Types and Brands  

Guide to Buying a Piano

  I came across this since I've been looking for a piano in hopes of keeping it at the Homeschool Resource Center in Brandon.  My piano (an antique Henry F. Miller Grand) is wonderful, and I should tell the story of how I got it sometime.  It was a word-of-mouth sale. The owner told piano teachers in her area she was selling.

The most important advice you need to know about buying used is: have a trusted piano technician check it out before buying.  Factor this cost before buying.

Where to look for a piano:

Ebay.com

Ebay Classifieds

CraigsList.org

Ask churches - many have pianos gathering dust in spare rooms.
Ask piano teachers.
Find used piano distributors, either in the phone book or through new piano distributors.

I like this Cellist!

...and his pianist!  Together with their behind-the-scenes crew, they are the Piano Guys.  Great entertainment!




      Very beautiful, my style completely, and inculcates the theme from  Holst's Jupiter theme from Suite of the Planets (listen at 3 minutes) which has been used as the tune for a majestic hymn, O God Beyond All Praising.    Now for some real entertainment, see this cellist as Jedi.


Of course he also took the Cello piece every cello and Bach fan loves and took it up a notch. Actually 7 notches.  I like to listen to Steven Sharp Nelson on grooveshark streaming, free.  The Piano Guys song list is also great.

Competitions for the Tampa Bay Area

 Researching piano competition in the area, and there are a lot of choices.  Thanks to Betty Chester for the info.

Florida State Music Teachers' Association*, the  Florida section of the The Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), and  the Mid-State Music Teacher's Association (MSMTA) offer different competitions.  Teacher and student membership required.  MSMTA has two in Spring, March and May.    Under competition, MSMTA has judge's sheets along with application which list things that judges listen for - useful. 

This is an independent competition by prestigious pianists:
Piano 2 0 1 2  S o n a t i n a - S o n a t a F e s t i v a l   at St. Pete College - Brochure link:
http://www.spcollege.edu/spg/music/images/Sonata_brochure.pdf


A more broad annual youth competition with an emphasis on entertainment is Spotlight on Talent in Wesley Chapel.
 
Also, I am interested in looking into what Federated Music clubs has to offer as well, and they use Hillborough Community College facilities.

Many competitions are open to the public.  I would highly recommend a student attend one before participating, to learn and enjoy!

*P.S.   The February 2012 newsletter of the Florida State Music Teachers' Association contains further info on pianist competitions.  The next public competition is FSMTA Competitive Events, May 11-12 – HCC Ybor Campus, Tampa.

Events: Week of Dec. 4 - 10

Friday, December 9, 7:30pm at Shiloh Baptist Church.  Christmas by Candlelight   Members of my family and I will be singing in this beautiful varied concert!

Too bad it isn't free like last year!  5$ advance.  More infor below.



Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011, 8 – 10 p.m.   Dancing with Winds, UT.   Free


Sunday, Dec. 11.  Don't forget the Messiah.  10$ advance.  This video is from Dr. Romanski's [past performances.

More on...Christmas by Candlelight

Shiloh Baptist Church, 905 W Terrace St, Plant City, FL

We took a group picture at Epcot last year, but this was a year before  when I wasn't there yet. :) We will be singing on December 30th. The program will begin with the Plant City Community Choir featuring: ~A Musicological Journey Through the Twelve Days of Christmas ~Still, Still, Still ~Carol of the Bells ... Also on the program, from the Plant City Vocal Ensemble: ~Ding Dong Merrily on High Then, the Plant City Community Choir will combine with a choral group from the University of South Florida to perform the 2011 Disney Candlelight Processional concert. This will include over 100 singers, a guest narrator, and guest conductors.



This is my instrument!

Featuring : True Piano Feel and Expressive Control

I'm researching about this digital piano, especially how to record with it.  I discovered why the box didn't have the manual.  It is available at Yamaha's website.  So I'll be registering my Arius YDP 161's serial number to get access to this and other features.

"50 classic piano songs are provided in the song player and as a music book, "50 Greats for the Piano." These songs can be used for background music or as learning reference.

10 Voices  -  In addition to the realistic Grand Piano Voice, you can play other instruments like Vibraphone, Electric Pianos, Harpsichords and Church Organs. There’s also a rich Strings Voice that sounds great when used in Dual Voice mode with the Acoustic Piano.

The easy to use, built-in 2-track recorder lets you capture your music and plays it back. Play both hands together and use the second track to add a different part. Or play one part at a time and rehearse complicated pieces. You can also transfer recorded songs to your computer using Yamaha’s free Music Downloader software..."

Blogsurf Stumble: The Urtext Police

from 

The Collaborative Piano Blog :

Meme of the Day: The Urtext Police

Expanding

I've just expanded my "Students" page, on the top menu here, to include more links to free sheet music.  This was particularly to give my students some Christmas lead sheets.  It's less than three months away! With Thanksgiving coming next month, I'm thinking I'll post about traditional Thanksgiving  music. 

Go Bug Dad For Anything - Mnemonic Devices

I start teaching staff notation very early.  Even with 5 year olds, it will come in the first lesson -usually.  By the second or third lesson, they are chanting "All Cows Eat Grass."   Here is the chart I teach them, with the exception of the Good Burritos - I teach "Go Bug Dad For Anything," just for laughs:

New tips I learned:

Rhyming and Reading Music

"Notice that if you say it this way, "FACE is for the space" it rhymes.

"Every Good Boy Does Fine is for the lines," rhymes as well.

This will help with the hardest part for students, which is keeping the memory tools for the lines and spaces straighted out in your head. Also keep in mind that there are 4 spaces on each staff and 5 lines. So that helps narrow down the options."   -http://hubpages.com/hub/Learn-to-Read-Music-for-the-Piano-Faster

 For intermediate students: Once I asked a friend, "How do you remember the keys with sharps and flats?" For the order of sharps, she reminded me of the mnemonic I learned so long ago it was like stumbling upon the old train set in the attic: 

Fat Cat Go Down Allies Eating Bird.

 But she lamented not having a mnemonic for the flats.  Now I know why.  On this music theory site, I just learned that the order of flats is the same sequence but backwards. Nice!

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P.S.  I always tell students that Go Bug Dad For Anything is not good advice.

From Tedious Combing the Internet to Ebullient

Have you ever gone on those wild goose chases and in the adventure find something worthwhile?
Well that was how I one day came upon a defining moment in my musical career.
I discovered a way to write music thru the computer online for free!!¸.·´*  Happy Unbirthday!  And of course I wondered why I hadn't been told about it after 3 years in a music college.  I'm sure there are more programs  available as well for free.  I recently heard of a sample version of Sibelius. 

Here it is: Noteflight.com :  http://www.noteflight.com/login

How I used this site:
 I've frequently wanted to change the key of a piece to accommodate a singer.  This site lets me do that. Of course on the flip side I had to learn how to use the program a little.  But if you have 20 minutes to just hit random keys (on the computer keyboard... not hitting piano keys!), you too can figure it out and use it for some time saving and organizing.

A sample of my transposed work ~ Press play!

Piano Teacher Websites

Here are some great sites for piano students, and students who happen to also be teachers, from the syllabus of Piano Pedagogy I, a class at University of South Florida.    They are among the most esteemed and useful online resources in their fields.

Music Teachers National Association

The Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy

PIANO PEDAGOGY FORUM  

 

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.·°·.»♫ FREE .·°·.» Sheet Music Websites

For classical: imslp.org (also linked by http://petruccimusiclibrary.org/) 

http://www.free-scores.com/

http://www.freesheetmusicguide.com/original.htm

http://cantorion.org/

Check on noteflight.com. Some musicians leave certain pieces on their accounts visible

Various and Christian:  http://www.leadworship.com/resources/songbook.html

http://www.greghowlett.com/freechristianpianomusic.aspx

http://www.music-for-music-teachers.com/free-sheet-music-blog.html
http://www.piano-play-it.com/free-christian-sheet-music.html
 http://www.score-on-line.com/freescores.php?collection=piano&lang=en

Old favorites for children, divided by level for easy lesson planning up to Intermediate levels.:

 http://www.nhpiano.com/music/

http://www.gmajormusictheory.org/Freebies/freebies.html

Happy Searching!!

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