Last week, I ran group classes with my students to explore rhythm and timing through music and movement. It required a bit more planning than usual (and a lot of energy), but based on student feedback, it was well worth it to run these music and movement classes.
Reviewing My Student Incentives
This year, I modified my incentive program slightly to incorporate "musician survival skills". These are the areas that we as teachers and performing musicians know are necessary: aural skills, sight-reading, chording, transposition, improvising, technical skills, and practice frequency. They are also the areas that most students either gloss over or ignore.
Music Teacher Freebies
Screen Cleaner Coolness at My Studio
Music Teaching Idea: Alternatives to Counting the Beats
This week, one of my beginners, a sweet introspective lad, was struggling with the timing on “Starry, Starry Night” from the Faber & Faber Piano Adventures series. His family is doing some travelling this summer and, he’s a bit of a history and geography buff, so we used country names to “count” the beats.