Mood:  lyrical

I am constantly amazed at how well my Music Moves students play. Not only how they play, but how quickly they learn new concepts.

Once again, I'm writing about my "10 year old boy" class. In my last post, I wrote about the younger group, and one thing I've noticed since then is how well this curriculum works for all age groups. You'd be hard-pressed to find that in any other main-line "traditional" method!!

Anyhow, this group of boys is now at Unit 10, and keeps me on my toes. They're farther ahead than any other Book 1 class, so they're my "learning class" (that is, I learn new things by teaching this class, then I apply it to the other classes).

This past week, they were working on 2- and 3- note slurs. Now, in the past, I wouldn't ever have dreams of trying to get first year students to play 2 note slurs! But, these boys did it, and did it beautifully!!

 Here's a few reasons why I think they "got" it (that is, the technique required to play two and three note slurs) so quickly:

1. They know how to listen. They have become accustomed to listening for differences in sound.  Differences such as same/different, soft/loud, connected/separated, duple/triple. Their ears are becoming fine-tune to hear details in the music.
2. They know how to move. All those body awareness excercises are really paying off. These kids play without any tension in their hands, arms or shoulders because they have learned, away from the piano, what proper playing technique feels like. They've also learned to isolate different body parts (fingers from hands, hands from wrists etc).
3. They're comfortable at the keys. All those "keyboard geography" lessons have been worth it. They know their way around a piano and how to produce different types of sound.

This all became evident on Sunday afternoon. I was down in my studio cleaning up and organizing some things, and my 10 year old son came down and started playing two-note slurs all over the piano. I listened with interested, and mentioned to him/reminded him that the last note should be softer than the first (he had been bumping the ends of the slurs). He said, "Oh yeah. I remember. It should sound like this, right?" and then played a beautiful sound!

As I write this, the use of terminology comes to mind. I told the boys that the last note should be softer, not quieter. And really, from a purely physical aspect, isn't that true? Playing it softer (as in a physically softer gesture as you play that last note of the phrase... not just a term to refer to dynamics) is a much better term than quieter which implies only dynamics. Interesting.

Posted by creativekeys at 1:25 PM

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Mood:  special

My two classes of Prep. book kids are now up to the "Chocolate Chip Cookie" song (my personal favourite!). They played it SO very well!! Here's a little lesson plan that I did with the kids:

1. During the activity section of class, we moved to Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. Also during that time, when we were echoing duple meter rhythm patterns, I made sure to use the patterns that are in the piece.
3. During the keyboard geography time, I taught them these two patterns: Db-Eb-Db-Bb and Db-Eb-Db-Gb (basically the two patterns that are used in the song.
4. Also during keyboard geography time, I had them play "Du-de Du" on individual black keys, using their left hand.
5. (I didn't do this, because we had something else to do during creativity time) During creativity time, I had them create their own melodies using the "Du De Du" RP and black keys.
6. When it was time to learn the piece, I played the piece, and they moved to macrobeats
7. Then, we echoed the RP again
8. I played the first three measures and the students chanted the RP of the first measure. I explained how this pattern happens twice in the song.
9. I play the first 4 measures while the students watched. Then, the students took turns playing that part.
10. I played the second 4 measures while the students watched, then they played.
11. I played the whole song and then the students had a turn to play the whole song.

By the time I got to step 11, they were itching to play the piece without any help!! They all played it perfectly, while chanting the RP, the first time. I should also note that they heard the piece for the first time last week, and it was part of their home listening assignment (listen to the piece on the CD) for this past week.

This is basically the process I use for teaching all the pieces right now. It's working really well, because the kids are getting it. By the time we get to the last step, they'll often say, "I don't need you to show me, I know what to do!!"

Posted by creativekeys at 2:09 PM

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Mood:  lyrical

I can't help but compare my traditional students to my Music Moves students. Presently, my studio make up is about 50/50.

One thing I constantly notice is how well my MM students retain what they've learned. This week, the first week back after Winter Break, I've spent some time reviewing (with all my students).

My traditional students have long forgotten the pieces they learned in September. Even with the music placed in front of them, they struggle to sight read what they once knew. (And these are students who do really well in exams etc).

On the other hand, my MM students can easily recall a piece learned months ago. In many cases, all I have to to is tell them the title of the piece, and they're playing it perfectly.

I'm also noticing a huge difference between their technical and rhythmic abilities. Last night, I had a traditional student, in her second year of lessons who is 6 years old. She is quite the good little note reader. However, her concept of rhythm is really weak. She had difficulty playing in 3/4, her timing was all over the place!! When she played in 4/4, she could clap and count the rhythm, but couldn't play and count. We spent the better part of 30 minutes working with the metronome.

Compare that to my MM students. Even the kindergarten kids can feel the difference between triple and duple meters. All of the students play with a very steady rhythm, and none of them have any difficulty playing while chanting the rhythm pattern.

More and more I'm seeing the "proof in the pudding"!!!

Posted by creativekeys at 9:21 AM

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Mood:  a-ok

Well, I really haven't updated this blog in a while!! I got so busy with preparing kids for the Christmas recital!! It went really well, and many of my MMP students played ensembles.

Speaking of ensembles... today I decided to try teaching an ensemble to my youngest class. It's a group of very young kinders (one just turned 5 on Dec. 31st!), and they are using Keyboard Games A. They're about half-way through the book, having just learned "Circles" this week.

For their ensemble piece, I had them learn "The Apple and the Worm". The students already knew the student part very well. Here's a basic run-down of what we did:

• T plays "Apple & Worm" while S moves to Macro/microbeats.
• Each S takes a turn playing the piece solo, the with T playing duet
• S taps both hands on knees, chanting "Du-de Du-de" (the RP for the duet part) (note: this is the first experience students have playing hands together!)
• S 'fingerpaints' (dabs fingers) duet part in the air.
• S plays duet part on piano alone, and then with T playing student part.
• Finally, S plays duet part while another S plays student part.

There were a few slips - mostly the student playing the student part playing the notes in the wrong order (descending vs. ascending) but they all kept a very steady rhtyhm even if they did play wrong notes.

 It was amazing to see these little tiny 5 year olds playing a duet together! They did such a fine job!

 On another note (ok, this is just me bragging!) I've been teaching my 10 year old son in my Thursday evening group. Admittedly, I'm a bit lax on helping him practice (I'm too busy teaching!). However, he's doing an amazing job! Yesterday, we were downstairs in the studio just goofing around, and he played "Porpoise at Play", but transposed it. I don't think he was even aware that he wasn't playing it where it was written. I pointed this out to him, saying, "Hey cool! You just transposed this piece! What a great job. Now, how about starting on this note..." and I showed him a different place to play, which he figured out in a flash. After that, he decided to make a variation of the piece, playing it in a different (higher) register, and on the repeat, moving up an octave.

I'm really impressed with my MMP students' technical abilities. They are doing an amazing job producing beautiful tones. I've recently started to learn the flute, and am realizing that it takes a lot of work to produce a really nice tone on the flute, and it's something you really need to work on. I think this is probably the same for most other wind/brass/string instruments. However, I think this is an area of neglect in piano lessons. We, too, need to teach our young students how to properly depress a key in order to produce a clear, beautiful tone.

Because of the Keyboard Geography activities that teach technique in MMP, my first year students have managed to completely avoid those common beginner technical pitfalls! I'm tickled PINK!!!!!

Posted by creativekeys at 3:02 PM

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Mood:  silly

Wow! I haven't written in a while. I've just been 'going with the flow' with teaching Music Moves. It's definitely getting much easier. However, I am finding myself a bit stretched for time, as I now have 35 students, about half of which are Music Moves. I don't remember if I mentioned this, but more than half of my students are also boys! Makes for an exciting, if not exhausting week!!

 My Music Moves students are playing so well!!! I currently do have a few 'traditional stream' beginners, and I do notice a big difference between how the MM and the trad. students play. The MM students are so very confident with their playing, which is rhythmic and played with a relaxed, tension-free technique.

One trick I'm using to get my students to remember to chant the RP while playing is the 'Easy Button'. This is a red button that, when pressed, says, "That was easy." I purchased it at Staples for about $6 CND. Each time a student chants while they play, they get to press the Easy Button. Oftentimes, a student will forget to chant, and go to press the button, and I stop them, telling them that they didn't chant... they promptly play their piece again, just so they can press the Easy Button.

 Some successes I've had recently with MM:

• Today, a group of grade 1 students (in the Prep. book) was able to listen to a 4-macrobeat Triple Meter RP played on one key, chant the pattern back using rhythm syllables, and play it back correctly (while chanting) on a key.
• More and more, I'm finding that my students are opening up to, and thoroughly enjoying, the movement activities (even those 10 year old boys I so love to write about!!)
• Students are confident playing duets with other kids in their class.
• The story ideas, improvisations and compositional ideas coming from these kids are AMAZING! They're really getting the hang of creating a RP, and using it to improvise. Their ideas are all so creative and unique.
• The students are so eager to practice, play and perform. The positive feelings generated by their musical learning experiences will hopefully last a lifetime!!

I'll be honest: I sometimes feel a bit overworked as I'm learning to teach MM. I've taken it upon myself to do lesson plans and homework sheets for all of the classes, so I really know what's going on. I do this more for the Keyboard Games and Prep book kids, though. I'm finding the Teacher's Lesson Plans for Book 1 is really well laid out, and I'm much more comfortable with it. I'm doing a little less prep work for my book 1 kids than for the younger groups.

Every once in a while, a teacher whose interested in learning how to teach MMP will contact me and ask a bunch of questions. Just the other day, a lovely teacher from Toronto called me on the phone (long distance!!) to find out my impressions of the MMP program. Of course, I told her how much I love it. We both agreed that we would LOVE to have a DVD of Marilyn teaching. (Hey Marilyn... once you've made a clone of yourself, and have 48 hours in the day, I'm sure a lot of us would pay good money to watch you teach!!! LOL)

Posted by creativekeys at 4:44 PM

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Mood:  special

I was recently asked by a teacher how I teach Music Moves using just one piano. Of the 6 MM classes I'm teaching, 5 of them have 3 students, and one has 2 students. In my studio, I have one upright and a 61-key keyboard. I use only the piano.

I thought I'd give an overveiw of a typical class, to give you a better idea. The following is a general outline of what I did with my Monday night class (this is my only class with 2 kids). These kids just started unit 3 in Book 1.

I spend about the first 15-20 minutes on audiation activities. We did the Watch Please Game and Song to Sing activities as outlined on p. 19 of the Teacher's Lesson Plans (LP) book. We also spent time doing triple meter activities, as well as the Performance pieces (where I play a piece, and the kids move to it in different ways.... always a hit with the kids, and an essential part of "Music MOVES" (emphasis mine LOL).

After about the first 20 minutes or so, we moved on to Keyboard Geography and technique activities. This we spent about 10-15 minutes doing. We started with off-bench activities to increase physical awareness (shoulder, forearm, joints). Again, I pretty much followed the activities in the LP on p. 20.  For the on-bench activities, I sat at the piano, demonstrated the activity while the kids watched, and they each took turns. Each activity took a few seconds for the kids to do.

I tell the kids that they're teachers too, and to watch the other students, as they can learn from them.

We then spent a few minutes working on Exploration/Creativity activities. Each student, in turn, went up to the piano and created a two-macrobeat pattern on the black keys. The rest of us formed the audience.

(An idea here: I didn't do this, but must remember it for next time... after the first student created her idea, the second student could echo/copy it... what a great way to reinforce audiation! The second student would really have to be listening!!)

After creativity activities, the kids performed the pieces they were working on from last lesson. They each performed 'Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater'. While one student was performing, the other was drawing notes on my white board (note to self: get some individual slates for the kids to write on when there is more than 2 kids in the class... a piece of laminated white card stock would do!) Each student played the piece in a connected style. Then, I played it for them again, this time in a separated style and asked them what was different (they identified that it was in sep. style). Then, each student choose a style (separated or connected), and played the piece again, and we had to guess which style they chose.

We ended the class with teaching Flute and Bassoon and LIzards. These pieces are very much like Popcorn and Indian Dance, and allowed the students to use their "Musical Thinkers" (as I called it!). After watching me play it once, they both said, "Hey that's easy!!", sat down at the keys and played it on the first try. They were both able to play the pieces with me playing the duet. While one student played, the other watched. I think that this watching part is vital, and it really helps the 'watcher' learn. It also puts a bit of (good) pressure on the player to focus and do a good job, because they're 'helping me teach the piece'.

We weren't able to play "Falling Leaves" today, but I expected that (I have yet to be able to get through unit 3 in one class!) Next week, I will have a "Performance Class", where the kids play their pieces for me, and I teach them the duets. We will also learn Falling Leaves, do a LOT of exploration/creativity activities, and some more work on Triple Meter (as one of the kids isn't really feeling it yet).

Posted by creativekeys at 5:43 PM

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Mood:  lucky

Wow. Oh wow. My class went SO well tonight. This is the group of grade 4/5 boys that I've been struggling with... I don't want to drag things along, but I don't want to miss anything, either. I asked Marilyn for some advice, and, among other things, she reminded me to keep the pace quick. This 'forces' the kids to keep thinking about the music.

Guess what? It worked!!! They had a blast! For the first time, they willingly participated in the movement activities (and were actually quite creative when I gave them creative control of their movements!) They played SO well tonight!!

These boys have now completed Unit 4, but haven't yet done all of the duets from the previous levels. They did do the duet for Hide and Seek today, and did a fantastic job. I also taught them 'The Ghost' from Keyboard Games B, seeing as we're getting ready for the annual Halloween Piano Party, and I thought it would be fun if they had a 'spooky' piece to play.

In tonight's Exploration/Creativity/Improvisation, we used the suggestions for making a 'sound description' of an animal. I was expecting a typical 'boy' animal (cheetah, jaguar etc) from these boys. Instead, I was suprised by a burst of creativity! One boy selected a mythical creature from Star Wars (and promptly made a very accurate sound with his voice!)  and the other invented his own imaginary animal. It was SO cool!!! They were SO into making sound descriptions tonight, I really could have spent the entire lesson on that activity alone!

I have to admit, up until tonight, I had been feeling a bit unsure if Music Moves was the right decision for these older boys. While I'm having wonderful success with the little kids, I really didn't know how well it was working with these older boys (10 year old boys are strange creatures!) After tonight, I am now feeling much more positive about my decision.

A side note about my own personal 'audiation' skills (full disclosure: I love to sight read. I sight read Bach Fugues for fun!). Tonight, while one boy was experimenting with a RP on one key, I wasn't sitting right at the piano, so I couldn't see what key he was playing. For some reason, I just knew he was playing an F. I've never had 'perfect pitch' before, and, quite frankly, really sucked big time with my ear training exams on my RCM tests (I actually failed grade 8 ear training!). But, I just knew it was an F. Weird. :)

Posted by creativekeys at 5:06 PM

Updated: Thursday, 12 October 2006 5:23 PM

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Mood:  incredulous

Today, I had a group of grade 1 students, and, at the end of lessons there was a bit of extra time. SO, I invited the students to share anything they wanted at the piano (suggesting that they play a favourite piece, or create something at the keys).

One little boy sat down at the keys, and promtly played a 4-macrobeat melody on the black keys, which he then repeated, thus creating a lovely little 8-macrobeat composition. His rhythm was perfect :)

Now, this boy doesn't have the best home life (from what I can gather), and his Aunt (a friend of mine) is the one who put him in lessons. She's a wonderful woman, and does all she can to give this little boy some stability and normalcy in his life. To see him sit down and improvise such a wonderful piece (much more complex than the pieces we've been learning), and do it with confidence was wonderful! To know that I'm able to help this little boy find something he can feel good about is such an honour!!

Posted by creativekeys at 8:52 AM

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Mood:  bright

Tonight was my 'older boy' class. Three boys, ages 9, 10 and 10. They were visibly getting bored by the pieces in units 1-3, so we skipped all the unit 3 pieces (but did do the audiation activities and the improvisation stuff). Moved on to Hide and Seek.

I came across some FUN activities to work on rhythm: Boomwhackers! We chanted our RPs using Boomwackers tonight, and the boys LOVED it!! The nice thing about the Boomwackers is that it uses large motor movements.

I've been really having a hard to get these boys to do a lot of the movement activities... they think they're too 'cool' to do them. I'm guessing that with the addition of Boomwhackers, these boys will more readily do movement activites.

One of the resources I purchased recently is a book/CD of activities to do with the Boomwhackers. Tonight, the boys and I did this one activity where there was a 4-part movement pattern that they did with the tubes.

Basically, we sat in a circle, each with a tube at our right knee. The pattern went like this:

1. Right (pick up the tube with your right hand)
2. Left (whack the tube into your LH)
3. Rest
4. Down (whack the tube on the ground on your left side)

The pattern continued like that, always starting with a new tube (the one that the person next to you just put down on his left side)

Then, we turned on the CD, which had a catchy little tune in triple meter. It was great! The kids were having to remember a pattern, keep the rhythm going (continuity), they were moving to a rhythm (a 4-macro beat pattern in triple meter), and they were experiencing triple meter.

Plus...they had FUN! Which, really, is way more important then them actually learning anything LOL

Posted by creativekeys at 5:49 PM

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Mood:  bright

Don't you just love it, when you're teaching, and you get one of those "Light Bulb" moments from a student.

 I have this wonderful young lady that I've been teaching for a couple of years now. She recently completed her grade 1 RCM exam with First Class Honours, and is now working on grade 3.

She struggles with fingering, always has, and, quite frankly, it has been hampering her ability. I've been nagging for SO long. In lessons, she'll get it, but come back the next week with the fingering all wrong again.

I've been reading "The Practice Revolution" by Philip Johnston, and one thing really stuck out the other day. He talks about "Cutting wood with a spoon" - that is, using the wrong tools for th job.

Tonight, it hit me: she has been using the wrong tools for the job during her practicing. And, then what happens is that her practice sessions aren't successful (because she can't play the passage properly, and it shows!), so she feels frustrated... which isn't the type of feeling that fosters a love of practicing!

So, at this evening's lesson, we talked about ways of fixing fingering. That is, I gave her the tools she needs to fix the fingering at home (and wrote them down in her homework book!!)

Here's the tools I gave her:

1. Identify the tricky spots and work out logical fingering (we're currently working on fingering rules)
2. Play the offending passage HS, saying the fingering out loud.
3. Play the passage without looking at your hands/fingers
4. Play the passage in as many different octaves as possible!
5. Play the pagges HT very slow with correct fingering

I also told her about the pitfalls of incorrect practicing, and how it actually creates more work if you learn a passage incorrectly.

We worked through this process in one of her pieces, and she played it successfully. Then, we moved on to another piece. She was struggling with it a bit. While she was able to play the passage HT without stopping, it was a bit shakey at the end.

I was about to show her how to fix it, and she grabbed my pencil out of my hand and said, "I know what I'm doing wrong!! If I put finger one HERE (and she wrote it in), then I'll have enough fingers to get down over HERE!"

I have a feeling she will have a great week practicing!

Posted by creativekeys at 6:56 PM

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