Mood:  lyrical

I recently purchased this wonderful resource by Edwin E. Gordon, Beth M. Bolton, Wedny K. Hicks and Cynthia C. Taggart (published by GIA). This book was recommended to me by Marilyn Lowe.

I haven't used a lot of the songs or chants yet, but have already found some wonderful favourites, which I'm using with my KEyboard Games students. Here's a few, along with some ideas for using them in your studio:

1.  "Bugs" triple meter rhythm chant (#177). This is perhaps the kids most favourite new chant in my studio!! I ask the children to move around the room like bugs while I chant the pattern. There are two spots where there are rests, and the kids are instructed to stop moving during the rest, and resume when the chant continues. They really get the feel for the chant, and learn where the rests are. After we have fun moving as bugs, we move to macro/microbeats. Eventually, I'll probably have the kids chant either macro or micro beats while I chant the pattern.

2.  "Brand New Toy" duple meter rhythm chant (#165) and "Seashells" duple meter rhythm chant (#166). The kids really liked these. I haven't done much with them yet, but I'm thinking that I could use the Seashell chant as a springboard for some improvisational/compositional activities for my older students.

3. "Clouds" triple meter/minor song (#3). The kids love moving with scarves to this one, pretending that their scarves are clouds. We vary the speed of the song. I'll sing the song slowly, and ask them to describe the clouds, then I'll sing it quickly and do the same. They LOVE this !

4. "I'm Riding On a Whale" triple meter/major song (#42). While I sing this, the children move as if they are whales, riding on a whale, or swimming in the ocean. Then, we move again, using scarves, moving them like waves.  Children sing the resting tone when I stop singing.

I also like "Jacks" (#2) and "Hide and Seek" (#4), "Pickles" (#8), and "Fingers and Toes" (#18 - the kids love the 'ch-ch-ch-ch-ch' chant in the middle of that one).

So far, I've been sticking to the simple duple and triple, major/minor chants and songs, as that's what I'm most comfortable with. I don't want to introduce something that I haven't taken the time to learn  I do plan on learning more of the unusual and irregular pieces in the coming weeks. I'm also trying to find ways to incorporate these with my older students.

Posted by creativekeys at 7:04 AM

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Mood:  bright

Recently, a teacher posted a comment to my blog, asking if there was a resource available to help teachers learn to teach this program. She was specifically talking about offering a "Pre-Piano" program, and mentioned that she has the Prep-Book and the teacher's guide.

I, too, started out by purchasing the Prep book and teacher's guide. At first it really didn't make any sense to me! I had NO clue what the "Watch Please" game was... I swear, I read over that teacher's guide three or four times, and still had no clue! (For reference, there is now a video of the watch please game on Marilyn's site!)

It wasn't until I started teaching Book 1 that I started to "get it". I taught Book 1 before I taught the Prep book. Unlike some method books, you don't have to start with the prep book. All my students in grade 1 and up go into Book 1. I use the Prep book or Keyboard Games books with younger kids.

The Teacher's lesson plan book for Book 1 lays out everything very clearly, as in "step-by-step" instructions on what to do in each lesson. I learned SO much from this book! This is how I really got a good handle on teaching Music Moves.

I'll admit - it was really confusing at first. I was so used to teaching in a traditional way, it was hard for me to wrap my head around a lot of the activities. But, it's becoming easier and easier now.

If you're looking for a "pre-piano" or "piano transition" class, the Prep book or Keyboard Games books are really excellent resources. However, right now, there isn't much in the way of Lesson Plans. Don't worry! Marilyn is very aware of this need for lessons plans for this level!! I do know that she is presently working on putting together a comprehensive lesson plan-type book for the Keyboard Games material.

There is a little bit of information about the Keyboard Games books here: http://www.musicmovesforpiano.com/method.asp These books are only available directly through Marilyn.

What I like SO much about the MMP is that it is easily adaptable for any age group, not limited to specific age groups like almost every other method out there.

Perhaps I'll post a few of my sample lessons on here, showing how I teach a Keyboard Games class.

Another way to learn about teaching Music Moves for Piano is to join the discussion group: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/musicmoves/

This is a wonderful group of teachers, some of whom, like me, use MMP in their regular teaching, others who have incorporated it into their own personal style of teaching, and yet others who haven't started teaching MMP, and have a lot of questions! Marilyn, the author of MMP, is on the group and often answers questions teachers have about using her method.

Posted by creativekeys at 5:19 AM

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Mood:  on fire

I preface this by clarifying the title of this post - I'm not going to go into a long discourse on the "hows" of audiation. Edwin Gordon has written much on this topic, and he's the expert, so if yoou want to get an understanding of audiation, I'd recommend that you read something - anything! - that this man has written!!

Ok, with that said.... this post is about how I'm coming to understand the 'hows' of teaching audiation in my studio.

Last week, I purchased the "Reference Handbook for Using Learaning Sequence Activities" by Gordon (I also picked up the Tonal and Rhythm pattern books that go along with this volume). I haven't finished reading it yet (still have the Rhythm Patterns section to read through), but already, there's a big, shinny light bulb floating over my head!

I'm really starting to get it - how to add audiation activities to my teaching. And you know what? It really isn't that hard!

When I first started teaching Music Moves for Piano, the theory/ pedagogy behind it all made sense to me, but it was all theoretical knowledge. I recall trying to 'sell' this program to the new families entering my studio. I must have done a good job - I must have sounded convincing, because the parents were all on board. I do have to admit that, at first, I could talk the talk, but I was really unsure if I could 'walk the walk'.

I boldly jumped in with both feet, trusting all that Marilyn had written, and all that she had told me, even though I wasn't really sure about what the heck I was doing. My very first Music Moves classes were the summer camps I did in July and August, but I really started teaching it in earnest in September.

Looking back, I kind of chuckle.... I really stumbled through those early lessons! If it wasn't for the excellent teacher's lesson plans, I would have been totally lost. But, even though I struggled, my students still did a great job.

Back then, I didn't have any clue how to teach rhythm and tonal patterns. I won't claim to be an expert (yet!), but I sure have learned a lot from reading this Reference Handbook!!! I've already started putting what I've learned into practice in my classes.

I tell you, adding tonal and rhythm pattern instruction, as per outlined in the Reference Handbook really brings it all together. Up until now, I had been teaching exactly what was in the lesson plans (almost to a "T" most weeks), but ignoring the Tonal and Rhythm pattern instruction because I didn't have the Gordon books. (It's not that I didn't do any patterns with the kids, I just had NO clue what I was doing!)

Now that I have the Reference Handbook, it's all coming together so nicely! I'm able to teach rhythm patterns and tonal patterns with pedagogical meaning now, not just aimlessly throwing patterns at kids :)

However, I feel that, had I purchased these Reference Handbooks and Tonal/Rhythm Pattern Register books at the start of my Music Moves Adventure, I probably would have suffered information overload. In fact, right there, in black and white in the Reference Handbook, Gordon tells the teachers to jump right in, start teaching patterns before you know what it is you're doing.

And that's what I (unknowingly) did. I'm glad I did that, too. Because, now as I'm reading the reference handbook, I have my own point of reference to begin with!

So, why am I babbling on about all of this? Because, for starters, I'm having a blast teaching MMP, and my students are doing an AWESOME job. But, I also know that there are many teachers who are a bit nervous about trying something so radically different. There's an inherent fear that comes with throwing out all your preconceived notions of piano pedagogy and trying something new, especially if you haven't had any real specific training in this new approach. I want other teachers to know that it CAN be done, that you'll probably make some mistakes.... but even if you don't do everything right the first time around, your students will still learn to play!

This has been my experience. I started teaching this curriculum, not really knowing what I was doing. I stumbled through a lot of classes. I still stumble through classes. But, the more I teach MMP, the better I understand what it is (and WHY!) I'm doing. And even though I've probably done things wrong with this first group of MMP in my studio, the kids are still doing a great job!

Posted by creativekeys at 8:32 PM

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Mood:  bright

I preface this by saying that I'm as sick as a dog right now. Terrible head cold. Total laryngitis. I seriously can't talk :(

 To make matters worse, I had a group of kids in Book 1 who were supposed to be working on Unit 12 today, and I was planning on doing lots of major/minor work and lots of tonal patterns. Can't exactly do that when you can't speak, let alone sing.

Fortunately, these students had spent the previous week preparing for a repertoire test, part of my "Piano Olympics" program. Each child had to prepare 4 favourite pieces and play them for me without using the book to remind them of where to put their hands etc. Hearing each child's pieces took up the better part of 20 minutes. Then, we did some movement activities, and instead of singing the songs, I played my flute.

Then, as if a lightbulb appeared over my head, I came up with a brilliant idea! Have the kids compose a piece!! (Not just improvise). Here's the process I used:

First, we talked about the difference between improvising and composing. (Improvising means making something up, and means we don't always like what we made up. Composing means taking something we've improvised and playing it again in the same way, then recording it in some manner so that others can perform it the same way we performed it).

Then, I wrote down the following steps on my white board (*note: I may change around the order that I present these items):

1. Choose a meter (duple/triple)
2. Choose a style of articulation (separated/connected)
3. Choose dynamics (loud/soft)
4. Choose which keys you want to use (white and/or black)
5. Choose a register (high/middle/low)
6. Chant a 4 macrobeat rhythm pattern
7. Play that RP on one key while chanting the pattern
8. Improvise with that RP on the keys you've choose/in the choosen register.
9. Improvise with one hand, answer with the other (using the same RP).
10. Write it down (on the template that I gave them) and give it a title.
11. Practice the piece and be prepared to play it next week.

If these students were a bit more advanced, instead of choosing which keys etc., I would have instructed them to choose a tonality and a starting tone.

Then, I told them that I would scan their compositions into the computer and post them on my website. I suppose I'll also write them down in traditional notation, so other teachers can see them written out. The children were really excited about me posting them on the internet. "We'll be FAMOUS COMPOSERS!!!!" they said.

The good thing was I didn't have to do much speaking, and definitely NO singing :)

Posted by creativekeys at 5:09 PM

Updated: Thursday, 22 February 2007 5:30 PM

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Mood:  lazy

I'm really starting to get the hang of teaching MMP. It's a lot easier now, compared to back in September when I first started. I'm feeling more comfortable with the lesson plans, and feel like it's me teaching, not me following a lesson plan! At first, it was really akward and weird. I had no idea what I was doing, and I was positive my students could see that. But now, I really have the whole "flow" of a lesson down pat (well, at least more than I did a few months ago!)

It used to be that I would struggle to get through an entire lesson plan. While that's still true from time to time (if a class is rather unfocsed, for instance), I'm much better at pacing myself. After a few months of teaching this way, it is really beginning to feel natural.

It's nice to see the kids progressing, too. More so than ever before, I'm hearing reports from parents about children spontaneously going to the piano and practicing! I think that's because music is enjoyable for these kids, it's not a chore to practice. Reminds me of a saying that I used to put on my advertising copy "We make practicing a choice, not a chore!" I know from my own personal experience that the kids will go down to the piano and play a favourite piece, and then experiment with it. My 6 year old son, Spencer, LOVES the song "Chocolate Chip Cookies", and can't walk past a piano without playing it!

I'm really beginning to see the purpose behind all of the activities in the lesson plans, too. At first, I just did everything in the lesson plan because it was there, and I felt that I was "supposed" to do it. Now, I understand why we have children do the movement activites. I understand the importance of having children improvise. I LOVE the keyboard technique/geography part of class, and so do all my students!

Can't wait to teach Book 2!!!

Posted by creativekeys at 7:12 PM

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Mood:  surprised

Wow. Oh wow. I'm SO impressed.

Yup. It's those 10 year old boys today. Last week, they worked on Bk 1 unit 10 (reviewing the unit, as they didn't quite get it the first time around). Today, I decided to try my hand at teaching rote solos.

Before getting to the rote solos, we did some audiation activites. We reveiwed a lot of the "Songs to Sing". I had the boys move while I sang, and freeze when I stopped singing. Then, I had them sing "Do So Do" (either going up to SO, or going down to SO, I varied it, as I was kind of just winging this!!). Then, the boys reviewed their I-V-I cadences and Big Ben. After that, I had them improvising on the G major tonic triad using triple meter RP.

Before getting to the rote solos, I had used the two pieces that I chose for some movement activities. The boys did this last week as well, so they had heard the pieces a few times.

For my first foray into rote solos, I chose some pieces that I knew really well. Having previously worked as a clinician for Hal Leonard, I have quite an extensive collection of books from the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library. The two pieces we worked on were "Balloon Ride" and "Undersea Voyage". Both pieces have the exact same rhythm pattern, and employ a whole tone scale (Balloon Ride uses a three black key group and CDE, while Undersea Voyage use FGAB and a two black key group).

I swear, no word of a lie, that I only had to play these pieces once for the boys, and they figured it out!! They played them connected, then separated, loud then soft, going up/repeating in a higher register, then going down/repeating in a lower register. They watched and listened to me play once, then played the pieces perfectly!

Now, if I asked one of my traditional students to do this, there's no WAY they'd get it. The rhythm would be so inconsistent, their technique riddled with tension, and they would not really listen to me the first time.

These boys are learning HOW to listen to music, and how to listen with understanding. It's AMAZING :D

Posted by creativekeys at 5:16 PM

Updated: Thursday, 1 February 2007 5:28 PM

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Mood:  special

Ok, this is just an outright brag session about my 10 year old son Daniel. He came home from Cub Scouts last night, and said, "Oh no! I haven't practiced piano since monday!". Well, for starters, not having to remind my kid to practice feels good.

So, while I go help my other two sons get ready for bed, Daniel goes downstairs and starts to practice the I-V-I cadence in G (from Unit 10 Bk 1). He played that thing until he could do it with his eyes closed. I could hear him playing and singing "Do Mi So" etc, then he'd make a mistake, and try again. It was so cool.

I went down to the studio to check on him, and he was improvising with triple meter, so I showed him how to use the notes of the G major triad to improvise. Back upstairs to break up a fight between his brothers, and I could hear him playing and chanting, and having a blast.

I'll admit to basically bribing my son into piano lessons. He really REALLY wants to learn how to play the cello. I told him that he had to give me at least 2 years of piano lessons before I'd even consider the cello. (And, piano lessons are free, don't need to buy and instrument!) So far, so good. I think his experiences with MM will really help him when he does eventually start cello.

I can totally forsee the following question: "Mommy, why isn't there a Music Moves for Cello?"

Posted by creativekeys at 7:17 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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