Happy Monday!  I am so excited to announce this giveaway!

Pianomorning is giving one lucky Piano Teacher’s Retreat reader a free month subscription to their awesome site! 

PianoMorning.com was created by a staff of qualified teachers and composers from the “Canyon Country” area of Southern Utah and Florida’s Orange County in central Orlando.

They provide high quality services to piano teachers everywhere with downloadable theory supplements, new music, monthly articles and “contact” services.

A subscriber to www.pianomorning.com has access to over 200 sheets of theory supplements and music (primer to late intermediate level) with new items added weekly!  You can download the resources as many times as you need while you are a subscriber. 

Doesn’t that sound like a great service?

Now, you’re asking yourself, “Just what do I have to do to win this awesome subscription for a month?”

It couldn’t be easier!  Simply leave a comment on this post telling me why you love me.  Just kidding.  Leave a comment on this post about anything and everything and you will receive one entry in the random drawing which will take place at midnight on Monday, May 25.

If you want to increase your chances of winning this awesome giveaway, tell a friend!  When you tell a friend (that friend must tell me you sent him/her), you will receive THREE additional entries in the random drawing that takes place on Monday, May 25.

If you want to increase your chances even more, blog about this fantastic giveaway!   You will receive FIVE additional entries in the random drawing that takes place on Monday, May 25.

If you’ve been trying to keep track but got lost, I’ll summarize for you:

1. ONE entry for a simple comment on this post. 
2. THREE additional entries for telling a friend (there’s no limit to how many friends you can tell).
3. FIVE additional entries for blogging about this awesome giveaway!

Go check out www.pianomorning.com!  And don’t forget to leave a comment here!

I used to skip the teacher duets in my students’ method books because I thought there just wasn’t time.  Recently, I’ve been making sure to play one duet per lesson.  I think it is helping my newest beginners develop better rhythm. 

How often do you play the teacher duets that are in most method books?  Have you seen other benefits to playing duets with your students?

We’ve been playing this fast paced game during lessons, and it’s been a hit. All it takes are note flashcards and a metronome.

Object: Your student wants to get all the notes on the flashcards correct.

Set the metronome at the slowest speed. Hold up a flashcard to your student on one beat. Your student has to tell you the name of the note by the next beat, or the card goes in the “Miss” pile. If your student gets it right, it goes in the “Win” pile. After you have gone through all the cards, add up how many are in the “Win” pile. Play again and see if your student can beat his/her first score. When your student does well on the slowest speed, speed up the metronome, and try again!

This is good for my students because it forces them to go with their first instinct when they see the card. Most often, they are right, and this gives them that confidence they need!

One student didn’t do very well, but even still, he still was able to beat his score by one or two cards each time. And he had a lot of fun!

What a funny title! I’m talking about runs in music- like sixteenth note scales and such.

I’ve been working on a piece lately that has many difficult “runs,” and have been reminded of a tip my piano teacher gave me when I was taking lessons.

Take a difficult run and change the rhythm to long, short, long, short, etc. Say it out loud while you do it. Then reverse the rhythm to short, long, short, long, short, etc. After you have done that several times, it will be easier to do the run smoothly and in the correct rhythm. Your fingers will better understand their place!

Theory books are an issue I can’t quite figure out yet.  I don’t know if this is good or not, but I don’t have my students work out of theory books.  I remember hating those books when I was growing up, and I would always eventually stop bringing them to lessons.  And I was one of those weird kids who enjoyed homework!  So I figure that if I hated theory books, my students probably will too.  I use a great website that has free theory pages you can print.  I am using some of those and adapting them to my student’s needs.  I do look through the theory books that correspond with my students’ books and make sure I teach the concepts that are important for the songs they are learning.  So I end up making a lot of my own theory pages for my students.  So far, I have enjoyed doing it that way because I can make the pages as easy or hard as I want and I can add things that are more specific to individual needs. 

What do you do for theory?  Have you found a way to make theory fun?

Here is my beginner monthly test #2.  I thought it was about as easy as my first one, but some of the kids had a hard time.  I am finding that giving these tests is more for me…now I know what I need to teach better!

Match the words with their definitions

1. Legato          _____                                                  a. short, crisp sound                             

2. Staccato        _____                                                 b. change in sound (soft and loud)

3. Dynamics       _____                                                c. 4 beats

4. Slur                _____                                                d. moderately (medium) soft

5. Whole Note   _____                                                e. smooth sound

6. Half Note       _____                                                f. moderately (medium) loud

7. mezzo forte     _____                                                g. 2 beats

8. mezzo piano  _____                                                  h. curved line under or over notes

Then there were several notes to identify.

I know I’m not the first person to teach this way and you all probably already do this, but I am finding it INCREDIBLY helpful lately.  So here you have it. 

I like to point out the repeating patterns in songs to my students.  A lot of my students (especially the beginners) see a long song and freak out. 

“Oh no!  I can’t do this.  This is way too hard.”  I see the shoulders start to slump, the head sink into the chest, the tears welling in the eyes and know I have to act fast or we’re never going to make any progress. 

So I take a small section of the song and surprise them with how easy they can manage it.  I then point out all the times that section repeats itself throughout the song.  Sometimes the section repeats itself a ton.  So we count all the measures where the section does NOT repeat itself and the student is really excited to see that they really only have a few more measures to learn. 

Today, one (originally scared) little girl even said she thinks she can memorize the whole song!  Yay!

My fabulous mother saw this ad in a magazine and sent it to me.  (Yes, I know the quality of the picture is horrible.  The page was folded and, yes, that’s my finger in the corner.) 

I had told my mom about my student who couldn’t remember notes so she suggested I play a game using jelly beans and a staff.  As everybody knows, candy is a great motivator!  (Everybody DOES know this right?) 

I couldn’t find jelly beans, so I used skittles in my game.  I’m sure I’m not the first person to do this, but I think it’s a pretty fabulous idea.  

I made simple grand staffs for each of my students.  Then, I gave them one bowl and I kept one bowl.  I took out 15 skittles and placed them at random on their staffs 3 at a time.  They had to pick up the skittle, tell me the name of the note, and play it on the piano.  If they got it right, they got to put the skittle in their bowl.  If not, it went in mine! 

We played the game at the beginning of lessons.  I let them put their bowl of skittles right by them so they could eat them throughout the lessons.  (Daring, I know.)  Then I sent them home with their grand staffs to teach the notes and game to their parents for theory homework!  Fun!

For theory homework this week, I’m using D’Net’s wonderful word games. 

I printed them off and am sending them home with the students along with their own blank pages (printed from this fabulous site) to make their own words.  I’m looking forward to seeing the words they come up with next week!

In a previous post, FORTE FORTE FORTE, I talked about my student who loves to pound away on every song.  I was worried about finger breakage or premature arthritis or something else equally horrible, but he is finally starting to ease up!  YAY!  When he graduated from the Primer Level and began Level 1, we began focusing on the legato touch.  As he learns how to play smoothly, the pounding is beginning to disappear.  My piano keys are thanking me!