Welcome Piano Teachers!
October 29, 2010
Howdy….this blog has been abandoned and left up “AS IS” for those teachers who may find useful things here.
Check out the WIDGET on the right for PDFs. You will need to put your cursor (mouse) on the downward arrow at the bottom of the BOX to see all 100 files; only the first 5 are showing.
Click on the TABLE OF CONTENTS above for an idea of what is here.
You will need ADOBE READER to open all PDFs.
Touch Training
September 21, 2010
Well, I have one whole student now, so he is “inspiring me” to create out of need. And boy, does he needs to be able to find the Five C Grand Staff Landmarks by touch, so this is what I’ve been doing tonight:
Lights Out! – A Feel and Find Game for Pianists. Have Fun!
I added some pages of some “classic” piano-teaching stuff by Kunz, Gurlitt, Kohler, and Berens. The Kunz may be worth checking out for some first experiences playing canons (also see the PRIMO and SECONDO pages for some very short exercises in ensemble playing for your new readers).
For those using Musikgarten’s group piano course “Music Makers – At The Keyboard” (MMK), here are some new pages that I made specifically for young hands that were not ready for 3-note chords. There are also replacement cards for when you (inevitably) lose one of the melody or rhythm cards. Arghhhh….
Even if you do not use this particular course, the familiar folk songs and composing sheets may be useful in your piano studio.
RE-RUNS – These have been here for a while, but if you want a fun, very-adaptable theory game for group classes check out “A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS”, and if you want to begin making your OWN materials, look for the ZIP file “FONTS FOR TEACHERS” – I made it for the reluctant creator in you!
3 Relay Races
January 17, 2010
I added 3 more PDF’s for students who need practice with 1-octave major scales – HS.
I like the feeling of dropping arm weight on beat 1, and ending with a rotation on beat 4. I guess I like “technic/etudes/stuff” to FEEL GOOD PHYSICALLY. And fun.
BTW – I really like keeping most of my materials “plain”, so teachers can add dynamics, fingerings, and mark as needed for each particular student.
Some of my preschool materials also look “plain” on purpose, as I constantly use different colored crayons to bring the piece alive on the bench, and also to allow the child to color/draw, and personalize the page when appropriate. A common question,
“What’s you favorite color”
“Blue”
“I like blue too! You can see blue colors in the ocean and in the sky. Now watch for the blue eyeballs – they mean to LOOK AHEAD!”
(or draw arrows for note direction, lightly shade dynamics, etc.)
