Piano Is Fun!

Holiday Practice/MLC Winners

2012-01-26T17:58:00.002-07:00

Congratulations to Rebecca and Kyra!

Rebecca won our Holiday practice contest by practicing over 2100 minutes over the break!

Kyra won the MusicLearningCommunity.com by playing the most games reaching her target score.

Rebecca and Kyra were awarded an EASY button that they can now enjoy in their home and a gift card to the Dollar Store. Way to go girls!

2011 Christmas Safari Camp

2011-12-23T17:31:00.002-07:00

This year for Christmas Camp students became familiar with the popular music suite by Camille Saint Saens, Carnival of the Animals.

Students focused on their ear training and listening skills by first listening and guessing which animal was being featured in each piece. Then students listened for particular instruments, tempo's, dynamics and melodic characteristics. The younger students acted out some of the animals they were learning about as you can see in some of the pictures below. We learned more about the composer, Camille Saint Saens and played a fun BINGO listening game after becoming familiar with each animal piece. After hearing the track of a particular animal that I would play on the CD, they would mark their BINGO sheet as to which animals it was. Everyone did a great job!

For our breaks each day we made an animal craft (animal scratch ornament and sun catcher) each student was able to take home.

Now we can't forget that this is Christmas camp so we had to have some Christmas activities of course! We played Guess the Christmas carol rhythm (harder than you might think), learned several songs with Boomwhackers and performed Christmas pieces on the piano for each other. We ended our Christmas camp with a traditional game of Name that Christmas Tune.

Please take a moment to watch our video featuring students perform a Christmas piece on the Boomwhackers: http://youtu.be/NScwXs5ezcM

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Halloween Festival 2011

2011-10-29T13:47:00.001-07:00

We had a SPOOKTACULAR time at Halloween Festival on Saturday, October 22nd. Enjoy the pictures...

Fall Group Lesson

2011-09-09T14:52:00.002-07:00

Our first Fall group lesson started off with learning more about the Walk on the Wild side program definitions. Students learned and completed the definitions inside their workbook that went along each animal. Lestezza Leopard, Zart Zebra and Humoresque Hippo to name a few...

We followed up with a Safari Bingo game to make sure they remembered what all the musical definitions meant.

Then we focused on the 10 animals that are in the Walk in the Wild Side program, talked about each animals personality, character trait, etc... and then students played a short motive that would represent the animal that was given to them. In a older class, students decided it would be fun to guess what animal the other student was portraying through their motive. Great idea!

We concluded with some fun hands on rhythm menagerie activities together.

Fall Kickoff

2011-08-13T11:04:00.001-07:00

Fall kickoff was a success! Students were introduced to the new piano lab program, the new yearly theme, showcased their summer practice prop projects and got to know each other through fun and games!

I wanted to share some pictures especially from the practice prop projects.

First our group SAFARI pictures...

Now for the Summer Practice Prop Showcase!

Projects students built: Adding on one layer or piece at a time representing their practicing...

Projects students created: Compositions, drawings, scrapbooks... adding creative details to their project as they practiced.

I loved seeing everyone's projects that represented their practicing over the summer. Well done!!!

Summer Workshop Fun!

2011-07-31T23:54:00.000-07:00

Students had a blast this summer learning about rhythm and instruments around the world, jammin' with lead sheets, learning practice tips and tricks and more!

Here's a sneak peak of what we did in June!

ROOTS OF RHYTHM-

Students had so much fun learning about different countries, their rhythms and instruments. We made Bongos from Cuba, the Buhai from Romania, the Kakko from Japan and the Sajat cymbals and spoons from Egypt. Lots of hands on learning and creating!

JUST FAKIN' IT-

Students first learned and reviewed chord basics and applied those important tools in learning how to read lead sheets otherwise known as "fake" sheets. Later students learned different LH accompaniment patterns that they could experiment and create with. We were so busy playing and jammin' together that I completely spaced taking pictures for this class! You'll just have to imagine all the creating that went on in this class.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT...OR DOES IT?

One of my favorite summer workshops that I like to try to hold about every 3 years is a workshop on practicing. I find that even if a student took this workshop before, there is a quite a difference on what they will get out of it when they were 8 years old and when they 11 years old. We started out with an informative Q and A session to get them thinking about practice, why it's important, etc... Afterwards we discussed the common practice flaws and learned the solution they can apply to their practicing with each flaw. We followed up with more tips and tricks, a couple hands on activities such as creating a practice board game and putting together practice flashcards, another tool to help at home.

KEYBOARD KIDS

Every summer I hold a class for those students that are interested in taking piano lessons. They learn the basics which gives them a little jump start into lessons.

Piano Team Farewell Party

2011-07-12T14:20:00.001-07:00

I had come to the hard decision that I wouldn't continue with Piano Team next year due to added responsibilities I had taken on for the next couple years. Piano Team started three years ago, students would meet once a week in addition to their regular lesson studies and would learn ensembles to perform for different events. It was a good experience for both the students and I. Piano Team will be missed.

Magic of Music PARTY!

2011-07-12T14:03:00.002-07:00

We couldn't have a Magic of Music party without a magician now could we? Jolly Roger came to entertain us with fun musical trivia and magic tricks. It was a MAGICAL time for ALL!

My friend Vanessa
made the wizard hat cupcakes.

2011 Magic of Music Spring Recital

2011-07-12T13:41:00.001-07:00

On May 14th, students performed their MAGIC at the annual Spring Recital and Awards Ceremony at the Theatre Works Peoria Arts Center . They each picked a piece they felt represented the Magic of Music.

Celebrate Music! Keyboard Festival 2011

2011-03-27T17:38:00.000-07:00

T-shirts, balloons, music cake pops, giveaways, music dog tags, lots of goodies to share, family and friends and most importantly CELEBRATING MUSIC! This is what Keyboard Festival was all about on March 5th.

We LOVE Group Class!

2011-03-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

In keeping with our Magic of Music theme, I wanted to focus on a couple activities for our quarterly group class (held in February) that would give them that last motivated kick before the program ended mid-April.

The first activity that I wanted to focus on was mood pieces. In the Magic of Music program students have the opportunity to earn points towards their magical progression by changing a mood of a piece. I have a mood chart in their Magic of Music book that they can pick moods from but I thought it would be fun being February to use conversation hearts for their mood. It was fun seeing how the students interpreted the words on the hearts. When one student picked “text me”, she played her piece in a more stiff robotic style adding staccato’s, etc… where normally her piece is very legato. At the end of one of my classes we had a little extra time so a couple students volunteered to play a piece and the other students would guess the mood that they were playing.

After the mood piece activity we moved on to a hands on project. In the Magic of Music program there are five elements of music that they are focusing on. Rhythm, Notes, Dynamics, Articulation and Artistry. I wanted to provide another practice tool students could use at home that will keep the focus on these elements. The idea came about on one of the message boards to use spinners as a practice tool. This was just the thing I was hoping for! So I went online and downloaded a free spinner templates here: http://www.mathwire.com/templates/spinners.pdf Students colored their spinner template, each color representing a Magic of Music element. Blue- Rhythm, Red- Notes, Yellow- Dynamics, Green- Articulation and Black- Artistry. You will notice in the picture above that black is on the spinner 4 times. I did this on purpose because I want their goal to be able to play their piece with artistry pulling all the other elements together. Then they took a gold brad and extended a paper clip out for the spinning “arrow” and they made their Magic of Music practice spinner.

Another opportunity that students could earn points was to improvise. I have found that some students are very wary when it comes to improvisation. It helps to give some basic guidelines so they feel a little more safe on trying something on the piano especially if it’s in front of everyone. I found out about this game from a teacher who shared some activity ideas for group lessons. It is called Hot Potato Improvisation. I took some cardstock and cut them into cards marked Notes, Dynamics and Tempo. On the Note cards were things like: black keys only, white keys only, CDE only, FGAB only, etc… On the cards marked Dynamics I added: p, mp, mf, f, etc… And then on the cards marked Tempo I added: Adagio, Andante, Moderato, Allegro, etc… Students would then pick a card from each category and this would be there guideline for their improvisation. Now for the hot potato part… I started out by improvising on the piano. Once I began to play students sitting in the circle started passing Schumann, our piano spider. When I stopped then the person with the spider would come up and improvise as the hot potato game continued. You can add to this and have student 1 scoot over the the bass and student 2 join him on the treble. I didn’t worry about it for this time, but I think when I try it again, I will do that. It was a lot of fun and I found that the students weren’t as hesitant to improvise on the piano. I think there were two big reasons. 1) They had some guidelines to work with and get them started. 2) The attention wasn’t totally on them because everyone was having fun with the game so they didn’t have to worry too much about sounding good or not.

59th Annual PMTA Piano Ensemble Concert

2011-02-14T16:12:00.004-07:00

On February 12th, six students from Foxx Piano Studio joined hundreds of students in concert performing on 13 grand piano's on stage. Hours of practicing and attending rehearsals paid off that night when they made music together.

Congratulations Allison, Caitlin, Jason, Juan, Katarina and McKenna and on a job well done. You've worked hard, now it's your time to shine!

March in Cyberspace...

Rise and Shine...

Star Gazing...

Holiday Practice and MLC Winners

2011-01-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Over the break students had the opportunity to participate in two contests. First a practice contest where students kept track of how many minutes they practiced over the holiday break. All students who participated received bonus points for Magic of Music.

The second contest was to play the most MusicLearningCommunity games online reaching the target score. Congratulations to our winners and all students who won bonus points with their Magic of Music!

HOLIDAY PRACTICE WINNERS

1st place goes to Allison...

2nd place goes to Brandon...

3rd place goes to Kyra...

MLC WINNERS-

1st place goes to Shakki...

2nd place goes to Kyra...

3rd place goes to Raj...

Congratulations to ALL students who participated!

Music at the Mall 2010

2010-12-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

Ringing in the holiday spirit, 17 students from the studio performed some Christmas favorites at MetroCenter mall on December 11, 2010 at 3:30pm. Family, friends, school teachers and shoppers alike enjoyed the performances. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Camp 2010: "Making Magical Music over the Holidays"

2010-12-13T13:47:00.001-07:00

For Christmas camp this year we focused on the 5 magical elements of music:
RHYTHM, NOTES, DYNAMICS, ARTICULATION and ARTISTRY.

Here are pictures from some of the activities that we did during camp to reinforce this elements...

The Gingerbread Boy- students created a short motif to go along with this story. While I read the story they would play their motif when it was their characters turn to "speak". I was impressed how creative some of their motifs were. Enjoy the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9-DerYpzrA

Jingle Bells- A favorite activity among many students was our Jingle Bells dynamic activity. One student hides an item (in this case a treble clef ornament) while another student find it. The trick is, all the students must sing Jingle Bells (we added We Wish You a Merry Christmas as well for variety) using different dynamic ranges to give the finder a hint on where the ornament was hidden. They learned that it isn't simply going from piano (soft) to forte (loud), they must work up from piano to forte by gradually getting there. (p, mp, mf, f, ff, etc...) If we had more time, I would have some students play their Christmas pieces using different dynamics for their finding hints. This would be a fun activity to even do at home. What a fun practice tool to get them to practice a piece over and over!

Here is a video and pictures to enjoy...

Treble Clef Ornament- Students had a chance over a short break to make a simple treble clef ornament of their own to take home...

Magic of Music Board Game- I created a board game for students to use at home in their practicing. By using this board game they would focus on each magical musical element. Each student had a chance to try this game hands on so they understood how to play it at home.

Music Bingo- To review articulation, dynamics and rhythm students played Christmas Ornament Bingo

Christmas Sound Story- I am a big fan of sound stories as it opens up a world of creativity and imagination for students. It allows them to listen and discover what can happen in the world of music. At Christmas camp, students participated in a sound story, "St. Nicholas leaves a gift" by using different instruments. Here is a video to enjoy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP1mzCZNbC8

This was just a few of the highlights over camp. We had a lot of fun and I hope students will take what they learned from camp and apply it to their pieces this year. They have the tools to truly make their pieces MAGICAL!!!

Halloween Festival 2010

2010-11-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

A Spooktacular time at Halloween Festival...

Jammin In July Party 2010

2010-10-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to all the students who qualified to attend the Jammin' In July Ice Cream Party this year!
Alissa, Caitlin F, Emily, Ivana, Jason, Laura, Michael, Shakki and Simone (not pictured Caitlin G)

Magic of Music!

2010-09-12T17:31:00.001-07:00

Abracadabra! AlaKazoo!

Looking for a little MAGIC in your playing this year?

Students will learn all the secrets to making magic with their music this year in the studio. They will begin their magical journey as an Apprentice stretching themselves, learning as much as they can, exploring all the possibilities!

Students will be earning points based on their accomplishments which will allow them to move up levels in the world of Music Magic.

It's time to make some MAGIC with your MUSIC! Be ready to step it up!

Musical Slap Jack

2010-08-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

This week after being back in lessons for the new school year we played a fun game called Musical Slap Jack. To play Musical Slap Jack, students are looking for a particular note or notes in the deck of note flashcards (in our case this week we focused on the C's of the Grand Staff (how many depended on the level of the student). If they spotted one of those C's they needed to slap the card as fast as they could before the other person did. If they slapped it first, they got that card and all the other cards below it. The one with the most cards in the end won! I'm happy to say that several student's beat me this week!

"10 Proven Ways that Music Makes You Smarter"

2010-07-21T11:17:00.006-07:00

Here's a link to an interesting article I thought I would share:

http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.com/blog/2010/not-just-for-gleeks-10-proven-ways-that-music-makes-you-smarter/

Blog Award!

2010-07-08T09:51:00.003-07:00

This is my first time receiving a blog award! Thank you to Vanessa from http://sewcakemake.blogspot.com/ for picking me for this award. If you haven't seen Vanessa's blog, you must check it out. She is full of creativity! I am truly honored to have been chosen to have a blog with substance.

(The rules for accepting this award are...
•Thank the blogger who awarded it to you.
•Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience using five (5) words.
•Pass it on to 10 other blogs which you feel have real substance.)

5 words- Music, Fun, Smiles, Laughter, Learning...

10 blogs with REAL substance...
http://www.MusicMattersblog.com
http://www.susanparadis.com
http://laytonmusic.wordpress.com/
http://jenspianostudio.wordpress.com/
http://www.composecreate.com/
http://heidispianonotes.blogspot.com/
http://www.pianoped.com/
http://colorinmypiano.com/
http://melodypiano.blogspot.com/
http://lowepianostudio.blogspot.com/
http://thedanstarrpianoblog.blogspot.com/
Oops- that's 11... oh well! ;)

Jammin' In July 2010

2010-07-05T12:29:00.002-07:00

Don't forget- July is On Your Own Month!
Let’s have fun, make and accomplish musical goals and celebrate!

All students who accumulate a minimum of 20 points will earn
an invitation to an ice cream party! The more points you earn the more ice cream and toppings!

20 points- 2 scoops of ice cream + 1 topping
25 points- 3 scoops of ice cream + 1 topping
30 points- 3 scoops of ice cream + 2 toppings
35 points- 3 scoops of ice cream + 3 toppings
40 points- 4 scoops of ice cream + 4 toppings

*Play a MusicLearningCommunity.com Game- 2 points for each individual game
(Play games that are in your current level or above. I prefer you play games you
haven’t done yet if possible. This is a time to challenge yourself!
You must reach the target score to receive the 2 points.)

*Learn new pieces On Your Own- 3 points each piece
(Hint: Learning new pieces on your own isn’t simply sight-reading.
You want the pieces to be to a point where you can pass them off.)

*Complete a Musical Project- 5 points each
Compose a song
Create a Rhythm Ostinato
Create a musical game
Complete and earn 5 new music badges
Learn every piece in a new piano fun book

**Have a different project in mind? Email me for approval

Make sure you print out the sheet to keep track of everything on the summer newsletter.

Summer Music Fun!

2010-06-24T12:55:00.005-07:00

This summer we had a lot of fun here at Foxx Piano Studio. You will see the following posts for each class: You're the Star, Musical Stories and Suites and Together in Rhythym there was something for everyone to enjoy including Keyboard Kids, an intro to piano class!

(Practicing stepping and skipping with puddles and sticks!)

You're the Star!

2010-06-24T12:38:00.005-07:00

This year I thought it would be fun for students to record a CD. We started with their photo shoot for their CD cover and inside label. Then students had to choose and prepare their top 10 favorites to record. We then went into the studio and recorded their CD. After we did the basic recording we chose a few to add some fun instruments and sounds to give some of the pieces a little more shine. This was a very exciting process for both me and the students that participated! Everyone did a great job.

Musical Stories and Suites

2010-06-24T12:24:00.005-07:00

Listen my students and take your seats, we’re going to have fun with “Musical Stories and Suites”! Come meet Billy the Kid, Mother Goose and Peter and the Wolf!
Students in this class learned about composers of these musical suites, actively listened to the original stories and music, learned about the orchestra and their instruments and discovered how music and imagination plays an important role in these stories.

Together in Rhythm

2010-06-24T10:02:00.011-07:00

One of the classes I was really excited about this year was Together in Rhythm. First, I love rhythm activities and second I wanted to do a drum circle on our second day where students can invite their friends and have pure rhythm fun.

The first day we did a lot of games and activities with rhythm notation.

We started out with a Rhythm "Treasure" Hunt where students went around to different "islands" and created a rhythm ostinato representing that island. At the end of the hunt they performed their 9 island ostinato for the rest of the class which earned them the chance to find the treasure.

The second day we had a drum circle and played a lot of games and activities in the drum circle. Some favorites were Rumble Ball, Echo Me (on the big drum), Forbidden Rhythm and Rhythm Detective. Students even made their own drum called the Domroo which was great for doing a rhythm wave activity.

Keyboard Kids

2010-06-24T09:45:00.004-07:00

Keyboard Kids is an intro to piano class where students learn the basics of playing the piano. They walk away from the class learning several pieces getting a jump start on their piano experience. Lots of fun!

Piano Team Pizza Party

2010-05-31T17:58:00.003-07:00

Celebrating their hard work this year, Piano Team came over for a Pizza/Wii Party!

PaRtY TiMe!

2010-05-23T12:43:00.006-07:00

Celebrating hard work this year, watching the recital, playing games, sharing music, enjoying goodies- fun for all...

A good friend of mine made this cute treats that I gave to my students. Inside was some candy for them. The great thing about these is they can reuse them as a little music themed box for whatever little trinkets that want to keep in them.

Piano Olympics Spring Recital and Awards Ceremony

2010-05-19T11:12:00.002-07:00

Saturday, May 15th was the Piano Olympics Spring Recital and Awards Ceremony. What started out with a humorous incident at the beginning(the pedal fell of the piano!) turned into a morning of enjoyment listening to performances representing the Olympics and 16 different countries. Great job everyone!

Keyboard Festival 2010

2010-03-11T09:12:00.013-07:00

Keyboard Festival was on Saturday, March 6th. The theme was "I Got the Music In Me!" 29 students performed pieces with a midi background accompaniment for family and friends. Afterwards a participants name was drawn for a gift bag prize that had some musical goodies inside. All the students recieved a certificate and music dog tag for their participation and hard work. Cookies and lemonade were enjoyed when it was all done. It was a fun day for all.

Our Performers...

Families, Friends and Fun...

Gift Bag Drawing Winners...

Enjoying cookies and lemonade...

2010 PMTA Ensemble

2010-03-11T08:56:00.008-07:00

On February 27th was the 58th Annual PMTA Ensemble event held at Camelback High School. 13 Grand Piano's were provided by Steinway of Phoenix. Five students from our studio participated in this awesome event. Caitlin, Katarina and Jason performed Heart and Soul and McKenna and Juan performed Lion Hunt. Congratulations on a great job!

Tuning the piano's before the big event...

Waiting to get in...

Almost time to start...

Going on a Lion Hunt...

Performing Heart and Soul...

Group Lessons- Piano Olympic Fun

2010-02-22T10:18:00.004-07:00

This quarter for group lessons I wanted students to share their Keyboard Festival piece (or if they weren't participating, a piece of their choice). So we played Musical Truth, Dare or Perform. Everyone had a chance to perform in the end. If they got Truth they had to answer a question like, how many days did you practice this week or what's your favorite thing about lessons? Or a some dares might be play a piece kneeling down, play a piece while sticking out your tongue or you are a conductor, lead everyone in a March. If they chose Perform they played their prepared piece. It was a lot of fun!

Afterwards students played some Musical basketball, answering theory questions in their level before trying to make a basket for an extra point. Making a basket was a lot harder then they thought it would be, with the exception of McKenna who astounding everyone but making a basket every time!

Music at the Mall

2010-01-01T16:11:00.006-07:00

December 12th was our yearly Music at the Mall event at Metrocenter. Students performed a couple Christmas pieces for family, friends and shoppers a like. Music at the Mall is a great way to ring in that holiday spirit!

Christmas Camp 2009

2009-12-11T10:55:00.007-07:00

This year our theme for Christmas camp was "Piano Olympics over the Holidays". Students worked on events such as Tempo Aerobics learning various tempo's, rhythm activities including Tic Tac Total doing some musical math and Rhythm Races for some fun rhythm dictation. Some of the events were pretty challenging. They reviewed and learned music vocabulary words, ear training and more! For a little break between events, students made a Piano Olympic ornament and designed their own medal. The end of each evening students shared a Christmas piece they have been working on.

Shadow our studio mascot- protecting everyone's music bags...

Ice Cream Party

2009-10-30T07:39:00.009-07:00

Congratulations to all the students who qualified to attend the Jammin' In July Ice Cream Party Thursday!

Jason, Shakki, Allison, Caitlin, Emily and Alissa
(Not Pictured: Ireland, Ivana, Kenna and Nora)

Building and enjoying their ice cream creations...

Playing games and music...

Group Lessons- Piano Olympics (Opening Ceremony)

2009-10-29T11:20:00.009-07:00

Piano Olympics is officially here! Our theme for this year is Piano Olympics. I hold Piano Olympics in my studio every four years. Students gathered for our "Opening Ceremony" over the last couple days and learned what they will be doing for Piano Olympics this year. They each received a workbook that lists the events they can choose, has an Arizona Torch run map so they can visually see how close they are go getting to each medal level and activities they will be doing periodically.

At our group lesson we did a couple activities in the workbook first. The students learned about Olympic symbol- the color and meaning of the 5 olympic rings. They were then given the chance to create their own Olympic symbol keeping Piano Olympics and music in mind. After that, each student came up and wrote down their own Olympic oath.

After we completed a couple activities in their Piano Olympic workbook, we played a couple music Olympic games. Rhythmic Badminton was by far the highlight! To play Rhythmic Badminton students had to hit a ballooon with a fly swatter back and forth to their opponent. Now that in itself sounds easy, but when you add that they need to do this on the 1st beat of each measure when the music is playing makes this task so much harder. So while I played (and sometimes had the piano play for me so I can take some pics) students had to count carefully to make sure they didn't hit the balloon on the wrong beat.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

Halloween Festival 2009

2009-10-25T10:57:00.035-07:00

On Friday, October 23rd, students from all over the west valley gathered together dressed as vampires, pirates, skeletons, basketball stars, movie and video game characters and more to perform their Halloween pieces for family and friends! Even a few mom’s this year joined in on the fun. A fun pass along game was played through the night, with goodies galore to enjoy! A spooktacular night for all!

Hosting the Halloween Festival... The Queen of Hearts

Allison is our winner for the guess how many candy in the jar game. Congrats and enjoy the candy!

Our best winkers, their families are the winners of the pass along game.

More performers...

Fun and Goodies...

Jammin' In July

2009-06-29T18:45:00.004-07:00

Don't forget- July is On Your Own Month!
Let’s have fun, make and accomplish musical goals and celebrate!

All students who accumulate a minimum of 20 points will earn
an invitation to an ice cream party! The more points you earn the more ice cream and toppings!

20 points- 2 scoops of ice cream + 1 topping
25 points- 3 scoops of ice cream + 1 topping
30 points- 3 scoops of ice cream + 2 toppings
35 points- 3 scoops of ice cream + 3 toppings
40 points- 4 scoops of ice cream + 4 toppings

*Play a MusicLearningCommunity.com Game- 2 points for each individual game
(Play games that are in your current level. I prefer you play games you
haven’t done yet if possible. This is a time to challenge yourself!
You must reach the target score to receive the 2 points.)

*Learn new pieces On Your Own- 3 points each piece
(Learning new pieces on your own isn’t simply sight-reading.
You want the pieces to be to a point where you can pass them off.)

*Complete a Project from one of your classes- 5 points each
Project Examples:

Imagination is Key- Create a Sound Story, Practice 3 improvisation activities learned in class, Create a story to go along with a written piece you are learning.

Red, White and Blue Rocks- Play your Pentascales around the Circle of Fifth’s or Compose a Patriotic Anthem at home, memorize a patriotic anthem or piece.

Accompanying Basics- Accompany someone either singing or playing along with another instrument, try conducting and have someone follow you.

Keyboard Kids- Polish all the pieces in your book and share 3 with your teacher when you return.

Come up with your own musical project and share it with your teacher! (Give me a head’s up what you are planning on doing before you do it)

Make sure you print out the sheet to keep track of everything on the summer newsletter.

Summer Workshop Fun

2009-06-29T17:21:00.010-07:00

This has been a fun filled month full of learning and making music! I thought I would share some pictures from some of the workshops that were held this summer. (I apologize as I didn't always remember to take pictures at each class.)

The first class was our Accompanying Basics class. Students learned how to accompany, whether it was a choir, with other instruments or someone performing a solo with accompanied background. They learned about appropriate stage presence and had also learned the basic techniques of how to conduct in addition how to follow a conductor.

Red, White and Blue Rocks! In this class students learned about two patriotic composers- John Philp Sousa and Francis Scott Key. We had a little bit of Star Spangled fun, made studio flags and each student composed their own Studio Anthem.

Imagination is Key. The first day of this class students learned all about the piano. How it was made, who invented it (Christofori), I even opened up my piano to show them the inside and how it all worked. They reviewed the things they learned on their first day by playing Piano Baseball and concluded by making an origami piano project.

The next couple days students focused on improvisation and imagination. We did several improvisation activities, created sound stories, learned how to apply Story, Color, Character and Imagery in their music.

Piano Team Preview class was a weekly class where students learned four different ensemble pieces over 3 weeks and on the last week recorded a CD to take home. This is a great class to get a feel for what Piano Team during the year is like.

Last but certainly not least is Keyboard Kids. This is a great group of kids getting a jump start in their piano lessons. In this class students learn the music basics and go home knowing how to play several pieces. We have a lot of fun playing musical games, making music and friends.

ASMTA Conference

2009-06-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to present at the Arizona State Music Teachers Association Conference on June 5th. My presentation topic was "Practical Technology Tools for the Music Studio" and focused on the practical tools used in the music studio and what teachers can do with them in addition to setting up a music lab. It was a successful presentaion and I enjoyed the experience. Here are some pictures of me giving my presentation. (Thanks Angie!)

Here is my conference badge and a picture of me waiting for my presentation to begin...

Me presenting...

Homeschool in the Woods Composer Activity Kit

2009-06-01T11:25:00.002-07:00

I just found out about this really cool downloadable kit from Homeschool in the Woodes. It's a composer kit that introduces 42 different composers. It looks like a great and fun resource. What a fun summer project this would be for students!
http://learning-by-living.blogspot.com/2009/05/homeschool-in-woods-contest.html

Lowe Piano Studio blog is giving one away...
http://lowepianostudio.blogspot.com/2009/06/giveaway-composers-activity-pak.html

Congratulations Student of the Year!

2009-05-31T11:24:00.004-07:00

Caitlin Gilmore is the 2009 Student of the Year. Caitlin started piano lessons a little over 1 1/2 years ago. She always has a postive attitude and a sweet smile when she walks in the door to lessons. Caitlin has unbelievable enthusiasm when she comes to lessons every week. She alwasy puts 110% in everything she does.

Caitlin is a great example of what can happen when you put in the time, effort and positive attitude. Congratulations Caitlin!

Here is a video clip of Caitlin playing her recital piece, Arabesque by Burgmuller at lessons.

Spring Recital Fun 09'

2009-05-21T15:12:00.006-07:00

Saturday, May 16th students performed at TheaterWorks/Peoria Performing Arts Center at 10:00am. The theme was The Great Composers; Traveling through Time. The recital rehearsals days before were a great chance for everyone to run through their pieces and get ready for the day. Everyone performed well. Afterwards students were presented with awards that they had earned throughout the year.

The following week we celebrated everyone's hard work at the recital with a birthday party for Bach. The program that students worked on this year was "Bach's Birthday Party". The story goes: One of Bach's sons threw Bach a birthday party and invited composers throughout the different time periods to attend. When it was time to have the orchestra play the Happy Birthday song, somebody stole the notes. Students were then invited to solve the mystery and earn clues by doing musical tasks (ie: memorize a song...).

At the party we played Stick the Sticker on Bach's Nose (aka pin the tail on the donkey), Hot Bach (aka Hot Potato), went through a Bach time capsule, had cake and ice cream of course, watched recital performances and played Piano Bingo. A fun way to end the year!

Recital Prep

2009-05-09T16:36:00.004-07:00

The big day is coming! This week at lessons students video recorded their pieces and we evaluated them together as individual student and teacher to check and see where they were at and if they were ready for the recital. It was a good learning experience overall. Videotaping or audio recording is always a good way to check yourself and see how you are doing. A lot of times when we play, we don't realize a lot of what might be missing or mistakes that are made. It isn't until we step out of the box and listen that we really see/hear.

Way To Go!

2009-03-31T14:23:00.004-07:00

Great job Studio Festival participants- Kenzie, Kellie Ellen, Jake, Juan, Katarina, Nicki, Shakki,Caitlin, Jason, Chloe and Tyler! Everyone did a great job on their pieces Saturday. I am looking forward in going through your evaluations with you this week. Well done.

Keyboard Festival

2009-03-07T12:14:00.004-07:00

Congratulations to all the Keyboard Festival performers! Everyone did a great job!
Students performed at Palm Valley Theater in Goodyear playing on Yamaha keyboards. They played along with a background accompaniment with their piece. Congrats also to Michael who was a winner for our big prize drawing! I hope everyone had a great time!
(Click on the picture to see it bigger)

PMTA Ensemble Concert

2009-02-25T11:07:00.005-07:00

Congratulations Caitlin, Chloe, Irleand, Katarina, Jason and Logan for a job well done performing Wild Dance. They performed along side with 15 other performers on stage. Great Job!!!

Here's a picture of them waiting in the back pods before the concert begins.

And a picture of them performing.

(To see a sample of what the PMTA ensemble is go to: http://www.canyoncreekmedia.com/images/recital.wmv)

Group Lessons

2009-02-25T10:51:00.005-07:00

This month our group lesson was on Theme and Variations. We listened and reviewed Haydn's "Suprise" Symphony No. 94. Haydn is one of the composers we are learning about this year.

Students also took part playing in a percussion ensemble with the Suprise Symphony theme. We listened to the different variations inside the theme and figured out what made the variation. (Dynamics, tempo, rhythm, etc...) Afterwards we played a music trivia board game that Katarina made for her Creative Project for Keyboard Gymnastics.

Ensemble Practice

2009-02-06T08:48:00.002-07:00

Great job for all those who are participating in the Ensemble playing Wild Dance last night! You survived the first practice. Yeah! Keep up the good work. Only two more practices, one dress rehearsal to go and then it's the big day!

Keyboard Gymnastics Ensemble Event

2009-01-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

Here is the Secret Agent group performing...

Keyboard Gymnastics Ensemble Event

2009-01-19T11:19:00.001-07:00

Here are the videos from the Ensemble event. (For some reason they didn't download earlier.)

Piano Team

2009-01-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

This year I added Piano Team to the studio. Piano Team is a group of students who meet once a week in addition to their regular piano lessons, working together and creating music as a team. This last Saturday they performed at the Keyboard Gymnastics Ensemble Event at Steinway of Phoenix in Scottsdale. Here are some clips of rehearsal at the and then their performance at the event. As you can see they have a lot of fun!

Secret Agent- Emily, Jason and Logan
Pirate Ship- Tyler, Ireland, Katarina and Chloe

Piano Fun

2009-01-19T08:33:00.002-07:00

Well, I decided to finally enter the blogging world. I just set up a blog for my family and thought I would set up a blog for my piano studio. Here are pictures of my new piano lab room! My brother in law, Ethan did the mural.