Five Fun Finds at The Bandroom

I found the cutest things at The Bandroom last week, and I took pictures to show you.

1. Music Note Teacher. This nifty laminated manipulative features a movable quarter note for drilling note-reading. The reverse side has a movable note as well and shows the note names, so work with that side until you are ready to fly solo. It comes in lime green, yellow,  pink, purple, and white.

Here's the reverse side:

 

2. Handmade Musical Note Cards. These unique cards are made locally by music teacher, Diane Milan.

 Even the envelopes are adorable:

 

3. Without Music Life Would B-flat Pillow. I think I need this.

4. Piano Keys Hors d'oevres Tray. When I was in the store, I told the lovely proprietor, Naomi Bolling, that my friend Donna would swoon for this tray. Naomi said, "She's already bought one."

 

5. Sophisticated Music Bags. These are not your typical piano bags. They are understated, substantially-constructed, leather-ish, and chic. 

The Bandroom is located at 4212 Brambleton Avenue, SW, Roanoke, VA 24018. Their phone number is 540-989-8777.

Book Review: 101 Piano Practice Tips by Tracy Capps Selle

101 Piano Practice Tips is an ebook, meaning you must purchase it to read on a computer, tablet, or smartphone (not a paper book). It is sold at amazon.com for $2.99.

Here is a book that you can read quickly from start to finish. However, I recommend that you consult the table of contents and go directly to the tips which will apply most to your pianist's situation. The chapters are:

1. The Top Ten Things You Can Do Right Now
2. Create a Great Environment
3. Make a Plan
4. Attitude is Everything
5. How to Encourage More Practice
6. How to Encourage Good Quality Practice
7. Make it Fun: Accountability
8. Find Opportunities for Your Child to Perform
9. How to Help Older Students
10. All Practice Does Not Need to be at the Piano
11. Things to Remember
12. Tips from Kids
13. Tips from Parents
14. Help! My Child Wants to Quit Piano Lessons

I have read the book and have found many fresh ideas that could help a number of my students tremendously. But this is a book that would do far more good in the hands of a caring parent or grandparent than it will with the piano teacher as the only reader. Parents and grandparents invest a great deal of money in piano lessons. The return on that investment is multiplied exponentially when a consistent practice routine is in place at home. Many adults have no idea how to encourage a child to practice piano. This book provides the help you need in language that non-musicians will easily understand and in very practical terms. Obviously, with 101 tips, there will be some that help your situation more than others. If you find just one tip that does the trick with your child, you will have not only gotten your money's worth from the purchase of the book, you will have increased the benefits you and your child receive from piano lessons.

This short book would be about 28 pages long if it were in paper format. It is a resource you can consult repeatedly and return to for fresh inspiration over the course of years during which your child studies piano.

Here are a few sample tips (shown here with permission from the author):

Number 17 - Once you know the weekly practice goal, you can come up with a plan. Perhaps your children could practice 20 minutes, 4 days a week. Or maybe 15 minutes, 5 days a week. Have your kids help! Remember, there's no wrong way to do this. Just set a goal and give your children some direction. Plus, they'll be much more likely to follow through if they helped create the practice schedule.

Number 29 - Rewards! All children are different, so spend some time thinking up a good reward designed with your child in mind. Perhaps you could offer a coupon to get out of a chore in exchange for an extra day of practice. Would your children like to earn more electronics time or maybe a sleepover with a friend? Believe it or not, I have one student who will memorize just about anything for a can of chicken noodle soup! Another student really likes our cats, so occasionally I'll reward her with a coupon to play with our cats for 10 minutes. The possibilities are endless and you could always ask your children for ideas, too!

Number 40 - Encourage your children to focus when they practice. Some kids are in such a rush to finish, they play incorrectly. A short, focused practice is much better than a longer one with no concentration.

Number 55 - What are you working to accomplish? Remember, your gift might not be playing music. At least let your child see you working on something. Crochet an afghan. Finish a woodworking project. Try a new recipe. Exercise a little more! Make a pact with your children that if both you and your kids accomplish your goals, then you all get to go out for frozen yogurt.

Number 65 - Teens don't like to be micromanaged, and yet they often need it! If your children are older, it might be time to work on transferring practice responsibility. A good way to accomplish this is to be "hands off" and still give them some subtle reminders. One idea is to take an index card and write the days of the week on it. Tell them that they need to practice 4 days that week and have them mark off the days when they practice. It's their responsibility to remember. Make sure you put the card in a place where your kids will see it every day. Maybe their desk, or tape it on the mirror in the bathroom. If they do this for a month or so with success, reward them! Most teens love iTunes gift cards.

* * *

There are 96 more tips in the book. I would love to think that all of my students have the sort of support at home that they need to succeed with and enjoy piano. Reading this book (and consulting it again and again as needed) is one way parents and grandparents can make that happen. I heartily recommend it.

The Piano School Masterclass

The Piano School will host its sixth annual masterclass for middle and high school students on Saturday, May 24, 2014, at 10:00 a.m., in Mrs. O'Brien's studio.

Students voted on the theme which will be Music from Movies, and Dr. Tracy Cowden from Virginia Tech will be our guest instructor.

Past themes and teachers were:
2009 - No theme (Dr. Tracy Cowden, Virginia Tech)
2010 - Amy Beach, American Composer (Dr. Lisa Withers, Emory and Henry)
2011 - Andrew Lloyd Webber (Dr. Lise Keiter, Mary Baldwin)
2012 - The Beatles (Kerry Morgievicz, Hollins University)
2013 - Disney Music (Dr. Brooke Dezio, Charlottesville)

This year's music selections are:
"Waltz for Peppy" from The Artist performed by Tess Drzymala
"Through the Eyes of Love" from Ice Castles performed by Urmila Bharathan
"Where Do I Begin?" from Love Story performed by Alisha Freitas
"Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miserables performed by Paris Eve Reinhard

Students may dress casually and should arrive by 9:55 a.m. The class will be over by 11:30 a.m.

Scenes from the 2013 Disney Masterclass

MTNA Studio Festival

The Piano School is hosting an MTNA Studio Festival on Saturday, May 3, 2014, with student appointment times between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The adjudicator for this year's festival is Mrs. Ashley W. Cundiff, a piano instructor at Ferrum College.

This festival provides an opportunity for students to play two prepared pieces for an adjudicator who will provide written feedback consisting of encouragement and suggestions.

Each appointment will last between 5 and 10 minutes, and students should check-in at the back door of Mrs. O'Brien's home 5 minutes prior to their appointment.

What to bring:
Music that the student will be playing. (Original, not photocopies) Although most students will be playing from memory, the judge must have music to view during the performance. The measures in the music should be numbered, and pages should be marked with a tab, paper clip, or post-it note.

What to wear:
Comfortable, neat clothing. There is no need to dress up for this festival; however, students should be tidy and clean.

What should parents do?
Parents are asked to remain in their cars while their children participate in the festival. This is so that the festival environment can be as quiet as possible for the benefit of student and judge.

How long will the festival take?
Each student will be at Mrs. O'Brien's home studio for as long as it takes to perform his/her two pieces plus the time of checking in and waiting to have music books returned. The total time is approximately 10-15 minutes.

Does the festival cost anything?
Each student's festival fee was paid with registration at the beginning of the school year. The festival fee covers the cost of hiring a qualified adjudicator as well as offsetting the expense of tuning the piano and purchasing medals to be presented to students at the Spring Recital.

Is the festival required?
Participation in one festival per year is required by Mrs. O'Brien. Students must either play in the VMTA Fall Festival in November or the MTNA Studio Festival in the Spring.

For more information about the MTNA Studio Festival program, please click here: http://www.mtna.org/programs/music-for-everyone/studio-festival-program/

Teacher Tutorial: Using MTH to allow students to schedule their own lessons

The following question was recently asked in a piano teachers' group page on facebook:

I volunteered to do a tutorial on how to set a scenario like this up on Music Teachers Helper. First, you would need to have an MTH account. If you have one, you'll be able to give this a try.

Let's suppose that during the month of June, we want to allow students to register for specific time slots that we wish to offer, but we want to let them handle this without us. The first thing we need to do is block out the dates on which we do not wish to teach.

1. Block dates when lessons not offered.

 

Your blocked out dates will appear shaded in pink.

2. Add your available lesson slots.

 In the "Add New Event" window, be sure to select options shown below.

 

Your event title and description could be anything you want them to be, but this is how I do it.

 

If you want to offer the same time slot on different days, you can save time by using the "repeat" function. Since I do not teach on Sunday, I selected the "weekly" repeat type and checked only the days on which I wanted this time slot to repeat. 

 

As you can see, the 12:30 time slot I added now appears on all of my non-blocked dates except Sundays. You would need to repeat step 2 for each different time of day you wish to offer. Personally, I think that's a drag, but MTH has notified me that they are working on offering more repeat options, such as "repeat every 30 minutes."

Step 3. Let your students know that you have posted available lesson times for June and they can be reserved on a first come first served basis.

From the student's account view, clicking on an available time will make this pop-up window appear.

When the student selects "Register" the following pop-up will appear.

 

Once they click "Submit Request" the lesson slot will be shown as "book closed" or not available. Other students will not be able to request that time slot.

You, the teacher, will then receive an email notification that a student has registered for one of your available time slots.

COMMENTS:
I have found this scheduling function to be very useful, particularly during the summer months. The only complaint I have is that if a student cancels a lesson online, it shows as canceled on the calendar until you manually go in and make it available again. I will probably send a suggestion to MTH now about that. They are generally very quick to solve problems and offer new options when suggested.

Please let me know if you have any questions that I haven't answered here. Hope this helps!