Picture Scales

I’m trying to post everything that is on my website here, because it is easier to organize material into categories on this blog. I originally made these Five Finger Major Picture Scales for a very young student who was having some trouble reading notes. It was so long ago I can’t even remember who I made it for, but it is one of the most popular downloads on my web site. You can print out just one page or the whole set.  The Minor Five Finger Picture Scales  are also posted on my website,  www.susanparadis.com.

I am a very big fan of learning all the major and minor 5-finger positions because it helps piano students in so many ways: hand position, transposition, theory, ear training; the list goes on and on. I always teach them in the circle of 5ths because later it helps with the theory. After we learn the 5-finger scales we learn cross over arpeggios in all the major and minor keys. Young students love how “big” they sound when they can do that.

Rhythm Pizza

This makes me really hungry for a New York cheese pizza. I had the best one on Long Island about a zillion years ago when our choir was on tour. It was so good it didn’t need toppings. But this isn’t a food blog, so I’ll discuss the four pages of Rhythm Pizza.

Do you ever have to explain 8th notes to a young student who hasn’t learned fractions yet? Sometimes I have to give a short math lesson before the students gets it. From my Kodaly training I know that all I need to teach is that an 8th is two sounds on the beat, but sometimes that isn’t enough for students, especially if they are planning on taking the 4th grade of the *Texas State Theory Test*.  Students may have a little trouble understanding why an eighth is shorter than a quarter. 

I think the Rhythm Pizza is a fun way to explain it. You can cut out all the pizzas. Then cut out halves, quarters, and eighths on the black lines. First you  place the halves over the whole pizza. Then the quarters over that, and finish with the eighths.  You can tell a story about how you thought you were going to eat the whole thing, and then people show up and you have to divide it into halves for 2 friends, then quarters for 4 friends, and then eighths. Or you can give the pieces to the student to put together to make 3 puzzles.  Maybe you don’t want to cut it up, but just show the student.

If you can think of any other ways to use this, post it here. And if takes too long to download these 4 PDF pages, let me know and I post them separately.

Keeping Your Materials Together

If you are like me, you collect all kinds of helpful teaching items from the web, workshops, and other teachers. It can start to pile up and if it’s not organized I tend to forget about it. To help keep it useful here is what I do.

I print out everything that interests me and I write the web address on it if it is something I may want to print more of later. I put it in a sheet protector, bottom left in the picture above, and then a binder with a cover I made.  My cover says ”Making Piano Fun”, top left. Once your binder starts getting large, get some subject dividers and put your material into categories.

If it’s something I need to cut up, I keep one copy intact and cut up another copy and put in the same sheet protector. Once something is cut up, after a few months I sometimes forget what it is!

I used to use file folders for my stuff, but I find sheet protectors and binders are so much easier to find things. Be sure to buy sheet protectors that don’t require you to put holes in your worksheets and buy them in bulk because they are a lot less expensive that way.

On the top right you see my trusty paper cutter. I don’t know what I would do without it because I use it all the time. It’s very old and I don’t think my brand is available any more, but I have seen them for a reasonable price at Sam’s. If you use a lot of home made material, a paper cutter is very handy, especially if you have a lot of students like me. All my notices and reminders are done 2 to a page so the paper cutter has saved me a lot of paper over the years.

On the paper cutter there is a roll of clear adhesive book cover that I bought at Office Depot. I find it easier than clear contact paper that I used when I taught school before laminating machines were available. But check around because sometimes teacher supply stores will offer good deals on laminating. I don’t laminate everything because it is not necessary.

Also on the paper cutter are colored glass drops that I use for game tokens. I bought them at a store that sells marbles for 15 cents each. For bingo games you need to either make tokens yourself by cutting out paper, which is easy if you have a paper cutter, or check around and see if you can find some little plastic discs. I found some on a web site for a very reasonable price.

On the bottom right is a good quality card stock that really makes my graphics pop out. I also use 32 lb. paper for some things because it is cheaper than card stock but holds up better than 24 pound paper. Twenty pound paper is just too light weight for all the color I use in my games.

I’m sure I’ve left off something, but if you have games and worksheets on every surface of your teaching area, this might get you started organizing it. If anyone would like me to post cover to use with your binder, let me know and I will.

The Music Alphabet

I made this work sheet so students can arrange the music alphabet starting at any note, going forwards and backwards. Younger students, especially, have trouble going backwards, and yet it is important that they know what is a step below a given note. There are many ways to use these cards, so be creative and let me know your ideas! Music Alphabet

Shooting Star and Chasing the Moon

I wrote these pieces for two different boys in my studio. Shooting Star has been very well received because it is easy to play fast. Chasing the Moon is easier, and students like it because it sounds harder than it is.  I woke up in the middle of the night with this entire piece in my head and quickly went to my computer and wrote it out in a few minutes. Usually I work on pieces much longer, but this one came so easy.  I like to discuss how I construct pieces with my students. It makes theory come alive for them. And then they try to write music for themselves! 

These two pieces came from  a series of late elementary pieces I wrote for a book called Solar Solos that I no longer have on my web site.

Cover the Keys Game

I put Cover the Keys on my web site a few months ago. This is a Bingo type game that you can play with one or more students. I made this game for students who are just starting piano and are learning the keys on the piano. Someone calls out a keyboard letter and if the student has it on his game board, he covers it. For tokens you can cut out little squares of paper. One time I printed on card stock a page of different colored squares that I could cut out and use as game pieces. Squares are so much easier to cut out than circles. Also, I have a paper cutter that made it very easy.  Or you can save milk jug lids to use with this game.If you email parents and ask them to send you lids, you will soon have all you need. Recently I found some pretty little flat stones for a very reasonable price that I plan to use with some of my games.

Counting up the Mountain

Counting Up the Mountain is a game for students who are just learning the rhythmic value of whole, dotted half, half, and quarter notes in 4/4 time. The teacher holds up a card or the student draws a card and moves 4 places for whole notes, 3 places for dotted half, and so on. It’s a quick game the teacher or parent can play with the student or several beginners can play together. As I said on my website, you can make up a lot of ways to play this game. If you want to use my cards, they are on the website right below the game.

Water Lilies

One of my older beginners liked Windsong so much, she wondered if I would write another piece like it. So I wrote Water Lilies and I am happy that she did like it. If you have never written a piece for your students, try it. Students really like having a piece written just for them.

Rhythm in the Grid

This morning I posted Rhythm in the Grid. It is a way to explain 16th note counting. I made this “pre-computers” years ago and it has been helpful with some students over the years. Recently I did it again and I liked the results so much I decided to share it with other teachers. I hope someone finds it useful. If anyone wants me to make one for younger students, let me know.

I also posted a different piece from Sunny Solos.

Rhythm Circle

I made Rhythm Circle years ago, but I recently polished it up with new colors, so I thought I’d post it.

Every now and then a student will have  trouble seeing the relationship between notes. I have made several worksheets to help with this. Sometimes I tell them it’s like a big pizza that we’re going to cut into pieces. If they don’t understand the circle worksheet, I also have one that is a triangle, and another one that puts the rhythms in a grid. I’ll post the others later.

If there is a teacher who would like an easier version of this rhythm circle with only eighth or quarter notes, just let me know and I’ll add it.

Roses in the Springtime

Roses in the Springtime is a short song I wrote to go into my book More Sunny Solos.  When I wrote it, I was thinking about my mother’s garden when I was a little girl. It was a wonderland of beautiful colors. I’ve always wanted a garden like that.

Midnight Snack

The more music students play in different positions, the better they become at sight reading. Well, that’s my theory. When students freak out, just remind them to follow the steps and skips. Once they do this and don’t think about individual notes, they sound more musical and less mechanical. In my own teaching, however, I have found that if students learn pentascales in all positions, they take to learning pieces in different positions with ease.        Midnight Snack

Sometimes I ask students to play the A section of this piece in a major key and then think of a new name. This is one way to get students composing.

Windsong

I wrote this piece for one of my older beginners. I wanted a piece she could play successfully, yet with expression.  If a piece is technically difficult, a student cannot relax enough to add musicality to the music. It is difficult to write a piece that uses only a few notes, simple rhythms, yet still sounds interesting. Since this student was older, I was able to change positions a few times to add a little interest to the melody. She loved the pedal at the end. Another student liked this piece so much she wanted another one like it, so I wrote one for her. I’ll post it if I ever get a cover made!  

When I play this piece I think of a beautiful day with a soft gentle breeze. When I was a little girl I used to lay out in the grass and watch the clouds on a day like this. Windsong

Keyboard Puzzle

I will have a few new students in the fall, so I have been making some things I can use at the first lesson. I think I might use this Keyboard Puzzle with young beginners. If I cut it out along the lines of the colors, even a 4 year old can do it at the first lesson. And if I cut it into smaller puzzle pieces, I can use it with older students. The only problem with this graphic is that it uses a lot of ink. But if I laminate it, maybe it will last a while.

Last year my husband bought some clear book covers in the back to school section of Wal-Mart called Book Covers, Etc.  They make great do it yourself laminating sheets.

Make a Keyboard

I designed this for those of us who will have young beginners in the fall. There are many ways to use my new new keyboard. The simplest way to use it is to call it  puzzle and let students put it together. Often we assume students know more than they do. Even when they have circled groups of 2 and 3 black keys,  sometimes they don’t know how the black keys line up on the white. 

You can buy some easy to use laminating sheets to use before you cut out the keys. It makes it a lot easier and they will last longer. I lined up all the keys to make it easy to cut it out with a paper cutter, if you have one.

Attack of the Space Trombones

I love the sound of brass instruments and one day I had a trombone sound in my head. I quickly wrote out this piece, with one of my students in mind. Thank goodness he liked it, and his mom told me he played it all the time. He was in Piano Adventures 3A, to give you an idea of the level.

Attack of the Space Trombones

Step Skipping Game

I posted a new game on my web site today. It’s called the Step Skipping Game and the objective is for students to quickly learn to identify steps and skips on the staff. The cards that go along with the game can also be used as step, skip, and repeat flash cards.

I had fun making this game. I only used 2 colors, blue and green, but I think the students will like it. I have blue and green markers for the students to circle steps and skips in their music.

I found some blue and green iridescent stones to use as game pieces and I’m going to put some glitter on the game board with my glitter pens.

There are other ways to play this game. One way is to use musical alphabet cards, am I have posted several of those on my website. You can also use it for ear training and play steps and skips.

My New Blog

Welcome to my blog where we can discuss  piano teaching pieces and resources.