New Staff Paper for Student Compositions

Staff Paper for Student Compositions

Over the weekend I had a bunch of student compositions that I promised  I would engrave in Finale.  It took me a very long time as I shuffled through different size copies that I could barely read. Some didn’t have student names and I had to guess who they belonged to.  As I was working, I reminded myself that a few things would help make it easier:

1. Write their name, date, and the title of their piece on each page.
2. Number each page.
3. Always give their piece some sort of title.
4. Remind  students to always number their measures.
5. Staple their pages together so they won’t get lost.
6. Use pencil, but go over it with a darker pencil so I can read it and photocopy it.

It was at this point that I decided to make some new staff paper for them with a grand staff, bar lines, the measures numbered, and a place for their name, title, and date. I posted it here in case other teachers are interested. Perhaps some of the other web sites on my blog roll have paper like this, and I have to admit I forgot to check. I was working in Finale at the time and this just popped right out!

I’m going to try this out with my students and see how it goes. Over time, if I see some changes that need to be made, I’ll revise it.

There are actually two pages to this PDF. If you don’t want the measures written in, but still want the grand staff, print only the second page.  I also made another set exactly like this with a larger staff for younger children. For those of you who want plain, ordinary blank staff paper, I have previously posted several sizes, so do a search to print out what you want.

Colorful Paper Keyboards

Colorful Paper Keyboards

There are so many different things to do with a paper keyboard. There is something different about working away from the piano. Sometimes students freeze up at the piano and can’t even find middle C. I think it has something to do with performance anxiety, since the piano is usually used at the lesson to perform for the teacher. But away from the piano, our students are usually more relaxed. So a paper keyboard is a good tool to work on names of the keys.

There are other uses for a paper keyboard. You can use them at group lessons when you don’t have a real keyboard for students to use. Your students can “play” along with you or another student who is at the piano. Then students can take turns coming up and playing the same thing on your piano. They can practice 5-finger patterns, ostinati, simple duets, ensembles, and intervals, for example.

A paper keyboard can also be used to play games. I don’t have time today to list all the games I’ve played on a paper keyboard, but I hope to have time soon. 

I have made some black and white keyboards in the past, but the one I am posting today have the black key groups in color. I got the idea from a pre-school student who had some trouble keeping up with the other children in a game. By using a color to help her identify her position, she relaxed and was able to do just fine.

I like to make enough keyboards to use at a group lesson. Be sure and set your printer to landscape format. Then laminate, cut on the lines, trim next the the second group of three, and tape the two parts together so that it will fold easily for storage in a pocket folder. I use wide, clear strapping tape because regular tape will split at the fold after a few uses.  Place the first group of three on the left before you tape it, and your keyboard will have middle C in the middle!

Jewel Notes

Jewel Notes

 I like to use a variety of seasonal grand staves in private and group lessons for dictation,  learning note names, steps and skips, etc.

Recently my husband presented me with these stones he found. My husband is not a musician, but he loves all my games and is always trying to help me think of new ones.  I was so excited to get these stones because I love the color and they feel so good in the hand. I promptly made this staff and called it Jewel Notes. The stones are flat on the bottom and sit very nicely on the paper.

I used it in various ways with my group lessons. With one group I played a short group of notes that were stepping,  skipping, and repeating and the students took dictation using the stones. For older groups I made the dictation more difficult.  With another group I had students come and play a short pattern and the students wrote it with their stones. My students shared my enthusiasm for the stones!

There are hundreds of ways to use a grand staff, because, after all, if you don’t understand the staff, you can’t read music. You can use this to find landmark notes, learn the name of notes,  take music dictation, and even just to learn lines and spaces. It can be used with beginners to high school students. This is a great way to review for the ear-training portion of the Texas State Theory Test.

If you want to use this, print it in landscape and laminate it. If you don’t have any little glass stones, make some with construction paper or find something creative. I think it would be fun to have different colors of “jewels” and let the students choose.

On my website I have grand staves for various holidays as well as a plain black one. The idea is you can use seasonal items, such as candy, for your notes. This one doesn’t look much like October, but there is one on my website that is orange and you can use Candy Corn as the notes.

Invert These Triads

Invert These Triads!

Now that your students have used  my funny posters to learn how  to invert triads,  they need a worksheet to try it themselves. I agreed, plus I love to draw these things. I am very attached to my NoteBoys™, although, I have to admit some of my younger students don’t “get” it. My middle school and older students love them.

I suggest you laminate this worksheet so students can practice drawing more than once. Younger students or students who have difficulty with the concept can use colored dry erase markers. I found a nice set with felt erasers at WalMart.

What are some of the more difficult music theory concepts that the NoteBoys can help by using humor to get the idea across to students? Send me an email if you have any ideas. Thanks to Wendy at Compose/Create for this idea!

Inverting triads in the bass clef

Inverting Triads in the Bass Clef 

Back in March I posted a humorous poster to teach students how to invert triads.  If we use color, we find that students understand the concept a lot better because they can see the notes move up and can understand inversions better.  I like to use humor  because when students later “forget”, and they usually do, I remind them about the NoteBoys  and  it all comes back to them. When they have a piece with inversions and are having trouble, I pull out these posters.  Also they have to learn inversions for the Texas Theory Test and these help with that, too.  

 Wendy, from ComposeCreate , suggested I post another design in the same series with the triads in the bass clef. If you use both posters with a student, you can show them how the fingering is different in each clef. You can ask the students to write in the fingering on each post and they are more likely to remember it.

In my studio, these posters are laminated and are sometimes on the table so the students can read them while they wait. This way they sometimes they learn about inversions before I formally introduce them. I also have some fine point dry erase markers and ask the students to write in the fingering. This way I don’t have to use so much printer ink and paper.  Besides, they look so nice when they are laminated.

You might have to try several dry erase markers to find one that erases well on your laminated sheets. I use some very inexpensive ones with little felt erasers that work perfectly.

 To print this new poster, click on the link under the picture above and when you get to the next window,  select download.

You can find the PDF for the March post here. Another poster in the series is here.

Ledger Line Flash Cards

 

Ledger Line Flash Cards

I still remember the day as a student when I counted down ledger lines to find a low bass note one time too many. After all, I had found the note the day before, but I couldn’t remember it. In disgust, I decided right then that I would memorize the bass and treble ledger line notes so well that I would never forget them. It was such a relief and I remember wondering why I didn’t do it earlier!

As a teacher I work with my beginning students using flash cards, worksheets and what have you,  and so many times assume my intermediate students will learn their ledger line notes on their own. From my own experience this does not always happen, so this year I am going to use these flash cards with my older students.

There are 3 pages for you to print. If you plan to use these regularly, be sure and laminate them in some way if you print them on a home printer. If you don’t, the ink will smear. Also, check to make sure your PDF document window shows that you are printing at 100% size. One day everything was printing out too small and I found that was the problem.

Many thanks to my friend Glenda who suggested I make these cards.

Rhythm Memory Game

Rhythm Memory Game

I am back from the TMTA convention and I have a lot of new ideas and music reviews to post. I’ll try to do that as I have time, but let me just say that I am very excited about some of new music I heard as well as new ideas for composing and improvising with our students. The Texas convention is 4 days long and it is huge because we are such a big state. 

I went to as many sessions as possible and one I went to was on teaching group lessons. Our presenter was Dr. Lesley Sisterhen McAllister and she had some great ideas for group lessons. Even if we teach private lessons, most of the teachers who read this blog also have groups at some point. One game she mentioned seemed like something my students would enjoy.  It is a memory game and she kindly gave me permission to post it here. I don’t know if I made it exactly like she makes hers, but here is my version for beginning students who have at least learned the basic notes and rests. There are no 8th notes so it can be played with young students.  

I made a PDF with 2 pages. You need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to print it.  Using sturdy card stock, print one side; turn your paper over and print the other side.  The program will allow you to specify which page you want to print. To print, click here on Rhythm Memory Game and when it opens, click “preview” and you can print it to enjoy with your students. Laminate it and cut on the dotted lines.

In case you do not know how to play Memory, here are the directions. Arrange the cards with the notes and numbers face down in a 4 X 4 grid. The object of the game is to match a note to its rhythm value in 4-4 meter. The first player turns over two cards. If the note and rhythm match he keeps the cards and plays again. If not, it is the other person’s turn. Play continues until all the cards are gone. The winner is the player with the most cards.

I think this will work in a private lesson, too, with the student either playing the game with you or alone. Personally I’m not very good with this type of  game but I think it is good to help with visual memory. I think I’ll practice before I play it with my students!

I always have teachers ask me how I make the graphics.  I drew these in PhotoShop using 3 layers. The hard part was getting the back and front pages lined up correctly.

Labels With Treble and Bass Staves

It has taken me a while to post these labels with bass and treble staves because of the size problem. They had to be big enough for students to read, yet small enough to print out on the same size label paper that I made for the keyboard labels. This is the final result. They are made for Avery Address Label #8160 and are 1″ x  2 5/8″. That’s not very space to put a staff!  

 Before you print them on your label paper, print them on regular paper and hold them up  under the label at a window with  strong sunlight to see if they line up correctly. When you get to my web site, click *preview* to print them out. If you print these out and they don’t fit, let me know and enough teachers have trouble, I’ll tweak them.

Staff Paper with 8 Staves

I’ve posted some  staff paper for my younger students that is big enough for their small hands but not too big for a grand staff. I left a little extra room at the top for a title.  As with all of my material, click preview to print.

Keyboard Labels to Write a Full One Octave Scale

Two Octave Keyboard Labels

I really have enjoyed using the keyboard pentascale labels I made a a few weeks ago. However, some of my readers  asked if I had thought about making two octave labels so they  could write out full scales. Click here to get to my website and then click preview to print.

At first I was afraid they would be too small for the size label I have, but after trying it out,  I think they are big enough to at least put dots on the keys. You might not be able to write in finger numbers. If you don’t want to buy 1″ X 2 5/8″ address labels, you can cut them out and tape them on your student’s assignment books. That is what I did when I first tried them out.

There is a wonderful 3M Scotch™ brand tape that is removable. It’s rather hard to find, and more expensive than regular tape, but I always keep some on hand. You can tape one of these little keyboards on their assignment book and the next week remove it and place it on a new page. If you do this, you won’t have to buy labels, and the tape is a lot less expesive than buying adress labels. The tape works like those little yellow sticky notes that teachers love so much. It is sold in either a roll that you have to put in your own dispenser, or sometimes I find it in a plastic dispenser like regular Scotch™ tape. I think I usually buy it at craft stores, and when I do I stock up. It lasts me a long time, because after all, you can move things around and use them over and over!

I made the octave labels in brighter colors than the pentascale labels to help from getting mixed up.  The pentascale labels can be found here.  If you have any questions about how to print out these lables, contact me!

Inverting Triads

I believe humor helps students learn, as well as making a subject that could be dry a lot more interesting. Such is the case with music theory.

Inverting Triads is another in my series of posters about triads. The little note people are back, and if your students saw the Mighty Dot poster they will recognize him in the corner rolling his eyes. At least in my mind that’s what he’s doing.

If you laminate this poster, students can write the note names with an erasable pen on each note to help them more fully understand the concept. Then you can erase and use it with the next student. This really saves on printing costs and keeps the student from stuffing it in his book bag and never seeing it again. I keep these posters on the table in my studio so students can take a look and maybe learn something before they are actually taught the concept. Don’t forget you can laminate with clear self adhesive covering.

If you haven’t seen my other humorous instructional sheets  similar to this, you can click Traveling Triads, Circle of Fifths, Whole and Half Rest ,  and the Meet Mighty Dot poster where Mighty Dot is introduced. 

Enjoy!

Game Board for Measure Mania

measure-maniagameboard_green   

You really don’t need a game board to play Measure Mania, but if you want one, you can print it out if you click the link above.   I thought it would be more interesting for the students if they had some lines to put their cards on, and this it what it turned into. This game board is not on my website, so print it from here if you’re interested. They can put each beat on one line, as my student did in the picture in my last post. I have 6 lines, in case you want to play the game with 6/8 time.

 If you didn’t see my last post with the cards and directions for this game, you can print out the little cards and the directions here. This is a game for students who have a fairly good knowledge of dotted eighth and sixteenth notes.

Below are two different game boards that students have been playing on. I had to decide if I wanted to post the green or the blue. I decided on the green because it matches the wild card better. 

Measure Mania

Measure Mania is a game to reinforce sixteenth notes and dotted eighth notes. I made it for my students who are studying for the Texas State Theory Test, but I think it will be an interesting way for any teacher to make sure her students understand the concept. This game  is meant to be played with students who have a fairly good understanding of dotted eighth notes.  Here are the directions for one student to play. The game can be modified for more than one player.

 Using card stock, print, laminate, and cut out the cards. For individual play, one card will be enough. 

Put the cards in a container. Chose a time signature for the students, such as 4/4.

The student will draw one card at a time with the goal of completing  one measure. However, each beat of the measure will be completed individually on its own line, so the student will not get confused.

This picture shows how the cards are placed. 

If a student draw a cards he cannot use, he discards it. However, he can use them later if he needs them.  As he draws cards, he can move them around the board to use his cards more productively.

After one measure is complete, add up the cards. Each card is worth one point. The cards in the discard pile are worth 2 points, which are subtracted from the total.

Play the game several times and total up the score.  At first they are happy to choose a quarter note, but quickly see that if they draw more 16th notes and rests they have a higher score.

This game can be adapted for group lesson use, but you will need to print out more cards. I used *guided play* with some students so they wouldn’t get frustrated, but I think after a while they will be able to play by themselves.

I used a plain piece of paper as the game board, but I plan to post a game board tomorrow, if all goes well. You don’t really need a game board, but it helps to have a defined place to place the cards. [Update, the game board is posted here.]

You can play this game in 6/8, but you will want to make some cards with more 6/8 rhythms such as a dotted quarter note.

Let me know if this game works for you!

Meet Mighty Dot

Ready for something different? Today’s post, after my serious post yesterday of Keith Snell’s new books, is quite a change. But as piano teachers who teach students from preschool to adult, we’re used to quick changes in directions, aren’t we? If you think of an AP calculus teacher trying to teach a group of kindergarten children numbers, you can get an idea of the range a piano teacher usually has! I spent many hours doing theory at my university, but trying to explain it to children is an art.

Meet Might Dot is another in my series of humorous posters that I made to reinforce a concept:  the dot. This is not a poster for beginners,  but for students who have finished about level 2 or 3. You can also use it with transfer students.

We all know that 6/8 time  is usually felt with 2 beats in the measure, the dotted quarter getting the beat.  We want to explain that to our students in due time, but for the purpose of this poster, I find this works well as an explanation in my studio.

Before I made the poster I did some reference work in the Oxford Dictionary of Music. There actually is an entry called “dot”.

Circle of Fifths

I updated my Circle of Fifths poster to add some color and a little humor.

I’ve also posted a black and white Circle of Fifths Worksheet that you can print out for each student.

Large Grand Staff composing with young children

I received a lot of requests for a  large size staff  that you can use as a grand staff and today I am finally getting around to posting it. I think it is rather hard to find staff paper this size, so be sure and take advantage of this if you think you can use it. It will save you some time either drawing it by hand or making your own in Word, not that it’s very difficult.  But if you are like I used to be with several children, a spouse, volunteer activities in school and church, as well as a piano studio, you need all the time you can save! Now that my children are all grown up and on their own I have a lot more free time.

This is a good size of staff paper to use for beginning composing activities.  Notating for children is difficult. It is like learning to write a new language and some of them are so young they are still learning to write words. You can draw the hard things for them, like the treble or bass clef. I teach that all notes start off as little “candy eggs” and you can either chocolate fill them or let them stay vanilla. The stem is the handle. Then I tell them to make sure the handle doesn’t come out of the top of their head! I also sing/chant “up on the right side, down on the left side” as we work.

Valentine Note Hunt

 

This is the time of the year I want to make sure my students are learning the names of their notes. I have a One Minute Club contest (the idea is from Jane Bastien) the last 6 weeks of lessons, and I want everyone to be prepared. I also have a lot of students who wait for siblings during their lessons. I’m going to laminate this and let them practice the Valentine Note Hunt  while they wait. Then I’ll time them with the stop watch on my phone at the start of their lesson. For students who don’t have to wait on siblings, I’ll do this with them.

Students are really liking the laminated worksheets that they can erase if they make a mistake. It is saving me a lot of ink, too. Plus I don’t run out of worksheets! Whoever gave me that idea, thanks so much. I’m sorry I can’t remember who it was.

Traveling Triads

I have a group of students who take the Texas State Theory Test at the high school level, and each year forget how to quickly figure out the name of inverted chords. I’m not sure why it seems so hard for them to remember, but it could be that there is just so much new material to learn every year, they forget the old.

The other day I tried to come up with a worksheet that would make such an impression, they will remember every year.  Since it seems that my answer to everything is humor, color, and big print, in that order, Traveling Triads is what I came up with.

Years ago when I was a college freshman , we had a music theory teacher who was one of the best professors I ever had. He used humor to teach a difficult subject and we loved him for it. That is when I realized the value of humor as a teacher and it has served me well. Thank you Dr. Josephson.

If you ever wonder what my teaching style is, this worksheet will give you a clue!

I have a lot of teachers asking me when I am going to finish the fish flash cards that I have been working on for several months. I am still working on them and I will eventually get them posted. If there is anything else I told you in an email I will post, feel free to remind me.

Bye the way, this first time I posted this, there were several errors which I have fixed. If you see anymore, let me know.

Fishy Scales

Arlene sent me a great idea to keep track of scales, called Fishy Scales. I already had these fish drawn, so for her idea, I just drew in the “fish scales” and the place for the student name. I tried to draw the fish to be easy to cut out, which is why they don’t have a fin at the bottom.

Print, cut out, and laminate one fish for each student. Post the fish on a bulletin board that you have decorated. When a student learns a scale, write it inside the “scale” on the fish. Use a dry erase marker to write on the laminated fish, and you can use them over again each year. In one of my earlier posts I mentioned the clear book covers that I used to laminate my material. Now that I have an inexpensive laminating machine, I don’t have to use that, but I encourage you to try it if you don’t have access to a laminating machine.

I included two colors, in case you want one color for major and one for minor, but that is up to you. You could ask the student to pick the color they want.

If you  teach in your living room or a church sanctuary and you’re not keen on posting fish all over the walls, make a portable bulletin board on foam board and keep it with your music supplies. Sometimes I prop things up on my hearth and remove it when I have company. 

Arlene made a bulletin with had blue paper on it and at the top said “Fishy Scales. ” She put some construction paper seaweed and other sea decor at the bottom of the board. Doesn’t that sound cute?   Here’s the really fun part. When they learned all the assigned scales, she gave them a bag of Swedish Fish!

Thanks so much Arlene for the great idea. I bet there are going to be a lot of “fishy scales” in piano studios this year!

Up a 4th, Down a 5th

Yesterday I said I would post the companion to the sharp key signature hand-out, and here it is, Up a 4th, Down a 5th.

Many teachers have their students  take standardized theory tests such as the Royal Conservatory test,  the National Music Certificate Program,  and tests given by various affiliates of the Music Teachers National Association. My students take the Texas State Theory Test, and other states offer one, too.  In my opinion, this is a good thing for teachers to add to their studio. While it is extra work, it really pays off. You have the guarantee that your students are prepared for whatever musical path they choose. Even if you think your students are not that serious, how do you know what they will want to do with music in the future?