Friday Finds #41 An Activity, A Printable, A Discovery

 

1 – An Activity

Decorating the piano is a fun visual and tactile activity that I do with every new student.

2 – A Printable

Free download of rhythm variations on the 4-chord pattern. This will be a great reference for my students who are playing worship chord charts. I always walk them through a process that slowly expands the rhythm patterns they use but have never written anything out concrete. I imagine it would look like something similar to what Heather’s done.

 

3 – A Discovery

I have a student who is ready to move on to a new book and level. She just finished RCM level 4 repertoire and is ready for a little more challenge.

As teachers, I think it’s important to enjoy the repertoire we assign. So, when deciding on material, my process is to play through all the music in the books I’m considering and mark my opinion of each piece next to the piece in the table of content; a plus (+) for ones I love, a check mark for ones that are fine, and a minus symbol (-) for those I don’t care for.  This gives me a good overview of the contents.

I decided she was ready to skip a level but after playing through RCM’s level 6 I was a little disappointed. Normally, I love the fact that the RCM books contain a large selection of contemporary repertoire but I was underwhelmed with the contents. I also considered Keith Snell’s level 6 and while there were a few more I was happy with, neither one came close to the Journey Through the Classics book.

This book has been sitting in my file for a few years as I received it as a freebie at a conference. I’m officially purchasing the whole set and can’t wait to check them out and use them with other students.

 

3 – On a Personal Note…

My in-laws bought me this bottle of perfume for Christmas and it is DIVINE. I rarely wear perfume, but this one is totally worth it. Makes me feel like a woman. Hehe.

The description:

Stella is infused with the slightly sweet, never bitter, and always fresh scent of blood orange. Notes: Bitter Orange, Blood Orange, Watery Accord, White Freesia, Wild Diamond Orchids, Spicy Lily, Sheer Musk, Sandalwood

 

4 – What I’m reading

I first heard of David Cutler from Natalie Weber of Music Matters Blog back in 2010 as I recall her being a big fan of his first book The Savvy Musician.

While I’ve not read the first book, I decided it was time to get on the David Cutler “Savvy” bandwagon and read his most recent, The Savvy Music Teacher. 30% of the way through the book, I’m finding it inspiring, confirming, and refreshing. He will be giving the Keynote Address at the upcoming MTNA Conference in Baltimore.


Will you be at MTNA? If so, keep THIS on the backburner. I would like to host my first Piano Pantry readers dinner! Yea! It can be tricky finding places to host groups so stay tuned for details to come.

 

 

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