5-Days of Giveaways | 01: Music Moves for Piano

 

In celebration of the one-year anniversary of Piano Pantry, I wanted to do something big for you all as a “thank you” for giving this newbie (me!) a shot in this blogosphere world. So THANK YOU!

Here’s the kicker – I’m only giving away items that I currently use and love. Three days will be prizes worth around $20 including one “foodie” giveaway, and two days will be BIG with one worth up to $75 and the other worth $90.

 

Today’s Giveaway is sponsored by Marilyn Lowe, author, and creator of Music Moves for Piano. I was blessed to get to know Marilyn and be trained by her during my training in Music Learning Theory and Music Moves for Piano through the Gordon Institute August 2016 in Boston. You can read more about that here.

Day 1 | Keyboard Games Book A

Let me tell you how I came to use this book and why it’s a winner in my teaching world.

When I opened my studio in August 2011, I was all set to build a business on group teaching and recreational piano for adults. However, when I started getting lots of inquiries for preschool lessons, including starting a 3-year old, my focus began to shift.

Researching the best materials to use for this precious age became my drive. I explored and pondered programs like Music Together, Musikgarten, First Steps in Music, Harmony Road, My First Piano Adventures, and more. Heck, I made a full-blown pros and cons spreadsheet! I concluded I didn’t feel the nudge to do a full-blown early childhood program which cut out the first few, and while the later were very cute, I felt there was something lacking.

Children this young weren’t ready for notation (of any kind I might add). They should just be able to play something! It just didn’t FEEL right and it wasn’t working. I didn’t just want fun activities, I wanted to teach music. I had learned about Lowe’s Music Moves for Piano in grad school and ended up giving the Keyboard Games Book A a shot.

I’ll admit, it was a bit overwhelming at first learning to teach in this style without a “method book” spelling it out, but I believed in the philosophy so, I kept plugging away. At the time I personally felt it needed something to go with it so I’ve been using KB Games Book A alongside Wunderkeys for piano. (That’s a whole post in and of itself for another day!) This pairing has worked quite beautifully for me the last several years.

The pieces in this book are not “reading” pieces, but should be taught in a rote manner. There is a teacher guide with lesson plans available. I’ll admit I don’t use the lesson plans but reading the guide did help me learn how to teach in this style. The perfect length for short attention spans, the mostly 8-measure pieces include a few familiar ones such as Old MacDonald. Please know, however, that the student is not necessarily playing the melody in these pieces but learning to play with the pulse, and playing rhythmic patterns.

This 24-hour giveaway starts at 12:00 a.m. EST on 3/8/2017 and ends at 12:00 a.m. EST on 3/9/2017!

Good luck and don’t forget to check back tomorrow for another giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Chosen by Rafflecopter’s random generator, I would like to congratulate Karen Lien, winner of today’s giveaway! Thanks to all who entered.

 

29 Comments

  • Love your blog! I’ve been considering expanding to younger students, so I’d love to investigate this book!

  • Happy Birthday! I haven’t used this book, but it looks very interesting. I also tend to use aspects of different programs, including Wunderkeys. Thanks for sharing!

  • Happy Birthday, Piano Pantry! 🙂 I haven’t explored MM…but need to! My community really has an untapped market for early learners. I’ve been told Kindermusik programs (etc.) have always failed here, but I KNOW the desire is out there – thanks for this info! We need to chat more. 🙂

  • I don’t use this, but I’ve heard great things about Music Moves for Piano. I do feel we need to teach more in this style, so that kids learn to feel the music before they try to read it. I’d love to try it!

  • I was shocked to realize you’ve only been blogging a year–I got back into teaching seriously this past fall and your blog has been an excellent resource and is one of the few to which I subscribe so I don’t miss a thing!

    • Yep! I’ve been following everyone else’s blog for years and finally decided I was ready to unload my brain! LOL. I’m so glad you’re finding it helpful.

  • I do not use this book but I would love to have it to share with piano pedagogy students, and the young children we teach for piano pedagogy. I do have a number of Dalcroze books for children and adults, and this would be a fine addition to my collection. However, as I can use department funds to buy it, I think it should go to someone who does not have that luxury. Working for an institution can be a blessing, but sometimes it is also a bit trying (like when, for budgetary reasons, you have to explain something cultural to someone who has never been to a fine arts events–which thing I will have to do later this afternoon …sigh).

    • Yes, I can imagine, Janita!. We know the benefits and why we do what we do, wouldn’t it be easier if we could just wave a wand and have those who don’t understand what we do? 🙂 Good luck!

  • This sounds like a wonderful resource! I teach many young students and would love to try some of these ideas.

  • Happy Birthday Piano Pantry! I have the Teacher’s Edition and I’ve just started reading it! Can’t wait to start using some of these songs in my lessons.

  • Once I would only take on beginners who were able to read print. Now I understand that you can do so much more with the younger beginner which does not require the child be ready or able to focus on the printed page. This book would be a great help to me expanding my teaching and studio.

  • I’ve taught several preschoolers recently, using method books geared for the very young beginner, but never feel that they are quite the right fit. They always seem a bit too formal in approach for preschoolers. I would love to try something new, even to supplement regular method books, with my younger students.

  • I teach a lot of young ones and would love to add this to my arsenal of teaching material to use with them!

  • I’m happy to have learned about your blog! I’m also an Indiana piano teacher. No, I’ve never heard about this book before, but based on your description it sounds great.

    • Hi, Susan. I’m so happy to hear you’re a teacher from Indiana too! Have you ever attended the IMTA conferences? The one this fall is at Indiana Wesleyan the last weekend of September. Hope you can come and we can meet!

  • I attended the IMTA conference this past year and really enjoyed it! Several month later I discovered your blog and have learned so much already. I would love to try out the book you recommend.

    • Awesome, Emily! I so glad you enjoyed the conference – hopefully we’ll see you there again this fall!

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