Piano Ensemble Repertoire

March 1, 2022
by Amy
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Do you include group classes in your studio in some way, shape, or form? Do you have at least two pianos? If so, then consider incorporating ensemble playing into this time!

Piano ensembles are a fun and easy way for students to experience collaborative playing and have been a staple activity in my group classes for years. I’ll share some great sources for piano ensemble music in today’s post.

(For holiday-specific ensemble music, check out the post: Christmas Collaborations: Recommended Piano Ensemble Music)

Before we dive in, one point of advice I wanted to mention is that I have always approached this as a sight-reading activity. I do not send music home prior to a group class for them to practice.

Music is chosen based on what I know students can easily sight-read. Since I am lucky to have four keyboards with headphones, they spend a few minutes playing through their part a couple of times, and then we unplug and play together.

Also, erring on the side of easier than I think they could play has proven to be a good rule of thumb for successful experiences. I’ll try to give you some specific examples throughout.

Interested in hearing more on how I run my group classes?
Listen in on Episode #3 of The Piano Pantry Podcast: Group Class Scheduling Experiences and Ideas

Hal Leonard Student Piano Library

My favorite over the years has been the Hal Leonard Student Piano Library Piano Ensemble Series.

Reasons I like this series:

  • They don’t require 4 pianos.
  • The spine is perforated so you can easily remove the parts from the book.
  • There is a teacher score.
  • While the difficulty levels are equal for each part, sometimes they will have 2 parts with one hand only and 2 parts with two hands so that’s a small way I can divide between students based on their sight-reading strength.
  • It includes suggestions for fun midi sounds – a different one for each keyboard. I don’t always use these but sometimes it can be a fun twist. Here’s a fun example (two of these teen students were beginners and two had been in lessons for a few years):

Things I don’t love about this series:

  • The kiddy artwork and song titles. While it’s not terrible, I often choose the piece based on how “un-kindergarten-like” it feels.

Buy it on Sheet Music Plus

Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 1
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 2
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 3
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 4
Hal Leonard Piano Ensembles, Level 5

Alfred’s Basic Piano Library

Similar to Hal Leonard, Alfred has a piano ensemble series as part of their Basic Piano Library method.

Reasons I like this series:

  • Each book includes a lot of pieces – more than 4.
  • There are some pre-reading ensembles in 1A.
  • There is a teacher score.
  • It includes suggestions for fun midi sounds – a different one for each keyboard.
  • The pieces are written for 4 keyboards and every part is two-handed
  • Overall, the titles and artwork feel less “kiddie-like” than Hal Leonard’s so it can work better for older students.
  • There are 4 levels but you can opt to purchase two “complete” sets rather than 4 individual levels.

Things I don’t love about this series:

  • The music is harder. There isn’t a lot (even in book 1) that students who have been in lessons for even a couple of years would be able to sightread and play successfully almost immediately. Again, I think this is a good indication that this series might be better for students that play at the intermediate level.
  • The pages are not perforated like Hal Leonard’s (allowing you to purchase 1 book). You have to either tear the pieces of the spite to distribute or purchase 4 copies of the book.
  • The pages of each song are printed back-to-back so there’s no way to separate them out (like Hal Leonard’s) For example, part one is printed on the backside of the previous piece, parts two and three are printed on the same page back to back, and part four is on the front side of the next piece. That means that you either have to purchase multiple copies or tear the pages out of the book to distribute then (dare I say) photocopy one of the parts (the one that’s on the backside of part 2).

Buy on Sheet Music Plus

Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 1A
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 1B
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 1 Complete
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 2
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 3
Alfred’s Piano Ensembles, Level 2 & 3 Complete

Self-Publishers

There are two other good locations that I currently know of for piano ensemble music online. I have not used either one extensively as I have the Hal Leonard or Alfred Ensembles but I like what I see and think they are a great option!

Please note that I am not being paid in any way to promote these products. I’m just letting you know what’s out there! 🙂

The first is Lauren Lewandowsi’s site: Piano with Lauren. She has 12 arrangements available.

Each piece includes:

  • A short summary about the song
  • Rhythm Practice
  • Individual parts for harmony (chords), bass notes, and melody
  • Advanced variations of each part
  • Each part is notated in its simplest form first and then as more advanced variations. The variations allow for a group of multi-leveled students to play together.

 

The newest one I’ve discovered is Miss Dorla’s Piano Pyramids.

Each piece includes:

  • 5 parts (at 5 different levels – a real gem!)
  • Conductor Score

Any More?

I hope this post has given you some great resources for gathering your students to make music together!

Do you have any favorites to add to the list? Let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for new resources for piano ensembles.

Please note all of these links are affiliate links which simply means I get a very small percentage back without it costing you extra as a way of helping me run this blog. Thanks! 

Friday Finds #240: Best of February

February 25, 2022
by Amy
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With so much coming at us every single day my dear teacher friends, it has always been my goal that this series offers you a way to “weed through.”

Here’s some of the best of what I’ve come across in recent days both in piano-teacher world and life.

*Edit* I wrote this post a few days before Russian attacked Ukraine. Here is the best of what I’ve followed so far.

Ukraine, A Brief History (It Just Gets Stranger)

The Daily Podcast (The New York Times). Here’s the most recent episode: Ukrainians’ Choice: Fight or Flee?

 

1

Something we’re all wondering…

How Will Inflation Affect Your Lesson Rates in 2022 (Janna Carlson | Studio Rocket Web Design)

 

2

Slow Cooker Sausage and White Bean Soup (Delish.com)

Who doesn’t like a new and delicious slow cooker recipe? This one has a REALLY flavorful broth and is so easy!

 

3

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill (Podcast)

At my February local book club meeting, a friend confided in the group that she had not been reading much because she had been engrossed in a podcast.

This podcast takes you inside the story of Mars Hill Church in Seattle – from its founding as part of one of the largest church planting movements in American history to its very public dissolution—and the aftermath that followed. 

Thanks to her recommendation, it’s totally had me in its grip this past month. I’m not finished yet, but I’m 70% through and completely in shock at this true story. I think you’ll get addicted as well!

 

4

Our Favorite Piano Teaching Websites (Creative Piano Teacher)

 

5

A review of the app “PlayScore 2” (Jennifer Foxx | Music Educator Resources)

It’s pretty slick! You can take any score you own, scan it and it will immediately start playing.

 

6

The Daily Examen (Emily P Freeman | The Next Right Thing Podcast)

 

7

How to Seek out Different Music (Podcast episode)

Most of us teach, perform and listen to Classical music. Many of us also teach pop songs or jazz. But do you ever break outside of these walls? And if you want to teach different types of music, how do you find it?

That’s the question Nicola answers in this episode of the Vibrant Music Teaching Podcast – one of my favorite of her most recent episodes!

 

8

What’s the Difference Between East Coast and West Coat Butter?

Don’t worry – even I had no idea there was a difference!

 

9

Interested in self-publishing and selling your sheet music? I just recently heard about ArrangeMe.com, owned and operated by Hal Leonard.

This site allows people to sell their arrangements of popular songs, public domain works, and original compositions through the world’s most popular sheet music retailers. Cool!

 

10

Bulgarian Cheese, Feta and Egg Toast (The Modern Noona)

Such an easy and delicious recipe to make for lunch!!!

 

11

My 15 Biggest Piano Teaching Mistakes (Podcast episode)

In his first solo episode, Ben Kapilow lists 15 piano teaching mistakes he made earlier in his teaching career, which he was inspired to correct as a result of interviewing various piano teaching experts for the last 50+ episodes of the podcast.

Ben has had a brilliant group of guests on his podcast. If you haven’t listened yet, definitely subscribe!

 

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Any Le Creuset fans out there? Well, I’m more of a dreamer. LOL. They have a big sale going on through March 14. Check out!

 

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Musiciative.com – a new website from Jonathan Roberts.

 

13

Tips for Teaching Scales (Chrissy Ricker)

 

Listening Playlists to Accompany Music-Themed Children’s Books

February 18, 2022
by Amy
4 Comments

Recently, I shared a couple of blog posts related to building a lending library in your studio of music-themed children’s books and comics.

After purchasing a few more books from some of your recommendations, I noticed I had quite a few books that had suggested listening lists in the back of the book. Thus was born the idea to create listening playlists to accompany some of these books!

I’ve been using Spotify for years to create playlists of my own. It’s a wonderful place to create public playlists anyone can listen to.

In this post, I will share brief synopses of each of these 9 books as well as the direct link to each playlist.

For quick access to them all in one location, simply click on the link to my public playlists.

As a bonus, as a way of sharing these playlists with your students, I’ve created a free printable of bookmarks you can print on heavy paper or cardstock and stick inside each book when it’s checked out.

This will be an easy way to give parents the link to listen to these playlists at home when reading these books with their children.

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Piano Lesson Warm-Up / Focus Activity

February 9, 2022
by Amy
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What kinds of activities do you do to help your students get focused at the beginning of a lesson?

I saw this question recently in a Facebook group post and realized it was time to share an activity started doing this year.

After attending a workshop by Melody Bober a couple of years ago, I was inspired to come up with a little warm-up routine to use at the start of each student’s lesson.

Not long after that, I was listening to an episode of the All Keyed Up Podcast where he was interviewing Marvin Blickenstaff. At one point, Marvin called warm-ups at the beginning of a lesson a way of “stimulating circulation.” I loved that phrase and it was another element that convinced me to come up with a fun little routine of my own.

The benefits of including something like this in your lesson are:

  1. It helps students take a moment to transition from their day into the lesson time.
  2. It helps students loosen up a bit and serves as a reminder of the elements of good posture and technique such as arms approximately at tabletop level, forearm rotation, relaxed shoulders,  natural hand position, etc.

The routine I designed is now available in my shop. Here’s a look!

Piano Lesson Warm-Up / Focus Activity

While this was developed with piano students in mind, it could be used with music students of any instrument!

Some of my specific goals in developing this routine were:

  1. Be something students of any age would feel comfortable doing (delivery and vocal tone have a lot to do with this. 🙂 )
  2. Be easy to remember and take less than 1:00 to complete.
  3. Be something that can be done sitting or standing.
  4. Include movements for as many parts of the body used in playing piano as possible including head, back, shoulders, arms, wrists, hands, and fingers.

As a bonus, the words flow in a somewhat chant-like manner. The first two  of the seven-line chant are:

Look to the left and right;
Tilt your head side to side.

Gentle twist, from the waist;
Body circles, that’s the way.

Here is a 0:15 snippet of the 0:50 routine.

 

Final Tips and How to Purchase

A couple of final things to keep in mind when incorporating a routine like this:

  1. Yes, it’s good to be consistent, but it’s not the end of the world if we don’t do it every week. Sometimes students plow into their lesson and are so focused on being ready to play one particular piece, we just dive right into that.
  2. Don’t force it. If you sense a student doesn’t like it or that it doesn’t work well for them, then don’t do it. Don’t feel like it has to be used with every student even though it was written in a way that all ages could be comfortable.

This product includes a PDF printable of the full warm-up chant as well as the full video displaying the motions.

Add it to your shopping cart now or from the Piano Pantry shop.

 

Do you have any favorite warm-up/focus activities you use in your studio? Share in the comments!

Friday Finds #239: Best of January

January 28, 2022
by Amy
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Welcome to the first Friday Finds of 2022! It’s been a busy January with the startup of The Piano Pantry Podcast. I hope you’ve had a chance to catch at least one episode if not all four.

As life moves forward, things change and evolve including what I’m doing here on Piano Pantry. If you’ve been around here awhile, you may have noticed that this weekly series has become a little more sporadic.

My beloved Friday Finds series has and will continue to remain, but may be more dependent on what life allows from week to week and month to month. At a minimum, you will always see an end-of-month “best of” publication.

So, thanks for sticking around for this series my friends, a Piano Pantry staple and reader favorite since 2016!

 

1

I discovered the most DELICIOUS soup recipe this past weekend Pulled Pork Chili Verde (The Kitchn).

I added 1 c. fire-roasted corn (from Trader Joe’s) as well as additional liquid – the liquid that came out of the instant pot from cooking the pork shoulder. No additional salt was needed at the end due to the addition of that liquid.

Soooooo good!!!!!

 

2

In Praise of Slowness (FS.com)

 

3

As you’re building your list of books to read in 2022, consider some suggestions from Chris Foley of FoleyMusicandArts.com. Books Read in 2021

 

4

Piano Studio Business Claims: Things that spark joy can be claimed at tax time (Rebekah Maxner)

 

5

How I organize all my receipts for tax time: Get Organized!: Bills, Expenses, and Receipts (Piano Pantry)

 

6

12 Podcasts for Piano Teachers to Follow in 2022 (Joy Morin | Color in My Piano)

 

7

Podcast episode: The Life and Legacy of Sidney Poitier (The Daily)

Podcast episode: How Disgust Explains Everything (The Daily)

 

8

97-year-old pianist, and last surviving pupil of Rachmaninov, signs landmark record deal (Classic FM)

 

9

How to Teach Form and Memorization to Beginning Piano Students (Natalie Weber | Music Matters Blog)

 

10

Baking Bread as an Act of Hope (The Rabbit Room)

 

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While we’re on the topic of bread, recently I discovered a wonderful store-bought pita at our Walmart – Joseph’s Flax, Oat Bran & Whole Wheat Pita. It’s low in calories (60 apiece), soft, light-weight, and a good source of protein.

 

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A few more favorite bread recipes:

Everything Bagel Pull-Apart Bread with Cream Cheese – so easy and so good! (Just a Taste)

High Protein Bread (Oat Sandwich Rolls) (Skinny Taste)

The Easiest Bread Recipe You’ll Ever Bake (Williams Sonoma)

 

13

Seth Godin on piano tuning…kind of, LOL. Do You Have a Tuner?

 

14

Best Kitchen Towels: Zeppoli Kitchen Towles (The Kitchen)

 

15

What Makes a Great Intermediate Piano Teacher (Janna Williamson)

 

 

Cooking Demonstration at Piano Connect 2022

January 26, 2022
by Amy
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Hello! Just a quick announcement to let you know that I giving a cooking demonstration for the 2022 Piano Connect Virtual Conference.

I’m honored to be stepping in at the last minute, filling in for The Hungry Musician who normally works with Paula Dreyer on the food side of this virtual conference.

Hope to see some of you there as we make fluffy omelets together this Saturday, January, 29 @ 11:00 am PST.

If you’re interested in registering for the conference, you can do so here:

Register for Piano Connect

 

What iPad and Page-Turner Device Do You Use?

January 20, 2022
by Amy
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This post is part of a series called Your Questions Answered that highlights questions from readers just like you. If you have a question you would like to submit, you can do so here.

 

Hi Amy,

Which iPad do you use and what type of page-turner device do you use with that?

Do you use SuperScore or something else to play digital music?

Do you have your students purchase iPad if they don’t have one?

Need your advice as I would like to update my old mini iPad and stay current with tools.

Thanks,

Twinkle R.

 Hi, Twinkle – good to hear from you!

For the last 5 years or so, I have been using the iPad Pro 12.9. There are two reasons I like the 12.9″

  1. Once I started a full-time church job, I much preferred to read music off the larger screen.
  2. I do not have a laptop so for travel, having the larger iPad makes it nicer to work from.

I like the Pro version because I can use the Apple pencil with it. Over the years I tried several different types of stylus’ but not of them has come close to the smooth use of the Apple Pencil. I find it to be much more accurate for annotation on my music and as a bonus, it charges directly from the iPad itself and does not need a separate plug to charge.

That being said, if I had a laptop, I would probably be OK with the 11″ iPad for sheet music. I know several people who have and like that size.

I have also always used and loved the Apple Smart Keyboard. The one that goes with my current 4th generation is a folio-style, which envelops the iPad.

The Apple Pencil 2 works with this 4th generation iPad and charges through magnetism along the side of the iPad.

While my current iPad is the 4th generation, if I were to do it all over again, I’m not sure if I would go with the 4th generation iPad 12.9″. It’s not because of the iPad itself – I actually love the 4th generation iPad 12.9″ because it’s a little smaller edge-to-edge than the 3rd generation 12.9″.

It’s because of the smart keyboard. I really loved the style of the original smart keyboard. The folio-style only allows you to set it up as a keyboard or fold it back and hold it as an iPad. The older Smart keyboard allowed you to prop up the iPad without having the keyboard out. Plus, since the old one did not wrap around the entire iPad, the backside of the iPad was exposed which means when I set it down it would slide more nicely on a surface.

This is just a personal preference though.

The first-generation Apple Pencil that worked with my old iPad Pro had a lightning plug directly on the end with a cap – you would charge by plugging into the iPad female end.

My page-turner is the iRig BlueTurn. I love it and highly recommend it. For years I used the Airturn PedPro. While I liked the slim profile, I had too many troubles with it not responding when I needed it to or turning more than one page at once. There’s a chance it was just a user error but I’ve found having the feel of actually pressing the button makes a big difference for me.

As for sheet-music readers, I have been using ForScore for years and love it. You can create setlists, annotate, export PDFs either with or without annotation, crop, and do all kinds of crazy amazing things with it. I highly recommend it.

As for your question regarding students purchasing iPads, no I do not find any reason to require my students to have iPads.

I hope this helps – if you want to check out more of my recommended resources including apps, business tools, and more, check out the Recommended Resources page here on Piano Pantry.

~Amy

Group Class Lesson Planning Made Easy

January 12, 2022
by Amy
4 Comments

Ever since I started teaching piano full-time just over ten years ago, group classes have always been part of my studio offerings in one way or another.

While we’re not necessarily going to cover the variety of group class format options in this post (check out episode 3 of The Piano Pantry Podcast for that), I do want to share an overall group class lesson plan format that has consistently proven successful for all of my group classes no matter the level.

In this post, I’ll be referring to the style of a group class that is more of an occasional enrichment class, not a weekly “group piano lesson.”

Each class generally includes five key areas:

  1. Student gathering/entrance
  2. Performances (and directed active listening)
  3. Audiation Activities (ear-training)
  4. Ensemble Work (sightreading)
  5. Music Theory Games

In this post, we’ll discuss why each area is important and share some of my favorite go-to resources.

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Music-Themed Comic Books for Your Studio Lending Library

January 10, 2022
by Amy
4 Comments

Last week I shared a large list of 15 of my favorite piano-themed children’s books. You can check that out along with tips on managing a lending library in your own studio here.

Today, I wanted to share some fun music-themed comic books I’ve run across over the years.

I never even knew such a thing existed until I won a copy of Welcome to Harmonium by William Soller at an MTNA conference years and years ago.

Some of my students enjoyed it so much I went looking for more and this is what I found:

The Metronome Man series by William Soller (Music Theory Super Hero Comic Book)

Publisher: AlphaMajor.com

Description from the publisher: Read about the adventures of Harmonium’s Super Hero, Metronome Man. In the issue, music theory puns and adventures abound! Metronome Man is an educational comic book. Loved by musicians of all ages, the educational comic book was pilot-tested in 7th-grade music classes.

Cost: $6.95 each

#1 Welcome to Harmonium

#2 Now Where Could He Be? 

The Art of Piano Performance series by Peter Coraggio

Published by: Kjos.com

Description from the publisher: The Art of Piano Performance is a series of comic books perfect for use as an engaging and humorous teaching aid. The comic book form has an immediate appeal to young adults and adolescents. Pianists and teachers will enjoy the “in-jokes” within the illustrations and settings. All musical terms are defined when introduced, while the illustrations present important pedagogical information in a light-hearted, understandable manner.

Cost: $3.95 – $4.95 each

Do you know of any other music-themed comic books? Share in the comments!

  

Build a Lending Library of Piano-Themed Children’s Books

January 6, 2022
by Amy
9 Comments

(Note: This photo is missing a couple of my recommendations you’ll read about below.)

Thanks to reader Emily Suszko for this post suggestion!

Ever since I opened my studio, I have been building a collection of piano-themed children’s books in my lending library. I’m not sure if I got the idea from someone else or it just seemed the natural thing to do. In any case, a lending library can be a fun and valuable addition to your music studio.

Today I want to share with you 15 of my favorite books thus far so you can begin building your own library! Since it can be an expensive endeavor if you’re not careful, I’ll also share a couple of tips on how to do so without breaking the bank as well as how to track check-outs.

Why Keep A Lending Library

First of all, let’s talk about some of the benefits of keeping a lending library in your music studio.

#1 Reinforcement

Many books will support what we do in the lesson as well as teach valuable life lessons including the joy of creating at the piano, the importance of practice, the joy of music-making, and more.

#2 Added Value 

Anything we can do in our music studios to take it to the next level shows potential clients they’re getting added value. It also conveys to families that we care about students in a multitude of ways outside of just their time at the piano.

#3 Ease of Access

Families may not have ever considered looking for books at the library for their children that are music-themed. Having a collection right in your studio makes it easy for them to utilize and enjoy.

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