Today, I have a new resource for you – a reading guide to accompany the new Piano Inspires Kids publication from The Francis Clark Center!
It’s been three years since we first learned that Piano ExplorerMagazine was being discontinued. It was a sad day for many who enjoyed sharing the fun and unique resource with students.
Luckily, in 2023, The Francis Clark Center launched Piano Inspires Kids– a similar publication!
Printed quarterly, each issue will contain feature articles on musicians, composers, musical styles, music in the news, practice tips, new music, theory lessons, creative activities, games and puzzles, and student submissions.
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.
Do you have a certain age range that you have created your Piano Pantry lab items for? Do you think 2nd graders would do fine watching the videos (like the 1st Halloween one that is 10 minutes)?
I only had one student today so I got to hear her feedback on the two videos of the organ and the wine glasses from page 1 of your Halloween videos. It was fun to see how excited she was about it!
Keep creating wonderful materials to help us teach our students. Love all that you do!
-LS
Hi, L!
I’m so glad to hear your student was enjoying the Halloween lab!
As far as the age range, lab time can definitely be trickier with students younger than 3rd grade. As I’m sure you have experienced, they have a hard time working on their own without you helping with every step. So, yes, most of the labs I have available work better for mid-elementary students or older.
That being said, sometimes it can depend on the student. I’ve had 1st or 2nd graders do better than 3rd graders on their own!
My lab time for younger students is always shorter than most – 15 minutes is usually enough for them.
I still use many of my lab resources – like the Halloween video series you mentioned – but pick and choose which ones to assign. Shorter ones under 5 minutes or ones that are visually appealing, like the animated version of Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns work nicely.
In instances like this, rather than simply having them watch, I always give them a blank notebook listening and ask them to color what they hear.
Several of the videos from Set 1 of the Music Theory video series are also suitable for younger students’ lab time.
Another thing I sometimes do with young students is listen to enriching music while coloring in their own art books. Check out more details in these posts:
In this post, I’ll share a little about the new courses and introduce you to the updated music lab tracking sheet in the Piano Pantry shop designed to accompany the app.
The Christmas season is just around the corner, and that means it’s time to start thinking of ways you can incorporate this glorious season into your lesson time.
We’re all a little tired, so can I help you out?
Believe me when I say the new free Christmas Video series here on Piano Pantry is a guaranteed smile on your student’s face.
You’ll see pieces such as Silent Night, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, Winter from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Mary Did You Know, and Sleigh Ride, and hear from artists like Cameron Carpenter, Eric Whitacre, The Piano Guys (a lot, of course), the Berlin Philharmonic Choir, and more.
The best part?
You can utilize this video series as part of in-studio off-bench music lab time, as a digital assignment for individual students (more details on that here), or as part of group class activities.
Where to find this Video Series
You can easily navigate to all of the free video series here on Piano Pantry by going to the Menu > Resources.
Currently, there are five different video series available:
The accompanying listening sheet gives students brief and easy-to-digest background information on each piece, followed by a reflection question.
(Remember, though – the guide isn’t just for utilizing it as an assignment – you could also use this for yourself as a way of sharing fun facts about the pieces during a group class!)
The Christmas video series includes nearly 25 videos and 90 minutes of listening in a 9-page document.
Students are not necessarily asked to physically write out an answer to the reflection question (although you could certainly ask them to!); it is simply there to help guide them in active listening.
They are also asked to rate the video with 1-3 stars, which serves both as a way for students to reflect on how much they enjoyed the video and to track the pieces they’ve listened to in the lab.
Add this lab to your cart now.
Music Labs Made Easy eBook
Curious for more details on how I run my music labs? Get this 15-page eBook that is chock full of all kinds of “pro tips.”
We’ll talk about scheduling, set-up, and organizing labs. Laid out in an easy-to-read and understandable format, this book will answer all your questions regarding music lab time!
Over the years I’ve gotten lots of emails with great questions from readers like yourself.
Recently, it dawned on me that instead of keeping that information between me and the person who asked, perhaps others could find it useful!
So, I’m beginning a series on Piano Pantry called Your Questions Answered, and will post approximately one per month. Enjoy!
In this time of online lessons, what does a “lab” look like? When I read your posts I feel like I’ve been teaching in the dark ages, and suddenly been thrust into the light. You inspire me to up my game!!!
I am wondering how you organize your resources on your computer too. I am struggling with this….especially videos. Are you using Tonara? I am, but struggling with saving repertoire to re-use.
I know this is a busy time for you with the new teaching year. I’m grateful for any help you can offer. I want to be better!!!!!!
-CW
Hi, C!
These are all great questions and am happy to help.
I’ve always promoted my lab time as a “bonus”, so when the COVID lockdown went into effect in March 2020, I didn’t worry about moving the entire lab time online. My students and I simply had our individual lessons and called it good – luckily with no complaints from parents. 🙂
I pre-created a set of assignments in the “repertoire” section of Tonara for each video and titled it not only by the “set number” and “video number” in which I ordered it but also by what they were supposed to do (an “action word”).
For example: WATCH: (S1 #15) Steps and Skips on the Staff
(Here’s a screenshot for you to see it in my Tonara repertoire database – click on the image to view it more closely if needed.)
A link to the video on YouTube video is included in the assignment.
As you stated, while the repertoire tool in Tonara is super awesome for storing frequently-used assignments like this, I know it can be a struggle to take the time to make it happen.
Last year I went through that and tried to just focus on inputting one book at a time into Tonara. I title the assignment by an acronym for the book first then the name of the piece.
For example, for my Music Moves for Piano books I might title assignment like this:
MM1 (U01) PLAY: Popcorn
MM1 (U02) SING: Triple Meter
(The “U” stands for “Unit”).
This makes it easier when you use the search function to be able to see all of the pieces in one book together IN ORDER of the book.
Keep in mind that the longer the title gets, the student won’t be able to read the whole title on their device until they actually click on the assignment itself. That’s why I try to keep the title as descriptive and yet succinct as possible.
Here’s another screenshot:
I don’t know if that completely answers all of your questions but hopefully, it’s a start and can inspire you to find some ways that will work for you!
How can this video series help make your life easier over the coming weeks?
The videos have been leveled into four sets based on the rough/general order in which concepts are introduced in most piano methods.
You can quickly and easily access videos that help reinforce new concepts your students may be learning. Here are a few examples of videos in each set:
Set 1
Key names and the music alphabet
How to draw the treble and bass clef
Landmark notes
Set 2
Skips alphabet on the staff
Sharps, flats, and naturals
How to build major and minor triads
Set 3
AB and ABA Form
Chord inversions
Circle of fifths
Set 4
Scale degree names
Augmented intervals
Double sharps and flats
Before, during, or after your online lesson, grab the link and text or email it to students/parents. (If you use a program such as Tonara, simply attach a link to the video in a theory lesson assignment. Easy!)
Should these videos replace a lesson? No!
Are they an easy and fun way to provide additional e-learning to your students? Yes!
Here’s a screenshot showing a few videos that are included in the series:
Tracking Sheet
If you’re interested in having a way to keep track of what videos you’ve assigned to each student, find the 3-page guide that accompanies this series in the Shop or add it to your shopping cart now.
P.S. All music labs are studio licenses, so you can print it as much as you need for your students.
Related Resources
If you’re interested in more resources like this, there are four more video series available you can access through the Menu > Resources.
Several of these – including the music theory videos mentioned in today’s post – can be used as part of an off-bench lab time at your studio or given as assignments online utilizing a digital assignment tool.
Comprised of 13 videos, there’s more than 60 minutes of listening for your students to experience and enjoy!
The listening activity is flexible in that it can be used as part of in-studio off-bench music lab time, as a digital assignment for individual students (more details below), or as part of group class activities.
Students are given brief, easy-to-digest background informationon each piece and a reflection question.
They are not necessarily asked to physically write out an answer to the reflection question (although you could certainly ask them to!); it is simply there to help guide them in active listening.
They are also asked to rate the video with 1-3 stars, which allows students to reflect on how the piece made them feel and keep track of which pieces they’ve completed.
(Remember, though – the guide isn’t just for utilizing it as an assignment – you could also use this for yourself as a way of sharing fun facts about the pieces during a group class!)
Add this lab to your cart now, or find it in the shop.
Are you curious about how to use this as a digital assignment or as part of an off-bench music lab time? Read on!
How to Use As a Digital Assignment
Here are a few suggestions on using this product with students as a digital assignment – whether they’re online students or have in-person lessons. Much of it, of course, depends on how you give assignments.
Send students the PDF: Using your digital assignment tool of choice (such as email or Google Docs), simply send students the PDF or a direct link to the document from a cloud-based document manager.
*Please note that the terms of use for this product state you can only share it digitally with your students.
Create a repertoire assignment series in Tonara: There are two ways you could consider using this lab in Tonara:
Copy and paste each individual video title into a repertoire assignment, then copy the text into the note portion. Once you create a series in your personal repertoire database, you would assign individual videos to students. Be sure and number each assignment so there is an order to assign them.
Create one assignment in your permanent repertoire for this lab. Attach the PDF to the assignment and use the link area to give students the link to the videos.
In Tonara, you can assign points for students completing the lab assignment!
If you would like to see a brief tutorial on how to create an assignment series in Tonara, click on the image to watch this video starting at 4:30
How to Use During In-Studio Lab Time
The video series is long enough that if you only assign it during an in-studio off-bench lab time once a week for one or two weeks leading up to Halloween, you might be able to use it with students two or three years in a row!
When I used this as part of my music lab time, all lab assignments were kept in 1/2″ three-ring binders. Students each had their own binders and would mark their own listening sheets.
Add this Halloween video listeningresource to your cart now.
Curious for more details on how I run my music labs? Get this 15-page “Music Labs Made Easy eBook” chock full of “pro tips.”
We talk about scheduling, set-up, and organizing labs. Laid out in an easy-to-read and understandable format, this book will answer all your questions regarding music lab time!
What kinds of activities do you like to do at Halloween? Do you have any video suggestions I should add to the series? Share in the comments below!
This post highlights some of my favorite iPad apps that I use for my students’ off-bench music lab time.
While these are all great-quality apps, most apps do not allow students to sign in and thus track their progress.
Consequently, I have designed corresponding tracking sheets that are all available in the shop.
Today we’ll talk about:
(1) Waay Theory / Songwriting App (2) Rhythm Cat HD (3) Rhythm Lab (4) Staff Wars
Waay (Theory/Songwriting app)
Waay is an app available on iOS that teaches music theory via four courses:
Melodies
Chords
[Chord] Progressions I
[Chord] Progressions II
The initial app fee is $5.99 and includes the first two courses. Progressions I and II are bundled as an in-app purchase for $4.99.
Each course is comprised of short videos and interactive practice exercises. Even more specifically, the app states that its intention is to teach “songwriting.”
While the app states that it is great for beginners, the videos and concepts move very, very quickly. My recommendation is that this app is actually best suited for late intermediate /earlyadvanced high school students.
(My impression is that the app is developed with the amateur adult musician in mind who is a “beginner” to music theory/songwriting concepts. It’s definitely not geared toward student-age beginner music students.)
Students will do best if they’re already familiar with the concepts presented in the app. The courses build on each other and progress in difficulty. Students assigned the first course should already be familiar with major and minor scale patterns in all keys.
The final two “progressions” courses are focused on teaching students how to use “tricks” to identify chords that fit together and identify the keys those progressions may be coming from. These are fairly challenging courses. Students assigned these courses should already have a strong understanding of chords built on scales degrees in all the major and minor keys.
Corresponding Music Lab Tracking Sheet
Each course can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes to complete (depending on how many times they repeat exercises for practice) so, using a tracking sheet makes it easier for students to remember where they left off from week to week.
(While the app will give students stars/scores for what they complete, if you are using it at your studio with multiple students, those don’t help individual students track their progress.)
This music lab sheet is 4 pages (one page for each course).
The paid version, Rhythm Cat HD (currently $4.99), currently includes 6 stages – each with 10 levels. If you are looking to use this as a lab for your students, then you will need the full paid version.
Please note that this app does not have a way for the student to hear the rhythm in playback. They tap the rhythm along to an accompaniment track. Often the accompaniment does not include the rhythm in any way, so students must have a solid sense of beat. If they miss just one note, they will receive two stars rather than three.
Stages and levels can only be unlocked by successful completion. So, you cannot assign stage 4 to a student until someone has successfully mastered and unlocked stages 1, 2, and 3.
Corresponding Music Lab Sheet
I would strongly recommend not to assign a stage until the student is proficient at the rhythms included.
For example, even though level one only uses whole, half, and quarter notes, some of the exercises must be executed at fast tempos.
This download is 2 pages, covering all six stages and ten levels.
Add this lab to your cart here.
Rhythm Lab
Rhythm Lab is a comprehensive rhythm app available for iOS (currently $3.99). Not only does it have an extensive amount of leveled exercises, but the app will allow you to create custom rhythm patterns. With so many levels, students could potentially use this app over several years of lessons.
There are two sets of pre-leveled rhythms already created for you. The A-1 rhythms are one-handed rhythms, and the B-2 rhythms are two-handed rhythms. Since they progress at about the same level of difficulty, consider assigning them simultaneously such as A-1 (Level 1A) and B-2 (Level 1B) before going on to A-1 (Level 2A) and B-2 (Level 2B).
Corresponding Music Lab Sheet
Rhythm Lab is one of the few apps out there that will allow you to create student log-ins to track individual progress and scores.
When you first install the program, you will want to set up usernames for students to log in.
Despite the app being able to track individual progress, manual tracking using this lab sheet makes it easier to assign work and view progress. It also includes detailed directions for students.
This download is 15 pages, covering 59 sets of exercises.
Add this lab to your cart here.
Staff Wars
Staff Wars is a note-naming app available on iOS (currently $0.99). As you can imagine, due to the play on “Star Wars,” this app is a hit for a lot of students.
As the notes are named faster, the game will speed up. They have three lives to lose before the game ends and they can try again. It creates a lot of energy and excitement as it goes faster and faster!
With eight different clef settings, students can go through a LOT of note-naming practice in a variety of ways. There are 7 pre-set “ranges” of notes available and as well as a manual version.
For the sake of simplicity and the fact that these labs are designed for piano students, this corresponding lab sheet only uses the treble clef, bass clef, and grand staff options and the manual range setting so the teacher can simply draw in the note range they would like the student to select. (You do so by using the up and down arrow selectors on either side of the little staff on the screen selector by using the left and right arrows.)
Corresponding Music Lab Sheet
This corresponding tracking sheet includes student directions, an easy way for you to assign students specific notes and clefs, and a section for students to track their scores.
While this lab only has 2 pages, there is no limit to how many times the game can be assigned. Simply reproduce the second page as needed – which is a full page of assigned boxes because it doesn’t include student directions.
Add this lab to your cart here.
Music Labs Made Easy eBook
Curious for more details on how I run my music labs? Get this 15-page eBook that is chock full of all kinds of “pro tips.”
We’ll talk about scheduling, set-up, and organizing labs. Laid out in an easy-to-read and understand format, this book will answer all your questions regarding music lab time!
For years, I’ve been collecting videos from all over the internet to use as part of my student’s music lab time. This has resulted in four major sets of videos that are available for FREE here on Piano Pantry:
Access all of these via the menu under “Resources” in the menu.
These videos can be utilized during group classes, as either part of an off-bench music lab time, or as an assignment using an online tool like Vivid Practice or Practice Space.
All videos in the series have some kind of accompanying guide (available in the shop) – whether it be a simple tracking sheet for keeping track of which videos the student has watched or a full listening guide with reflection questions. I also hope to eventually make CSV files available for those looking to utilize them as part of an online assignment tool.
>>January 2024 Update: A CSV File for the Expressive Movement Video series is now available. Find it here.
Both the Christmas and Halloween video sets are a little more in-depth listening guides that include fun facts and information about the piece, as well as reflection questions.
The Music Theory Videos series is a compilation of the best videos I’ve found online that teach music theory concepts.
While most of these videos teach individual music theory concepts, I was looking to use them to reinforce what students have already learned in lessons.
Here’s a sneak-peak at some of the videos included:
Comprised of 48 videos, they have been divided into four sets based on a rough/general order in which concepts are introduced in most piano methods. The order may not line up exactly, but you can assign videos based on what the student has already been taught in their lesson time.
From my own experience, I find it doesn’t work well to assign just one video at a time. If you’re using this resource as part of an off-bench / music lab time, switching to a new activity after watching just one video is not ideal (especially since the student generally does it independently). It’s much easier to wait until there are several videos the student is ready to watch and assign several at once.
Curious for more details on how I run my music labs? Check out the Music Labs Made Easy eBook in the shop.
Please know that the list of videos is in no way exhaustive. That is, a video may not be available for every music theory concept.
Since I was utilizing this as part of an in-studio music lab time and students weren’t watching videos weekly, I needed a way to track which videos they had watched. Thus, the corresponding tracking sheet!
The tracking sheet includes directions to the student, a place for teachers to “assign” which videos to watch, the video name, who it is from, its length (so they know if they have enough time during their lab to complete it), and space for the student to check-off once they watched it.
Add this to your cart now, or find it in the shop.
Fun Music Videos
The fun music video series is a compilation of a lot of…you guessed it… fun (and inspiring, I might add!) music videos. 🙂
When I started including off-bench music lab time as part of my students’ weekly lesson experience, I found that while there are a lot of apps and programs out there, sometimes you run out of things for them to do!
There were two main reasons I found this happening on occasion:
(1) Students can accomplish quite a bit in a 30-minute lab time.
(2) With younger students especially, you can give only so many lab assignments when they are beginners. Not only are they limited in the musical concepts they can play games for, but any assignment with too much reading and writing is just too difficult for kindergarten, first, and even second graders to do independently.
P.S. For a bit more talk on how to handle music lab time with younger students, visit this post.
My students enjoyed these videos, but similar to the music theory videos, I needed a way to track which ones they had watched. I wasn’t necessarily assigning them week after week until they finished the entire series; I was only assigning it every once in a while and using it as a “filler.”
Thus, the corresponding tracking sheet!
The goal was to keep it simple.
Yes, I was using it as a “filler” lab assignment, but I also didn’t want it to just feel like “busy work.” Not only that, but it had to be something I could assign to students of all ages – especially younger students. As I stated earlier, any assignment with too much reading and writing is just too tricky for kindergarten, first, and even second graders to do independently.
Thus, the tracking sheet includes directions to the student, the “set” name, the video name, the length of the video (so they know if they have enough time during their lab to complete it), and areas to rate the video and openly reflect/comment.
While I would love for it to include more background information and reflection questions (maybe someday I’ll create a more in-depth version for older students similar to the Halloween and Christmas video series), my main goal with this was an easy lab that students of any age could use and enjoy.
Be aware that students have been known to continually go back and watch some of their favorite videos several times when they’re supposed to be watching new videos. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! 😉
Add this resource to your cart now, or find it in the shop.
Music Labs Made Easy eBook
Curious for more details on how I run my music labs? Get this 15-page eBook that is chock full of all kinds of “pro tips.”
We’ll talk about scheduling, set-up, and organizing labs. Laid out in an easy-to-read format, this book will answer all your questions regarding music lab time!
