We Wish You a Merry Christmas

My son requested this song, so I'm sharing it with you.  It was designed to use with the Movable "Do" Piano Insert


We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Movable "Do" Piano Insert

This insert will help you play in any key, reminding you where the sharps and flats are.  My 3-year-old can transpose simple melodies into any key with it!  If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth much more.

Here is the printable:

Movable "Do" Piano Insert


Here is a simple melody to get you started.

Rainbow Castle melody


Please note: If you think this printable is worth sharing, please do!  But I ask that you share this page's URL (web address), and not the actual file.  Thank you for understanding.

**In the video I called it "well tempered", but I should have said "equal tempered".  Oops!  It's sort of a joke relating to old tuning systems on the piano.  Each half-step is spaced evenly.  So in this printable, instead of spacing the chromatics to match where the black keys are on the piano, this printable is designed to move around.  Hence the even spacing was more desirable.  They don't match up perfectly, but they are certainly close enough.**

Egyptian Pyramid

This is a fun little printable to teach your student/child the rhythm pyramid.  The rhythm pyramid shows several notes in layers that all have the same time value.  A whole note has the same time value as two half notes.  Two half notes have the same time value as four quarter notes, and four quarter notes have the same value as eight eighth notes.  Each level of the pyramid has the same time value, but there are fewer notes on every level.  That's the rhythm pyramid.

My children are learning about Egypt this week, and so I made this printable to coincide with our lessens.  The bottom half is the puzzle base, and the top half are cards meant to be cut out.  You can laminate the sheet and use it again and again, or you can print it on cheaper paper, and have the children cut and paste the cards into the puzzle.

Have fun!

Egyptian Pyramid

Ring around the Rosies rhythm printable

Today was to be the day that I released my revised e-book, "Beginning Rhythm".  It was a great deadline and I put a lot of work into meeting that goal, but it's just not polished up the way I want it to be yet.  The manipulatives are done, and you can expect the release by the end of the week.

I'm really excited about this project- there are over 200 pages of manipulatives, should you choose to print them.  I did, and I've been printing and laminating all day so I can show you what they are and how to use them.  I'll make a tutorial on how you can adapt them and print only what you want.

I didn't want to let the day pass without sharing at least something with, so here's a little exercise to get your feet wet.

Ring around the Rosies



Ring around the Rosies PDF pages

There are 7 other nursery rhymes that will come with the e-book, with four different time signatures.

Have fun!  Now I'm going to sign off and celebrate my baby's first birthday.  Thanks for checking in!

Video Transcript

Here's a manipulative that you can use to teach your students basic rhythms using nursery rhymes, like "Ring around the Rosies."  This is the first stage that we learn it.  They can clap the rhythms, they can play it on a percussion instrument, they can say it with you, and they can sing it and play the singing game.  That's the first stage.

In the second stage we have boxes for every measure, and the notes have been lighted out.  There are two different ways you can have your students do this.  They can either use a dry erase marker if you've laminated it, or a crayon or pencil and throw it away when you're done, or put it on the fridge.  Or, they can use these cards that come with it, and put it together like a puzzle.  When they are done you can have them clap the rhythm.  (demonstration).


In the third stage we have the same (boxes), but there are no notes.  In this one they have to figure out what the rhythm is themselves.  They might use the sheet from stage one for reference if they are beginning students, or they can figure it out by themselves with the cards or they can do stick notation.  (demonstration)

That's one example of how you can use these cards.  There are seven others that come with my e-book, "Beginning Rhythm", and this one is free.  Have fun, and thanks for watching!

www.teaching-children-music.com

Rhythm Sorting page

Summer vacation is over!  I'm still not exactly sure where it went, but I'm excited to get back to school with my little ones.

I have recently been focusing all of my "computer time" updating my e-book, "Rhythm for Preschoolers", and it is almost finished.  Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback- it really helps.

The following worksheet just didn't make the cut, but it's still worth sharing and maybe some of you will like it.  My son loves cutting and gluing things, and to that end I made this little exercise.  Enjoy!

BigtoSmallrhythms.pdf

Rhythm Blocks

Here is a manipulative that you can cut out and use with your students or children.  I like to use rhythm solfege as outlined in the video to demonstrate counting, but you can also simply count to 4.  This is just one hands-on approach that you can add to your toolbox.  I colored the squares simply because children like color.  I included a black and white version too, which will be cheaper to print.  You can always color them with crayons if you want.  I recommend printing them on card-stock, and laminating, if desired.

Color Version
Black and White version

It may be tricky on the print-out to see where the cutting lines are, hopefully this illustration can help.  Enjoy!

Using color to teach music

I have found many different programs that use color to help teach music reading to children, especially on the piano. Piano Wizard, and Piano for Preschoolers come to mind, but there are many others. Some have even used color to teach singing and perfect pitch, such as the Taneda method.

I think that using color is a good idea, and I experimented with it with some of my beginning students who were struggling to read music. I created my own color code and created a piano chart for my students. Then as either a theory assignment or as part of our lesson, I would have my students color the notes the appropriate colors. For example, they would color all of the Cs pink, and all of the Gs green. Because my students were the ones to color the notes, this reinforced the note-reading for them. One of my students told me that she loved how pretty her book looked after she colored the notes. In this manner, color coding can be compatible with any piano method.

I have created several manipulatives that I will be sharing soon that use the same color-coding as the following pdf. If you are already using a different color-system, and you want to use the games that I will be sharing, I would advise changing the colors in photoshop to match what you are already using. There is no scientific reason why I had C be pink and G be green, I just experimented with colors and thought that this combination had good color contrast. It looked pretty to me. :o)

Here are the piano charts that I made for my students. I recommend printing on cardstock, laminating if desired, then cutting them out and taping them together to make a strip that can be slid behind the keys.

In color:
color-code-on-piano.pdf

In B&W (can be used just to teach letter names, or could be colored with crayons or colored pencils to save your ink)
color-code-piano-bw.pdf

Please note:  I am not a graphic artist.  The black lines for the black keys on the piano do not line up exactly when you place the chart on the piano.  This was slightly frustrating for my younger students.  I'm sorry!  I am good at coming up with ideas for teaching, but recreating them on the computer is hard for me and so some of the print-outs are not perfect in that respect.  My husband is going to teach me how to use adobe illustrator soon...

Piano Chord Wheel

This is a tool that I created for my piano students to help them to learn their primary chords.  Here is the printable:

piano-chord-wheel.pdf

Directions:Print on card-stock, cut out the circles, and then optionally laminate.  Poke holes in the center with a needle, then poke a paper brad through the smaller circle then the larger.  Fold back the edges of the brad and give it a few twists and you're done!

Here is a video to demonstrate it's use:

deltafour1212 commented that a blank wheel for the middle would be helpful in letting students make their own chord progressions.  Here it is!  Note that the dividing line is not perfectly equal- one is slightly bigger to make room for the V7 chord.  Taking the division line out of my original file would have been tricky.  I hope this helps!

blanksmallwheel.pdf

If you liked this, please follow my blog or subscribe. I've got a lot of fun things to share, and this blog is just beginning!

The importance of ear training

Unfortunately, I was not introduced to aural skills through independent study until I was in college. I wanted better for my students, and have regularly included 2-5 minutes of aural training in my lessons with them.

Here is an ear training manipulative that I created for my students. 

It is simply two large measures for piano with no music written inside. I printed this out on cardstock and then laminated it, which essentially turned the card into a white board. I was able to let my students write on it with crayon (washable crayon also works), and then wipe it off with a piece of scrap cloth I made from an old T-shirt. You can also use pennies or glass pebbles from the dollar store to mark the notes, as rhythm is not part of this exercise.
To use the board, I would give the students the first note, and ask them to produce the second on the board after they heard me play it. I started with simple intervals and progressively got harder. After they had a firm understanding of melodic intervals (the notes were played one at a time), I made the exercise harder by playing melodic sequences, and for my more advanced students, I introduced harmonic intervals, giving them the lower note, but playing both notes at the same time.
My challenge: Find ways that you can help your student/child's musical ear become more sophisticated, and begin working with them on a consistent basis.

Practice time logs

That which can be monitored can be improved. I have found in my teaching that when my students have been struggling with a song for a few weeks, we always come to the inevitable question: "How much have you been practicing?" Yes, that's what I thought.
I am so grateful that my piano teacher consistently asked for a report on how much I had practiced during the week. If I had not filled out a time-log, she made me do my best guess right there in the lesson before we warmed up or did anything else. Because I knew that I would be accountable for my work, I was motivated during the week to have something positive to report. On the flip side, when I was preparing for competitions, it was encouraging to be able to say "I practiced three hours today!"

My last couple years of teaching I finally learned from my teacher and created a time log.  I put Sunday in parentheses because I never practice my lessons on Sunday, and I don't require Sunday practice of my students, but if they did practice their hymns or anything like that, they could record it in that spot.
Recording your time log is one simple, little thing you can have your student/child do that makes a big difference over the long haul.

Oversize Treble and Bass Clef Flashcards

Oversize Treble Clef Flashcards

Oversize Bass Clef Flashcards

Today I wanted to share with you the giant flashcards that I made for my studio. They are 8 1/2 by 11" cards, much larger than average. This has many advantages for the studio and classroom use. For the classroom, visibility is the main advantage, but in my studio they have also been a big hit.

My younger students, when given a choice, will always choose the large cards over the smaller ones that I keep in my music bag. I laminated mine, and printed them on cardstock, so they are very attractive in that manner. Because of their large size, it makes it harder to confuse notes that are close together. It is easy to show the difference between line and space notes. Today I share the treble clef notes, and I will share the bass clef notes next week. Enjoy!

Free Online Sheet Music

Here is a collection of free online sheet music for your personal and studio use. They are public-domain songs that I have arranged on our print-music program. Many of them I used with my students.

Vocal Music

Month of Maying
The Month of Maying is an old madrigal, originally written for five parts. I arranged this version for two parts for a childrens choir.

Sir Eglamore
Sir Eglamore is another madrigal about a brave knight who slays the dragon. This one was especially popular with the boys.

Rounds

Come Follow
This is a classic round that has been around for a long time. There are several versions available, the most common difference being whether the "greenwood" or "redwood" tree is to be used. This round is known by many as the turtle-trio cartoon which aired on Sesame Street.

Oh how lovely
This song is often sung by childrens choirs and accompanied by chimes or hand-bells.

Sing Together
This is a good campfire song. The words are simple and repetitive, which makes it easy to learn.

The Instrument Song

Violins
Clarinet
Trumpet
Horn
Drum

This is a fun Austrian folk song that I first heard when it was featured on "You've Got Mail". I was enchanted by the idea of having a group of people sing several different parts to make an orchestra.

There are countless arrangements of this song, especially since all of the English versions are translations. I chose the versions I liked the best and arranged it in large font for a family reunion so I could pass out the different pages to individual groups.

I have since used it for a childrens' choir I conducted. Some of the parts are easier than others for children to learn. The Violins is the longest, and the melody is much more complex than the others, so I had my older students sing this part. The Trumpet is also tricky because it is the only part with sixteenth notes, but it was a challenge that most of the children were eager to try, especially the boys. The other three parts are relatively simple.

Find more free online sheet music here.