At first, Day 11 may have you thinking that I have forgotten we are doing a note reading series. And the answer is no, I haven’t. But as I mentioned in Day 9, if a student is able to hear the notes they are about to play, it will make playing and correcting mistakes much …
Day 10: Games
If you’ve been following along for our whole series, you by now have 10 different techniques to ensure that your students are amazing notes readers! Have you heard the old Roman proverb, “Repetition is the mother of learning”? They were not wrong. But as I’ve said in the past, repetition does not have to be …
Day 9: Say and Play
We have arrived at Day 9 (can you believe how quickly December is flying by?), and today I am simply sharing an idea. Some of you may feel validated because you already implement this idea into your curriculum. Others may find this so simple they can’t believe they’ve never thought to do it. Keep reading …
Day 8: Timed Tests
Have you ever sat down and thought through exactly what it takes to read music? There is so much more than simply naming a string of notes. A piano studio must be able to -recognize if the note is in treble or bass clef, and understand which hand plays which clef -identify whether they are …
Day 7: Music Literacy
***GIVEAWAY DAY*** I am so incredibly excited about today's post! My sister-in-law started a new job teaching second grade at a classical style (private) school this year. A couple of months in I asked her how things were going. She had glowing reviews of the curriculum, her staff, and her students. But the one thing …
Day 6: Composition
If you’ve been following along, you have made it half-way through our multisensory note reading series 🙂 And today we’re talking about composition. Arguably, composition and note printing go hand in hand. But I have separated them because it is one thing to copy and print notes, and it’s another to compose pieces! Around the …
Day 5: Note Reading Apps
“On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…” TECHNOLOGY 🙂 Usually the fifth day of Christmas is extra special and brings something very exciting. But I have to admit I chose technology as the fifth day more because my students love it, not so much because I do 😉 Don’t get …
Day 4: Note Sorting
Day 4 is here, and today’s activity will help your students with not only their note reading, but also their fine motor skills! Piano playing in general helps with fine motor movement, but some students need extra practice. Note sorting can be done in a variety of ways, but is always a good activity to …
Day 3: The Backwards Alphabet
Do you practice the alphabet backwards with your students? Should you? Some things in life should not be backwards. Pants, for example. I got to church a few weeks ago, and a friend was hurriedly running to the bathroom because she realized her pants were on backwards ... thankfully she realized before she got up …
Day 2: Kinesthetic Learning
It’s December 2nd, and today we’re getting our students off the bench and moving! Some of my students sit like perfect angels for a whole lesson. Others can’t sit for hardly five minutes. Either way, it’s important to engage our student’s whole bodies in their learning from time to time! Your kinesthetic/tactile students learn concepts …
