Composition & Improvisation
Adult student reluctant to improvise
I have a student in her 50s who has rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. She had to miss her last lesson as she had a sore wrist. She told me today at her lesson that her physiotherapist told her to give up piano. She doesn’t want…
Praise for Tune Toolkit
Reviewing Tune Toolkit ready to start some students. As I get my head around it and feel my enthusiasm building I want to say a couple of things. I like the rich cross pollination to core SM and the enormous help this program will be…
Using lesson to de-stress
I wanted to share a teaching experience I had a few weeks ago. One of my adult students, Julie, is a delightful person and so excited about learning piano and LOVES Simply Music. A few weeks ago her classmates couldn’t make it to class so…
Accompaniment 1 – “Whisper”
Question from the accompaniment program: Starting with the major 7th chords, there are parts of three songs that the teacher videos refer to as worksheets. “Danny Boy” and “On My Way Back” are already introduced in the accompaniment program so it’s easy to transfer to…
Beginning lessons with improvisation
I recently heard someone mention a SM requirement that students begin every practice with improv. Is that official? Something that many teachers do? I’d love to hear more about this–where it appears in the training, and even if it doesn’t, how people who use this…
Starting Tune Toolkit
Would you recommend starting Tune Toolkit 1 with these students? Brother/sister, identified gifted ages 11 and 12. Both had traditional lessons prior, and are very switched on. They seem to enjoy composing, and have used arrangement ideas to create pieces. Yet I’m at a point…
Applying playing-based strategies at a generative level
Here’s an idea for applying playing-based strategies at a generative level: After a student composes a song, work together as a class to come up with a way to teach it. This might include making a diagram reference, talking about what specific playing-based tools can…
Encouragement for new teacher
I just finished my initial teacher training program, and I’ve started on Accompaniment 1 and Arrangements 1. So much more to learn! It’s great, and I’m overwhelmed. I have a 6-year-old student who has spent a month learning sentence 1 of Dreams, and a 13-year-old…
Spending an entire class on Comp & Improv
Comp & Improv idea: Have you considered spending an entire class just exploring improvisation? This could play out in many different ways. I think it’s beneficial, especially for those students who are afraid of C&I and stop trying as soon as something doesn’t sound ‘good’.…
Accompaniment and Arrangements – optional?
How “optional” are Accompaniment and Arrangements special programs? I see them in the teachers’ timeline, yet some time ago I heard someone mention it was up to the student to some extent…if/when to pursue those. But one of my students (currently in F2 and keeping…