composition
Stressed teenaged student
My sensitive teen cried last night at class and I know she has been struggling but her dad tells me she absolutely loves her lessons and playing piano. Here’s the problem, she will only work on songs she loves, only do the things she wants…
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…
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…
Composition Idea
Try this for a fun project once your students have some arrangements under their belts. Compose a ‘medley’ using ONE playlist song and adding any number of the following components in any order: Intro/Outro (make one up) Any arrangement Improv section Transitions between sections Play…
Teaching creativity – the role of teachers in the future
I’ve been batting around an idea that occurred to me since watching the SMD video announcements earlier this week. Neil says this at one point near the end (thanks to Sue Lopez for the transcription!): “We have the opportunity to play a contributing role…
Piano Summer Camp
Hi, I’m a Simply Music teacher for 1 1/2 years, and last summer I did not teach. I noticed how in September my students had forgotten their piano pieces. I was pleasantly surprised at how fast they could remember their play list (short one for sure,…
Master List of Projects
I’m finding I’m sporadic in assigning projects in all the streams, and in an effort to be more consistent I am trying to plan differently. For my lesson plans/tracking I’m going to use the columns idea someone shared recently with Date, Foundation, Accompaniment, Improv and…
Unfolding Comp/Improv, Arrangements, Accompaniment
I’m wondering about how to bring in Composition/Improvisation, Accompaniments, and Arrangements 1 for my students? I’m a pretty new teacher and my most advanced students are starting Amazing Grace in Foundation 1. When do I start to introduce these other programs? How much of each…
Remembering Compositions
As students work on compositions, is it ok for them to write notes in a Simply Music fashion to help them remember their pieces (starting notes, patterns, form, etc.)? When I began encouraging comp, I started to see students coming with a scrap of paper…