O Happy Day! --Vocal warm-up

Anyone who has studied voice or had singing lessons knows that sometimes vocal warm-ups can get old, tired or boring.  A good voice teacher will try to come up with interesting vocalise exercises that still demand vocal concentration, intonation and endurance.

When "Mama-made-me-mash-my-M-and-M's" becomes mundane, try the warm up from this clip from Sister Act II (one of my favorite movies...ever):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=SLY7yI1xV-M

That warm-up contains:

A pentatonic scale

Arpeggio

Syncopated rhythm

Call and response

And on top of all that.....it's a pretty AWESOME arrangement of an AWESOME song!

Knock, Knock!

Who's there?
A great rhythm idea that doubles as a family dinner game!

Next time you are with your kids at a restaurant and find yourselves in the longest 10-15 minutes ever, (which as we all know is the 10-15 minutes between ordering the food and finally having it served) try this idea.  Knock on the table in simple patterns back and forth. The younger the kids, the simpler the patterns.  Likewise, the older the kids, the more difficult patterns. Perfection is not the goal, having fun is!

Noise alert: if the knocking is too loud, try just patting on the table top, or taking the rolled up napkin and use as a drumstick to tap the rhythm on the table.

Hopefully this helps your family survive the next "longest 10-15 minutes ever"! Happy Knocking!

My Favorite TV Show for Kids---Disney's Little Einsteins

Disney's Little Einsteins has been around since 2005, and it is by far my favorite TV program for young kids....especially young musicians.  They cover musical concepts like steady beat, loud and soft, higher and lower,  as well as musical terms like Allegro, Moderato, Andante or rest.  Some of these sound awfully familiar to my regular followers, because these are terms and concepts that I talk about quite a bit!
I have even been bold enough to encourage school music teachers to spend a few dollars of their yearly budget, to purchase the DVD set of this show.  While it is intended for a preschool audience, it easily carries over to a kindergarten and lower elementary school aged child as well.  It works especially well for those days that a school music teacher is absent and has a substitute.  This way if the sub has to play a movie, the students are still being exposed to music standards in the classroom.  This is another win-win situation!
To watch episodes online: go to
http://disney.go.com/preschool/videos/nc/?playlistID=459723#/preschool/videos/nc/

How to Deal with Whining About Practicing

Let's be honest, all students whine sometimes.  The causes differ from not wanting to practice, to getting frustrated with a piece of music, to being frustrated with an instrument.  So what's a parent to do???

Here's some ideas.
First, try to get to the root of the whine.  Is it that they don't want to stop playing outside or with friends and have to come inside and practice? They are frustrated with the piece of music? Frustrated with the concept?  Frustrated with the instrument? Bored with the piece? Now address that root. 
Not wanting to stop playing: Change the time of practice.  If they want to play with their friends in the afternoon when they get home from school, change practice time to the morning after breakfast.  Or even give them the "treat" of being able to stay up a little bit later so that they can practice in the evening after dinner.

Frustration with piece of music: I have been teaching out of the same curriculum for quite a while and now know that some songs are just plain hard.  Students of varying degrees of natural talent will reach a certain song and no matter what, they will struggle.  That taught me that its ok to skip songs or to supplement with another piece that teaches the same concept.  That being said, as a parent talk to the teacher if the same song is being assigned for more than 2 weeks.  Ask what specifically the student needs to work on and what the teacher's plan is if the student continues to struggle in grasping the concept. One piece of music is not worth frustration.

Frustration with a concept: There are some students that really struggle with certain concepts.  I've had students who cannot seem to master the feeling of a 3/4 time signature or crescendo/decrescendo.  If your young musician is getting frustrated with a concept like one of these, during practice take the concept away from the piece and let the musician concentrate on the successful parts of the song, like correct notes, hand position, steady beat, etc.  Talk to the teacher at the next lesson and ask if there is another way to teach the same concept.  This is where the teacher's creativity can shine!  You as the parent see if you can apply the concept to the student in other non-musical ways. (Check out my other posts to see examples of these).

Boredom with the piece: 30 minutes goes by extremely fast.  If your young musician is getting bored with the pieces because they are mastering them quickly, ask the teacher for either a longer lesson (like 45 minutes) or even better, two 30 minute lessons per week. Some musicians are so very talented, that they really could master a concept and a piece of music in just a day or so.  Ask the teacher also for supplemental music outside of the lesson book.  The Faber curriculum that I use has many books that run parallel to the lesson book levels so that students can find matching music to their level of performance. 

Frustrated with the instrument: For some piano students, when they reach a level of performance but are still playing on a lower end keyboard, they can begin to get frustrated that their instrument is not making the sound that they think it should be making.  If that's the case, then its time to invest in a better quality keyboard. Also read my other post on practicing w/o a piano.  On the other end of the spectrum, I've had students whose parents own pianos that need to be repaired or tuned badly and that can cause frustration of the musician as well.  As parents, the ball's in your court for this one.

All in all, there is usually alot going on inside the musician's head when they start whining about practicing.  If you take the time to find out what's really going on, not only will you be able to beat the whining blues, but also your musician will be happy that you took the time to find out what they were thinking/feeling inside. Its a win/win situation!!

Metronome - Across the Curriculum

As promised, here are some metronome uses - across the curriculum: 

Math:
*flashcards - esp. multiplication facts or subtraction/addition facts

Language Arts:
* spelling lists - Just like in the movie "Akeelah and the Bee", try spelling the words to a rhythm.  First nice and slow and then speed it up!
* long lists of words --when I was in school we had to learn lists of helping verbs, linking verbs, prepositions, etc.

Social Studies:
*Memorizing the 50 States and capitals --

Christian studies or Bible:
*Memorizing the books of the Bible
*scripture memorization

These are just some that I've used a metronome with.  What creative way can you think to use a metronome? Comment and share with me!

The Five Senses - Seeing

Studies have shown that the more of the five senses (see, hear, touch, taste, smell) used during learning, the more likely the knowledge will be retained. As a music teacher, it is my goal to use as many of these senses as possible in a weekly lesson.

So for this post and the next 4 posts, I'll go through the senses and give some ideas on how to incorporate them into your musician's practice time or lesson time. (Make sure you check back each day and especially on the taste and smell posts---they're very interesting!)



Sense #1-Seeing



Next time you have a minute, pull out a piano lesson book (or other instrument), open it up and look at the songs. Start at the top of the page and point out and read every word written on the page--from the title of the song or unit at the top, to the last little word at the bottom of the page. Each one of these words are printed there to help your musician. Words at the top, usually describe what is going to be played in the song, the mood of the song, speed or tempo, as well as review the main point of the lesson which is sure to be used often in the song. The words written in the music itself describe what is going on at that time and give instruction on what to do or what to change immediately. The words at the end of the song or at the bottom of the page refer back to the lesson "meat" itself, and many times issue a challenge based on the lesson, the song and the upcoming application of that lesson.


Highlighters are great tools to use to make important instructions stand out!

The Five Senses -Touch

Sense #3--Touch



Pianists touch the keyboard, touch the music to turn the page, touch the pedals, etc. So the sense of touch isn't surprising. But I have a couple ideas on making it more helpful.

When your young musician gets frustrated on a new song, concentrate on the sense of touch. Move away from the piano to the kitchen table or counter. Have the student pat the song, using left hand to pat the left hand rhythm and the right hand to pat the right hand rhythm; separately and then together. Focus the attention on what the hands will do (not individual fingers yet) and how they work together. Once the student feels confident in working the hands correctly then move back to the piano and begin playing at a slower tempo to integrate the individual fingers.

Sometimes this approach gives the confidence to move forward!

The Five Senses--Taste

Sense #4 Taste

Stop licking the piano keys!
No, seriously...in order to use the sense "taste" in music, it does not mean literally tasting the piano keys or the music on the stand.
The sense of taste uses mainly the tongue, but the lips, hard and soft palates, teeth and gums are all part of the big picture. We use these same parts every time we talk and sing. I strongly encourage young pianists to sing or speak while they are playing. Some options would be to sing the words to the song, speak the words to the song (especially if they are self-conscious about their singing voice), speak the counts "1-2-3-4", speak the rhythm "quarter note, half note, whole note", or the letter names of the notes (if its a simple melody).
This also aids in matching pitch and reinforcing the melody of the song. So sing away!

Eenie, Meenie, Minee, Mo...

...catch a tiger by his toe. If he hollers, let him go! Eenie, meenie, minee, mo.

This rhyme came about in the 1800's and has had many different variations. It is a great way for kids to resolve conflict, take turns, etc. It is even better at sneaking in rhythm work! It uses a 4/4 beat, sub-divided beats, patterened rhythms and emphasizes down beats. Sing-say it with your kids at normal speed, then to be silly try it at a slower pace or faster pace.

Have fun!