The week after Thanksgiving – that’s NEXT WEEK people – we will open up registration for our very own Tots and Tunes class for babies and toddlers and their parent. Classes will be held at the studio 2095 Arras Ave from 1:30-2:30PM on Wednesdays starting November 6, 2013. We have space for 6 moms and tots so register early. Registration is live now – so call the studio or use the online registration below:
This October is going to FANTASTIC! I can feel it. Can you?
For STARTERS! Our studio is going to change how and when we do Group Lessons. Still Thursdays? Yup! Still from 6:30-7:30? Yup! BUT! – EVERY WEEK!!! You read that right! We will have WEEKLY Group Lessons to get our students motivated, excited and well, more knowledgeable about theory! It’s going to be GREAT!
BUT!! There’s MORE!
We will have a Halloween Party on the 24th – because we’re CLOSED on Halloween!
So, come you ghouls and goblins, you witches and warriors, you Thomas the Tank Engines and Iron Mans – we will celebrate with some spooky games and prizes on October 24 because you’ll be out haunting your neighbourhoods on October 31!!
Boooooo!
I was listening to NPR on Monday and they had this fascinating interview with a singer who was the goddaughter of Quincy Jones. He mentored her though her singing career and then pushed her a little bit father into a songwriting career. She was terrified. He insisted. I have a feeling that when Quincy Jones “suggests” things people simply do them. She said she didn’t know how. He said the following : listen to your favourite songs, write down a line from each of them, sick ’em together, pow – you’ve got a song.
What AWESOME advice! You write what you like, what you’d like to listen to, what story you’d like to convey. The hard part is finding the story you’d like to tell! So when I have new composers in my studio I ask them what their favourite fairy tale is. They tell it to me and I write down the important points. Then I ask them to make a sound on the piano for each point. We string ’em together and POW! We have a song.
What do you do to encourage composition in your studio? 
When I say to my students you need to “Practice with Passion” they look at me blankly. And I mean that- totally blank. Some venture to ask me what I mean, others start to giggle. None of them at the beginning know what I’m talking about.
To Practice with Passion is to set a goal for that practice session and achieve it. It doesn’t matter if that goal is to get one bar smoothly with no goofs. It could be to make the piece smooth with no hesitations or smudges. What about saying all of the notes aloud when playing one hand only? It could be to play with the right articulation, or the right dynamics.
Each Practice session should have meaning, otherwise what are you playing for? And that’s the third P – Play. Music is hard work, we all know this. But it’s also fun – it’s play!
I tell my students to set a goal, make that your Passion, Practice it, Play with it, and then you’re DONE for theday. While I think that monitoring student practice time is important – I think that they need to have a practice goal in mind which can be achieved in 5 or 30 min. Celebrate that goal. Reward achieving it. Have a piece of pie, an ice cream, watch a TV show. Read a good story. Listen to some good music. You DID IT!
That’s Practicing with Passion
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We always say that “Practice makes Perfect”, but what if it doesn’t? What if you’re practicing poorly? So poorly that what you’ve practiced is wrong?? Many students in my studio get overwhelmed with their weekly homework.
Years ago I started to suggest that they practice small chunks of their work a certain number of times in a row perfectly. They wouldn’t work for a certain length of time, but would practice until this goal had been achieved. This worked well until the students were tackling harder pieces. They would give up on their good practice habits. So I looked to other teachers for inspiration.
I looked and looked for FUN resources for my students. I wanted GAMES!! I wanted INSPIRATION!! I’m lucky that I live in an age where teachers are willing to post their fantastic ideas on the web for others to learn and borrow. I found tonnes of inspiration and many, many games.
A number of teachers posted wonderful games to use in lessons (namely: Natalie at Music Matter’s Blog, Jennifer Foxx with Pianimation, & Susan Paradis). As I looked for more material specific to this cause of practicing, I came to The Fame School and her wonderful practice games. But I also came across The Piano Discoveries Blog. Check out their ideas for practicing at home. I like the “Hug Game” where you get a hug for completing a challenge.
In my visits to various sites I’ve picked up a few common games/incentives for getting kids excited about practicing. Each Tuesday I’ll share one here – and I’ll link to one of the sites where I’ve found the idea.
This Monday we’ll be listening to a favourite composer of mine: George Winston. Winston was influenced by Vince Guaraldi’s music for the Peanuts specials he watched as a teenager. On his December album, Winston performs his version of the famous “Linus and Lucy”.
Arguably his most famous piece is “Variations on the cannon” by Pachabel.
When you listen to the piece “Woods” for your listening journal, close your eyes – pretend you’re at one of Winston’s concerts and let the music take you away.
Check out George Winston’s site for more information. http://www.georgewinston.com/us/home 
It’s that time of year where we look ahead to the exciting things fall has in store. Our studio is no exception!
For the past 3 years we have had a studio practice incentive – this year we will focus on our BRAINS! YES! Our studio practice incentive is thanks to Jennifer Fox at Pianimation. This is YOUR BRAIN ON MUSIC! Each student will have their very own brain to keep track of their musical goals which range from the number of sight reading pieces they want to play this year to the number of minutes/week they want to practice. For each goal they achievethey can put a Cranium Coin into the jar on top of the piano. At 20 coins they get a prize, at 50 another and at 100 a special prize. When the studio reaches a special number of coins in the jar we will have a PARTY!! 
Thanks to Pianimation for the awesome graphics and idea!
This summer we had a fantastic contest inspired by Wendy Stevens. All students participated and created their very own cartoon character. They had to submit it by the middle of July with 3 words to describe their character. AND the character had to be something/one out of their imagination. We posted the characters and their descriptions on the studio wall and had other students choose a character (not their own creation) to inspire their composition. By the end of the summer we had a number of fantastic compositions! Many students are continuing to work on their pieces, making them longer or making them even more complex. This was a great project to kick off the summer, and to keep students inspired during the heat of the season.
gsdmusic 