Because students have no words to describe the actions of our ears in learning music, students have a hard time thinking about what their ears do, and therefore their brains usually dismiss the ears as tangential to the process, or take them for granted.  Sometimes, I’ve noticed students doing all they can to avoid what they might consider “learning by ear” — they will simply state they cannot do it, and will cling more tightly than ever to their book, sheet music, and verbal thinking strategies.

Verbal thinking strategies focus on what a student can put into words.  In music, this start with written notes or instructions.  Often a student will try mightily to play sequences of notes in the right order, and will stop to fix it when a note is wrong.  For them, trying harder usually means applying their brains ever more diligently to the ideas they’re able to think about — notes, finger numbers, markings, keys, time signatures — trying to get it all right.

But that is not where music can be found.  Without sound, music is an intellectual exercise.  And without timing, there is only sound — and no music at all.  We teachers need to focus our students on respect for listening.  We need a way for students to apply their thinking and practicing to an appreciation of their ears.

So I’ve made up a couple of words for teachers and students to use in describing the work of the ears.  It’s so frustrating that our ears just sit there and receive sound — they don’t even move or do something we can watch!  But think about it:  a bare-bones beginner can tell right from wrong after only the second time of hearing a sequence of four notes.  How?  Because their ears have quickly mapped out the correct sound profile of that sequence.  They don’t generally have a clue about how they, who may never have played music before, could possibly do this so quickly.  There are no words for it.

Okay, let’s see try two new words to describe the work of our ears in learning music.  The first is mapify.  To mapify is to allow your ears to map out the timing and profile of a segment of music.

Teach your students to mapify a phrase of music.  To mapify, they will need to hear which notes land on the beats, and hear the music enough to take in a general profile of how the music travels as it rises and falls on its journey from beat to beat.  But they must permit this profile to be blurry, i.e. to accept mistakes — as long as the beat notes are played in time.  With a small number of repetitions, their ears will learn the timing, the beat notes, and the profile of that segment of music.

Now comes the next task, with its own word:  Tonalize.  To tonalize is to clean up that general profile, so that the ears can hear clear notes, and hear the exact route from one beat note to the next.  (By the way, the connection of this word to Suzuki’s made-up word “tonalization” is a coincidence but not an unwelcome one, as Suzuki’s word involves the making of a clear tone quality.)

With these two words in mind — mapify and tonalize — maybe this scenario is much less likely to play out:  the student who works to get the right notes, and, having got them right once, stops and look at you as if the music’s been learned!  If this student is asked to “mapify” the music, they will have to ask something of their ears, not just their brains:  Did I allow my ears enough time to mapify this part of the music?  Are my ears hearing all the beat notes?  Are they comfortable with the timing of the notes that fall on the beats?  Did I give my ears a consistent sense of the profile of this music, the ups and downs, even if some of the notes are fuzzy?   Just one time correctly through the notes cannot possibly satisfy these questions!

Then the student will need to tonalize the music, to play the selected phrase or segment of music enough times through to give the ears a clear sense of the correct notes, and allow time to seek good quality of sound.  But the map must be kept intact — they must make sure the ears keep hearing the timing and the pulse that breathes life into the music from one beat note to the next.  Here is where that desire to get the notes right, and to hear a good sound, can be thoroughly indulged, as long as it’s in the context of hearing “mapified” music.

By naming these two aural steps, perhaps we can give students the tools to verbalize these crucial nonverbal tasks that undertaken by our ears each time we practice or play through music.  With these two words handy, our students can help their ears learn, and can engage their brains with sound.  If we don’t supply a way to verbalize a skill, we can’t blame a student for focusing on what is quantifiable, such as studying notes with the eyes, or applying the brain to thinking only about finger numbers or note letters or written notations and rules — while they take for granted the nonverbal learning skills that are the real heart of playing music.

Next time, I will suggest some new words for the physical motions of our hands, which usually suffer the same fate as our ears.  Our hands also need a little real attention to their own needs, and not just to serving the brain’s often all-too-limited vocabulary for playing music.

The post Can your students “mapify” and “tonalize”? appeared first on Music Teacher's Helper Blog.

I am a musician. I possess a wonderful, creative, passionately-interested-in-the-world right brain. I love to explore, to learn, to ponder, to express. I love to share ideas, to share emotions, to create beauty.

It is a great kind of brain to have.

Most of the time.

There are those times, however, that the possession of such a brain creates chaos, confusion, and disorder. I am sure that there are many of you fellow musicians who have never had these feelings. I am sure there are many of you who have learned to harness both your right AND your left brains, that your paperwork is all in order, all of your financial dealings with students have been handled in a timely, professional manner, and that you have no questions about how to start over from a muddled, unsure record-keeping state.

This post is not for those of you who fit that category. Instead, please fast forward to the end of this post and leave us your wise counsel and organizational tips in the comment section. We need you. We really really do.

For the rest of us, though, I have this promise: you are not alone. We creative sorts have many gifts. So what if filing isn’t one of them? Let’s use our creativity to find new solutions. I have some advice, some tips, some words of hope for you. I’m sure that together we can make a dent in the financial stresses of the independent music teacher.

For me, the end of this school year signaled a need to take stock of my finances. I needed to know where I stood in regards to payments due and to invoice items unpaid. Music Teacher’s Helper has been an enormous help and resource to me in the past two years, but I found myself with one big issue:

I had stopped inputting all my information. I no longer knew where to start.

I couldn’t figure out what was stopping me, so I tried to get to the root of it. And this is what I discovered.

I have no computer accessible to me while I’m teaching. I’ve been relying on post-it notes to remember who owed me what for which music, which music to buy for which student, and notes for the following lessons for individual students. All of this, of course, I intended to put directly into MTH after each day’s lesson schedule. And yet, when each day’s lessons ended, I was quickly sucked into the needs of my family (why DO they want dinner every night?)  And the information to be input? Let’s just say the side of my piano has many many post-it notes from the last few months.  I needed a way to stay on top of my daily information, a repository for everything before I could get to the computer.

After I recognized the problem, I brainstormed (yay, right brain!) and thought of some solutions. One was to get a laptop or an iPad to keep near me so that I could put all of this information in the right place right away. Alas, neither purchase was in the budget. The second was to take time at the end of each teaching day to input the necessities. Alas, this seemed impossible with, yes, again, the needs of my family (why DOES homework need to be done every day?) The third (hooray!) has met my needs: a single place to gather all the information I need for when I can get to my computer and MTH, a solution that is low tech, cheap, and adaptable.

I introduce my piano binder:

My utilitarian, catch-all, life-saving piano binder

Is it pretty? Nope. If I wanted to make it Pinterest worthy, I would have figured out some cute paper and labels and color-coordinated tabs. If I had time to do that, I wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place! (You can make a super cute binder, though, and send me pictures so I can dream about making mine fun and fancy.)

Here are the sections of my piano binder:

First I added an attendance log. I pulled this sheet from Color in My Piano. Joy Morin has many wonderful pdfs available for business purposes as well as great teaching ideas.

Since my teaching year starts in June, I am starting in the middle of a sheet. I mark the date of lesson attendance or add an E for an excused absence for which a make-up lesson can be used or an M for a missed lesson that will not be made up. This will help me keep up on which students are eligible for the make-up lessons I offer during group class week.

Next, I have a log for music and supplies I have purchased for students. This sheet is also from Joy Morin.

When I put the information into MTH, I put an “I” next to the row with that music to let me know I’ve invoiced that item.

Third, a payment history. I have another copy of this same sheet to list all of the checks I receive. I keep the checks in the inside cover of the binder and list all of the information (date received, check number, etc.) on this form. When I make a deposit, I draw a line under the checks I deposited and write the date of deposit on the last “Notes” row.

Fourth, a detailed financial record for each family. When I created my binder, I spent hours going through my MTH records to make sure I had correct financial information for each student. I created a form beginning with the first month I reopened my piano studio and made sure that I had already input all of my tuition charges, music charges, fees, and payments for each of my students. It was helpful for me to have a visual of each student’s monthly payment history and I discovered that I had missed a few  fees for some of my students. With this new information, I am now able to create accurate and current invoices from within MTH.

I will be adding a list of music and supplies I need to buy for each student so that my post-it covered piano can be returned to its former clean-sided glory, a list of music lent, and a sheet protector for storing receipts. I’m sure that as time progresses, I will tweak certain forms and add others, but I love that I have my simple binder on the shelf right next to my teaching chair and that all of the information I need to stay current can be kept in one place until I have a chance to input the information into Music Teacher’s Helper. Once the information is current in MTH, I send out my invoices and my students can access their information.

This is just one solution for keeping financial records more organized. What works for you? How do you handle lending your music? Storing receipts? Student information? Please share!

The post Music Teaching Financial Binder Makeover appeared first on Music Teacher's Helper Blog.

Nursing homes. Nursing homes are some of my favorite places to play.  They usually have some sort of large activities room, often with a stage and piano.  The elderly folks who live there generally love music and children – bringing both front and center will likely make their day.  A 45 minute program is perfect.  Let students know ahead of time what they may see as far as wheelchairs, oxygen tanks, or severely disabled adults.

Coffee shops.  Coffee shops may not be willing to give up ‘prime time’ to inexperienced musicians, but they may be willing to work with you on a time that has low attendance.  It will certainly help if your students’ parents are willing to come by and drink some coffee, too. Students can sign up for time slots or even rotate.

Master Classes.  Master classes are a pretty well-known event, where each student plays and the instructor teaches the entire class.  These are a great way for students to play in front of each other and their families, as well as learn to improve their skills.

Performance parties.  Performance parties are similar to master classes, but much more informal.  These can be held at someone’s home with a handful of similarly established students.  This is a great time for students to play in front of each other, have some fun and games, and learn to look for positive points within each player’s performance.  Performance parties make great pre-recital rehearsals, where each student can learn proper etiquette and try out their piece in a relaxed environment.

Awards ceremonies. Public schools, boys scouts and girl scouts, civic organizations, and many other groups have awards ceremonies.  Advanced students can be the main source of entertainment, beginner students might be more comfortable playing while people are coming and going, or chatting over dinner. Call around until you find out who is in charge of the event so you can make the appropriate arrangements.

Religious organizations.  Churches often have preludes before their time of worship.  Talk with the music director about arranging for some of your students to play during this time.  They may need to audition for this kind of service.

Community organizations.  Contact your local community organizations, such as the Rotary Club or the Masons.  They may be interested in having some free entertainment for their events, too.  Find out the dress code and have students dress appropriately.

Outdoor events.  Often, small towns have events such as summer play ground programs or outdoor pool events. Upbeat, fun music performed by fellow students might be the perfect addition to one of these kid-friendly events. Many local parks have bandstands or small outdoor stages which could be reserved ahead of time for a recital program.

Of course, each of these events presents its own challenges: how to bring large instruments, how to accompany solo instruments or vocals, and what the weather or attendees may be like.  Performing should be a positive, fun experience for the beginning student.  Help them to be as prepared as possible, show them how to manage the jitters, and how to dress and act appropriately for their venue. Teach them how to handle it if things go poorly or if they go wonderfully.  Invite families along to see their kids performing and having a wonderful time!  Lastly, don’t forget to bring along some promo materials.  You never know when you’ll meet your next student!

The post Summer Performance Opportunities appeared first on Music Teacher's Helper Blog.

It’s Worthwhile for a Variety of Good Reasons – Here’s Only Three!

1. It’s a wonderful, fun hobby that you can pursue for your entire lifetime.
Now, some folks like to play for others and some don’t, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that your new ability, your new hobby, can give you a lifetime of sheer enjoyment for almost no money at all. Sure, you’ll have to learn but once learning is done, you simply sit down at it when the mood strikes and make pleasing, beautiful music. For most folks, this means playing their favorite tunes with a minimum of practice.

2. It Costs Little in Terms of Money and Effort
The lessons do take awhile (more on that below!,) but even learning can be fun – if you let it be. And once the lessons are through, and since you’ll already own your own instrument, your enjoyment costs you zero in terms of effort and expense. Just play.

3. Science now confirms that your efforts will keep you as young as possible.
From the pages of NYT “best-sellers” to your favorite magazines, the news about adult music training is all positive. I have copies of articles which explain how learning takes place at every age (I could have told them that years ago!) not just for children. Science now has proven this fact and even invented a wonderful $10 word for it – “neuroplasticity!” This means that in order to keep the brain and hands as young as possible, older learners need to learn new things.

But how hard is that? I’ve taught ages 5 ½ to 97 and I can conclusively state that adults, on the average, learn 10 -20X faster than children. Yes, I know this goes against “conventional wisdom.” However, ask yourself how often that’s been wrong! Ask any parent about why their child only slowly “gets the picture” and you’ll have your answer. Sure, there are “young Mozarts,” but they are few and far between!

Dan Starr (www.danstarr.com) is a native of Tucson, Arizona, born in 1952. He’s played electronic instruments since 1968 and taught music – mostly keyboards, including organ, piano (acoustic and digital,) synth, and portable keyboard but also banjo, voice, and guitar – since 1987. He started writing in 2001 and has kept at it since.

The post The 3 Biggest Values of Adult Piano Lessons appeared first on Music Teacher's Helper Blog.

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Isn’t it frustrating watching a new student struggling to work out the pitch of the notes on their sheet music. Is it a C or an A? You can hear them muttering “every good boy…” under their breathe whilst their parent waits anxiously on the edge of their seat to see if they might finally “hear a tune.”

Or what about a more advanced student? Surely by now they should be able to recognise that note on the ledger lines? Why can’t they remember to play a G sharp when playing in the key of A major? If only they would play that note in the correct octave?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried everything under the sun over the years to try and help my pupils quickly recognise pitch; flash cards, all manner of computer software and other miscellaneous methods in an effort to help them become better music readers. After all, faster pitch recognition equals more fluent sight reading. New pieces then get learnt quicker and everybody, pupil, parent and music teacher are much happier!

This could be it!

And then the light bulb moment! One of my students introduced me to another method for learning notes in the form of an iPad app called NoteWorks. “Great!” I exclaimed, trying desperately to contain my dismay at another attempt at reinventing the wheel. I’ve seen them all. Why is this going to be any different?

And yet it was! In a matter of seconds I was experiencing a very exciting game that I could see would have a tremendous impact on my lessons. Let me explain this little music teaching gem and how it could benefit your students too.

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Introducing NoteWorks

What my students and I love about NoteWorks is how much fun it is! Think of it as Angry Birds for music students! And the thing that really gets us excited is that you can connect it to a digital piano (or keyboard) via a USB cable so that you can play the game directly on the keys of your instrument!

Previously, using my older methods, I’ve always found that students seemed a bit detached from an activity on a card or a screen compared to the real world of reading music notation. Because NoteWorks is so practical, especially when connected to a MIDI keyboard, I’ve noticed a MASSIVE improvement in music reading ability with all my students within a couple of weeks!

Case Study 1: Complete Beginner

I quickly introduced Rob, a complete beginner in his early thirties to NoteWorks. Now, only eight weeks later, he has made phenomenal progress with the game. More importantly, he’s quickly reading new songs of a much higher standard than would normally be realistic at this stage (grade 1 ABRSM) with breathe-taking ease!

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Case Study 2: Advanced Student

12 year old Imogen, who is currently preparing for her grade 6 piano exam (ABRSM), has always struggled with her sight reading. By her own admission she has found recognising pitches a struggle and therefore developing a piece to a mistake free standard has always been a long and bumpy road, despite all efforts with previous note learning methods. Enter NoteWorks! I could not believe the difference just a week made, after she downloaded the app on her mum’s iPad!!! I choose a grade 6 sight reading test with a key signature of four flats and she flew through it with flying colours! More than that, she’s now performing all of her three exam pieces much more reliably as a result!!!

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As you can see, I am delighted with the results. NoteWorks is really helping my students to read music so much better at all levels and this progress is coming along quickly too. In conclusion I’ve listed a number of the key (pardon the pun) benefits of this amazing app:

• Great fun with hilarious sound effects!
• Perfect for helping complete beginners master their pitches. Simply answering on the relevant buttons on the iPad screen: “A, B, C (or  Do, Re, Mi)”
• You can restrict the range of pitches with the first few levels and as the levels progress, so does the range
• In practice mode, students are helped with hints which is a massive help at first to beginners
• In challenge mode, pupils play for points and win stars just like a conventional game
• You can choose treble, alto, tenor or bass clef
• Perfect for pianists, organists and harpists, who can select grand stave (treble and bass clef combined)
• Helps piano and keyboard students to learn where to locate notes in the exact octave on the keyboard (if required)
• Even more effective when connected to a MIDI keyboard
• Useful for learning accidentals (level 7)
• Good for helping advanced students improve their key awareness (you can select which keys are tested up to 7 sharps or flats!)
• Great help with coping with commonly used ledger lines
• Currently available in 12 languages!
• Easily played at home or in lessons
• Simple for small children to use (one of my 8 year old students Ffion plays it every morning in the car on the way to school on her iPad mini)
• Adults enjoy it (David, my 69 year old student, loves using it every day connected to his digital piano!)
• You can setup multiple users, each with their own settings if there are more than one student sharing the same iPad (every one of my 47 students has a unique setup)
• There are three speed settings for helping students to gradually improve their response time
• Teaches pupils the essential sight reading skill of ignoring mistakes and carrying on!
• Goes back over any mistakes made in a game for targeted help on specific weaknesses

What you need

Basic requirements:

•  iPad or iPad mini with iOS 5.0 or later

Other requirements for advanced function:

• MIDI keyboard or piano (check the connections on the back of the instrument for MIDI)
• Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit (or other MIDI adapter)
• USB cable (either a modern USB cable commonly used to connect printers to computers [male to female] or on older pianos, a MIDI to USB cable)

NoteWorks Links

• Noteworks (full version) on iTunes
• Noteworks (free version) on iTunes
• NoteWorks on facebook

See other posts by Reuben Vincent

The post I Think I’ve Found It! appeared first on Music Teacher's Helper Blog.

Providing your child with a well-rounded education is a highly important part of their development. Introducing children to music is one of the most readily available and common components of that education.

Whether your child is interested in the typical piano and guitar or something completely different, like the viola or a wind instrument, chances are good that you’ll be able to find an instructor for a decent hourly rate.

One of the less-discussed aspects of that decision is whether or not your child’s music lessons should take place in your own home or in the home of the instructor.

Making the call will have a lot to do with your kid’s personality and learning tendencies. Some children learn much better at home while others need to get away from their familiar surroundings in order to concentrate on anything academic.

Yet, aside from the personality of the child, there are some fairly universal pros and cons to having your child’s music lessons occur inside of the home.

Let’s take a look at each side of the coin.

Pros of Teaching at Home

One of the nicest perks here is that you don’t have to drive your child to music lessons, which saves you time, fuel and probably a little energy. It also allows the child to relax and have the added comfort of being in an environment they’re familiar with, which is typically the best situation for them to learn in. They’ll be able to play and go about their daily routine before their music teacher arrives. Since your child is already practicing in their home, they would be more likely to retain the information of a paid lesson when they’re in the same environment they’re used to practicing in.

So let’s recap:

Familiar environment –

• No time or travel expenses –
• Convenient –
• More comfortable –

Cons of Teaching at Home

Typically, a child learning at home is going to have far more distractions than they would if they went to a music studio or someone else’s house. In your own home, there’s TV, video games, computers and everything that is usually available for entertainment, all of which will fight for your kid’s attention. In addition, your child’s high comfort level could become a disadvantage, as they’ll feel more in control of the situation and will be more willing to avoid paying attention or applying themselves to what they’re learning. You’ll also have to contend with higher prices from the teacher since they’re the ones who end up doing the driving.

In short:

Higher lesson cost to cover travel –

• More distractions –
• Comfort can lead to less work ethic –

Your Decision

You’ll have to do a little bit of comprehensive personality analysis and determine whether your child is going to excel learning at home or whether the distractions and the bravery provided by their own environment will end up being too counterproductive.

Usually, if a child is a homebody and is contented around the house, they’ll do better with in-home lessons than they would outside of the home. It’s much easier for a child to get on board with 30 minutes of music at home than it is for them to get ready to leave the house for a music lesson.

In addition, if you decide to host music lessons in your home, chances are that you will need to invest in the piano, guitar or other instrument that your child is learning to play. If you drive your child to their music lesson, the teacher will more than likely have the instrument readily available at their location.

On the other hand, if your child is easily distracted and, at times discontented around the house, you’re going to have a tough time getting them to sit still for the music teacher.

The call is yours to make.

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer in Los Angeles whose writing covers several different industries. Music has been a major part of her children’s education, from music therapy for her special needs son to piano lessons for her other two children.

The post The Pros And Cons Of Teaching Students At Home appeared first on Music Teacher's Helper Blog.

Are We There Yet?

If you are interested in expanding the use of technology in your studio or music classroom, I highly recommend becoming familiar with Michelle’s products at her site Keys to Imagination. She not only sells and supports a host of software programs and books, but also authors and produces her own unique products.  It would be difficult to make a complete list here so instead I’ll highlight a product that I believe you will find a perfect solution for your upcoming summer plans, a unique camp or theme for your private studio lab, a music classroom or even a general classroom unit. It’s called  Are We There Yet? A Musical Journey Around the Globe^®.

Michelle describes it as “a unique multimedia, interdisciplinary program to teach students about world music, instruments, culture, people, and geography through colorful slides, text, photos, videos, music, crafts, games and puzzles.  Designed to be used with a projector or SMART board or computer station for an independent lab, this curriculum is completely done for you!  Simply read the slides to students, click on related sound clips and videos, and complete activities as directed.”

Let me reiterate that when Michelle mentions it is completely done for you, she means it is completely done for you. I’ve known her and used many of her products long enough to know that whatever she produces will be comprehensive, extremely well researched, organized and most importantly, easy to use. In addition, Michelle aligns herself with top-notch people for all her projects.  For the Are We There Yet series she collaborated with Dr. Deborah Brener (among others), an expert in world music.  Deborah’s doctoral work concentrated on multicultural studies in teaching music and the blending of western and non-western teaching styles. She has written numerous published articles and given presentations on this topic nationwide. The pair decided to create a product to bring world music to elementary students using an interdisciplinary and multimedia program. As both Michelle and Deborah have different areas of expertise, I vouch that this team’s collaborative efforts have proven successful.

What does Are We There Yet? A Musical Journey Around the Globe^® offer?

• An easy to follow plan for music or non-music teachers, no experience in world music is needed
• Sensitivity to the use of music to enhance learning
• An all-in-one multi-cultural curriculum that classroom teachers could coordinate with other subjects
• Well-researched content with music, text, photos, videos, crafts, games, and puzzles aligned with the national standards
• Flexibility with which to customize classes or a student’s lab session by choosing slides and activities to fit your schedule
• Currently six country kits are available with another six in development
• Lovely orchestrated accompaniment tracks showcasing instruments from around the world to enhance hand-selected and carefully arranged pieces for piano, Boomwhackers, Orff and rhythm instruments and singing (FYI: the arranger, Levi Taylor was hired by Dr. Randall Faber as a result of his work on this project)
• Easily accessed materials requiring minimal equipment
• A classroom or piano studio version: the classroom version is licensed for an entire school building and multiple classes.  It also includes music for Boomwhackers (already color coded for the teacher) or other Orff instruments, rhythm instrument and vocals.  This is an optional add-on kit for the piano studio version.

Perhaps the best way to learn more about the unique cross-cultural curriculum is to view this video in which Michelle steps through the details about the latest addition to the series: Africa. You will enjoy seeing her activities in action with real students.

So, book your tickets (the rates are reasonable at $40-$80 per kit), pack your bags and take a trip to a foreign country and culture in the comfort of your own studio or classroom. With her Are We There Yet? series, Michelle Sisler–in collaboration with respected colleagues–provides key programs to spark your music students’ imagination.

Good News! Michelle has offered a $5 discount for Are We There Yet? A Musical Journey Around the Globe – Teacher Kit (Piano Version) (Download only). This $5.00 discount can be applied to each country which adds up to $30.00 off retail. 

Coupon Code: MTH

The post Travel the World of Music with Your Students appeared first on Music Teacher's Helper Blog.

On Right Brain Music’s website it says:  “Learn to read music in less than 30 days with the Right Brain Music Note Learning System.  By incorporating humor, vibrant colors, and pictures, into each of our products, we have created a system that will enable music students of all ages to learn much faster, and retain the information much longer, than they would through traditional left brain music learning methods.”  Click here for more on Right Brain Philosophy

The Right Brain Music Note Learning System  ($54.99) (This is the full system and there is a mini version Right Brain Music Mini Kit “The Essentials” ($34.99) as well as some items of the system sold separately.)

The Right Brain Music system has 26 very colorful and memorable characters that represent notes from the the first ledger line (D) below the Bass Clef to the first ledger line (A)above the Treble Clef.

Here is what the system does and how I used it with my students .  (This approach varied with each student in terms of how much I introduced per lesson.  For most I divided it up over the course of 2- 4  lessons) :

Right Brain Music Flash Card Set  – These double-sided cards are like little character scripts for the system, bringing each one to life.   Also, they often give clues to their unique placement on the staff (like below).

(How it works:  One side of the card is held so the student is looking slightly upwards at one of the 26 characters featured on, above, or below the grand staff.  The teacher reads or the tells the short story on the back.   These cards  sparked my creativity as  a storyteller as I shared about each character, the same way I used to read ‘in character’ to my sons at night when they were little.  My students often chimed in to add to the character story or make connections with other people, places, and things they know.

Like in the video on the Right Brain website, I told my students to take a picture of the character in their brain.  Then I used a series of prompt questions  I heard from the video, and some of my own to help them identify and recall the detail of the character and its placement on the staff:

• What does the character (ex. Burping Bride) look like?   Tell me about her/him (story details).
• Is she on or near the Treble or Bass clef?
• Is she/he on a line or space note?
• What number line or space?   (This also gave me an opportunity to talk about spaces and ledger lines above and below the staff in applicable.)

I also helped them reference landmark notes (Treble G, Middle C and Bass F)  with the appropriate characters.  Making reference to the landmark notes was a personal addition of mine that I feel really helped.    We would find them both on the staff and then immediately on the keyboard to help reinforce that connection.

The Right Brain Music system really allows endless possibilities for the skills and creativity of each teacher to come into play!  

I found the more creative I was with the system, the more the student had fun, made connections, and ‘got it’.  (This also helped me gain insight about how each student views the grand staff as a whole.  This insight continues to inform my teaching showing areas which areas/notes and concepts to work on, such as intervals, etc.).

Right Brain Music + Passionate Teacher + Eager Student = a musical SCORE!!! 
(Can you  sense my enthusiasm?!)

I started out introducing the cards sequentially and then the idea came to me to have the student randomly pick a card with their eyes closed (I held out a fan of flashcards).   I noticed the excitement increased with my students once I started doing this.

They loved the randomness and ownership of selecting each card.  It was my experience that this random approach worked with both those students who were new to note reading and those that had some experience.  It’s good to know that both the sequential and random approach work – so I will keep both in mind to use depending on the student.

Then I had them use the static cling character stickers…

Right Brain Music Piano Sticker Set (reusable, safe, static cling stickers) – How it works:  

Have  the student put a corresponding sticker on the keyboard so that a connection is made between the location of the note on the piano and it’s position on staff .  I found that once they started finding a few notes, and made a few relationships (such as the landmark notes) as well as other notes, a lot of it was like connecting the dots, so to speak.

I also placed the Music Note Reference Chart on the piano stand so it would be a reinforcing visual right front of the student.  I’d have the student find and point to the character on the staff before we found it on the piano.

Sometimes I would purposely interject and pull out a character flashcard that was an octave below or above one that they already selected.  This way, for example, they could start seeing and playing where the different F’s live on staff and where they live on the piano.

Also whenever there were 3 stickers placed in a row for example, I’d ask about the middle character (ex. Buff Broccoli – As I pointed, I asked:   Who are Buff Broccoli’s two neighbors ?   And they would answer:  “Astronaut and Caribbean Crocodile!”.    (Sometimes I’d have to help them with some of the names, however, they remembered most of them).

Then I moved them to the…….

Laminated Note Card (grand staff)  with Pen (dry erase marker).  Before I had them draw the note or character on the staff, we reviewed everything one more time.  I challenged them to do it from memory and had them make eye contact with me as they proceeded to:  Name and describe the character, tell the placement on the staff, etc.

Only if they needed help remembering, I’d have them look back at the Music Note Reference Chart and the piano keys/with stickers for a quick review as I guided them.    By the time they picked up the dry erase marker to draw the note or character, they had great confidence in their ability to draw the note on the correct line or space.  I had to rein them in sometimes and have them just draw notes, when time became a factor, since drawing the characters took more time.   But oh what fun!)

Then I introduced them to…..

Right Brain Music Practice Book, Levels 1 & 2.   The practice book helps to transition the student into playing notes on the staff with the Right Brain Music characters.  (Also, I’m curious to see what other Practice books Right Brain Music comes up with.)

How I used it:  

I had my students put their hands in a Middle C position to play a 5-finger scale.   First I had them  ‘announce’ the name of the character outloud AS they played the corresponding key.    Then I had them go back and just play the scale while reading the notes/characters.    It got really fun when when they got to a contrary motion 5 finger scale R.H./L.H.   I had them  ‘announce’ the characters as they played the scale, naming them from bottom to top on the staff just like they would read music.

They loved this challenge and rose to the occasion.  It really reinforced everything they had already learned and put their recall of the characters/notes to the test!

Right Brain reminds me of something I learned in sales and marketing a long time ago:  

“Facts tell.  Stories sell.”

That is really it in a nutshell.   The pictures and stories of each character SELL.  The students’ brains are ‘buying into them’ and remembering them.

How does Right Brain Music translate to regular written music?   Beautifully.   Yes, note by note, character by character.   It’s great to see this knowledge translate into playing actual written music.  I knew it would, but I was so excited to see this in action! 

One of my students was recently sight reading a new piece.   (We had just done a quick review her notes using Right Brain.)  When she got to a measure of the new piece that she was having trouble with, I pointed to the particular note she wasn’t sure of (treble C) and asked her ‘Who lives there?’…meaning which character lives on that note or spot on the staff.  She didn’t remember the name of that particular note’s character, but she remembered the preceding note in the measure (treble G – Grumpy Grandpa!)

Then I pulled out the Music Note Reference Chart and pointed to Grumpy Grandpa.  My student , glanced at the chart then quickly looked back at her music, and without hesitation started naming the characters from treble G up to treble C  (and said, Oh it’s something Crocodile, right?!!…I know, the note is C!!!)   Yes, I told her, C for Caribbean Crocodile!!  She then went on to play that measure of the piece.  She remembers now that she can quickly think in terms of the characters to help her with notes as needed.

Other students were also able to use the Right Brain characters to help them with their notes while reading written music.    As needed I’d pause and have them refer to the Music Note Reference Chart to  point out the corresponding Right Brain Music character/note they they needed help with in the moment.    For fun I would say, “This commercial break was sponsored  by….., ” and have them say the names of the character(s) that correspond to the notes.

There seems to be a sort of mental muscle memory that takes place with this practice associating these characters and their stories to the notes on the staff and the keyboard.  Their minds (and mine ), are creating a photographic memory for the characters.  We can practically hear the stories in our minds.  It’s really a brilliant system…simple yet very effective.

Minor Cons:

The static cling keyboard stickers came face down on a peel off sheet – this makes it harder to see the characters that way.   I would like to see them come face up if possible like on the website (a small thing, but it’s much more user-friendly that way).   I got my students to help me put the static cling stickers face up on the sheet they came on.

No storage container(s) for the system other than the mailing package it came in.   While this is certainly not a deal breaker, I think some type of box, bag, or container especially for the cards, would be a nice touch.   Clearly so much thought was put into the great concept and design of the system itself.  It’s also very well constructed but, like anything else, must be taken cared of to last.

If providing storage packaging for the system would increase the overall cost too much, I would suggest that teachers find something appropriate to organize and store the system in.   This will help keep things more organized and more user-friendly.

Ideas/Suggestions:

Speaking of boxes, perhaps Right Brain Music will consider adding a board game at some point to their product line.  A corresponding board game would be great fun for students to play periodically, whether in a private or group lesson setting.  Maybe the board game could use the matching game cards with it.

By the way, the feedback from students and parents about the matching game cards is:

“There are so many cards!”   “I only got through half of them.”   I loaned the entire set of matching game cards to one student to take home once she she completed going through the rest of the system in her lessons.   In the future, I will separate the pairs of cards and only give either the set of Treble Clef characters  or Bass Clef Characters at one time.   

Other Idea/Suggestions: 

A Miniature Music Note Reference Chart/Poster could be helpful for students to refer to as needed while practicing written music at home.

Right Brain Music App -    Perhaps they might consider creating an app for the iPad and other devices, for example, that can, at the touch of a button provide a easy melody line piano arrangements (using the characters and providing audio play back as well).  This can be used as a learning and practice tool to further reinforce note reading skills.  Just an idea (but I believe this could be a very effective additional product offering).

Note to Teachers:
It is important to monitor and adapt the Right Brain Music system, depending on each students’ attention, abilities, and interest.  For some students, I only introduced a few notes per lesson (this was typically with the younger ones).  Others did not want to stop, so we went longer and covered more notes in their lesson.   After about 3 weeks, everyone had gone through all the notes with some review for reinforcement (both in the lesson and by using the matching card game that I sent home with some of them).

Who is the Target Group for Right Brain Music?

I feel this system can work for all age groups.  “He reminds me of my brother!” said one of my teenaged students as she looked at the Gross Gorilla card.   She and other teenaged student (both 15) told me they loved the Right Brain Music system and did not find it babyish when I asked out of curiosity.   They both said they found it “interesting, fun, and very helpful.”   One was brand new to note reading and the other was previously having challenges with bass clef notes.

I haven’t used it YET with any of my adult students, however, I have a sneaking suspicion that most would be open to it, if presented in a way they can connect with it. (ex. I would approach it with the intention having them let their hair down so to speak and tapping into the child inside who likes to play.   I do believe that it would work with many adults because it’s easy and fun.  I believe if it helps them learn to read music better then it’s a good system for any and anyone, regardless of age.

So does Right Brain Music deliver on their 30- day learn to read music claim?   My honest answer is basically YES because it does help lay a SOLID note reading foundation and actually gets the students reading notes right away.

It will, of course, take ongoing reinforcement with the system and practical application through the student reading lots of music to develop full note-reading proficiency.   My students’ experience has shown me that the road to note reading proficiency is definitely MUCH smoother, faster and fun with Right Brain Music!

Disclaimer: I received materials from Right Brain Music, LLC in exchange for this honest review.

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It can be found at ejamming.com and promises great things.  I will discuss what this system can do for musicians, teacher, and students — but I have to point out first that for some, the technical setup of this program on the computer can be very difficult or even prohibitive.  Ejamming has staff members who will work with you one on one to help you set up; they can even take control of your desktop and walk you through everything.  However, ultimately this did not work for me, and I will discuss this below so you can be forewarned.  For some, clearly, it works fine, so let’s continue!

Allow me to explain how exciting this software can be, and is, for many who do use it.  If it won’t work for you now, it’s worth keeping an eye on for future improvements.

The amazing concept here is that you can simultaneously jam with, or teach, up to three other musicians online in real time.  As I mentioned, this is purely an audio experience.  I can’t say there’s no delay, and it can vary depending on the distance between two computers, but in my trial session, the delay was about 30 milliseconds, or about the time it takes for one frame of a video to flash on a screen — not enough to even notice when playing with someone.

In fact, the live sound is so good that the program is set up to let you record any online session at CD quality.

Great possibilities come into view:  You can rehearse from a distance, audition a band member, record a track, or teach a student or a class.  Ejamming allows you to work with up to four people total, including yourself, at a time.  Of course, more than one person could make use of somebody’s computer input and speakers, so potentially you could work with a lot more than 3 others at a time.  This could work well coaching an ensemble, or teaching tunes to a class, or hosting a jam session.  You can also feed in a prerecorded track for yourself and others to jam with or develop.

The program is set up to allow up to four students to set up a practice session at any time, to work together in real time.

Ejamming offers a 30-day free trial; after that the subscription is $9.95 a month.  You can have students subscribe or you might even choose to pay for student subscriptions and incorporate that cost into lesson fees.  For example, you could have up to 4 slots in your session — you plus 3 students (or as I mentioned, more than one student could use one of the connections) — and you could set up the tuition so that it includes the ejamming subscription.  This way you wouldn’t require that students maintain a subscription — you could buy it for them, and then cancel it at the end of the month if the class is not continuing.

The primary function of the program is to allow to open up your own session or join an existing session.  You can reserve a seat for a specific person to join you, or you can open up a seat for the first person to come along and join you.  The program also allows text chats among session members or among strangers.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this program as set up currently may not work for everyone.  I spent a good bit of time with a tech person who got it pretty much working for me but later I discovered that my microphone wasn’t working and that the adjustments that might fix this problem were uncertain.  In addition, the ASIO sound program I had to download to get it working on Windows appeared to have an impact on sound functions for other software.  I’m told that fairly inexpensive hardware is available that is more reliable.  Also, although many Windows users are okay with it, the program may prove easier to set up on a Mac.

Personally, I’m going to keep an eye on ejamming and hope there are improvements which make it more accessible and less technically challenging to set up; it would also be nice if it could better coexist with other software.  Ports, inputs and outputs all have to be configured, and it cannot function if you have Skype or Google Hangout going.  But hopefully, as the creators are currently working on major educational grants to upgrade the system, Ejamming will become something more of us can tap into.  I hope so, and wish you luck if you give it a try!

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favorite living pianists. Despite having spent the last fourteen years of my life at the keyboard, learning to play the piano, I realized at that moment that I had very little experience with listening to other performers. I think I listed Glenn Gould and Van Cliburn. And that might have been it. I was embarrassed and determined to know more about my chosen craft and those who practice it at the highest levels from that moment on.

When I started teaching, I wanted to make sure my students had more exposure than I had had. I encouraged parents to attend concerts with their children, to buy recordings or check them out at the library and play them often for their families, but it wasn’t until I added a lab time to my private lessons that I really felt like I could help my students increase their listening. I began with videos and CDs of great artists, but with a limited budget, I couldn’t achieve any sort of enormous breadth.

Enter the internet and YouTube…hooray for YouTube! Yes, there are hundreds of terrible performances for every great performance, but the enormity of the offerings available to anyone with an internet connection and computer or iPad is thrilling. Youtube has definitely made listening lab time in my studio so much more successful.

Almost every week, my students begin their lab time with a listening assignment, either on the laptop or the iPad. While listening, they fill out a Listening Log kept in their piano binders. This log asks them to list the composer, the piece, the performer, a 1-5 star rating, and provides them with a space to list at least three words describing the performance. To make it easier for the younger students to figure out the information, I list the first three of these on a white board with the rest of their lab assignment.

Some months have a theme: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Contemporary, concertos, chamber music, Christmas. Sometimes they will listen to two or three short pieces in a category during one week, or sometimes I will have them listen to the same piece performed by two or three different performers and ask them to try to note differences on their logs. At least once a month their listening assignment is something fun and more modern. Sometimes the performers are amateurs, sometimes they are internet sensations, and sometimes they are piano greats.

Not all of my students like all of the pieces they hear. I used to feel like I had to assign listening assignments that would appeal to every student, and then I decided that each of them could manage listening to pieces that didn’t draw them in immediately as long as I mixed it up with more exciting repertoire.

Just a note: I prefer using the iPad for listening because it’s easier to make sure they are just looking at the performance and not seeing the comments or the sidebar of suggested videos (some of these are completely inappropriate…a frustrating downside to using YouTube.)

I’ve found that in general, the most successful classical piano listening assignments at keeping younger and less experienced students’ attention are brief (not usually longer than 6 minutes) and showy (of course.) I love live performances because they are often fantastic, but usually not note-perfect.

Some of my favorite classical performers for student listening are:

Evgeny Kissin (we love his hair): Here is his live La Campanella.

Yuja Wang: Flight of the Bumblebee is often a favorite.

Krystian Zimerman: Gershwin Preludes (I love his Mozart and Chopin)

Martha Argerich: Chopin 6th Polonaise and always her Bach

Vladimir Ashkenazy: Chopin 24th Prelude

And of course there are so many clips available from Yundi Li, Lang Lang, and the YouTube-made phenomenon, Valentina Lisitsa. Our Utah local boy, Josh Wright, also has a fun YouTube channel.

On the other end of the piano spectrum are the prodigy-ish young pianists. Sometimes I’ll throw in one of these for fun:

Emily Bear: Here she is at six years old on Ellen.

A darling five-year old playing Bach.

Students love out of the ordinary performances and/or modern transcriptions. Here are a few:

Josh Wright: La Campanella on two pianos

Jarrod Radnich: Pirates of the Caribbean

Sinclair Eoin: Daft Punk’s Harder Better Faster Stronger

And last but not least, The Piano Guys. My students love love love The Piano Guys. When a Piano Guys song is the listening assignment, I have a bunch of happy kids. Here is one of their favorites: What Makes You Beautiful.

Depending on the month, I’ll sometimes include performances by other instruments or jazz performances (and I could use help and links from those of you who teach other instruments. What do your students love?)

Maybe the very most valuable YouTube channel for those of us who teach piano is this one: The University of Iowa Piano Pedagogy Project. Their goal? To put teaching repertoire on the internet. How much? All of it. Yes. All of it. They are adding videos at a rate of about 100 per week. This is a fantastic resource if you want students to hear their beginning or intermediate repertoire played well.

Another great listening lab resource is Anne Crosby Gaudet’s Look Listen Learn section of her Pianoanne blog. She has monthly themes and suggested listening links as well as a printable listening log.

What suggestions do you have for me? Any fantastic not-to-miss brilliant performances? Or any with just plain awesomeness that will magically make all my students want to practice three hours a day? Please share!

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