Music Teachers Blog

During a recent conversation with a group of teenage students, I realised that many of my students are unaware of the wide range of careers available in the music industry. I have some students who are passionate about pursuing a career in music, but who don’t have either the desire or the skills to be a performer or private instrumental teacher, and many students who don’t have friends or parents in the music industry are largely unaware of the range of career possibilities.

In the past few years, students of mine have continued on to the following careers in music – (more…)

What is my job as a voice teacher?

I have decided to define myself is as a voice teacher.  I believe that everyone has the RIGHT to sing.  Research has shown that human beings are born to be musical.  Even more, humans are born to be singers (see Daniel Levitin’s book This is Your Brain on Music).  This means that EVERYONE can sing.

As a voice teacher, it is NOT my job to like or dislike your voice.  It is not my place to help you “be famous.” It is not my job to decide whether you can have a career or not.

It IS my job to help you to sing to the best of your physical ability.  It IS my job to give you information about how your instrument (your body!) works and how best to affect it.  It IS my job to change my teaching style to best suit each student individually in order to maximize their potential.   It IS my job to make singing fun and enjoyable.  It IS my job to encourage you to let your voice out and be free.  It IS my job to give you all the information you need in order to reach both your short-term and long-term goals.  It IS my job to help my singers learn how to practice effectively and affectively – what do they need to do in order to teach the body the HABITS of an effective singer?

Singers must be “mental” in order to sing well.  The main function of the vocal chords is to manipulate the air (th (more…)

As we announced a few weeks ago, we will soon be launching a new version of Music Teacher’s Helper, with a fresh new look, a simplified interface, and some awesome improvements! We’ll also be launching a new home page design.

To go along with this new design, we’d like to showcase some of your stories, and share how Music Teacher’s Helper has helped you in your studio. So we’re hosting a contest!

Tell us why you love Music Teacher’s Helper, along with your photo or a video, and we’ll enter you for a chance to win a free year of Music Teacher’s Helper! We will also select several of the entries to showcase on our new website.

How to Enter

To submit your testimonial, please visit: www.MusicTeachersHelper.com/testimonial-contest (more…)

Last month I listed the benefits of adding a lab to your lesson and provided a general overview of lab ideas. This month I will list and describe specific pedagogical software (programs designed specifically for student learning of musical concepts) that I use throughout the year.

Generally, software can become an immediate favorite with me and my students, seem to date itself quite quickly, or seem useful but with limitations. Most of the programs I own fall into the following categories:

Can I Play It Again? (Games that Teach)

Piano Wizard

http://www.pianowizard.com/ This unique game is reminiscent of Guitar Hero but provides excellent sequential steps to reading from the grand staff, hands alone and hands together. The success of the program lies in how well it disguises learning with graphics, animation and action. Students with NO prior piano experience can easily play this game–it is loved by students of all levels.

Groovy Shapes (ages 5-7), Groovy Jungle (ages 7-9) and Groovy City (ages9-11)

www.sibelius.com/products/groovy/shapes.html The set of three programs offers lessons in music notation and terminology and then provides unique ways to create and compose with the material covered in each lesson. The graphics captivate students and the inspirational format for making original compositions lures them into the world of musical creativity. These programs allow input from a MIDI keyboard for further creative options.

Do I Have To? (Lessons that Teach)

Children’s Music Journey Vols 1-3

http://www.adventus.com/store/childrens-music-journey/ This series is a marvelous teaching program for elementary pianists (preschool to 8?). The curriculum is designed with diligently- sequenced steps to learning and applying reading and composition skills. Students enjoy meeting their various on-screen “teachers”  (famous composers) and listening to their famous compositions while learning the rudimentary basics.

Alfred’s Essentials of Music

http://www.alfred.com/Products/Essentials-of-Music-Theory-Software-Version-20-CD-ROM-Student-Version-Complete-Volume–00-18833.aspx Even though students may consider these a little dry, the lessons cover essentials and are great tools. If a new concept is being taught during a lesson, I will assign lessons from this software to reinforce what was taught–never hurts for students to hear explanations from a different “teacher”. (more…)

Robert Stuart Thompson’s Italian language learning text, Operatic Italian, promises to become an invaluable textbook for aspiring operatic singers, voice teachers, coaches and conductors.  Pulling operatic libretti from Mozart to Verdi, Thomson introduces the student to word-for-word translation, grammatical concepts, and the natural pronunciation and cadence of the language, while unfolding this intricate language in a practical and applicable manner.

Thomson’s main premise for using libretti as source material is that the language of the libretto is filled with literary, poetic and old-fashioned vocabulary devices.  The current language learning paradigm found in university language courses aims to teach the student vocabulary and grammar to survive and thrive in that particular modern country.   Basic themes include food, travel, and paying for a bus ticket.  While practical information for the average Italian learner, music students would be hard-pressed to find an opera entitled Dovè la mia valigia? with which to apply this knowledge.

Operatic Italian is well organized and direct, introducing each libretto example with it’s corresponding musical score, IPA translation, English word-for-word translation, and marked accents for atypical words.  Thomson’s goals for the student are to 1) recognize parts of speech 2) understand verb tenses and their functions 3) develop an understanding of grammar peculiarities found in literature.  Chapter topics of particular interest to the music student include pronunciation and developing an Italian accent, understanding what is lost in translation from Italian to English, what to appreciate in libretti, and Dante’s influence on Italian literature (opera libretti included).

Operatic Italian would make a fantastic textbook for a conservatory or university where opera students are required to develop a working knowledge of this language.  This text also would serve as a fantastic source for seasoned musicians or opera-lovers to deepen their understanding of the language from a literary standpoint, and bridge the gap from their rudimentary knowledge of Italian to a fuller understanding of the richness and depth found in classic Italian literature.

“… When samurai warriors train to perfect a deadly technique with the sword, they come to understand the fleetingness of life. This is why master samurai speak of wielding a “life-giving sword…

Understand and respect the depth of your instrument’s power. The guitar has the capacity to save lives; it has given many a desperate person reason to go on. Use it’s power wisely.”

- Philip Toshio Sudo, “Zen Guitar”

We used to have a local monthly student open mic at a music store I teach at. Students were encouraged to form bands and perform in front of their peers and teachers. The open mic grew, and due to the event’s popularity, the students were limited to two or three songs.

As my students’ bands stayed together and continued practicing, their set lists grew. Several bands eventually had set lists that were 45 minutes or more. These bands needed to be challenged. I started taking a few select bands to a restaurant in Northern Virginia to play at open mic events, and mix with adults. This got me thinking about the kids playing shows in better venues. With those experiences in mind, I decided to create a “Kids Rock” program, a program to get youngsters gigging in better venues.

(more…)

Dr. Foley, I forgot my notebook again. Can you just email the lesson notes to me so I can read them on my phone when I practice?

Often students arrive without their notebook, still expecting lesson notes to magically appear. If you’re able to use a laptop with an internet connection, it’s a snap to use Music Teacher’s Helper to type lesson notes that can be sent to the student and/or parent the minute they leave.  It’s relatively easy to wire your home studio with a reliable internet connection. However, many institutional and corporate music teachers work in studios without the benefits of ethernet or wifi connections. What to do? (more…)

February is Black History Month. This is an excellent oppurtunity to teach your students some history of American Music. Our own American music style goes back to the days of slavery when Africans carried over their own folk music and merged it with the European classical and folk music that was brought here by the white folks. This is an awesome opportunity to teach a little history in your lessons.

I grew up in the southern part of the US, and Black History Month was always a very important time in our schools. Because of this, I grew up singing and playing many important songs from the pre-civil war era as well as the jazz age. I’ve compiled a list of songs you might want to consider teaching your kids this month, in honor of this special time: (more…)

As I ponder my blog entry today, I’m in the process of scheduling new monthly jam sessions for my students!

In the past, as a summer workshop, Keyboard Jam proved to be very successful in stretching the students abilities, as well as giving them experience and enthusiasm for playing with other musicians! Have you read Nate Shaw’s two most recent articles on this very blog site? (If not, I hope that you will! I have added the links at the bottom of this article!)  Nate has some great ideas that I am definitely going to implement into my studio jam sessions, private lessons and recitals!

All of my students will be invited (pianists, singer, other instrumentalists). As the jam sessions become a huge hit, I will use them as an incentive, and extend invitation first to top practicers, best scales for the month, etc. All of the students will have fun creating music together, and learning how musicians work and play together. It works best to have separate sessions if you have a  large variance in ages and level of students. We will use the grand piano, a few keyboards, hand drums, shakers, my electric bass, and any other instruments that show up with the students.  There are so many different directions a class like this can take, but here’s a session plan that I have found to work extremely well!  (more…)

It’s an exciting time at Music Teacher’s Helper. We hope your year is off to a good start and that your studio is running well.

We’re working hard right now to bring you some awesome improvements to Music Teacher’s Helper, including a brand new graphics design, and several features that we know you’ll love. The new design will look more more up to date than our current site, and will also make the program easier to use, especially for those just starting out.

We’re also giving you a brand new calendar, with a week and day view that actually show the duration of tevents visually (like Google calendar or Outlook), along with the ability to e-mail all students on a given day. These improvements and much more aren’t quite ready yet, but we’re getting closer and will keep you posted to let you know when they’re done.

Here are the recent changes (more…)