Saturday, February 11, 2017 by Lisa Flood | Improvisation

Week Twenty-Two
                               

It has been a fun week full of Valentine festivity here in the studio!
 
Students and I enjoyed playing this Valentine’s Day Improvisation activity together. It’s so freeing to improvise (making up music as you go) and we created some lovely melodies!

 
Musical minds are continuing to grow! This student learned more about ensemble playing (with three students at the piano).

 
This young student started playing a piece with sharps. She is enjoying the piece, “Tea at Five, Sharp” from “My Piano Trip to London.”

As a special treat for Valentine's Day, all students received a sweet, musical valentine. Happy Valentine's Day!

Saturday, February 4, 2017 by Lisa Flood | Games

Weeks Twenty & Twenty-One
                               

Things are busy, busy, busy here in the studio. Federation students are working hard to polish their solos and duets for Festival coming up on February 24 and 25. Preparation has also begun for the March recital. Recital pieces were chosen by the participants and it’s looking like it will be a fun recital, full of interesting pieces!
In between all the serious work, we managed to squeeze in a few games, of course! After all, life can’t be all work and no play, right?
 
“Puddle Jumper” (reviewing note values) and “Root Canal” (practice with quickly creating root, 1 ^st inversion, and 2 ^nd inversion chords on the piano) made appearances again this week. These games are turning out to be studio favorites!

 
A new activity for the week was “Football Flashcards.” These flashcards really make the learning full-circle because students can fit the card into the piano key to show where it is played, instead of just naming it. Awesome! This led to some students having “breakthrough moments” in their understanding of the keyboard layout.

 
I love seeing my students enjoying themselves and making music!
 

Monday, January 30, 2017 by Lisa Flood | Group Classes

Week Nineteen

Hooray for Group Class Week! We always have so much fun in group classes. It’s a refreshing change of pace for everyone and gives students the opportunity to learn together, building friendships along the way.

Our first activity was Rhythm Cups. Students learned to feel the beat and listen to each other, while also having a blast passing cups to each other, tapping cups to their foreheads, and trying to tap each other’s cups! Each student also had the opportunity to create their own rhythms that we tapped with cups.

The theme for this week’s classes was rhythm. The remainder of the class consisted of games that reviewed notes, rests, and counting.

“Monster Smash” is always a hit with students!

“Quest for Rest” and “Over the Edge” are fun group games.

Students also enjoyed our new games, “Caught in a Pot” and “Puddle Jumper.”

Reviewing music theory and rhythms can be so much fun!