October Update: It was pretty normal, actually

 Once a month, I try to write an update.

   And I can honestly say that October is probably my least favourite month to write updates for. 

   After all the excitement of September's theme month, October always feels so bland. It's little more than a frantic juggling of assigning Christmas pieces, tackling theory, and trying to stay on top of students' technique. Honestly, I do try to make lessons fun, even in October, but we also do need to move through their method books. 

   Christmas pieces are the best part.

   This year, I finally purchased a few more Christmas books for students. There are a lot of carols that are popular, but also still under copyright, that kids love to play. With traditional carols, it's actually easy to find sites that have free, easy sheet music for beginners. I found a new one this year. It's called Christmas Music Songs. It's great! But, of course, when you have songs that are not public domain, you do need to actually purchase the music. So it's good to have books to loan out for pieces like "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" or "Jingle Bell Rock." 

   There was Canadian Thanksgiving, and we did have Thanksgiving themed games this week. And I've been stretching my own creativity, doing what good teachers do -- problem solving. I finally remembered a book I had in my stash, Note Reading Made Fun, which connects a specific animal with each note on the staff. Hopefully that can help the young student who is struggling with her note reading. (That link is not affiliate, by the way. I was going to make it an affiliate link from Sheet Music Plus, but they recently changed their website and are requiring everyone to reset their password. Forget it. I'll reset it when I actually need the site.) 

   And that's about it for October! Watch for November's update, because then I'll actually have something interesting to write about -- the performance at the Chateau Lac Ste. Anne, and Composer Month. Stay tuned! 



Location: Onoway, AB T0E 1V0, Canada

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And to this I said Amen

Image
 (Note for those who may not know: The word "Amen" comes from an ancient word -- whether Greek, Hebrew, or some other language, I do not remember -- that expressed agreement with truth. It is a transliterated word; that is, it's very similar to the original word in the original language. One person claimed it was one of two words that has been transliterated rather than translated across all languages, the other word being Hallelujah. Fun fact for the day. 😀)    Again, I had writer's block and didn't know what to write about. All I could think about was how it's February, it's a theme month, and I haven't finished planning the theme, even though the month has already started. So, once more, I turned to Pinterest . (If that link doesn't work, let me know, because I'm not sure it will actually take you to my Pinterest profile.)    This time, instead of music humour, I found this beautiful musician's prayer. And I went, "Yes! That is exa...
Read more

Gloves: For More than Keeping Your Child's Hands Warm

Image
   Snow swirls around the streets of Leningrad, Russia. Pedestrians pull winter coats tighter around themselves. Car lights shine through the flurries. In one large, multi-story building, a window on the corner of the building is lit. Inside the room, frost decorates the window panes. The only occupant – a young man, with a spark of life in his blue eyes – turns out music, gorgeous music, on the upright piano against the wall. He wears a heavy overcoat and plays with a pair of medium-weight, knit gloves – for his dormitory room has no heat.    At this point in the narrative, the music teacher jerks his enraptured student back into the present – modern Edmonton, a warm and very comfortable music studio, and the two Yamaha baby grands sitting side by side – with this question:    “ Have you ever practiced with gloves on?”    Ahh . . . no, I hadn’t. My house always had heat?!     My music teacher, undeterred by my blank look (w...
Read more

When Music Teachers Meet

Image
It was Sunday evening, and various members of  PMTA  were gathered at one member's home for the Annual General Meeting. Since I've only been a member for less than a year, this was the first time I'd been to one of their meetings. As we were setting up for supper, I asked the president, "So, what goes on in the meeting?"    She looked at me, and her face instantly displayed drama. With gusto, she replied, "You'll be thrilled, and chilled, and ... bored out of your mind!"    LOL!    That's the great thing about hanging around with other artistic minds. There's plenty of room for drama. :)    Seriously, though, I like getting together with other music teachers, because all of us can talk for hours about music. :) It was a lot of fun comparing notes back and forth and getting to know some of the other teachers. I pick up ideas from these exchanges, including other teachers' favourite methods and new things to include -- or new ways ...
Read more