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!