Bar Code Adverstising and Pattern Play

Solo Time Music Games August 2012 Putting the "Flash" in Flashcards!

In this Issue Wow! Is summer ever going by quickly! I can hardly believe it's the middle of August already. This is the time of year when we begin thinking about new and returning students, lesson plans, new teaching aids to order and more. With regard to new students I recommend every teacher read how B.C. teacher, Claudia Muir, put QR or Bar code advertising on her flyers. (See below.) Once again, I traveled to Seattle to participate in Forrest Kinney's new Chord Play seminar. He's such an encouraging and talented teacher. If he is ever in your area, I recommend that you take advantage of his free seminars. Did you know that anyone can improvise? As you'll read below, even my sister, who has severe rheumatoid arthritis, has learned how. I have had an eventful summer this year. It included trips to Thailand and to northern B.C. and now, as a wonderful end to my summer, I look forward to visiting with my almost-two-year-old grandson, Jakob!  A small cloud in an otherwise sunny summer - although I did not attend the Music for Young Children conference this year, I did send games. Thanks to  the many of you who bought Solo Time Games products. I trust you and your students will enjoy them. Unfortunately, when the unsold games were returned there was a substantial number of  games that was not accounted for. Perhaps attendees picked them up intending to pay for them later in the conference but forgot. If you've taken home games that you accidentally forgot to pay for, please be so kind as to pop a cheque in the mail for their payment.  My address is below. Have a wonderful final few weeks of summer. I wish you all the best in your efforts to attract new students to your studio and every success in the coming musical year.   Musicallyours, Lois Dicknoether 31040 Deertrail Dr. Abbotsford B.C v2t 5j5  Solo Time Music Games info@solotimemusicgames.com  Solo Time Music Games are designed to instill a life long passion  and understanding of music and its concepts  through a fun hands on experience.   Free this month...      Anyone can Improv! My sister, Laura, has had severe rheumatoid arthritis since she was a little girl. She was encouraged to play piano by her doctor and by my parents but after a while it became too much of a struggle as her fingers had been severely damaged by the disease. It didn't help that her teacher told her she didn't have any talent! As I am always looking for someone to play duets with me, I dragged a reluctant Laura to the music studio to play some Pattern Play improv as my partner. She wasn't a happy camper as I sat her down and suggested she improvise. (I can be a little bossy when I want something done. She didn't stand a chance of refusing!) We started playing in Pattern Play Book One but she told me that her left hand just wasn't strong enough to press the keys and with her right hand, she could only use a few fingers. I replied that to improvise you don't need all your fingers, just some of them. That's when I remembered that she types with a pencil in her left hand. I gave her a pencil to use with her left hand asked her to play whatever she could with any of the usable fingers on her right hand. For over an hour we played duets from the Pattern Play books. At the end she commented, "I didn't think I could play the piano anymore and here I've just played for an hour."   In spite of her disability she makes wonderful bead bracelets as a hobby.  I had a wonderful season this past year introducing improv and the various scales and modes to my students through the Pattern Play books. Learning the modes can be a drudgery for  students but when they can play them in a song, the scale is not only reinforced but enjoyed. Teachers Notebook Recently I have begun to post my teaching aids  on the Teachers' Notebook Store. At this site, these simple and easy-to-use games and printables are available for you to print up for minimal cost. This way you can have the aids instantly and have them ready for fall lessons. New this month are Soccer Patterns and Soccer Bridges.  Order 6 or more Solo Time Music Games and Receive FREE postage! To Market To Market B.C. teacher, Claudia Muir, was thinking there had to be a better way to put out flyers with her phone number on it rather than the old tear off tag on the bottom of the sheet  which often gets lost before a parent can call her about her music services. Through this link she created her own Bar Code or QR Code  to put on her flyer so parents can simply take a picture of it with the downloadable app on their smart phones and, voila! It takes the viewer right to her website where they have  a digital copy of her information on their phone.     Now that's smart marketing.