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Monday, March 28, 2016
March 2016
February 2016
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February 2016
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Give It a Rest.
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Good Morning,
I'm hearing about massive snowfalls out east so I guess I won't comment on the rain out west. I do hope you are doing well and that there won't be too much trouble to schedule make up classes due to the snowfall. Cancellations are a fact of teaching piano and sometimes parents don't value our time the same as they do hockey and dance. A great tongue and cheek and advice article on why you shouldn't cancel lessons is from Wendy Stevens at Compose Create. Plenty of Give it a Rest teaching aids have been going out this month. It's a great way to teach rest placement. The teaching aid comes in two sizes 8 1/2 by 11 for $12.00 and 11 by 17 for $20.00. Read below how to get a free game. Mariya is only three and in music class she sits on the bench with a frown. I inquired about this and found out she is on the autism spectrum. So I tried to make an effort to make eye contact and encourage her to join in. Four months later I feel this little nudge and snuggle right in on my side under the ukulele as I played, I looked down and it's Mariya. What fun it was to have her join the circle on her own accord. She did go back to the bench after awhile but how wonderful it felt to have her join in and know that she is taking in all the musical activities in the class even when not participating. St. Patrick's Day is not that far away. Here is a great little teaching aid for students to learn the value of notes. Apple has a great new app out called Music Memos, sorry if I'm repeating myself as I did post information about it on Facebook. It's nothing fancy but it is free. Students record their piece onto their iPhone or iPad and the app will add drums and guitar to their piece. It's simple, easy and great fun for them to hear their song with background music and every piece ends with a smashing of cymbals. Have a musical day- snowy or rainy! Musicallyours, Lois |
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January 2016
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December 2015
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| Merry Christmas
and
Season's greetings to you and yours! |
December has come so quickly!
It took longer than usual to get into a routine this year.
I don't really know why, it just did.
I don't really know why, it just did.
But when routine came I set a day aside for a composing class.
Early
this fall there was a song going around that contained only "C"'s. It
was very creative and I put it in the back of my mind to do something
similar for composing with my students. So last week I had a composing
class and we all wrote songs that contained only one letter name but
could use as many of the same note name in any position on the staff.
What a fun class that was! And so successful. The children got right into it and enjoyed being creative with the "surprise cards"
after their composition was supposedly finished.
I've posted the file at the teachers notebook store for you to take a look at
and perhaps use with your students.
What a fun class that was! And so successful. The children got right into it and enjoyed being creative with the "surprise cards"
after their composition was supposedly finished.
I've posted the file at the teachers notebook store for you to take a look at
and perhaps use with your students.
When
I was younger I thought by the time I reached the age I am right now
life be would a lot simpler. But not so. But I am grateful for what
life has brought us through and the journey ahead with family. May you
have a wonderful Christmas and many blessings with family and friends.
Musicallyours,
LoisSolo Time Music Games
Thursday, January 21, 2016
November 2015
| Whats new in Solfege?
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I love creating little rhymes and solfege tunes to use in group and
pre-school classes. This fall my students just loved posing as a
Jack-o-lantern when we sang "Pumpkin Pumpkin" for the month of October.
New this month is "Winter" and "Never Make a Sound". Never make a Sound is about a Snowman melting quietly away. Both tunes help children in understanding piano and pianissimo as dynamics. I believe in supporting musicians who compose music and stores that sell it. At the beginning of each teaching year I have students purchase their books from local music stores. But I do have quite an extensive library of music that I loan out to students. Some books have been given to me by parents whose child has gone on the to the next level, finished music, a Value Village find or I've purchased it myself so I'm able to loan out books as students need them. But the problem is, although I keep a list of students who borrow music some how that list disappears or I forget about it or parents say they cannot find the book. My books have my name written on them in BOLD and should be easy to find. In August I decided to send out a note out to parents regarding books that needed to be returned. One parent after having four children with me over 12 years returned 14 books, I just had to laugh. So I've been mulling over on how do I keep track of all the books? I've decided that taking a picture of the student who borrows a book with the book they borrow. This way I will have a record of the student with the book and will also have a record of the title, colour of the book and composer all on my phone. Simple and easy. I'm a fan of composers who have studio licenses for their music. A studio license gives me permission to print off as many copies as I need and I don't have to worry about whether the music is returned or not.
Tonight I'm off to see Natalie MacMaster. So excited to hear east coast music again and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.
Musicallyours, Lois Solo Time Music Games |
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What does Solo Time Music Games have for you?
There is the Santa Claus practice incentive to encourage practicing during the upcoming busy Christmas season.
Use this tune at recital and divide the audience in half
or thirds to sing this lovely song called
Sing Sing Together.
or thirds to sing this lovely song called
Sing Sing Together.
Composing with Music for Young Children is here. Check out the
composing aids that have been created to help students complete their
compositions.
Caterpillar Composing, Composer Tricks, Composing Snowman, Composing Spinner.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Pumpkin Pumpkin - October 2015
October Greetings,
It's been a busy fall as I'm sure you have been also. Not much
time to even think about sending out a note although I did find time to
fix up a couple of Halloween themed solfege tunes that I had laying
around.
Halloween and Pumpkin Pumpkin are not my original tunes. I just put them down on paper so I could easily read them (I need glasses now to read) and each tune includes a few little activities to do with each song. They are free for the month of October. They were first put up about a week ago on Solo Time Facebook page so if you haven't liked it yet please do so to take advantage of early listings.
Halloween and Pumpkin Pumpkin are not my original tunes. I just put them down on paper so I could easily read them (I need glasses now to read) and each tune includes a few little activities to do with each song. They are free for the month of October. They were first put up about a week ago on Solo Time Facebook page so if you haven't liked it yet please do so to take advantage of early listings.
My students are loving Wendy Stevens Halloween
pieces of
ComposeCreate. For some of my students the songs are fairly simple but
what I appreciate is that the pieces introduce new concepts; like first
and second endings, codas (etc.) and my students love the tone clusters
and the use of the very last key on the piano! Loads of fun, easy
success with lots learning.
Before I give a
Halloween piece to students I make sure it's okay with the parents to
play the piece as some families do not participate in Halloween. Every
parent I shared the pieces with said they were okay with them. Until the
next week. One family decided that they were not going to play the
piece. I was a little surprised and I said that was fine but then they
left the studio when the other students started playing the piece!
What to do? I decided that the rest of the class would still carry on with the Halloween piece as I had gained permission from all the other parents but next year I'll be more conscientious about this family. The reason I choose Wendy Stevens' pieces as they are well written word wise and not offensive.
What to do? I decided that the rest of the class would still carry on with the Halloween piece as I had gained permission from all the other parents but next year I'll be more conscientious about this family. The reason I choose Wendy Stevens' pieces as they are well written word wise and not offensive.
My friend, Claudia is
ahead of me on the technical side of things (I just am a little
competitive.) Our recent Music for Young Children meeting was her home
and afterwards we had a tour of her studio and in it was a TV. That was
fine but then she took out her iPad and showed us how it was hooked up
wirelessly to her TV and now she had no need of a white board! She just
writes everything on the iPad and it shows up on her TV.
What a great idea! Her iPad is programmed with a few different templates with whiteboard, keyboard and grand staff and she writes on it and teaches her lesson and theory concepts from there.
What a great idea! Her iPad is programmed with a few different templates with whiteboard, keyboard and grand staff and she writes on it and teaches her lesson and theory concepts from there.
Now I'm on the hunt
for a TV to replace my white board. Claudia uses Apple TV and an app
called Delori but if any of you are already using your iPad this way let
me know what you do or use. I would like to hook up to the TV without
having to purchase the Apple TV package.
Thank you for your
recent purchases large and small. I'm so glad they help you make a
difference in teaching music and its concepts to your students.
Have safe and colourful October!Musicallyours,
Lois Dicknoether
September 2015
September 2015
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Sight Reading Glasses, Feathers and Posters
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Good Morning,
It's been a
little bit busy, a little bit stressful while being a lot of fun getting
ready to teach this week. Cleaning the studio - spiders where do they
come from? And not just the fake kind and how did they get so big?
Sorting out games and teaching aids and making new ones.
Starting today at the Teachers Notebook Store the Metronome teaching aid will be free to all who are members of Solo Time Games Teachers Notebook. If you are not a member "join" and you too can get it for free.
Print one off for yourself and one for all your students and use it as a game. I play different tempos and students have to guess what the tempo is or put on the metronome at different tempos or a recording. It's a great listening and learning activity.
I bought a
ukulele in August to use with my preschool classes and it's turned out
to be a lot more fun and useful than I thought. I bought it firstly
for support for my singing voice as it feels like my voice is not as
strong as it used to be. I haven't started the preschool classes yet but
I started using the ukulele in the Music for Young Children classes and
it's turned out to be a real hit especially when we sing the "Yelling
Song." I can play the ukulele louder and save my voice.
That's all for now. Have a colourful September with music! Musicallyours, Lois |
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Give it a Rest
Quite some time ago my amazing printer made a mistake and printed
off the "Give it a Rest" teaching aids in 8 1/2 x 11 format instead of
the usual 11 by 17in.
I wasn't sure if they would sell and sure enough they did.
It was a mistake with great possibilities.
One of the reasons for the interest in this different size
is that the game is easier to store
and doesn't take up so much space.
So I'm offering this month all three levels in 8 1/2 by 11 for $30.00 with shipping included.
(regular size would be $20.00 per game) Email me if you want this amazing offer
info@solotimegames.com
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Just Some Ideas to Share
Sight Reading Glasses - I'm
sure I heard about using old sunglasses for sight reading at some
seminar in the past but didn't get around to having them in my studio.
Recently a teacher posted a cute picture of her son wearing sight
reading glasses from her studio.
Immediately,
I went to my toy box and took out all the 3D glasses I was keeping for
my grand kids to play with. Sure enough, I had a set of 6, so I punched
out the lenses and made a class set.
What a great idea!
Thank Heavens for Feathers (picture at this link) - Thanksgiving here in Canada always seems to come so much quicker that I want it to arrive, this year its on October 12. This game is a great group activity and term review. It is in the resource page called Thank Heaven's for Feathers.
Hang Your Games! This idea came from Michelle Miller from Edmonton Alberta. She posted some pictures of her studio on Facebook
and on her wall were games from Solo Time! I was delighted to learn
that she uses them not only as decoration for her studio but if you take
a look at the picture below shows how she creates easy access.
Thanks Michelle
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