August 2015

Happy Tuesday! Registration and Try it classes are here for new and experienced teachers we are all hoping to fill up our classes for the fall.  I find this sometimes a stressful time; giving a try-it class expends time and energy and even if they leave with a registration form in hands does it mean they will come back with it filled in and with a cheque to register? One mom came today and she would love for her daughter to take lessons but time and money are thin. I assured her she would make the best decision whether it was this year or next year.  She was relived that I gave her permission to just take her time and make the right decision for her family. But on the flip side I'm wondering if I'm going to enough students! Recently in an email from our BC coordinator, Wendy Guimont, gave some encouraging tips on marketing through Facebook. Check out the Facebook tips for some new ideas.  Have a wonderful last few weeks of August resting and gearing up for a new teaching year.  Keep an eye out for my new solfege songs and activities coming out in September.  Musicallyours, Lois Dicknoether 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.     Teachers Notebook

This year I have students making steps towards understanding  Intermediate Rudiments; as a result I've started (why should I be surprised) working on teaching aids for this level.  "Super Scale Degrees" is a fun teaching aid with a super hero theme. There are 108 Key Signature flashcards  from C major (a minor) to 7 sharps and 7 flats. Once students have comprehended major key signatures up to 7 sharps and flats then switch this teaching aid up and have them determine  the scale degrees in the minor scales.   It's a dual purpose teaching aid! Included in this printable are a few other ideas to help your students solidify their knowledge of scale degrees. This is available at the Teachers Notebook Store for only $3.49. BONUS! You can receive this PDF file for FREE!  When you order"FIVE" Solo Time Music Games "Flashcard" Games from the Solo Time Games website. To Market To Market Have you created your studio Facebook page yet?  I've noticed many of you have but what are the  next steps in getting your page noticed? 1) First of all get your friends and family to like your page. This step is like referrals and easy marketing. Send out "invites" to everyone on your regular Facebook page to like your page. 2) Create an "Event" like a Try-It class or a studio visit. Ask your friends and family to "Share" your event on their page. Even if they live in another city they might know someone in your city who might see the "Share." 3) You can also pay Facebook to "Boost It" for   you. The "boost" is posted to your specific area and age group but I have found that when my friends who shared the event  with their friends it gets about the same return. 4) Don't forget to:  Create a "Call to Action Button" on your studio Facebook page where parents can get in touch with you via your website.  Another great idea from a couple of teachers was to join on Facebook a few different groups like:  "Children's Trade and Share" "Free to give a way" "Women in Business"  "Buy, Sell and Swap" etc. There are many forums under different names that you can join and you can post a comment about your studio with pictures  and comment about what you do. Post there about once a month (don't spam it or they will kick you off).  There are rules about what you can post for every group  but most are open to the little bit of self-marketing. I managed to have three families  come to a try-it class by posting in these forums. These are just a few ideas that take little time to help you  in your marketing efforts.

July 2015

Happy Hot Summer Days to you all! What a great time the Music for Young Children conference was in Halifax. It was wonderful to reconnect with many of you and meet new teachers from all over Canada and Asia. I had not been to eastern Canada for many years and I spent another ten days after the conference traveling Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island with my husband, John.   The music in eastern Canada is different than this side of the continent.  We do have fiddle music and fiddlers out here but it's just not the same as attending a Ceilidh (kitchen music) in a small hall that is jam packed with people foot tapping and singing along. I was honoured to be entertained by such amazing musicians.   Soh, mi, re, doh, Soh, mi re, doh, Soh mi, re, doh! I'm positive that was the crosswalk tune as we crossed the streets of Halifax. If you heard it differently let me know, it became a little annoying afterwhile but in the realm of solfege I've written some new tunes please read about them below.  Thank you to those who placed orders for games while at conference they are all in the mail. Jakob and Declan are coming out this week and I'm looking forward to enjoying the hot BC weather with them. Stay tuned for the newsletter in August about advertising and some new  music games for Intermediate Rudiments. Musicallyours, Lois Dicknoether 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.

MYC Solfege I was honoured when Olivia Riddell, President and International director of Music for Young Children choose to print a couple of solfege tunes that I arranged in the new Sunshine One teacher manual. If you bought the manual you will only see the song but there are many more activities that go with each of the two songs. MYC head office has sent out the link to all the teachers that links you to the extra activities that go with each song via "Sharefile." Please check out the extra musical fun with the new songs "Dino D" and "Fireman Fred." My Sunbeam students loved doing the actions and adding ostinato's and rhythm instruments over a period of four to six weeks to each song. But that's not all! Stay tuned for a new collection of songs called "Solfege is not a Chore" coming out in September. Songs about chores, critters and pickup beats.

May 2015

Dear Teaching Friends, May is here and recital is also coming up quickly.  After so many years of teaching I still get stressed out about students being "recital ready." I have to remind myself that every other year they are ready for recital by the time recital comes.  But I think more than anything I'm worried for them so that they can come away and be proud of what they have accomplished and performed at recital.  I wish all of you the best for your year ends as they come to completion. Speaking of studio year ends now's the time to think of the fall:  -  Updating your website with new information about upcoming classes for the fall. - Giving try-it classes - Flyers in new housing divisions - Summer camps - flyers and newspaper ads - offering incentives to parents who come back to talk about you and your studio and what you have to offer with their friends.  What kind of incentives?  A month's free lessons if a friend of theirs registers, or a gift card.  - impromtu music class at playgrounds and out door water parks. Advertising starts now for the fall. Last year in BC we had a teachers strike at the beginning of September I went around my area offering a music camp during the strike. Although I didn't have any camps there were a few students who registered for the lessons. So all in all it was a success. And back to talking about websites:  Berva Warkenton in Langley BC has a new great website up. It's pretty impressive.  Also check out her registration forms as they are really clear and informative.  I'm taking some of her ideas into my forms. Have a great recital!  Musicallyours, Lois Dicknoether 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.     Teachers Notebook

There is a free new product for the next little while called "Kite Words. " Check it out! New this month! MYC critter note review Year end also means going through your studio and cleaning up.  I go through my games  and replace (or give to new teachers just starting out) my pdf files and flashcards and print up new ones if there is a need. If you have any Solo Time Flash Card Games and the flash cards need to be refreshed let me know as they are available to purchase separately  from the games for $2.00 a page.   Many have been updated over the years and are newer and more colourful. Finally, I have gotten around to completing this project and testing it with my students. This note review game has fourteen pages designed for beginning students in the Sunshine 1 and 2 and Sunbeam 1 and 2 levels. There are seven colourful Critter Game Boards with seven pages of notes. Students name the notes and place the correct note on the game board. The  Edyth the Elk game has been such a favorite with my girl students that I had to print a second one so there wasn't any conflict in class! Take a look at it - Critters for MYC

Spiderman and Pedagogy

Spiderman and Pedagogy

Master Class with Mr. James Agnoson

What do Spiderman and a master class with Mr. James Anagnoson have in common?  Inspiration to help my students become better listeners to their music.
I hope your teaching year is going well.  Sometimes when you start new classes you wonder about the dynamics between students, parents and myself.   This year has turned out to be a delight.  Smart kids, excited parents, (they come on time) and for the most part students come ready to play and learn.  But hand position and tone is always an issue I repeat week after week.
I was shopping at Hallmark and saw this cute little Spiderman stuffy, his head is just the right size to have a young student place their hand over his head to show how their hand should be in "spider finger position" when they play piano.  Spidey is a great success, the boys love him, but by the time they move from Spidey to the piano and start playing all hope of a good hand position is gone.  
Then I sat in on a master class with Dr. James Anagnoson, Dean of the Glen Gould School of Music in Toronto.  Not only did I come home to the studio inspired but ready to approach my teaching a little differently.  Slow Practice, Slow Practice; I knew that but sometimes you just need to hear it again.  He stressed body position while sitting on the bench some of my students seem to grow 2 inches every week, I need to help them be aware of how they sit by moving the bench back.  Their feet can now be flat on the floor instead of swinging or cross legged (horrors).  Helping the student to listen to the tone and quality of a note or passage when played in a hand position that produces it, hence Spiderman's job is sitting at the piano to remind them. Fixing fingering  to get a better tone and quality sound out of the piano and playing a passage for them then placing their hand on mine while I play the same passage, helping them to hear and feel their piece.  I like to  choose a varied group of pieces from easy to hard that will help them accomplish all these things. 
And then a little practice incentive to encourage all these things.
 
In comes Wendy of Compose Create to create the incentive that was perfect for this season.  She posted a free resource that has four thermometers on it, each thermometer represents a different goal for the students to accomplish.  I'm using it this Christmas season to help students with their Christmas song.  Under each thermometer a different aspect of the song that is to be accomplished: articulation, technique, dynamics, artistry, memory etc.  You can write whatever is appropriate for a particular child.  My advanced students received all four thermometers and the younger ones got one or two.  We colour the thermometer each week to show their progress as we prepare for Christmas recital.
I love it when I'm encouraged by attending a seminar and great ideas from other teachers come together to help me be a better teacher.

Have a wonderful teaching season leading up to Christmas and I hope you are inspired by these few ideas.

Have a wonderful weekend
Lois Dicknoether
Solo Time Music Games

April 2015

Dear Friends and Teachers, I'm loving this season! Spring came a couple of weeks earlier than usual this year and it's wonderful to see the daffodils and tulips in bloom. I'm always trying to find ways to nicely suggest to my students' parents that they need to be involved with their children's practice at home. When parents help their child at home the student comes back to class with confidence and is excited to play for me. I feel really sad for the child who hasn't practiced because the parents are too busy with work or other things, and comes in to his or her lesson feeling unhappy before even getting started.   Below is a picture of a parent helping his child by pointing, because she had insisted that he do so. He had just undergone major surgery and was helping out any way he could. There's creative thinking for you. There are many other creative ways to help your child with practice but this is one I had never considered.  On another subject, the Solo Time Music Games recent website upgrade has been having issues with  the page called "My Account".  I'm expecting this to be cleared up soon. If you order any games please order directly through me at info@solotimegames.com not through the website as there is a glitch and it can't be fixed until my computer guy gets out of the hospital! In this newsletter, I have attached a list of games that are in groups of Sunshine, Sunbeam, and Moonbeam levels that might make it a little easier for you to order any flashcard games that you would like for your students. All games ordered (10 or more) in May will receive a 15% discount. There will be no shipping charged if I am able to take them to the MYC Conference in Halifax in July for you. If you are not attending the conference, you can still receive the 15% discount but postage will be extra.      I'm also very excited about the game that I was commissioned to design for  the teachers who attend the Music for Young  Children Conference in Halifax in July. It's looking great; it has to do with rhythms about Nova Scotia, and this set includes 16th's, which I haven't done before. I think your students will love it. I hope to see you in Halifax in July. Musicallyours, Lois Dicknoether 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.     Social Networking Sites

I attended a business seminar a few months ago and the topic was social networking. I asked the presenter this question:  With so many options on the Internet, in how many social networking sites I should be active? The instructor suggested I participate in only two or three sites and spend only about thirty minutes a week updating and keeping them current. My shoulders sagged and I sank down in my chair as I thought, no wonder I get so discouraged. I'm trying to fit  all my fingers into every social network pot there is. I even joined Ello, and still don't know what that's about. Trying to be active in business and in my life, clean the house, teach, cook, and remain sane at the same time was getting to be a little to much, never mind having time to take care of myself or just relax. So I took a few months off just about everything to re-group and remove a few things from my to-do list that weren't serving me or my goals, and to add ones that seemed more enjoyable, both from a personally profitable perspective, and business-wise. One of my decisions was to choose which social networking sites worked best for me. Of the eight or nine I was trying to be active in, none seemed to bring me any pleasure or business, just guilt that I wasn't being active enough. So I decided that Facebook seemed to be the only one where I can connect with friends and business contacts, so I'll stay there. I love Twitter but after a while I realized I wasn't using it for my business, only for information about what's going around the world. I will stay on Twitter because I enjoy it but will change my focus to make it more useful. I decided to drop out of LinkedIn as it brought nothing new to my business. Google circles was just time-consuming, so I dropped it and also Instagram. Pinterest will be the final site that I spend time on (who doesn't love Pinterest?) but the rest have gone by the wayside as they just don't fit into my personal and business goals. To help you make your ordering decisions prior to the conference...  Click this link for a list of all the Flashcard games and which level they belong too Deadline: May 30, 2015.  There is a special treat for you there in the pdf file. I do admit to playing Candy Crush on occasion, though. You tell me which level you are on and I'll tell you mine. (Privately, of course, I wouldn't want anyone to know I'm wasting my time on that game.) New this month! MYC critter note review Finally, I have gotten around to completing this project and testing it with my students. It has been sitting around undone for ages but it's ready now. This note review game has fourteen pages designed for beginning students in the Sunshine 1 and 2 and Sunbeam 1 and 2 levels. There are seven colourful Critter Game Boards with seven pages of notes. Students name the notes and place the correct note on the game board. The  Edyth the Elk game has been such a favorite with my girl students that I had to print a second one so there wasn't any conflict in class! Take a look at it - Critters for MYC

February 2015

February Greetings!

It's that time of year for either snow and cold or rain or all three depending on where you live.  I hope you have been safe and warm and you were able to keep on teaching in spite of the weather.  We've had tons of rain here in B.C. while it seems the rest of Canada has been in a deep freeze along with some parts of the USA.

NEW PRODUCT - Three kinds of Minors.

Writing scales are often a troublesome effort our students and sometimes confusing especially when it gets to the minors - harmonic, melodic and natural.  My newest adventure "Three Kinds of Minors"  is printable of 36 pages of minor scales (four sharps and four flats) and  each page is a different way to write minor scales, to help students gain an understanding of each scale and how it's written. Here is a review from Whitney from Alabama, USA who helped me proof all the pages. 

"Just wanted to let you know.....this product is making a HUGE difference for my students. The whole "6 up and 7up" concept makes total sense to them.

I can't thank you enough!!!

Last week, I worked through A minor with a student. Today, she played perfectly from natural to melodic to harmonic. Then on her own, she figured out what E minor would be once we played G major first!
I am so thrilled to have found this!!"

Whitney

Three Kinds of Minors

Check it out at Three Kinds of Minors at the Teachers Notebooks Store (and also thanks to Hailey from Vancouver for her help in proofing.)

MYC Halifax Conference

I am looking forward to going to the Music for Young Children conference in Halifax this July.   I will not have a booth at this conference but don't worry,

I will still be bringing games to the conference but they will be pre-orders.  Please browse the Solo Time Games Website and Solo Time Games Teachers notebook and start your list of what you would like me to bring out to the conference and keep posted on Facebook and Twitter for specials!

Happy Valentines Day week and thanks to those who purchased Valentines Day printables from the Teachers Notebook Store.  I hope your classes enjoyed them as much as mine did.

Sweetly Yours,

Lois
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.

 

Valentine Activities

Valentine Match up - Note and keyboard  Valentine Circle of 5th's - Keys to My Heart  Valentine Beginner Match Up - Music for Young Children specific Valentine Beats - includes Triplets  Valentine Music  - Rhythms using 16th notes  Valentine Tic Tac Toe  and X's and O's - Beginner - Two levels included New and updated versions of all the games played in the form of tic tac toe and ending with a black out where everyone wins! Key's to my Heart - students match keys to the heart signatures.  Great review for theory students learning key signatures up to four sharps and four flats.

Games of the month

" Give it a Rest" is one of my most useful teaching aids for helping students understand rest placement and it's coming in handy right now as my students prepare for the RCM Basic Rudiments exam.
This teaching aid helps students understand rest placement without the drudgery of having to erase their mistakes. The rest or group of rests are placed right on the card and can be easily removed if it is wrong  and allows for a great opportunity for teaching rest placement concepts. 
You can find it here www.solotimegames

January Composing

Happy January!
Christmas season was barley over and "boom" the stores were already putting out items for Valentines and Easter.  Is there any rest in marketing and selling?

No, not really.   It's always a process.  Whether it be social media or word of mouth,  it never really stops.   Studio marketing sometimes just advertises itself as your families will invariably talk about lessons and thereby have marketed you by word of mouth. Sometimes it  just happens and sometimes you have to be intentional.

Composition season with Music for Young Children is a great way to advertise visually and with intention.   My students are having fun creating the Caterpillar Composition as they create their piece this season. When their piece is completed they will take the caterpillar home and hopefully hang it somewhere so it will be visible to their friends or take to school for show and tell and better yet the student will be asked to play his composition for his friends. This activity has the potential to be a great conversation starter about music lessons and who their teacher is which is free advertising for you!

Emma Skeete, a MYC teacher in Halifax, N.S. has written a great article (which I've posted below) on how she teaches composing to her students.  It's chock full of great ideas and easy steps to take your young composers on their journey of composing.  Thanks so much Emma for taking the time to share your thoughts and put them down on paper for us to glean from your experience.

Someone on Facebook posted this fabulous  video on a super easy composing technique "repetition" from Chilly Gonzales,   (not his real name) a Canadian living, performing and composing in Europe.  Chilly Gonzales dissects Taylor Swifts new song "Shake it Off."  I can't get that song out of my head  once I say it or write it but who would have thought there would be a great teachable moment in that song. Share the video with your students and they will understand the trick composers use called "repetition." I've shared and sent the link out to all my parents as it's informative and educational and will give students the inspiration to complete their composition by "tying it off with a bow." 

Valentines Day is in a couple of weeks and posted below is a list of what is available in the  Solo Time Music Games Teachers Notebook store. Most of the Valentine Day printables have been updated and I think you will be happy with the result. 

Looking forward to traveling to the Music for Young Children conference in Halifax and connecting with the teachers out east.  Keep an eye out for special conference deals in the near future.

Have a wonderful day!
Heartily Yours,

Lois Dicknoether
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.

 

Valentine Activities

Valentine Match up - Note and keyboard  Valentine Circle of 5th's - Keys to My Heart  Valentine Beginner Match Up - Music for Young Children specific Valentine Beats - includes Triplets  Valentine Music  - Rhythms using 16th notes  Valentine Tic Tac Toe  and X's and O's - Beginner - Two levels included New and updated versions of all the games played in the form of tic tac toe and ending with a black out where everyone wins! Key's to my Heart - students match keys to the heart signatures.  Great review for theory students learning key signatures up to four sharps and four flats.

Thoughts on Composing with Kids

Thoughts on Composing with Kids
by Emma Skeete
I love composing with kids.  It wasn't always this way.  When I first had to do the Composition Festival I was intimidated beyond words.  In fact, with most of my teaching I have felt pretty intimidated.  It pushed me to find my way and to strive to communicate as well as possible with students and parents to help them have fun in the process of creating music.

Why do I enjoy composing with kids?  It's the one things that really reflects all of their learning.  They aren't taking my word for it, now they are in the driver's seat (with a teacher in the passenger seat : )   )   and they can use the tools they have learned to write a song.

Here is my process for introducing composition.  I generally use the same steps for every class, and every level, but try to gear it to their age level. I feel the Composition Festival gives us enough guidelines to make it challenging so I don't really need to do anything further (ie: Sunbeams 1 has 4 bars while Sunbeams 3 and Moonbeams three have a minimum of 8 etc...).  Also the kids are learning new things each year that they want to use in their songs (ie: 6/8 time, new keys, accidentals etc...)

I am a singer by background/training so my approach starts with the lyrics.

Week 1: Lyrics (poem)
1. Come up with a theme (or several) and bring it to class. Decide on your theme. If they are having a tough time narrowing it down, or coming up with a theme I might ask: "What would you like to write a song about?"
2. During this class I ask the students to come up with a list of 10-20 words that describe that theme, or words that explain how they feel about that theme.
Ie: Theme: Snow
Words: cold, frosty, glisten, sparkle, fun, sledding, shoveling, fun, snowballs, etc...
3.From there they need to come up with sentences.
So I'll ask - tell a story about your theme?  What is the first thing you want to say?
I usually try to do these steps as a class exercise and then come up with something like this:
Ie: I love the snow
The piles grow and grow
I see the snow sparkling,
and my parents shoveling!
I tell them it helps if each sentence has a similar number of syllables and if the ends rhyme.  Not absolutely necessary, but can make it sound nice.

Week 2: Rhythm
1. In this stage I have the kids read their poem, how THEY hear it.  Most songs end up in 4/4 time which for the lower levels work best.  Sometimes we need to add a word or take one out, add a rest or lengthen a rhythm.  But generally the kids 'get it.'
2. I try to add rhythm to our "class song"
So for our poem above I might say:
Ta, ti-ti, half note (I    love the     snooooow).
I'll ask them:, would rather a rest at the end of the bar, then we put that in.
Ta, ti-ti, Ta rest
I   love the snow (rest)
I always let the child make the final choice.  I may see some suggestions, but try not to overwhelm them either.

4.
a. I emphasize in this phase to add rhythms first.
b. That the rhythms reflect the number of syllables (ie: a whole note won't work for the word elephant!)
c.Finally, that they add barlines and help the child adjust the beats to fill whatever time signature they are in.

Week 3: Tune
1. I ask the kids to pick a key (for the higher levels) and to look at the patterns they have learned (stepping up, stepping down, jump up high, jump down low etc...). I also say they can pick something other than those patterns if they get to the piano and like something else. Or if they have a 4 rhythm figure they can still use a three note pattern, just pick a note to repeat!
  2. I ask them to think about helping their music to 'sound like' their words.
(ie: if you're writing about a bird would you pick a high treble sound or low bass sound?)
3. Then I ask them to consider using a composing trick (especially if they are stuck).  In the 2 weeks leading up to this week I have tried to teach/review the composing tricks.  If not I will show a few at this stage. (I like the hand out in the Moonbeams 3 student activity book for this exercise).
4. Finally I say "what tunes do you like? Why?"  Here I am attempting to help them see what they might need to look for as they write their tune.

Week 4-6: (if you haven't started yet) Put your song on the staff.
For some their song is simple, and getting it on the staff is no big deal for others it's a struggle.  That is the flexibility of these weeks.
During this time I will encourage them to put in their phrasing, articulation, title etc...
And we comb over each composition to make sure all the guidelines of the festival are being followed.
For those who cannot write their notes on - I have the parents simply put dots on the page (after adding the barlines etc...) and have the kids make larger note-heads and stems from there.
If they really cannot put the lyrics on the staff, I let the parents do it (it is VERY small space for some little hands).

Other Thoughts:
Some kids have a tune, rhythm, words almost from the beginning, or at least a general idea of what they want to do. I just set this forth as a springboard for their creativity.  For others, they follow this process to-a-t and need all the steps.  That is why I do it this way.

So that is my process, nothing earth-shattering, for some it may seem the backwards way to do it, for others it may help you come up with your own way.  I'm not a great song-writer, but I do enjoy writing songs.  Not all of my students have placed in the festival, not by a long shot.  But I do take pride in the fact that at the end of the year, every student who has taken the time to follow these steps has at least one composition in their hand. They can play it, put it in their memory scrapbook, or frame it - and call it their own.  The best part is that I'd say pretty much all of them are excited to have a song they wrote by themselves.  Please do let me know if you have any questions/thoughts/responses.

Happy Composing! 
Emma Skeete, Certified MYC teacher, Halifax, Nova Scotia
emmasonlife@yahoo.ca