Piano Karate

I thought I would share my newest program - Piano Karate - I just put the finishing touches on it!  I created this assessment and incentive program to encourage, motivate and celebrate my piano students, and to help them attain a long-range view of piano lessons and piano. It closely follows my method books of choice - the Faber series of Piano Adventures books and will be so fun for students to do! 

I took the popular Karate Belt color levels and applied them to piano lessons, making this assessment and incentive program incredibly easy for students to understand. Each belt color represents one of the books of the series, from Primer Level through Level 5 and beyond. Each belt color is broken down into 3 stripe levels, giving students both short and long-term goals.  

In his book, The Dynamic Studio, Philip Johnston recommends implementing a Karate-style program to inspire students and celebrate their success.  I took him at his word and spent hours and hours crafting this program to assess, support and reward student progress - all my students will be engaged and have their achievements recognized.

Students will each receive:

• A Piano Karate program book to put in their binders
• Congratulation Cards for each belt color level that they achieve.  We will put these nto a plastic trading card sleeve in their binder.  So fun for the students to look back upon and see how far they have come!
• Piano Karate Membership Cards that will attach to their student bags and to which appropriately colored ribbons will hang from to announce the Piano Karate levels they have achieved.
• A Karate Character to move along a Piano Karate bulletin board according to their level.
• I also created some Student Success Cards to celebrate achievements such as mastering a scale, composing a piece, memorization, practicing, etc. that students can also put into their binders.

Here's what the printed Piano Karate program looks like - these are the Orange Belt tasks (I apologize for the sample pages - I will update these images, soon):

I am really looking forward to this year and to how much fun the students will have with this program!

If you are a piano teacher and looking for a multi-year incentive program that really motivates your students, you can click here.

Just a Little Fun.... Ringtone Mashup!

When I saw this video, I loved seeing those flying fingers put to such a silly, but thoughtful use.  We hear these ringtones everywhere and dismiss them.  It's neat to take a moment and watch Tony's fingers recreate something heard everyday.  An artist at work....

This Is How Music Can Change Your Brain

An article about how music can change your brain came out in Time Magazine a a year-and-a-half ago.  Just last week, I brought it up to a music teacher friend of mine, who hadn't heard of the article and then when I mentioned it to one of my student's parents, I was told I should, "send it out to all my students' families."

So, by way of introduction, Northwestern University published a study showing that children who learn to make music have improved literacy, which can result in improved academic scores.  The act of "making music" refers to the engagement level - just listening to music doesn't provide the benefits, students need to be actively engaged in the making of music.

Here, at Marin Piano Studio, my focus is on encouraging a life-long love of music.  My goal is that my students love playing and have it be something they enjoy for years to come.

For more information and to read the article, click here.

Latest Piano Party!

We had a great time at our Piano Party! 

Each student made a Lapbook and learned all about Johann Sebastian Bach's life, family (20 kids), and music.

  

Rory, posing with his J.S. Bach Lapbook.

Students also performed at the Piano Party!  

Piano Parties provide a great opportunity to perform for others in a low-stress, fun environment and for students to become comfortable speaking and playing for a group of people.  Each Student did a great job with speaking and their pieces!

After the wonderful performances, we enjoyed pizza and big, homemade chocolate chip cookies!  I am looking forward to our next Piano Party, coming up either the end of April or the beginning of May!

Posture at the Piano

Posture is so important at the piano.  You want your arms at the right height and relaxed, your feet square on the floor.  There is a great article by Teresa Dybvig at http://www.wellbalancedpianist.com/bpseatingguide.htm. The before and after pictures tell the story!  Check it out and see if you could make some simple adjustments to make your piano playing more effortless (not to mention more comfortable).


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For more info on playing or on piano lessons, please visit me at http://www.marinpianostudio.com