Featured
Articles on teaching SOUND
by
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| Mary Gae George
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Greetings!
To
start the new school year in high gear, we have
a special offer for you: a 15% discount on the
Artistry at the
Piano Ensemble books 1 - 4. These books
bring you beautiful duets designed for two
students to play together, complete with a CD of
all the music in each book. The discounted price
is just $9.30 for each book with its CD. Your
students will welcome the chance to study and
play together, and your recital programs will be
more varied by including 4-hand music. Please
note that our new editions of Ensemble 2, 3,
& 4 do not have all the page turns that the
Warner Bros editions had. Order soon; this
special offer is for a limited time. (See coupon
below). | |
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This Newsletter is
all about SOUND!
Have
you ever had your students record their
practicing and bring you a copy to listen to? Be
forewarned: This is a revealing project, but one
that can make the new school year a far more
productive and enjoyable one.
To begin
with, build your lesson plans around helping
students decide what sound they want for each
section of a piece. Then explore with them how
to create and color these sounds. Too many
students think that practicing is a matter of
just going through each item on their
assignment. But getting their ears as involved
as their fingers will make their home study much
more interesting (for them and for their
families).
Planting this seed early will
bear wonderful fruit throughout the year,
because this basic project will expand and
develop into artistic playing -- at home as well
as at the studio.
Take advantage of our
special offer for the Ensemble books. Playing
with a partner quadruples the listening for each
player. This is because the four hands on the
keyboard must adjust to create the best
sound-scape for each and every note to be played
together. An assignment without ensemble music
misses a great opportunity for growth and
excitement. The piano truly becomes an orchestra
when playing 4-hand music.
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Teaching
Sound Gets Sound Results
Because
music is an art of sound, we cannot make music
-- beautiful, expressive music -- without
listening intently. This is a primary skill to
develop in all our students, from very young
elementary students to advanced
performers.
Read
the rest of this
article
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The
Thermometer of Dynamics
The
second step in learning to read and play music
musically
is to help students learn intensity
discrimination. This is a
fancy term for learning to gauge how
much energy is required to produce
the different levels of the dynamic range, from
pianissimo to
fortissimo.
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Free Download for
Students
Teachers
have asked for a Study Guide for their students
based on the Thermometer of Dynamics. Use the
link below to download this new Guide in PDF
format.
To do this, open
the PDF Study Guide, click on FILE and then SAVE
A COPY. A copy of the file will be saved to your
computer where you can read it and print it as
often as you
wish.
Download a free Study Guide for
students
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As music studios open across North America,
I have enjoyed hearing from a great many of you.
This communication is an important aspect of the
Artistry Alliance. To broaden this exchange of
ideas, we are seeking information about starting
an Artistry Discussion Group; if you are
interested or if you know of efficient ways to
do this, we will welcome your input.
Sincerely,
Mary
Gae George
Mary
Gae George, NCTM
Artistry Alliance, Founding
Director
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