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Piano in Color . . . On ETSY

4/1/2019

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You don't need stickers to use our books. Each book contains a colored strip that you can cut out and slot behind the piano keys. But for those of you who know your little one would be delighted to see colors on the actual keys, you can now find colored stickers on our Etsy Store. 

And a little tip - if you favorite the item in the store before you buy it, you will automatically be sent a 20% off coupon! Happy piano-ing :)
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Play-Along Tracks on YouTube

3/1/2019

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Don't forget that Play-Along Tracks for Piano In Color and the Color Piano Playbooks are available on YouTube. Use these for your preschool recitals. Your students will love playing along with the tracks.
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Beyond The Color Piano PlayBooks

2/1/2019

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Color Piano Playbooks 1 and 2 introduce 10 notes and piano keys. After completing these books there are still more notes to be learned and more keys to be recognized.

There are many apps and games to help students do this. However, I start my students with extra large flashcards. These cards make it super easy for students to see the lines and spaces. I have found it particularly useful with my students who have learning difficulties - they can point to and count the lines and spaces easily because they are so big. Later we transfer that knowledge onto the smaller staff in their books.

Check out these extra large flashcards in our Etsy Store.
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RACE TO THE PIANO

1/4/2019

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Race To The Piano is just one of the activities included in the 2nd Edition of the Piano In Color Parent Guide. 

Keep your preschool piano lessons active with races, quizzes, sing-a-longs, duets and many other exciting activities.

Useful for both parents and piano teachers, the playing, tapping, marching, jumping, stomping, duets and Pat-a-Cake found in this Parent/Teacher Guide will keep your preschooler racing to the piano!

Check out the Piano In Color Parent/Teacher Guide here.
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Christmas 2018 . . . By piano-In-Color Graduates!

12/9/2018

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It’s amazing to think that just a few years ago that these students were playing color notes! I enjoyed hearing them play at the Music Teachers Association Holiday Festival and The Children’s National Hospital Recital this past weekend.
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Jingle Bells

12/1/2018

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Another Christmas song - this time for students using the Color Piano PlayBooks. Jingle Bells must be one of the most well known Christmas songs of all time, and which mini-musician wouldn't want to play it?

​If your little ones have reached 'Purple Note' in Color Piano PlayBook 1, then they will have a lot of fun with this song. Print it off for them and give it a try if you don't believe me :)
Also, check out this video of some "Piano In Color Graduates" (now at the grand old age of 10!), playing an ensemble version of Jingle Bells. It seems like just yesterday that they were playing "Red Note"..... :)
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Angels We Have Heard On High

12/6/2017

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​It's that time of the year again! Make your Christmas merrier with simplified versions of this popular Christmas Carol. Click the images below to select the Piano-In-Color version or Black-&-White version.
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Piano-In-​Color Version
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​Black-&-White Version
Also, enjoy this video of some of my older students playing an ensemble version of "Angels We Have Heard On High" on keyboards.
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FingerPrints - A Finger Number Game

9/26/2017

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Sometimes my younger students mix up their finger numbers. They all remember that "Thumbs Are  One" for the right hand, but when it comes to the left hand, at time I see them preparing to use finger 5 when the music calls for finger 1.
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FingerPrints is my fun way of reminding them of their finger numbers. Sometimes I send the game board home with instructions for them to play with their parents or siblings, and to let me know how many times they won at their next lesson.

​The fun part is that the students pay great attention to which fingers their parents are using, because using an incorrect finger sends you backwards on the board.​
I also use it in group lessons when one student is struggling with a tricky spot in the music -  the other students can play FingerPrints with my helper while I help the student who needs a little extra attention.

​Find it here under Games/Activities.
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One Minute Club ... With An App

7/11/2017

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Like many teachers, I run a One Minute Club to help students to recognize notes on sight. The student has to play and name 32 random notes from a given range in less than a minute. On successfully doing so, they become a member of the One Minute Club and win a prize.

For my One Minute Club, I use the Piano Notes Fun app - it works much better than flash cards, and it even has a timer in the top right hand corner.

I place the iPad on the music stand and press the "Play" button.  It generates lines of random notes and the student names and plays each note on the piano.  If they get it right on the piano,  I press the corresponding note on the iPad piano keyboard.  If they get it wrong, I press nothing, so they know to try again. 

I use the iPhone version of this app on my iPad. It is less cluttered than the iPad version and suits my young students perfectly.  You can find this app at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/piano-notes-fun-sight-reading/id375618944?mt=8

Almost all my Piano Parents have this app on their iPhone or iPad for their kids to practice at home, so my One Minute Club is a pretty big club!

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Piano Keyboard Race ... With An App

5/16/2017

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Keyboard Races are an engaging way to teach many aspects of music theory. If I can teach something with a Keyboard Race instead of a book, I do it! My students much prefer racing their counters up the keyboards to listening to me explain theory for 15 minutes.

So I had a set of  flashcards for white note Keyboard Races, a set of  flashcards for black note Keyboard Races, a set of flashcards for intervals and a set of flashcards for steps and skips - up and down. The downside of this is that for each student, I have to sort the cards and remove the ones they have not yet learned. Not a big problem, but a little time consuming.

Enter Decide Now. I'm not sure where I heard about this app, but I am glad I did. 

I set up several "Spinner boards" for each type of Keyboard Race, and instead of using flashcards, the student taps the big green button to spin the spinner. 

Changing the list of of options is easy too. It takes about 10 seconds to add a new option to a spinner and about 5 seconds to remove one.

I still use my Keyboard Races flashcards from time to time, but more often than not, I use Decide Now. 

Find Decide Now at at https://appsto.re/us/JvX3w.i
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