Incorporating Music Theory into a Student Request

One of my students has been on my case for weeks, if not months for sheet music from the Bionicle Heroes video game. He even researched information about composer Ian Livingstone to include in my year-end studio recital. I could not find any sheet music in my travels, so I decided to contact the video game composer and inquire. Ian informed me that he didn't have sheet music for Bionicle Heroes. However, he did send me sheet music for No Adrenaline, a piece he dedicated to his son who has the genetic condition CAH - Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia.

My intermediate and advanced students jumped on the opportunity to play it. However, my "Bionicles" student is only in Grade 1 piano. I was thinking of making a Big Notes arrangement but something stopped me.

This particular student is has rhythm and detail issues. His theory book? Doesn't always make it to lessons.

On a lark, I decided to get my student to write out his own arrangement. He's starting to get that key and time signatures are important and that if he transcribes notes on a different line, it completely changes the sound:

I emailed this photo to Ian Livingstone. My student was shocked. Ian thought the music theory project idea was "fantastic".

Piano Tutorial of a Beginner Arrangement of Happy Birthday

This was inspired by one of my beginner students. His mom's birthday is coming up, so I thought it would be neat to have him work on this. However, I was stumped to find a really easy version of the song for beginner piano students who are still at the pre-reading level. Then I remembered: folk songs and popular songs like this are best learned by ear. Beginners already know the rhythm, they just need help with positioning:

Summer Music Project Ideas

Wow...May and June turned out to be extremely hectic. Our poor World Music Exploration came to a dead halt with the regular stream of recitals, exams and music festivals.

Let's see if I can start making up for it.  If you are looking for fun ways to keep your music playing skills up during the summer, check out some of these ideas that my students and I have come up with:

1. National Anthems: one of my beginner students is a history buff. He came up with the idea of learning various national anthems throughout the summer. I helped him out with the first three. I look forward to hearing what else he tackles during the summer break.

2. Video Games: Two students (siblings) are HUGE video game buffs. They both picked three video game themes to work on, which we started during the last two weeks of lessons. For the younger one, it's a huge step up in playing level. I am banking on the fact that these are some of his fave themes to motivate him to overcome some of his note-reading/coordination challenges.

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Super Mario for Piano 34 Super Mario Themes Arranged for Easy Piano. Composed by Asuka Ohta, Hirokazu Tanaka, Kenta Nagata, Koji Kondo, Mahito Yokota, Shiho Fujii, and Soyo Oka. This edition: Easy Piano. NAMM Best in Show; Piano - Easy Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Video Game. Book. 76 pages. Alfred Music #00-38633. Published by Alfred Music (AP.38633).

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Super Mario for Piano 34 Super Mario Themes Arranged for Solo Piano. Composed by Asuka Ohta, Hirokazu Tanaka, Kenta Nagata, Koji Kondo, Mahito Yokota, Shiho Fujii, and Soyo Oka. This edition: Piano Solos (Intermediate / Advanced). NAMM Best in Show; Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Video Game. Book. 80 pages. Alfred Music #00-38600. Published by Alfred Music (AP.38600).

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New Super Mario Bros. Wii Simplified Piano Solos. Composed by Kenta Nagata, Koji Kondo, Ryo Nagamatsu, and Shiho Fujii. This edition: Easy Piano. NAMM Best in Show; Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Video Game. Book. 40 pages. Alfred Music #00-39429. Published by Alfred Music (AP.39429).

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The Legend of Zelda for Easy Piano Easy Piano Solos. Composed by Akito Nakatsuka, Asuka Ohta, Hajime Wakai, Kenta Nagata, Koji Kondo, Kozue Ishikawa, Manaka Tominaga, and Toru Minegishi. This edition: Easy Piano. NAMM Best in Show; Piano - Easy Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Video Game. Book. 76 pages. Alfred Music #00-38634. Published by Alfred Music (AP.38634).

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The Legend of Zelda Series for Piano Piano Solos. Composed by Akito Nakatsuka, Asuka Ohta, Hajime Wakai, Kenta Nagata, Koji Kondo, Kozue Ishikawa, Manaka Tominaga, and Toru Minegishi. This edition: Piano Solos (Intermediate / Advanced). NAMM Best in Show; Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Video Game. Book. 84 pages. Alfred Music #00-38601. Published by Alfred Music (AP.38601).

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The Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses Piano Solos. Composed by Asuka Ohta, Hajime Wakai, Kenta Nagata, Koji Kondo, and Toru Minegishi. This edition: Piano Solos. Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental. Video Game. Book. 80 pages. Alfred Music #00-44550. Published by Alfred Music (AP.44550).

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Chord Play 1 The Art of Arranging at the Piano. Composed by Forrest Kinney. This edition: 1st edition. Chord Play. Book. The Frederick Harris Music Company #CP01. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company (FH.CP01).

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Chord Play 2 The Art of Arranging at the Piano. Composed by Forrest Kinney. This edition: 1st edition. Chord Play. Book. 64 pages. The Frederick Harris Music Company #CP02. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company (FH.CP02).

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Chord Play 3 The Art of Arranging at the Piano. Composed by Forrest Kinney. This edition: 1st edition. Chord Play. Book. 64 pages. The Frederick Harris Music Company #CP03. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company (FH.CP03).

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Chord Play 4 The Art of Arranging at the Piano. Composed by Forrest Kinney. This edition: 1st edition. Chord Play. Book. 64 pages. The Frederick Harris Music Company #CP04. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company (FH.CP04).

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Chord Play 5 The Art of Arranging at the Piano. Composed by Forrest Kinney. This edition: 1st edition. Chord Play. Book. 64 pages. The Frederick Harris Music Company #CP05. Published by The Frederick Harris Music Company (FH.CP05).

These are just a few ideas. If you have any suggestions, please add them to the comments below.

A Quick Note on Composing and Arranging

This week is Group Class Week, A.K.A. “Time to Catch Up on My Work” Week. My piano students will go on the annual field trip in lieu of their regular lesson. However, I’m still teaching my theory students and doing make-up piano lessons this week.  

Somehow, I wound up getting nominated for Calgary ARMTA’s Second Vice-President for 2006/07 at Monday’s meeting. It just sort of happened, leaving the incoming First Vice-President and I a little dazed. Ah well, we both knew we couldn’t stay in our current roles forever. Eventually, we’d have to move up.

The bane of my existence, bookkeeping, is nearly done. I’ve even started to put together the 2006/07 Studio Calendar (and scoping out piano pedagogical conferences and courses in far off places). A few meetings with prospective students and brides planning their weddings, along with a lunch with friends/colleagues complete my week.

Eventually, I’ll get to one item that’s been on my “To Do” List for a while – arranging Michael W. Smith’s song Above All into a piano duet for a student. Last year, I discovered that I enjoy composing and arranging. I currently use Finale Notepad (although sometimes, I’ll reach over for a trusty pencil and manuscript paper). Some of my students are showing a genuine interest in composing. I’ve found that the less instruction I give them at the beginning, the better. Some of their works are quite amazing.

I compiled this list of composing and music notation software links for my students, which I will share with you:

• Creating Music

• How to Compose Piano Music

• Canadian Music Centre

• University of Virginia Library - FREE manuscript paper

• Sibelius Music Notation Software

• Finale Music Notation Software

• Noteworthy Notation Software

• Mozart Notation Software

Happy composing!

© 2006, Musespeak™, Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Friday Fun Link #14

Break In The Road is a site that proves that you can make music out of everyday sounds. Collect various sounds from around the website’s city to create your own music, do a little sound mixing and put your song together. Have fun.