Music Review 101

The one thing that music teachers enjoy about Christmas break is that it's a chance to rest our overworked braincells and catch up on sleep. The downside however, is that some students really take "Christmas Break" to a whole new level. These links are for those students and the teachers that are looking for funky ways to refresh their memories:

Speed Note Reading eMusicTheory.com Practice - everything from note reading to ear training drills Pedaplus.com - Games

And let's not forget my all-time favorites: musictheory.net - Head to "Trainers"

funbrain.com - The Piano Player

(c) 2009 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

A New Twist to Ear Training

If you're looking for a way to spice up your ear and rhythm training, try music transcription. Several weeks ago, my student K, a seven-year old beginner, walked in with a CD to share with me. On it are three Indi pop songs he would really like to learn. They are quite catchy. He asked if I would be able to transcribe the notes for him as no sheet music is available.

The thing with these catchy foreign pop songs is that the rhythms and harmonies are rather complex. Polyrhythms are quite common. The harmonies aren't your standard I-IV-V-I progression. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Remember S? He's my talented 12-year-old student who fell out of music last month? He's doing all right now. I assigned him a quick study several grades below his current level. Last week, I also paired him up with the student who comes after him so he can coach her on a song.

Back to K's catchy tunes. To my surprise, I have discovered that S has near to perfect pitch. The discovery inspired me to enlist S to help me transcribe K's Hindi pop songs. Today, I tried the same exercise with G, another talented 10 year-old intermediate student. He enjoyed the project immensely. I have since decided to ask all my intermediate and senior students to "assist" transcribing K's songs.

I doubt any of my students realize that I'm asking them to do rhythmic and melodic dictation, two activities associated with transcription. I didn't learn these until university so I want my students to start while they're young. For the time being, they just know that it's a cool application of ear training, that they are learning about the music of a different culture and helping a junior student.

Someone will definitely have to perform one of these songs at an upcoming recital.

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Rhythm Fun @ Pattern Block Rock

Now that Maestro, the students and I are starting to settle into our school-year routine (right down to the "Back to School Cold"), I have a bit of time to resurrect the Friday Fun Links.

This week's Friday Fun Link is Pattern Block Rock by David Tulga. Each coloured block is worth a certain number of beats. Create a rhythm using the blocks (make sure it adds up to the correct number of beats in the time signature!) and then listen to it.

There's a bit of math involved. But then, there's a lot of math involved in music.

(c) 2007 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Website Searches of Note

My marketing friend, Andrea Coutu, recommended a while back that I track visits to my website. There have been some interesting searches conducted which lead people to my site. Here are just a few of the more interesting or common searches done for Musings:

1. Piano pedagogy certificate program

2. Musikgarten

3. Musical ear

4. Piano Practice Excuses

5. APTA Festival + Calgary

6. RSI Iaido

7. Iaido Calgary

8. Creative Practicing

9. How to Cheat on RCM Exams

10. Benefits of Music

11. Summer pedagogy programs

12. Summer Piano Programs

Number 9 was a surprise. That particular blog had "rhythm cheat sheet" and a reference to my students taking an RCM examination. I know that students have tried time and time again to cheat on theory exams, employing similar techniques used for other school tests. However, cheating on a piano exam isn't heard of too often. There was an incident a couple of years back, in which three piano teachers and one RCM Examination Representative were suspended for obtaining and giving the actual sight reading and ear training exam questions to students in advance of their exams.

Here are some of the more colourful/common searches done for Musespeak(tm)'s site:

1. Lakeland Terrier

2. Music Background

3. Writing Background

4. Music images

5. RCM Exams

6. Music Lessons Calgary

7. Voice Lessons Calgary

8. Guitar Lessons Okotoks

9. Music Theory

10. Accompanying Policies

Who would have thought that Maestro would be searched for?

(c) 2006 by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.

Site Feed Issue Resolved

Fiddling with the atom.xml file several times was an exercise in futility. The code kept reverting back to the outdated format and information (complete with errors) each time I opened the document. I decided to go another route. Subscribing has never been easier! Simply click on the subscription button on the side bar and you will get e-mail updates.

(c) 2006, by Musespeak(tm), Calgary, AB, Canada. All rights reserved.