CLOSING SOCIAL - May 8, 2018

We sure had a fun closing social!!  We enjoyed a great meal with so many of us there...and the few that weren't able to come were greatly missed!!  The duets played by some were enjoyable and make great additions to our repertoire!

We were sad to say our "good-byes" to Dr. Lynn Dean who is leaving on an LDS mission with his wife, Dianne, to the Philippines in July.  He will be missed beyond measure!!  And it's always a little melancholy to say "good-bye" to our colleagues for the summer!!

I hope you enjoy your summer.  And we'll reconnect in September!!!

LET'S PLAY MUSIC!!

Today's presentation was something I wished I had known a couple of years ago when I had my first "Let's Play Music graduates" come into my studio!!  Rachel France did the main presentation.  She dispelled any misgivings right from the beginning:  "This is not a presentation to tell you why you should be doing 'Let's Play Music.'  It's to help you know what to do with a student who has been through the 'Let's Play Music' program."  And that's exactly what she shared.  It was SO enlightening and inspired us to seek out students who have graduated from this program.

From my own experience, my two "graduates" from LPM have been delightful, and easy to teach, because of their understanding of so many musical concepts.  Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have had to "back pedal" teaching them things they already knew, but with a different "language."  I didn't know what Red, Yellow and Blue chords were...and they didn't know what I, IV and V chords were...but we were both talking about the same things!  Now I know!  There are several LPM teachers in our area and they are graduating students from their programs, and looking for independent teachers who KNOW how to integrate LPM students into their program.  It would be a great benefit to UMTA teachers and LPM students alike, to become a Connections Teacher for LPM.  LPM CONNECTIONS INFO  It is easy to do, and very cost effective!!  (I'm starting the process today!!)  Thanks, Rachel, for an excellent presentation and information!

CREATING A MASTERPIECE

Shane Bowles presented today and inspired us to compose and help our students compose!  He gave us a 12 page handout that took us through the various versions of a composition from starting out with a basic melody, and the different steps to bringing it to a good composition.  I have a few handouts left over, so if you'd like one, be sure to contact me!

20 Ideas for Motivating Teenage Students!

Gerald Simon has been a presenter to our St. George Chapter.  He has some great information on his website, too!  He sent an email out recently that had a link to "20 Ideas for Motivating Teenage Students."  I read through everything and rather than try to recap it here, I'll just attach the link and recommend you look at it.  (You will need to scroll down a bit to get to where it starts with the 20 ideas...)

There are ideas I won't use.  But there are many that are great recommendations!!  See what you think!! 

20 IDEAS FOR MOTIVATING TEENAGE STUDENTS

INSPIRING DEEP PRACTICE

Mark Gubler presented today on Inspiring Deep Practice. 

So many good reminders and motivations today!  "The biggest enemy to talent isn't genes or luck...it's poor practice!!" 

Mark shared a lot of information from a book called The Talent Code:

 

This might not mean much to those of you who weren't in attendance, but hopefully it will trigger memories for those who were there.  One of the things that was a strong point to me was:  Myelin doesn't care who you are, meaning your genetics; it only cares what you do, meaning practice!!

We talked about how important it is to help our student find productive, creative, different, and interesting ways to practice AND to reset their brains if mistakes are embedded somewhere.    Rachel France told about one of her students and how she helped him go over and over a certain section using different rhythm accents, beats, sections, working backwards, etc., to help him finally "get" a part he struggled with. 

Dr. Nancy Allred has a quote on her office door that sums today's information up:  "The only difference between ordinary and extraordinary is PRACTICE!"

JAZZ CLASS - Part 2

We really enjoyed a second class from Laurisa Cope, UMTA President-Elect, on implementing jazz into our studios.  It was fun for each of us to play on our own piano (with head-sets on) and experiment with the things we were taught.  We all think a workshop could be a good thing!!

(Maybe next time I will remember to take pictures, rather than just have fun!)

CONFERENCE REVIEW & TEACHING TIPS!

The cinnamon rolls & milk were a hit, and so were all the things we talked about!!

Some of the ideas from conference:

Picture a graph and a student's age starting at 8 and going to 18 across the bottom; the progress of their piano skills being measured  from bottom to top.  In theory, we see progress from the bottom to the top by a diagonal line...as the student gets older, they get better at playing the piano.  It was pointed out that this is seldom the case:  Reality is more like a curvy line progresses and regresses at different intervals, as it, hopefully makes a general progression.  As teachers, we need to be aware of the students needs, the things taking place in their lives, their struggles, their triumphs, that will impact the piano learning.  When we are able to do this, we facilitate their learning!!

Do we point out the little things that we sometimes take for granted that our student knows, or should know...like pointing out that the key signature not only tells us what flats/sharps will be in the piece, it tells us what SCALE will be used by the composer, and therefore, which notes will be primarily used.  This may see obvious, but try pointing it out to your students and see if they say, "Duh!" or if they have an "Ah hah!" moment!!

There were lots of teaching tips shared and some good discussion on ways to help certain problems.  If you weren't able to attend, we missed you, and you missed a really good meeting!  Maybe next month!

Mark Gubler also shared some information about SUPAF being rekindled.  Registration is open!  Piano registration closes January 31, 2018.  All other registration closes December 31st!  Please contact Mark if you have any questions about it!

REGINA ROPER - JUST THE FACTS

We were so happy to have Regina Roper present to our UMTA chapter today!  She shared a lot of information that reminded us of some of the ways our students learn; how we can engage them differently to increase their learning; and showed us some great new theory resources!!  The JUST THE FACTS II Theory Workbooks are great, and we loved getting free copies of a couple of the levels!!  THANK YOU, REGINA!!!