INCORPORATING TECHNOLOGY IN YOUR STUDIO

Rebecca Udy, NCTM, drove down from Springville and presented our workshop today!  We came away with so many great ideas of apps that are available on a myriad of devices, and how to use them with our students, supervised and unsupervised!  There were visuals that showed how easy it is to set up your studio to incorporate the technology, even if you don't have a lot of space.

Ideas were shared about apps that help you to run your studio.  Google Docs and Google Keep can be very useful!

Using Notes is a great way to give assignments to your students outside of the studio.

Rebecca gave us a great handout with different apps for iphone or android, and inspired us to get with the 21st Century and the benefits of using technology!!  You can visit her website for more details.

OUR FIRST CHAPTER MEETING for 2018-19

The summer flew past as if it was in a hurry to get somewhere!!  Hopefully, you packed as much fun and relaxation into these fleetings months as possible.

And now it's time to start up our chapter meetings!  We have a great line-up to look forward to!
Tuesday, September 11 at noon on DSU campus, room 117 PAB, we will have a great presentation by Rebecca Udy of Springville, presenting to us on easy ways to incorporate technology into our studios.  Rebecca has been a great inspiration to me, and I'm sure everyone will gain something by attending Tuesday.

If you want to see what's on the agenda for upcoming months, check out the  St. George Chapter calendar here.

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!)