YEAR END CLOSING SOCIAL!!

How can it be the end of our membership year already?!?!  Well, it is and what a great year it has been!!  And the closing social was great, too!!!  We had a potluck luncheon with a great variety of food to choose from.  We enjoyed visiting and catching up with each other while eating.

Isaac Gish gave us a short rundown on his website that is very beneficial to music teachers looking for additional students, and other great resources for a VERY low monthly fee.  Check it out at ST GEORGE MUSIC TEACHERS.COM

After that, Caroline Jennings ran herd on us as her "students" and we had a lively time with Wendy Stevens' Compose Create Rhythm Cups.  We had a lot of fun, and our students will, too!!  If you want more information, check it out here: RHYTHM CUPS

Thanks to everyone for participating and sharing their ideas this year.  Enjoy the summer, and we'll see everyone back here in September!!

DOUBLE THE FUN WITH DUETS!!

We've sure had a fun year of workshops, and our April meeting was full of "hands-on" fun!!

Everyone brought a duet or two to share and we had lots of participation with "volunteers" jumping in to sightread with friends!  Pictures are worth a thousand words!

Dr. Nancy Allred and Dr. Lynn Dean

 Rebecca and Caroline

Connie and Caroline

Caroline and Carole

How fast should we take Saber Dance???  Pretty darn!!!

A fun four-some playing Jambalaya by Rocherelle

Here's a short list of some of the favorites shared:
Saber Dance (two piano/four hands); Solfegietto - (two piano/four hands)
Brightwood Barn by Vandall
Ostinato Barbaro  by Vandall
The Spanish Tornado by Noona (we forgot to play this one...it's good!!)
Hopscotch by Joyce Grill
The Cricket and the Bullfrog by Costello

Recommended books:
Jazz, Rags and Blues Bk 3, played Louisiana Strut
Dynamic Duets by Bober
Celebrated Piano Duets by Vandall
A Star Spangled Celebration by Martha Mier
Music for Sharing (equal parts) by Margaret Goldston

Sage Suggestions from Our Very Own Dr. Dean!

Dr. Lynn Dean has been teaching piano for over 50 years (unbelievable, yet true!!)  It was about time we took advantage of his great storehouse of knowledge, wisdom and experience!!  The only regret...that we didn't have an additional hour to learn all that we could!!

Luckily, Lynn gave us each a great handout with more than 30 sage suggestions and observations regarding teaching and the students that come with it.  Having had the privilege of being one of Lynn's students for three years about 5 years ago I can attest he lives by what he taught us.  And he always does it in such a fun-loving way!!  Here are just a few of his observations, and things we can learn from:

1.  C Major is NOT the easiest of the 12 major scales!

2.  Ducks are to be kept quiet...or shot!!! (You had to be there for this demonstration!)

3.  Students almost always hold onto the last of a series of staccato notes.

4.  "Dorkweed" may actually be an appropriate name at times!

5.  It's difficult to play legato repeated notes.  (Lynn showed us an easy way to teach this skill.)

6.  The slower you go, the faster you'll get there.


Once again, our UMTA Chapter meeting sent us home with an improved arsenal of tools to help us become even better at what we do, which helps us AND our students enjoy our time together immensely!

See you next month!!

What's in YOUR Teaching Toolbox?

Today we had the distinct pleasure of having our UMTA State President, Rosemary Olson present a great workshop on some of her favorite teaching tools.  She used every second of the 50 minutes we had, and filled us with wonderful ideas and suggestions that were new and exciting.

Just a few of our favorites:

COUNTING SYSTEMS:  (If they can say it, they can play it!)
There were several suggestions, but a really fun one went like this...
(four counts per measure)
One quarter note = tuh, tuh, tuh, tuh
Two eighth notes = tuh-kuh, tuh-kuh,  tuh-kuh, tuh-kuh
Four sixteenth notes = yuh-guh-dug-uh, yuh-guh-dug-uh, yuh-guh-dug-uh, yuh-guh-dug-uh,
One eighth note and two sisteenths = yuh...dug-uh, yuh...dug-uh, yuh...dug-uh, yuh...dug-uh
Two sixteenths, one eighth = yuh-guh-duh..., yuh-guh-duh..., yuh-guh-duh..., yuh-guh-duh...

TECHNIQUE:
Bouncing Triads - LH plays the chord 3 x's, then RH plays an octave higher 3 x's, then LH reaches over to next octave and plays 3 x's, then RH plays an octave higher...repeat same thing going down.
Then, do it again with playing chords 2 x's; then do it 1 x, then do it with broken (arpeggios).

POWER OF THE WORD:
"Shall I sit in the 'Listening Chair' or in the 'Helping Chair'?"  This helps the student identify which they would prefer at that particular moment...help with something, or listening appreciation.

Also...

When a student is playing a piece that is almost performance ready, every time they make a mistake they must stop, make HUGE arm  circles up, out and around as they loudly proclaim, "How FASCINATING!"  This serves several purposes...helping to lighten the mood, gives some great oxygen intake, helps the student concentrate on where their hands need to return to, and just makes it FUN!

MUSICIANSHIP:
Sorrisi Infantili - (Childhood Smiles) by Pozzoli, Ricordi, publisher is an incredible resource for amazing 5-finger duets.

Sooooo, if you missed this month's meeting, you missed a LOT!!!  Hope to see everyone next month!!

THE FABULOUS FIVE

Dr. Nancy Allred presented today at our first 2016 chapter meeting!!  And it was GREAT!!!

Her Top Five Techiques are:

1. 5-Finger Patterns
2. Scales
3. Chord/triads
4. Arpeggios
5. Sight-reading Tips

Now, that sounds basic enough, but what can't really be covered here were the handouts and the discussion that was only limited by time running out!!  SO much was covered and lots of questions answered.  I am motivated to review MY teaching and improve in lots of "technical" areas.

Thanks for a great presentation, Dr. Allred!!!

* Special welcome to our newest member, Brittany Tilby!  And welcome to Elise Clarke, who joined a few months ago, and is now able to attend!!

We welcome ALL to our meetings, but please remember that only first-time attenders are free.  All others, please pay $10 and enjoy the meeting you paid for!!

UMTA Christmas

Tuesday's meeting was fun, even if lightly attended due to so many "other" activities at this time of year.   We were given the gift of  UMTA Conference Highlights!

Those in attendance enjoyed the Christmas cookies (great ginger snaps!!), crackers and dip, and Christmas salad while we watched the "Peek Into UMTA Studios" that had been presented at the state conference in November.  It was fun to talk about the many different ideas teachers use in their studios.  Even implementing one or two can make all the difference in YOUR studio.  (It did mine!)

There were handouts from some of the workshops held at Conference:

The Joy of Teaching The Untalented

Favorite Apps and Websites

Choosing Literature to Pique Student's Interest


We also had a demonstration of some of the more advanced technique and music being added to Piano Maestro.   Hanon, Czerny, and more.  It was a great reminder that this is an amazing app available FREE (for teachers and students of teachers) on Ipads (only).  It motivates students to practice much more than normal.  It's great for sightreading, rhythm practice, metronome practice, and SO much more!!

Piano Maestro - JoyTunes

There was also a "hands-on" section with play-dough.  It helped us see a very quick and effective way to help our youngest-to-oldest students get correct finger/hand position, and fluid wrist movement.

Play dough Ideas...

If you would like to watch the Studio Tour video, go to the UMTA website here:  Member Resources
Then click the link for Peek Inside UMTA Studios.  It's about 15 minutes long.

Hope to see you next month!   (Dr. Nancy Allred will be presenting her Top Five Technique Tips!)

November 2015 Chapter Meeting

Brandon Lee presented an informative and enjoyable workshop on the things he looks for in a performance when he is judging or adjudicating.  Some are obvious, but were very important reminders and we talked in depth about different aspects.
Here are some of the things Brandon covered:

1. Notes - accuracy
2. Rhythmic accuracy
3. Articulation - slurs, staccato, portato, tenuto, accents, etc.
4. Dynamics - contrast is very important
5. Tempo - clean and slower is better than faster and messy
6. Having a "clean" copy of music for the judge is nice...so they're not influenced by teacher markings and whether they "get it right!"
7. Most importantly, did the performer make me FEEL something?  Did the performance convey emotion?  Was it convincing?

After our discussion, Brandon played six different performances of Chopin's Nocturne Op.15 Nr 2.  We each had music to review, like judges, to see what we liked and didn't like about each performance.  We listened to, and discussed our preferences, without knowing the identity of each performer.  When we had listened to all five, and after making our own decisions on rankings according to our preferences, we were told who each performer was.  VERY interesting!!!  

The six artists were:

1. Eugen d'Albert
2. Rachmaninoff
3. Paderewski
4. Horowitz
5. Rubenstein
6. Yundi Li

As a teenager I listened to a LOT of Arthur Rubenstein recordings and was thrilled when I went to 

one of his concerts (he was 86 at the time!)  I had the privilege of meeting him afterwards and we compared 

our hand sizes while a photographer snapped a couple of pictures.  

Now, 42 years later, I was pleasantly pleased to know I STILL chose Arthur Rubenstein as my favorite performer!!

Thanks for a great Chapter meeting, Brandon, and all who attended!!

Patrice

SHANE BOWLES - St. George Tabernacle 10/7/2015