Sight Singing and Ear Training are fundamental skills in music education. Most colleges teach it over the course of a few different classes, and many people view it as skills you can't teach until middle school or later... but I love teaching these skills to students as young as 2nd grade (who are already tuneful, beatful, and artful!) in as little as 5 minutes per day. It can be done well and creatively so that students experience it in a joyful, fun way.
Sight singing is the ability to read and sing a piece of music at first sight without having heard it before. It involves translating the written musical notation into vocal sounds. This ideally is done AFTER having some foundational skills built first, namely ear training skills.
Skills Involved:
- Note Recognition: The ability to identify and sing the correct pitches indicated in the musical score.
- Rhythm Recognition: Being able to interpret and execute the rhythm of a piece accurately.
- Interval Recognition: Recognizing the distance between two pitches, which helps in accurately reproducing melodies.
- Key and Scale Recognition: Understanding the key signature and scale of a piece, which guides the performer on which notes to sing.
- Phrasing and Articulation: Interpreting the musical notation to convey musical expression, including dynamics, tempo, and articulation.
Ear training, also known as aural skills, involves developing the ability to identify and reproduce musical elements solely by hearing them. This includes melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. My goal is always to develop the musical ear before the musical eye.
Skills Involved:
- Pitch Recognition: Identifying individual pitches and intervals between them.
- Melodic Dictation: Hearing a melody and writing it down in musical notation.
- Harmonic Analysis: Recognizing and identifying chords and chord progressions in a musical piece.
- Rhythmic Dictation: Hearing a rhythm and notating it accurately.
- Chord Progression Recognition: Identifying the sequence of chords in a piece of music.
- Transcription: Listening to a piece of music and notating it in sheet music form.
Both ear training and sight singing are essential for any musician who wants to perform, compose, or arrange music. It enables musicians to effectively communicate and collaborate with others. Musicians with strong sight singing and ear training skills can adapt to various musical styles and genres. These skills empower musicians to improvise and create their own music. It hones the ability to critically analyze and appreciate music. Both sight singing and ear training are skills that can be developed and honed through consistent practice and training. They are vital components of a well-rounded musical education.
Conversational Solfege is a system of 12 steps that addresses these needs first by ear and then adding the eye and symbols to it to develop a person's musical mind and musical thinking in a playful, creative way!
To learn more about Conversational Solfege, check it out here. And here are the flash cards I use that go with the CS units. I'm happy to chat more about CS as well, it's a passion of mine to use this well-created resource to help develop young musicians.
Conversational Solfege is a system of 12 steps that addresses these needs first by ear and then adding the eye and symbols to it to develop a person's musical mind and musical thinking in a playful, creative way!
To learn more about Conversational Solfege, check it out here. And here are the flash cards I use that go with the CS units. I'm happy to chat more about CS as well, it's a passion of mine to use this well-created resource to help develop young musicians.
Today is Prime Big Deals Day!
Here are bunch of my favorite Amazon finds as a music teacher mom, most of which happen to be part of the deals today, too. I use these ALL the time in my home and teaching space.
1. Rubber Chicken! We play a game called chickens & foxes with ours, there's lots of other uses. My students named him drumstick, haha! He's also a great model of open tall vowels for choir.
2. Googly eye rings! I use these for arioso, small group singing, and conversations in song back & forth between students.
3. This super cozy nursing and maternity sweatshirt -- so nice for fall/winter days and for nursing baby discreetly!
4. This white noise sound machine has been the best. It's not too big, so great for traveling. And even has colors if you need a night light feature.
5. These footed pants were SO cozy when baby was tiny. 10/10 recommend, especially if you have a fall/winter baby! This is all my baby girl wore except for footies last winter.
6. A pickler triangle set -- this is a great toddler activity for those cold winter days where we're all cooped up inside because it's too cold to even play in the snow. I am getting one for my baby girl for Christmas.
7. Classroom instruments are a great way to engage students without breaking the bank. I typically own only 1-2 of each instrument and we grow in patience, social skills, waiting, turning taking, etc by only using one. Here are a few I found on sale today: cabasa set, rainbow streamers for expressive movement, wood block, guiros, juggling scarves, and more!
8. Non toxic crayons! Perfect for beginning babies who are going to put them in their mouth.
9. I am getting this busy board for my baby girl because a friend recommended it for long car rides (or air plane rides!).
10. This musician's journal I created -- fun colors! You have SO MANY notebooks you're writing in allll the time too? You're in good company.
11. So much silly fun with pop tubes!
There's more, but this is a great start. Happy shopping!
There are SO MANY method books out there for teaching beginners how to play piano... and there are even video courses and such to learn from home without going to a teacher!
Here's my favorite piano method books for beginners and how I recommend best utilizing it.
1) There are multiple first places to start -- whether you are or have a 5 yo, 10 yo, teenager, or grandma wanting to learn for the first time, there's something for everyone! Most of the beginner books do not have cutesy pictures and diagrams, so they're great for older beginners who don't want to feel like a little kid as well as the young beginner to not have too much "eye clutter" on the page.
2) They have a GREAT transfer guide -- as a piano teacher, this is awesome for those students who've taken a bit of piano but are just starting with me; this helps me place them at a good spot in the method series so that there's a bit of review but not too hard or too easy... like goldilocks, just right!
3) There are so many amazing supplemental books and single pieces by a variety of composers in the community -- these are handy for so much: hooking a kid's interest at the appropriate playing level, honing in on a transfer student's ability before having them buy books, picking something fun for a recital, and more.
4) I really like the approach to introducing the grand staff, various theory concepts, and pacing -- the minimal explanations of various theory concepts that are written on the pages allow me to teach the concept how I want to, which varies sometimes student-to-student so that I can meet their learning style and level of understanding the best way possible. I've also found that my students are MUCH better readers with this method than any other I've used before.
5) They make everything listen-able and sample-able -- I can look at every page in the books if I want to online before purchasing (with parts greyed out, of course)! This is invaluable, as I can have a good look before buying a bunch of books that I don't know will be a good fit for a student. This again allows me to customize my teaching SO well to each individual student.
If you're a potential student, here's how I recommend best using the PP resources: get yourself a good live teacher (not just online video course). Find someone who is friendly and kind (doesn't make you feel silly for asking questions or making mistakes), who makes it fun and motivating for you/your child by seeking to connect the learning with your/their interests (including finding styles of songs you'd like to play), and who starts by reading the staff (not finger numbers or pictures or some other way, unless their is some learning disability present, there are exceptions to this rule of mine!). This will help you move forward better in the long run and play from any music you want to in the future!
If you're in the west Twin Cities metro area MN, I'd love to connect with you about taking lessons in-person, or I also offer limited virtual lessons via Zoom (currently I only offer daytime hours, but if your time zone is different, it may still work!). You can learn more here or message me and I'll get back to you!
Good evening, lovely people! ❤️
I don't know about you, but with another lockdown looming on the horizon and cold weather setting in, I've been feeling a bit lonely again. I am craving meaningful connection with people who are like-minded during this season and who are looking for deeper community. I know I need it desperately this year with everything going on in the USA and our world. 🤗
So I decided I'm going to lead an Advent hymns study this Advent season. ✝️
Here's details for the Advent Hymn study, if you want to join me! I have 19 people joining me already and there's always room for more.
You can get the Advent Hymns study here.
My plan is to do the study via Marco Polo (a video texting type app if you're not familiar with it) where we can connect more personally but not need to be in real time (like on Zoom, I'm so tired of Zoom... 😜), so download Marco Polo if you don't have it already. I think it will be the best fit for busy holiday schedules and time zones. 🎄 Let me know when you get the book so I can add you to the group. 🙂 We are introducing ourselves to each other up until the first week of Advent!
You can get the Advent Hymns study here.
My plan is to do the study via Marco Polo (a video texting type app if you're not familiar with it) where we can connect more personally but not need to be in real time (like on Zoom, I'm so tired of Zoom... 😜), so download Marco Polo if you don't have it already. I think it will be the best fit for busy holiday schedules and time zones. 🎄 Let me know when you get the book so I can add you to the group. 🙂 We are introducing ourselves to each other up until the first week of Advent!
Be blessed, friends. 🥰
Normal.
What is normal?
A mindset. Normal for everyone is a bit different.
Does everyone else get up in the morning and immediately let the pup outside? No, but that's my normal.
Does everyone else spend 1-2 hours per day talking with people about wellness goals, in service to others, to help them fulfill their dreams of feeling well preventatively? No, but it's my normal.
Does everyone eat fresh cucumbers for lunch during the summer, grow 5 kinds of mint while gardening organically, and drink chocolate or orange mint tea in the winter? No, but it's my normal.
Did everyone go to a private K-12 school growing up? No, but that's my normal.
Does everyone sing 5-8 hrs per day for FUN and get to pass that joy and skill on to adults and kids alike? No, but it's my joyful normal.
Does everyone sleep 7-8 hours per night? For most, that's a sad no, but it's my normal now! It definitely didn't used to be.
Does everyone go to church every Sunday? No, but that's my normal.
Does everyone work for themselves as their own "boss"? No, but it's becoming my normal.
Does everyone eat Einkorn instead of modern grain? No, but it's becoming our normal.
Does everyone play strategy board games often the way Gabe & I do? No, but we enjoy it, and it's our normal.
Does everyone believe the same things about God or humanity? No, but we each have a normal.
Our normal is governed by our underlying beliefs and mindset. Our normal is fundamentally governed by what we believe about ourselves -- who we are, what we say to ourselves.
Do you tell yourself:
I am anxious.
I am tired.
I am broke.
I am hurt.
I am in pain.
I am stuck.
I am stressed.
I am broken.
I am a sinner.
I am hopeless.
I am incapable of _______ (something that hasn't happened yet that you are dreaming of).
I have to work this job.
I have to marry this person.
I have to live here.
OR, do you tell yourself:
I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
I am blessed to be a blessing.
I am at peace.
I am serving others.
I am connected in community.
I am made new.
I am growing.
I am a sharer of my talents and knowledge.
I am healed.
I am a saint who sometimes still sins.
I am hope-filled.
I am already _________ (fill in the blank with a goal that God sees as done, but to me is "not yet").
I can change my mind.
I can develop new preferences.
I can be authentically ME.
How can you move towards a new normal, if you're telling yourself the former things? How can I help you on the journey of saying the latter things to yourself?
Love you, dear friends. 🥰
If you get my blog updates (or want to get them), you may remember I wrote a little while back about that feeling you get when you're wading out into the unknown or trying something new that scares you a little bit but you know it's a good thing... That feeling you get that is slightly overwhelming but more exciting than anything else? I'm standing at a crossroads, at the beginning of something amazing and wonderful and challenging and awesome all tangled up together.
First, some sad news: I resigned my teaching job at Hayes Elementary. I will dearly miss some wonderful colleagues and equally wonderful students, particularly the 30-some singers in the before-school Early Bird Choir. But once a giraffe, always a giraffe!
Now for the exciting news! I am greatly looking forward to teaching on my own as Orem Music! I will be teaching for a few homeschool groups in the Twin Cities -- as of right now for Wings and CHAT -- doing ukulele classes, a choir/general music type class, co-teaching band, and leading low brass sectionals. I am also going to be teaching private voice and ukulele lessons. I already teach beginner and intermediate ukulele classes for adults through various community education districts in the area, and will continue to offer these options as well as private lessons for adults. For a current list of events that are already scheduled, check out the events page.
I am also continuing to intentionally grow my wellness business with Young Living, focused specifically on serving those who struggle with sensitivities, are Highly Sensitive themselves (HSPs), but also those who deal with TMJD or other chronic issues. I love problem solving with people, walking alongside them on their journey to fuller wellness, and empowering them to think critically about how God has made them and made His world and plants to support our growth and healing. God is opening doors for me to serve others, including creating a welcoming space for others to learn and grow, and I am so grateful and humbled to love people and walk parts of life with them that they sometimes don't wish to share with others. I want people to feel hope rather than fear about their health!
Embarking on this adventure has been a bit nerve-wracking, but also quite exciting during such a season of uncertainty in our world. While the details are not final, given our somewhat lack of knowledge of what this fall will bring here in Minnesota still, I trust God to continue providing the right places and people for me to connect with and offer my enthusiasm, joy, and skills in service. I know God has made me to teach music, and more fully to train up young people in understanding how God has made us all as musical beings, gives us music to worship Him, and allows us to connect with and serve others through music. I am very excited to begin teaching music and training up young people with this more focused vision in mind, and I can't wait to see whom else God brings across my path to serve in the ways He has gifted me.
