How to Teach - Reading Together

Welcome to the newest Reading Together series. I'll be posting a summary about our reading each week on Tuesdays. Come join us!

We'll be reading How to Teach by George Strayer and Naomi Norsworthy. This book is available for free from Project Gutenberg.

We'll be reading one chapter per week.
I'll post about the first installment on Tuesday, July 12. That means you have two weeks to get a copy of the book and to read the first chapter.

The great thing about this program is that it allows us to read works together that can help us in our professional development as well as providing a level of accountability and the added interest of comparing notes as we read together.

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Teach Like a Champion: Part 1 (Reading Together)

I hope you enjoyed this week's reading on setting high academic standards. I know it challenged me to help my students not just slide through.

Here are the five techniques that were discussed.

No Opt Out
- Make sure your students know that it's not okay to not try.
- When a student doesn't know the answer to a question, ask another student the same question. Once he has answered it (correctly), come back to the first student and ask him the question again. This communicates that students can't just get off the hook by saying they don't know.

Right is Right
- Don't allow almost right answers to count as right. Follow up with the student until you get the complete answer you are looking for.
- Praise effort, but don't confuse effort with mastery.

Stretch it
- Reward right answers with follow-up questions that extend knowledge.
- Easiest form of follow-up questions are how and why questions.

Format matters
- Hold your students to answers that are grammatically correct, audible, and (if in math or science) have the correct units.

Without apology
- Don't lower the bar by apologizing for the content or for your students.

What stood out to you? Leave your comments below.
Read chapter 2 for next week and come back here to join the discussion.

Teach Like a Champion: Introduction (Reading Together)

After having started reading this book this week, I am even more excited about having picked out this book. I'm really looking forward to being able to add more "tools" to my teaching toolbox.

The introduction makes clear that this book was written to provide specific, concrete,and actionable techniques.  These techniques may not necessarily be glamorous, but they work.

A couple other main points that stood out to me:

- What I need to consider: what do I want my students to master?
"Great teachers plan objectives, then assessments, then activities." (page 10)

- Use lesson planning as not just a rote practice, but rather as the opportunity to truly design each individual class.

What stood out to you? Leave your comments below.
And, don't forget to read chapter 1 for next week.

Piano Teacher's Guide to Creative Composition - Part 4 (Reading Together)

This week's section lays out lesson plans so that you can incorporate composition into your regular teaching sessions.

The lesson plans are designed to work as a series that last for 6 to 8 weeks. The goal is to help your students experience a steady progress on their composition from week to week.

Each lesson plan is designed to take 5-10 minutes of your teaching session. In addition, every lesson plan has three parts: the goals for the lesson, the process by which you teach the given aspect of the composition, and what you will assign to your students.

Here is a list of the lesson plans:
Lesson 1: initiating the compositional idea
Lesson 2: mapping the story and musical ideas
- The main goal here is establish the big picture.
Lesson 3: establishing the framework of formal structure (usually ABA)
Lesson 4: continuing the creative process
Lesson 5 and subsequent lessons: connecting the dots
- The main goal is to now refine the composition.

I hope you are enjoying the reading as much as I am. Have any observations? Please leave them in the comments below.

Piano Teacher's Guide to Creative Composition - Part 1 (Reading Together)

I have enjoyed getting started on this book this week. I have found some new ideas from my reading this week and am excited about implementing them in my studio.

Here are some notes regarding this chapter:

Inspiration
Klose starts off by listing three sources for inspiration: emotion (or feeling), text (such as lyrics or poetry), and models.
She then outlines types of sources and examples of each source. She also describes the process of how to develop a composition for each type of source.

Thinking Outside of the Box
The next couple of pages cover some examples that you can have your students try in order to get them thinking outside of the box.

Question-Answer Game
One of my favorite sections (and one I plan on using with my students!) is her Question-Answer Game. The idea is for the teacher to play a simple and short melody line and to have the student answer back with a melody line that imitates the rhythm of the question line.

FAQ
Klose finishes out the chapter with an excellent FAQ section. Among other things, she addresses how to implement these ideas with your students and what to do about having your students write down their compositions.

What stood out to you from this chapter? Please leave your comments below!

Method Books for Beginner Guitar Students

While there are quite a few method series out for piano students, I have really struggled to find something that I can use with my guitar students.  Some may argue against using a method book for guitar students, and I'd love to hear your comments!  However, I find it beneficial for both myself and the student.  Using a method book gives the student structure and also a sense of progression and accomplishment.  As a teacher, I like it because it helps to ensure that we cover all the basics in a consistent and regular pattern. 

I had been using Everybody's Guitar Method from FJH Music Company, but found myself having a hard time tracking down copies of the book.  Therefore, I was excited when I came across Alfred's Basic Guitar Method.  There are three books to this series, as well as quite a few supplements including theory books, chord charts, and pop song books.  The method books offer everything you would expect from a method book, including how to play notes, reading music, chords, and of course songs. 

If you have a guitar method you use, I'd enjoy hearing about it.  Please feel free to post your thoughts and comments below. 

Disclaimer:  This recommendation is purely my own, based upon my own preferences.  I have not received any products or compensation from Alfred Music Publishing. 

What I'm Reading This Week - May 27

I hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend!  Enjoy!

Befriend Your Local Music Store, Grow Your Studio | Studio Helper Blog
Rachel points out the benefits of having a healthy relationship with your local music store.

All-In-One Beginner Piano Book | Making Music Fun
Starting piano lessons?  Looking for music for your beginner piano student?  Try out this free ebook (downloads as a pdf) from Making Music Fun.

Beginner Piano Lessons - Hearing the Music 
Much of playing music has to do with being able to hear the music and express music.  Here are some ideas on how to convey this to your students.

Let's talk! Have any finds that you would like to pass on? Post a comment below or send me an email.

Book Review – Note by Note by Tricia Tunstall

Another book that I finished reading lately is Note by Note Tricia Tunstall. I appreciated her description of approaching various aspects of teaching piano.

Here are two quotes that particularly stood out to me:

"Piano lessons are not only about music but also about trust and confidence, chaos and order, spontaneity and discipline and patience, sometimes even about love . . . and once again, and always, about music: its beauty, its power, its capacity to convey profound emotions beyond the reach of words." (pg. 4)

"As a student moves beyond the beginning stages, the issue of technique begins to loom large: developing proper hand a finger position, acquiring strength and independence of fingers, cultivating muscle control. An instrumentalist is an athlete. There is no way around the need for intense physical training; without it, the ability to play a Beethoven sonata is about as unlikely as the ability to pole-vault. But while pole-vaulters and soccer players and gymnasts usually practice together, a piano student practices his technical exercises alone, and it can feel like drudgery." (page 90)

Book Review – Piano Lessons by Anna Goldsworthy

I recently finished reading Piano Lessons by Anna Goldsworthy. In this book, Goldsworthy not only narrates her path as a piano student and a maturing adolescent, she also gives voice to the growing relationship between her and her piano teacher, Eleonora Sivan.

There were two main things that stood out to me as I read this book. First of all, Goldsworthy by explaining Sivan's philosophy expresses a well-balanced perspective on music and music competitions. Her emphasis is that music is meant to be shared, and a music competition is just another means to share music. The focus then is on the music and not on the competition itself. Secondly, Goldsworthy throughout her narration outlines the friendship, mentorship, and closeness that develops between teacher and student. She describes a rich friendship and mentorship that grows throughout the days, weeks, and months as teacher and student work together.

Book Recommendation - The Piano Shop on the Left Bank

I recently finished reading The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart. If you’ve ever played piano or have owned a piano, this book will resonate with you. Carhart depicts his rediscovery of the piano with exquisite descriptions. As he tells his story, he pulls the reader in with luring sense of mystery. His illustrations evoke an air of Parisian Old World flair, and his journey encompasses a rich patina - just like the pianos his story embraces.

Music Theory Book Recommendation

Are you looking for a clear and easy-to-follow book on music theory? Check out A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals by William Duckworth. Loaded with various types of practical exercises, this book not only introduces the student to music theory but also allows him to try a very "hands-on" approach to music.