tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6665263569046948642024-03-13T11:48:35.192-07:00Practice Makes It EasyAn unlimited amount of ability can develop when parent and child are having fun together. -Dr. SuzukiThackeray'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02002550152751270090noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-38910223181879818412021-01-11T11:47:00.002-08:002023-07-07T22:45:15.616-07:00O’fish’ial Suzuki Book 1 Review<p>It's been a while (almost two years!) since I last posted. Life gets busy and some things drop off. However, this week our family got COVID and that means we get to stay home for at least 10 days. We can't go anywhere, or do anything. I've felt too sick to clean my house or do laundry, but not sick enough to stay in bed all day. The result is a lot of new printables created. Yay! </p><p><a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/digital-downloads/products/ofishially-suzuki-book-1-review-bundle" target="_blank">Here is a great review game</a>. In my experience, just about all kids love a good fishing game. I've been wanting to make a fishing review game for a while now. I don't have any kids in Suzuki Violin Book 1 anymore, but I have students and I plan to lend this game out. I used brass brads for the eyes that connect perfectly to the <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/magnet-wands-and-chips/products/magnetic-fishing-pole" target="_blank">magnet fishing pole</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9CoSlomnz5Y/X_k4DsEPYuI/AAAAAAABlEc/QcIHFuRfB24XsoaQ7mCansLXb4TEpDQagCPcBGAsYHg/s3914/IMG_2665.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2927" data-original-width="3914" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9CoSlomnz5Y/X_k4DsEPYuI/AAAAAAABlEc/QcIHFuRfB24XsoaQ7mCansLXb4TEpDQagCPcBGAsYHg/s320/IMG_2665.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E8MS49IAcAM/X_k4DjmzmnI/AAAAAAABlEc/CTEt-erxIzIEFUb2lw6RGJnfjE1g8BqiACPcBGAsYHg/s3556/IMG_2649.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2615" data-original-width="3556" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E8MS49IAcAM/X_k4DjmzmnI/AAAAAAABlEc/CTEt-erxIzIEFUb2lw6RGJnfjE1g8BqiACPcBGAsYHg/s320/IMG_2649.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>While I had the fish graphics ready I also made an easy chart with all the Suzuki Book 1 pieces. The idea is to mark off the piece when you play it. You don't erase the chart until you've played every piece.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dGdrc4U7pOo/X_k4Duna8xI/AAAAAAABlEc/8298S1w_nu4SV9_W6CT0vNVVItTcz31wQCPcBGAsYHg/s3510/IMG_2657.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2865" data-original-width="3510" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dGdrc4U7pOo/X_k4Duna8xI/AAAAAAABlEc/8298S1w_nu4SV9_W6CT0vNVVItTcz31wQCPcBGAsYHg/s320/IMG_2657.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly is a blank chart with 60 fish. Color or cross out a fish for every review song you play. Have a celebration when you complete the chart.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_jE-1x9lJ2g/X_k4DjEQnvI/AAAAAAABlEc/hQ8sbBmVjq0RGJMR6yPHHyZjXcJulxAXgCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/IMG_2658.HEIC" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_jE-1x9lJ2g/X_k4DjEQnvI/AAAAAAABlEc/hQ8sbBmVjq0RGJMR6yPHHyZjXcJulxAXgCPcBGAsYHg/s320/IMG_2658.HEIC" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>There you go, folks. Three games in one printable. I hope you enjoy it!<p></p>Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-6219336499326289552019-03-29T19:50:00.005-07:002023-07-07T22:44:22.405-07:0016 mm Music Dice<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Comprehensive List</h2>
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I've added more music dice to The Practice Shoppe and now I can see it can be overwhelming to know the differences between all the dice, so hopefully I can outline all my dice here in a blog or two as well as give you some ideas on how to use them during practicing and teaching.<br />
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First of all, there are two sizes, 16 mm - which is a standard size dice. I also have 25 mm - which is larger and can fit more details but is also more expensive.<br />
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Here is a list of all the 16 mm. dice I have in stock today (I've colored all the rhythm dice to make them easily distinguishable) in a basic order of simple to more complex:<br />
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Light Green Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eVf4eApRR0I/XJ69YPdtcHI/AAAAAAABUvA/s6_AdiX0az89mJOB8Al0VlpM7IVp0lNpgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1744%2B-%2BCopy%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="1600" height="78" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eVf4eApRR0I/XJ69YPdtcHI/AAAAAAABUvA/s6_AdiX0az89mJOB8Al0VlpM7IVp0lNpgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1744%2B-%2BCopy%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Super basic, just beamed eighth notes, quarter notes and quarter rests. Get a bunch of these and have the little beginners start clapping and counting.</div>
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Brown Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--OxU3CjR5pY/XJ7DYadRj0I/AAAAAAABUvs/dTZSp9sJ4xg4e7BNM4Oh3Dr4Y1JudAC3gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1759%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="1600" height="74" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--OxU3CjR5pY/XJ7DYadRj0I/AAAAAAABUvs/dTZSp9sJ4xg4e7BNM4Oh3Dr4Y1JudAC3gCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1759%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The basic rhythms above with added half note, dotted half note, and whole note.</div>
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This is a great die for playing games where the kids don't have to know fractions like "Roll 100" and "Rhythm Race" I also play "Shut the Box" and "Rhythm Chemistry" with these dice.</div>
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Blue Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oi7yYaLhxAU/XJ7DYuRQ4DI/AAAAAAABUvw/I8qvAql720k42BlI0ddEx8CLJYBPCnahwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1758%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="1531" height="73" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Oi7yYaLhxAU/XJ7DYuRQ4DI/AAAAAAABUvw/I8qvAql720k42BlI0ddEx8CLJYBPCnahwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1758%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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These are the first rhythms I teach my beginners out of the book Rhythm Train. They are also the rhythms learned with Let's Play Music. Great for composing and counting. </div>
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Orange Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HE_XfoqWfHs/XJ7DY4Il79I/AAAAAAABUv0/NcTXPYicTrQYtFU5OzKjbyfVhWarPFufACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1760%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="1600" height="70" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HE_XfoqWfHs/XJ7DY4Il79I/AAAAAAABUv0/NcTXPYicTrQYtFU5OzKjbyfVhWarPFufACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1760%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Start learning how to count the eighth note and eighth rest. These dice are harder to use for composing with beginners because the eighth note and eighth rest add some half beats. But a "Rhythm Race" game is perfect to start introducing the half beat.</div>
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Magenta Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v--wgcdvwxY/XJ69YuoulGI/AAAAAAABUvE/ZWnVdn8seGc0gDnYcVgG5-ep29duRhwYACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1749%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="1600" height="78" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v--wgcdvwxY/XJ69YuoulGI/AAAAAAABUvE/ZWnVdn8seGc0gDnYcVgG5-ep29duRhwYACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1749%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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These dice have everything from the eighth note to the whole note, with the fractional notes (eighth note and dotted quarter note.) This is a great die for identifying different types of notes playing the game "Roll 10." It's also a great "Tic Tac Toe" and "Bingo" die.</div>
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Purple One Beat Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sn8tLa8bmlM/XJ7DawLjJ8I/AAAAAAABUwM/sc0RKeRiUwc0bm3gy7jPMCY2ZGuVhuV4gCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1765%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="1600" height="64" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sn8tLa8bmlM/XJ7DawLjJ8I/AAAAAAABUwM/sc0RKeRiUwc0bm3gy7jPMCY2ZGuVhuV4gCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1765%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I love using these dice for composing because the rhythms are variable, but each side is only one beat. This way you can easily fill measures and learn the tricky dotted eighth-note rhythms.</div>
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Red Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ld2QgG-iVQc/XJ7Dbe2UwKI/AAAAAAABUwQ/x7TlzUm8tVcq_Y85DUHCKr8hhnYIx0QdACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1766%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="1600" height="69" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ld2QgG-iVQc/XJ7Dbe2UwKI/AAAAAAABUwQ/x7TlzUm8tVcq_Y85DUHCKr8hhnYIx0QdACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1766%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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This is very similar to the magenta dice but it adds a sixteenth note (and eliminates the dotted quarter note.) I love to use these dice to play the game "Musical War." It's also a more complex "Rhythm Race" game dice, dividing the beat into 4ths with the sixteenth note.</div>
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Green Rest Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EW4f-5pJpgA/XJ69X5Akw4I/AAAAAAABUu8/G8eGnkaD2cAdryXTGO6YPgUDG58hULnVwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1738%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="1600" height="71" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EW4f-5pJpgA/XJ69X5Akw4I/AAAAAAABUu8/G8eGnkaD2cAdryXTGO6YPgUDG58hULnVwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1738%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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This dice mirrors the red rhythm dice but with rests. This would make the game "Musical War" more complex. One person plays with the red, one with the green. You could also play "Musical War" with only the green dice. This is a great die for identifying all the different kinds of rests.</div>
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Blue Rest Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bUZvIk1y6Nc/XJ69Yj0DCmI/AAAAAAABUvI/4wn4V8EUZmAxtME1GBlDwUjtwvEzFYpIwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1755%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="1516" height="71" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bUZvIk1y6Nc/XJ69Yj0DCmI/AAAAAAABUvI/4wn4V8EUZmAxtME1GBlDwUjtwvEzFYpIwCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1755%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here is another super basic dice with only a quarter rest, half rest, and whole rest duplicated. </div>
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Light Green Rest Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r444gcPHMuM/XJ7DcjV5vwI/AAAAAAABUwY/t6rwtVCiBxsh7PWOE2DohMyEw3IMumj0ACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1768%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="1600" height="73" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r444gcPHMuM/XJ7DcjV5vwI/AAAAAAABUwY/t6rwtVCiBxsh7PWOE2DohMyEw3IMumj0ACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1768%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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This die is on clearance and won't be around much longer. It is pretty much the same as the green rest die above, but it has a 32nd rest (and no dotted half rest.)</div>
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Lavender Dotted Quarter Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YLVk8W3yUyQ/XJ69XAhPykI/AAAAAAABUuw/fIsAKIuz9esNvqxkTPYDamYvMwTfqtAJQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1726%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="1600" height="72" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YLVk8W3yUyQ/XJ69XAhPykI/AAAAAAABUuw/fIsAKIuz9esNvqxkTPYDamYvMwTfqtAJQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1726%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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These next few dice are great to use when learning and teaching about the time signatures 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8. </div>
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Light Pink Dotted Quarter Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tkGE7gUX9qk/XJ69XO6cHDI/AAAAAAABUu0/kVdpbBf2EDEqAmmw0USNYU_m1gwZ9_MTQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1729.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="1600" height="82" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tkGE7gUX9qk/XJ69XO6cHDI/AAAAAAABUu0/kVdpbBf2EDEqAmmw0USNYU_m1gwZ9_MTQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1729.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Gray Dotted Quarter Rhythm Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kav923rK3o0/XJ69XQRo3uI/AAAAAAABUu4/Lzzo49j16GcrX3r4Dw1ZJ5Gzk1OaIkx5ACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1732%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="1600" height="78" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kav923rK3o0/XJ69XQRo3uI/AAAAAAABUu4/Lzzo49j16GcrX3r4Dw1ZJ5Gzk1OaIkx5ACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1732%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Roman Numeral Chord Dice </h3>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f45QZihTAlU/XJ69W5_AdmI/AAAAAAABUus/Qbc67wdlEw8GZJDUUSvrNyPUDIhzXxmgQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1716%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="355" data-original-width="1600" height="71" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-f45QZihTAlU/XJ69W5_AdmI/AAAAAAABUus/Qbc67wdlEw8GZJDUUSvrNyPUDIhzXxmgQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1716%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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This has been one of my ideas for a long time and they are brand new so I haven't played with them much. I hope to use these to initiate composing and a discussion on the basic chord progressions.</div>
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Accidentals Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9cC61xXGxuU/XJ7DZGXprOI/AAAAAAABUv4/dm8gQH83SwsF55SRdAZp41KHpqijvjE1QCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1761%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="1600" height="66" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9cC61xXGxuU/XJ7DZGXprOI/AAAAAAABUv4/dm8gQH83SwsF55SRdAZp41KHpqijvjE1QCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1761%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Pair these dice with the Lines and Spaces dice to learn the names and locations of all the notes on the staff.</div>
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CGDAE Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sN9mi5MJIqE/XJ7DZaLb8CI/AAAAAAABUv8/qWG-9NIaIG0t-tbKwgfNj5DGAjsmZ_BAgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1762%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="1486" height="65" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sN9mi5MJIqE/XJ7DZaLb8CI/AAAAAAABUv8/qWG-9NIaIG0t-tbKwgfNj5DGAjsmZ_BAgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1762%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I initially got these dice to roll to determine which string to play a finger pattern on with my students. But, I also realized after I've played with these that they are the first five keys on the circle of 5ths and also the notes in the C major pentatonic scale which is really fun to compose with.</div>
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Dynamics Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nvfbNX7GOcU/XJ7Da8MwviI/AAAAAAABUwI/8k7Yt5Yzbxs9sK8OH8_qds8CUaaz_UbCgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1764%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="1600" height="68" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nvfbNX7GOcU/XJ7Da8MwviI/AAAAAAABUwI/8k7Yt5Yzbxs9sK8OH8_qds8CUaaz_UbCgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1764%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here is another dice to use with the game "Roll 10" to teach students how to identify the different dynamic symbols. It's also fun to roll and play a passage with whatever dynamic that is rolled.</div>
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Clefs Dice</h3>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WYIztR0XmeA/XJ7DaZP3vBI/AAAAAAABUwA/w_t1faniresAaAs7JdkbA_AJQI2kcqIIQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1763%2B%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="321" data-original-width="1600" height="64" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WYIztR0XmeA/XJ7DaZP3vBI/AAAAAAABUwA/w_t1faniresAaAs7JdkbA_AJQI2kcqIIQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1763%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Test your knowledge of all these clefs when you pair these dice with the Lines and Spaces dice. Can you roll and name the note?</div>
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Intervals Dice</h3>
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I originally made these dice to help teach intervals on the violin or piano. It's also fun to play and practice whatever measure you roll (4th measure, 6th measure, etc.)</div>
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<br />Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-13063460644751090102019-02-11T20:08:00.002-08:002023-07-07T22:42:23.366-07:00Anyone can compose music!<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Composing Dice? How do I use these? Why are there notes missing?</b></div>
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These are the most common questions I get at conferences where I have my music dice for sale. I wish I could easily and quickly convey how cool these dice are and they are the very reason I started making music dice in the first place.<br />
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Composing Pentatonic Dice do not have every note in a scale because there are only SIX SIDES! I commonly get the question why I can’t have every note, but please remember, my friends, there are 7 notes in a scale – 8 if you put the tonic on both ends. The solution is to make it a pentatonic scale (pent=5, 5 notes, plus the tonic at the end.) The notes are these dice are scale degrees 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 1 (omitting scale degree 4 and 7). There are four different dice available.<br />
<ol>
<li> <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/musical-notes-dice-a-pentatonic-scale" target="_blank">A Major in treble clef</a> – perfect for violinists (A, B, C#, E, F#, A) </li>
<li><a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/musical-notes-dice" target="_blank">C Major in treble clef </a>– perfect for pianists and general music (C, D, E, G, A, B) </li>
<li><a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/musical-notes-dice-c-pentatonic-scale-bass-clef-green" target="_blank">C Major in bass clef</a> – perfect for pianists and general music (C, D, E, G, A, B) </li>
<li><a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/musical-notes-dice-bass-clef-g-pentatonic-scale" target="_blank">G Major in bass clef</a> – great for cellists (G, A, B, D, E, G) </li>
<li><a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/musical-notes-dice-set" target="_blank">Here is a set of 1 of each dice</a>.</li>
</ol>
Now, let me tell you why I decided to make pentatonic scale dice and why they are so great for composing. Often Jazz music, hymns, and folk tunes are composed using the major pentatonic scale. It is the best scale for improvising and composing simple tunes. The more I know about this amazing pentatonic scale the more songs I realize use this very scale and notes in their melody. Think of the following pieces:<br />
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<b>My girl (opening introduction), </b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Oh Suzanna, </b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<b>Amazing Grace </b></div>
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The notes in a major pentatonic scale give a nursery rhyme-like quality and are easily remembered. It has a pleasant sound that works great with many chords. It’s easy to compose a pentatonic melody because you don’t have to worry about what to do with the leading tone or the tricky 4th note of a major scale.<br />
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<b>Here is what I do with my students to help them start composing:</b><br />
<ol>
<li>Start with four measures of music. Use staff paper or whiteboards, I personally like using a paper cut into 4ths and using each piece as a measure and then connecting them at the end. </li>
<li>Add a clef (treble or bass, depending on which dice you are using) and a 4/4 time signature. You could use ¾ or 2/4 as well, but let’s just make it easy and use 4/4 this time. </li>
<li>Before you start rolling let’s end the melody on the tonic, so write a half-note tonic note at the end of the piece – a C if you are using the C scale dice, and A if you are using the A scale dice, etc. </li>
<li>Now, let’s add a dominant half-note at the end of the second measure. The dominant is the 5th note of the scale, so for the C scale it would be G, for the A scale it would be E. </li>
<li>It’s time to start rolling and fill in the measures with quarter notes with the notes your roll on the dice. </li>
</ol>
When your measures are filled up, voila! You have a simple melody. ANYONE can do this – your most beginner student, your smarty-pants high school student, ANYONE!<br />
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<b>Take it to the next step:</b><br />
<ol>
<li>Now, let’s add another 4 measures to your piece. In measures 5 and 6 copy what you wrote in measures 1 and 2. </li>
<li>Add a tonic half note at the end of measure 8. </li>
<li>Fill in measures 7 and 8 with quarter notes rolled with the dice. </li>
</ol>
Voila! You have a phrase.<br />
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<b>And now…</b><br />
<ol>
<li>Here is where you can fancy things up a bit with passing tones and neighbor tones. </li>
<li>Are any of the notes next to each other? Make the first one a barred 8th note with the note above it and create a neighbor tone. </li>
<li>Are there any notes next to each other that skip a note? Make the first note a barred 8th note and pass the tone to the other note. </li>
<li>There are lots of ways you can doctor your melody by adding rhythm, dynamics, articulations, etc. See what you can come up with. </li>
</ol>
If you want to try something fun with your students – see if what happens when you compose a “duet” to a common melody. For example, Jingle Bells. Do the same steps as above, but make sure you are following the same rhythmic pattern as Jingle Bells. When you play Jingle Bells in the key you are composing you have just made a simple duet to your common piece.<br />
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Here are several downloads that you can use when composing your own melody or teaching your students how to compose:<br />
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Basic Composition 1 - 4 measures<br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dGhlcHJhY3RpY2VzaG9wcGUuY29tfHRoZS1wcmFjdGljZS1zaG9wcGUtMnxneDo2OGZiMWY2ZmNhYmNhYWNk" target="_blank">A Major (treble)</a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dGhlcHJhY3RpY2VzaG9wcGUuY29tfHRoZS1wcmFjdGljZS1zaG9wcGUtMnxneDoyNmVmNjY4OTU2MmE1NTJj" target="_blank">C Major (treble)</a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dGhlcHJhY3RpY2VzaG9wcGUuY29tfHRoZS1wcmFjdGljZS1zaG9wcGUtMnxneDo1MDhkMGJlMTc0YTI1OQ" target="_blank">C Major (bass)</a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dGhlcHJhY3RpY2VzaG9wcGUuY29tfHRoZS1wcmFjdGljZS1zaG9wcGUtMnxneDpkZDZjODkyMmNmYTE2OWI" target="_blank">G Major (bass)</a><br />
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Basic Composition 2 - 8 measures<br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dGhlcHJhY3RpY2VzaG9wcGUuY29tfHRoZS1wcmFjdGljZS1zaG9wcGUtMnxneDozYmU0MDkxMDk5ZGU2ZmE4" target="_blank">C Major (treble)</a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dGhlcHJhY3RpY2VzaG9wcGUuY29tfHRoZS1wcmFjdGljZS1zaG9wcGUtMnxneDo2MzE5YzA4YzhlNWJlNDAx" target="_blank">A Major (treble)</a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dGhlcHJhY3RpY2VzaG9wcGUuY29tfHRoZS1wcmFjdGljZS1zaG9wcGUtMnxneDpiMzliNjMyMzNkNzM0ZA" target="_blank">C Major (bass)</a><br />
<a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=dGhlcHJhY3RpY2VzaG9wcGUuY29tfHRoZS1wcmFjdGljZS1zaG9wcGUtMnxneDo3Mjg4YWI5ZTRmY2IxZTEy" target="_blank">G Major (bass)</a><br /><br />Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-44659296816486452782016-01-25T09:00:00.001-08:002023-07-07T22:36:43.234-07:00Prepping Students for Recitals<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
It's that time of year when I'm preparing my students for our big Spring solo recital. This is the biggest recital of the year for my students and a lot of preparation goes into getting ready. I was excited to see an idea from an amazing piano teacher, <a href="http://karenhunterpiano.com/" target="_blank">Karen Hunter,</a> who gave me a lot of great ideas for my violin students as well and I've asked her to write today's post:</div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif">The
week my students choose their spring recital pieces is (by my students’ own
admission) a highlight in my piano studio.
I teach 70 students in three teaching venues, so I begin the music
“vetting” process in the summer. Two of my
three recitals have themes, so the selection process is slightly easier for
those recitals. Students spend much of
their first lesson of the new year listening to me play recital piece options
and, ultimately, they select one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif">The
Saturday morning before lessons resumed in 2016, I spent some time perusing
piano teaching ideas on Pinterest.
Something I read triggered the thought that if students are to spend 12 <i>l-o-n-g</i> weeks working on a single song
to perform at the spring recital, perhaps it would be beneficial to have the
students get familiar with the song and its composer <b><i>before</i></b> learning to play
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif">That
thought morphed into the creation of the <b><i>“Recital Piece Hunt”</i></b> worksheet which
students were to complete for the second lesson of the new year. Reviewing students’ responses with them
provided many teachable moments. For
example:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Younger
students discovered that songs have a “form”—a kind of map of a piece.</span></li>
<li><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Many
students were reminded that a song without sharps or flats may not necessarily
be in the Key of C Major. This resulted
in a review of relative major and minor scales.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Students
became acquainted with the various “articulations” used in their pieces. <i>What
exactly is <b>tenuto</b>?</i></span></li>
<li><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Students
googled “rubato” and other unfamiliar performance instructions.</span></li>
<li><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">We
discussed metronome markings and googled the definition of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><i>circa </i></b><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(as in ♪=ca.60).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Younger
students were skeptical that a quarter note could receive two beats (in 3/8 or
6/8 time). </span></li>
<li><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">One
student couldn’t wait to tell me that her composer (Robert Vandall) had a wife
whose name was Karen!</span><span face=""arial" , sans-serif" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Same as you, Mrs. Hunter!</i></li>
</ul>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif"><i><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L2w__iAApIU/Vp00Cf-3eDI/AAAAAAABO8o/5hR4gmtORaE/s1600/Recital%2Bpiece%2Bhunt1.JPG"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L2w__iAApIU/Vp00Cf-3eDI/AAAAAAABO8o/5hR4gmtORaE/s320/Recital%2Bpiece%2Bhunt1.JPG" width="248" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z_-G92EoWY4/Vp00AZESctI/AAAAAAABO8c/Gf8vdoiL71g/s1600/recital%2Bpiece%2Bhunt2.JPG"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z_-G92EoWY4/Vp00AZESctI/AAAAAAABO8c/Gf8vdoiL71g/s320/recital%2Bpiece%2Bhunt2.JPG" width="248" /></a></i></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , sans-serif">Download <a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/worksheets" target="_blank">here</a></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif">As my students
proceed with learning their pieces, I’m confident that they have adequate
background into their pieces and their composers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span face=""arial" , sans-serif">To provide
students with a “visual” of their progress in learning their pieces, I created <b><i>“Scoops
to a Great Performance”</i></b> contest cards.
As students move from hands apart to hands together, from slow to
performance tempo, to adding pedal and dynamics, I mark another scoop on their
7-scoop cone. When the piece is
performance-ready and (hopefully) memorized, the student receives a token for a
free scoop of custard from our local custard stand. Prepping a piece for performance is a
step-by-step process. I hope this contest
encourages my students every step of the way!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Download <a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/worksheets" target="_blank">Here</a></div>
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Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-40419849103725461122016-01-18T11:24:00.002-08:002023-07-07T22:34:13.059-07:00Another Way to do RepetitionsThis is a great idea that is perfect for smaller repetitions, like playing a whole piece or large sections of a piece...<br />
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Today when we were practicing I felt like my daughter needed to break down her piece into three main parts and practice them 5 times each. I oversee her practice and help her when she needs it, but she is responsible for doing the bulk of the practicing on her own so this is how we decided to keep track of her repetitions each day. We put 5 post-it flags on her music and she just moves them for each repetition. Easy as that.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FLbtOJdCcw4/Vp07Tpcd9HI/AAAAAAABO9A/vpsBqGxwP7E/s1600/IMG_9039.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FLbtOJdCcw4/Vp07Tpcd9HI/AAAAAAABO9A/vpsBqGxwP7E/s320/IMG_9039.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<br />Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-51494027856112337222016-01-18T10:26:00.001-08:002023-07-07T22:33:24.720-07:00Feeling Stuck? Map the music!Is your student stuck on a particular piece? Let’s face it; some songs are easier than others, and it can be frustrating for students when they can’t nail a certain part of a song.<br />
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Rather than try to get over the hump by having him or her play the song over and over again, consider a different approach and map the music.<br />
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Creating a visual map—in which you and the student identify important details using different colors—helps the student easily navigate his or her way through a challenging song. <br />
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All you’ll need is a copy of the sheet music and some crayons or colored pencils to draw the melody, harmony, and chord progression.<br />
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To learn more about how to map the music, check out the infographic below from TakeLessons.<br />
<a href="http://takelessons.com/blog/piano-exercise-printable-z06" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nz7IN8RXbGE/VpVExjKmtsI/AAAAAAABO7w/pizNygMgp3c/s640/Map%2Bthe%2Bmusic.JPG" width="496" /></a><br />
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To read the full article from TakeLessons or download the printable version of the worksheet, <a href="http://takelessons.com/blog/piano-exercise-printable-z06" target="_blank">click here.</a><br />
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Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-1739825377796218682016-01-11T21:18:00.004-08:002023-06-21T19:10:12.101-07:00Practice Ideas<span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Sometimes you just need to add some spice to practicing. Here is what some of my teacher friends did with their practicing this week:</span><br />
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<span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">Katie Mattox from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MattixMusic/?fref=ts" target="_blank">Mattix Music Studio</a>:Having trouble getting back into practice? Make work into a game! Here's our "train station game" from today with small tasks written on each station. Once you complete the practice goal or task, drive your train to the next station. We had to have a chocolate at the end, of course!</span><br />
<span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XIZhiIGMwAk/VpRtiT5BefI/AAAAAAABO7Q/oqpoX6XDjSA/s1600/train%2Bgame.jpg"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XIZhiIGMwAk/VpRtiT5BefI/AAAAAAABO7Q/oqpoX6XDjSA/s320/train%2Bgame.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2oEJy68hxqA/VpRthcKfxsI/AAAAAAABO7E/vjnYjmpYk-o/s1600/train%2Bgame1.jpg"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2oEJy68hxqA/VpRthcKfxsI/AAAAAAABO7E/vjnYjmpYk-o/s320/train%2Bgame1.jpg" width="240" /></a></span><br />
<span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #373e4d; line-height: 19.32px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #373e4d; line-height: 19.32px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Asheley Watabe: It's a superhero matching game-- every time Jack does a task he gets to turn over one cup to see if he finds a match... There are 20 cups! It's awesome!</span><br />
<span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #373e4d; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="goog_1029866584"></span><span id="goog_1029866585"></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DnAHO-nZDr8/VpQu4SLXMyI/AAAAAAABO6o/Zq2XGceQkFc/s1600/12489870_10153106247998239_1256745759_o.jpg"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DnAHO-nZDr8/VpQu4SLXMyI/AAAAAAABO6o/Zq2XGceQkFc/s320/12489870_10153106247998239_1256745759_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
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<span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.32px;"><a href="https://suzukiassociation.org/people/kelly-mcconkie-stewart/" target="_blank">Kelly Stewart</a></span><span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.32px;">: A few years back Koen Rens gave a silent masterclass. I loved how he used his violin to speak to the kids and communicate what he wanted them to do. We tried it at home. Genius! Suddenly she couldn't sass, and more importantly, I couldn't YELL.</span><br />
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<span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #373e4d;"><span style="line-height: 19.32px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stacy Smith: Today's practice game: Uno cards. Grab a bunch of uno cards. Get a bunch of different numbers, and limit the word cards. Line them up on the stand. The kid picks the card, and you pick what they do. For example 5. "Ok, now you're going to play 5 A major scales." 3: "3 review pieces with a perfect wrist." Big numbers are great for new exercises. Word cards are something you do- I usually demonstrated something but have awful posture. They always fix it! I forgot about this game until today, it worked wonders with my 5-year-old. We got 45 min in without complaint.</span></span><br />
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Do you have a fun and easy practice game you'd like to share? Send a brief description and a quick photo to leslie@thepracticeshoppe.com. <br />
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<span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #373e4d; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-59876388203225093962016-01-04T10:01:00.001-08:002023-06-21T19:07:30.970-07:00I'm a Little Monkey Chart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lz_ls8C2kgw/Voqx5DZRS_I/AAAAAAABO5M/NhJsAGfNWYY/s1600/IMG_0173.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lz_ls8C2kgw/Voqx5DZRS_I/AAAAAAABO5M/NhJsAGfNWYY/s320/IMG_0173.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
I was going through some old pictures and found this one of my students, Gavin. It reminded me of my favorite pre-twinkle chart. I posted about it a while back, but I wanted to rehash it because it's such a great idea!<br />
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<a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/charts-for-suzuki-pieces-1" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Byo0ozSBZcU/UPG6QvU8WRI/AAAAAAAAAdc/HBYVlLI-DFQ/s320/Monkey%2BLadder.JPG" width="248" /></a></div>
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First of all, I give my students LOTS of these charts - like 10 or 20. They cut it up into strips and mark off a monkey every time they play I'm a Little Monkey. When they are done with a strip they tape it to another strip to make a really long ladder. I love this because it gives the student a visual goal of what to work on and a fun visual reward when it's done. Here is my daughter after she finished her chart:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tRwaX3Wxvs4/UPG6U7rngnI/AAAAAAAABHA/82gv_MXOhhQ/s1600/photo%2B%252828%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tRwaX3Wxvs4/UPG6U7rngnI/AAAAAAAABHA/82gv_MXOhhQ/s1600/photo%2B%252828%2529.JPG" /></a></div>
Find this and lots of other printable charts and ideas at <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/digital-downloads" target="_blank">The Practice Shoppe</a>. Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-45899595292511571352015-10-02T07:58:00.002-07:002023-06-21T19:05:55.498-07:00A Little Practice Buddy<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bEtcwLFUYaY/Vg34DoZGOcI/AAAAAAAAuTs/z2p1gDZ0pls/s640/blogger-image--1587027677.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bEtcwLFUYaY/Vg34DoZGOcI/AAAAAAAAuTs/z2p1gDZ0pls/s400/blogger-image--1587027677.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Sometimes it's just a little buddy that will kickstart practicing again. In my case, it's this little Practice Monkey that I got for my Shoppe but any stuffed animal would work. <br />
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EVcrn5cOxNk/Vg332sXBINI/AAAAAAAAuTk/wJWIHbFZ3vM/s640/blogger-image-1390183782.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EVcrn5cOxNk/Vg332sXBINI/AAAAAAAAuTk/wJWIHbFZ3vM/s400/blogger-image-1390183782.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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We use our practice monkey as an audience, a critic, an object for concentration, and a reward for good practicing. This little guy is always sitting around watching for good tone and happy playing. </div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uB67wZhFKsc/Vg33FHkqMiI/AAAAAAAAuTU/hoqyifp0zt8/s640/blogger-image-1140987893.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uB67wZhFKsc/Vg33FHkqMiI/AAAAAAAAuTU/hoqyifp0zt8/s400/blogger-image-1140987893.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Today this little guy is making practice fun. </div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CbpgPJk0K30/Vg33qRKCBKI/AAAAAAAAuTc/jqsG57VLIA0/s640/blogger-image-272574819.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CbpgPJk0K30/Vg33qRKCBKI/AAAAAAAAuTc/jqsG57VLIA0/s400/blogger-image-272574819.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Check out this video of our practicing today complete with chocolate on the face. It's over six minutes long. That's with all the parts I edited out. Caroline practiced this section for at least 20 minutes. It was really a tough one for her, but notice she is still smiling at the end of practicing. We also included another little guy we like to practice with. </div>
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<br />Thackeray'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02002550152751270090noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-60340200624641567292015-03-26T21:21:00.001-07:002023-06-14T20:57:53.400-07:00Multi-Mouse Making Our Practicing Fun!<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qf6u0rhWj0w/VRTUy2dWSfI/AAAAAAAA6NE/0Ru-PHvhB1A/s1600/star2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qf6u0rhWj0w/VRTUy2dWSfI/AAAAAAAA6NE/0Ru-PHvhB1A/s1600/star2.jpg" /></a>This past weekend I had the fun opportunity to attend the ASTA Conference in my hometown. I met a lot of great people who stopped by my <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/" target="_blank">Shoppe</a> as well as others who were selling their own products. One such product I invested in is the <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/rockin-rosin" target="_blank">Rockin Rosin</a> which is so fun to give away to my students. They love rosining their bow with a fun-shaped rosin!<br />
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My biggest find, however, was a cute little mouse slap bracelet called the <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/multi-mouse" target="_blank">Multi-Mouse</a>. We call him Mr. Mouse over here and he's been a constant tool in our practicing this week. I think this is a great little toy that can be used in a variety of ways from the smallest little pre-twinklers to the older students learning shifting and vibrato.<br />
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According to the creator, the <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/multi-mouse" target="_blank">multi-mouse</a> has many wonderful uses:<br />
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1. Bowing arm path</div>
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2. Left wrist position</div>
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3. Left-hand shape</div>
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4. Introduce Shifting</div>
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5. Vibrato Technique</div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; line-height: normal;"> I decided to test this out with my own kids and here are some of the pictures!</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mHpAt-zz3Lk/VRTVNvKfwSI/AAAAAAAA6NM/zEpsx7kMAhA/s1600/IMG_2991.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mHpAt-zz3Lk/VRTVNvKfwSI/AAAAAAAA6NM/zEpsx7kMAhA/s1600/IMG_2991.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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What really intrigued me was using this to help keep my daughter's wrist open when she plays. She often plays with a "pancake hand" and I'm constantly reminding her to open her wrist. Mr. Mouse is a fun way to practice with an open wrist. What I've also noticed this week is that because she's not collapsing her wrist her low 2s are MUCH better in tune!</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D27CFH_1HHk/VRTVSQWEbxI/AAAAAAAA6NU/Avs7kQwMIYk/s1600/IMG_2962.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D27CFH_1HHk/VRTVSQWEbxI/AAAAAAAA6NU/Avs7kQwMIYk/s1600/IMG_2962.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Mr. Mouse sits on the chair and waits his turn.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--P5hY6cKeNo/VRTVUbr6ddI/AAAAAAAA6Nc/YkGOt-RgQ04/s1600/IMG_2968.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--P5hY6cKeNo/VRTVUbr6ddI/AAAAAAAA6Nc/YkGOt-RgQ04/s1600/IMG_2968.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Even my 2-year-old who is doing pre-twinkle exercises is having fun with Mr. Mouse.</div>
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I thought it might give you a better idea of how I use this little guy if you saw him in action!</div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjEmUnLPEmI" target="_blank">Here's a link</a> to the video that the creator, Sharon, put together.</div>
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P,s, thanks to my 2-year-old, 5-year-old and 8-year-old for demonstrating in the video!</div>
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Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-60216619453027165672014-11-15T11:53:00.001-08:002023-06-14T20:55:05.894-07:00Making Goals for PracticingThis is a chart I like to use when I feel like my daughter needs some intrinsic motivation to practice. I like this chart because I can focus on other things besides the specific practice points that I would use on a regular practice guide. Here are some ideas I've used and thought of to put on this chart. Do you have any others?<br />
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<li>Get your violin out without being asked</li>
<li>Play through {this} piece remembering all the repeats</li>
<li>Remind mom to practice</li>
<li>Practice happily</li>
<li>Put rosin on your bow</li>
<li>Practice all of your review pieces (this may take a day or two or three)</li>
<li>Put away your violin after practice</li>
<li>Perform your new piece for someone (dad, grandma, etc.)</li>
<li>Practice everything on your chart</li>
<li>Remember to say "thank you" after your lesson</li>
<li>Practice your scales & warm-ups without complaining</li>
<li>more?</li>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4MHVGE0rBkU/VGdzUlm5guI/AAAAAAAAmpQ/lakVKFGckHk/s1600/I%2BWill%2Bchart.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4MHVGE0rBkU/VGdzUlm5guI/AAAAAAAAmpQ/lakVKFGckHk/s1600/I%2BWill%2Bchart.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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You can download this chart <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/digital-downloads/products/i-will-chart-digital-download" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-52531210468830965932014-11-13T07:59:00.003-08:002023-06-06T21:33:32.012-07:00Enhance Practice with a Cube TimerYesterday I shot this quick video during my daughter's practice. I didn't have time to clean up or do my hair and make-up, it's a raw video, but that is because I had to catch this girl in the moment. Emma was practicing so well and I went in to check up on her and she had this set up with three different cube timers and a bead counter. She was practicing spots slowly and over and over and organizing her practice so she could get everything done. Here it is - it's only 1:15 minutes long. Enjoy!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/wbQ4muhFhcs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<a href="http://practicemakesiteasy.blogspot.com/2013/08/cube-timer-wonder.html" target="_blank">Here </a>is another post about the <a href="http://practicemakesiteasy.blogspot.com/2013/08/cube-timer-wonder.html" target="_blank">cube timer</a>.</div>
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<br />Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-46641372593348386942014-09-24T06:27:00.002-07:002023-06-06T21:29:20.300-07:00Caroline's Crazy GameNow that school has started it's nice to get into a good routine of practicing again. My 5-year-old is in half-day Kindergarten which is perfect for a young Suzuki student because we have all morning free to get our practicing done. It makes my heart smile when I hear my five-year-old going through all her pieces for fun, even if I haven't asked her to. She loves to play the violin! I believe this is why it's important to leave the violins out where they can pick them up and play them anytime. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAtKZRh-tA4/VCLBujibtbI/AAAAAAAABHY/TLySlu2AnDA/s1600/Caroline's%2BCrazy%2BGame.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vAtKZRh-tA4/VCLBujibtbI/AAAAAAAABHY/TLySlu2AnDA/s1600/Caroline's%2BCrazy%2BGame.JPG" width="247" /></a>I made this game months ago. After several days of productive practice, we'll pull out this game as her "reward" for good practicing. This has a lot of squares specific to what we are working on. What she likes about it is all the pictures of the dice we use during practicing. She LOVES to roll the dice! We get some review done with the <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/suzuki-stuff/products/suzuki-pieces-dice" target="_blank">Book 1 review dice</a> and <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/suzuki-stuff/products/suzuki-pieces-dice" target="_blank">Twinkle dice</a>. We play <a href="http://practicemakesiteasy.blogspot.com/2014/03/roll-10-quick-game-with-music-dice.html" target="_blank">Roll-10</a> when she lands on the notes dice. When she lands on the eighth note we do a little bit of note reading. Her favorite is making a silly face whenever she passes the silly face halfway through the board. It's just a silly little game, but it's a great reward practice session!<br />
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I have both <a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/practicing-games" target="_blank">Caroline's Crazy Game</a> and a blank<a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/practicing-games" target="_blank"> Crazy Practice Game</a> available to download online. I laminated my board so we can use and reuse it over and over again without it getting too trashed. I love these games!<br />
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Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-81219321153052556312014-05-25T18:45:00.003-07:002023-05-03T10:05:45.109-07:00More Music Dice Games<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Bw6i5HM2dQ/U4KaKZ0pzbI/AAAAAAAABFU/6KM08E1FYoU/s1600/IMG_0278.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7Bw6i5HM2dQ/U4KaKZ0pzbI/AAAAAAAABFU/6KM08E1FYoU/s1600/IMG_0278.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
I've been lucky enough to attend the Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference this week and had a lot of success at my booth! It was fun to meet so many wonderful teachers from around the world. I was particularly touched when people THANKED me for being there. What an honor to share my ideas with these wonderful people. The music dice were such a success and I had a handout with a bunch of games and ideas for the music dice. I promised to post them online so here they are! (I should mention that these are compiled with the help of Dana Rice <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.thefameschoolblog.com/"><span style="font-size: medium;">www.thefameschoolblog.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 18pt;">)</span></span><br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Roll 10</b></h2>
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*Choice of music dice depending on what needs to be worked on.<br />
*2 players (student and parent/teacher)<br />
*Private lesson or home practice - any instrument<br />
Put 10 playing pieces between the two players (dominoes, skittles, pennies, etc.) The student rolls the die and names it. If she can name it correctly she gets one of the game pieces. If the teacher/parent needs to help the parent/teacher gets the game piece. Continue to do this until all the pieces are gone. The person with the most game pieces at the end is the winner. Continue to play this each day until the student can get all 10 game pieces easily.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Grab A Chord</b></h2>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ru7KFueyLbI/U4KcANsISjI/AAAAAAAABFo/FJqVkFc2j4M/s1600/DSC_6816.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ru7KFueyLbI/U4KcANsISjI/AAAAAAAABFo/FJqVkFc2j4M/s1600/DSC_6816.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
* Lines and Spaces Dice<br />
* Great to play in a group or private lesson - especially piano and guitar.<br />The teacher rolls the dice and students search for dice to build 3-note chords. Students get one point for each chord. Play several rounds. The student with the most points at the end of the final round wins.!<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Roll and Clap </b></h2>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l0ZDD9XHqH8/U4KcOR3csaI/AAAAAAAABFs/N-Iq02fVvMM/s1600/4+Rhythm+Dice.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l0ZDD9XHqH8/U4KcOR3csaI/AAAAAAAABFs/N-Iq02fVvMM/s1600/4+Rhythm+Dice.png" /></a></div>
* 4 Rhythm Dice<br />
* Great to play in a private lesson - any instrument.<br />The student rolls the dice and claps the resulting rhythm from left to right. If the student is correct, the teacher claps back. If the student is incorrect, the teacher says, “Didgeridoo?” (This is a play on the Australian musical instrument because it sounds like you could be saying “Did you redo?”)<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Oops! </b></h2>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8VVrWm7Aks/U4KcV5UKu8I/AAAAAAAABF0/oBPBjsQNp0M/s1600/photo.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8VVrWm7Aks/U4KcV5UKu8I/AAAAAAAABF0/oBPBjsQNp0M/s1600/photo.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
* Accidental Die<br />
* Another great game to play in a private lesson- any instrument.<br />
The teacher chooses a musical note from a song the student is playing to be the Oops note. Student rolls the die and uses that accidental whenever the Oops note appears in the song. For example, if the Oops note is A and the student rolls a #, the student must play A# whenever an A appears in the song. This game will help students hear how accidentals change the sound within a song.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Silly Phrase / Funny Word</b></h2>
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* Dynamics Dice<br />
* Group class or private lesson.<br />
At the start of the game, the teacher and/or students choose a funny word or silly phrase.<br />
Examples: “Cantankerous” “Didgeridoo”. When the student rolls the die they will say the funny word or silly phrase using that dynamic. In a group setting, everyone can take turns saying the funny word or silly phrase using different expressions like a question, exclamation, happy, sad, etc.<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>24 Beats</b></h2>
* Notes Dice (16th), Notes Dice (2-8ths), or Notes and Rests Die.<br />
* 2-4 Players<br />
Players take turns rolling the die. The time value of the note is your score - write it down. The first player to get 24 beats is the winner. This game can be made more difficult by requiring that each measure be completed before starting the next measure.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>The Write Rhythm</b></h2>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SNv3YewLsBM/U4KaNLCf4nI/AAAAAAAABFg/74c83BlmK7I/s1600/IMG_0411.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SNv3YewLsBM/U4KaNLCf4nI/AAAAAAAABFg/74c83BlmK7I/s1600/IMG_0411.JPG" width="149" /></a>* Time Signature Dice and choice of Notes Dice (16th, 2-8ths, Notes & Rests)<br />
*2-4 Players<br />
*Staff paper<br />
Roll the Time Signature Dice to determine the time signature of the passage you will play with. Space 8 bars on your sheet of staff paper. Select which Notes Dice you will roll. Use the note or rest you roll to fill all or part of a measure. If you cannot use the note or rest which appears, you must wait for your next turn. The winner is the first player to fill up eight measures of rhythm.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Little Composer</b></h2>
* Time Signature Die and choice of Pentatonic Dice, Rhythm Dice.<br />
* Great for home practice.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_X3qwa5ckm4/U4KaMrTr83I/AAAAAAAABFc/jE9CmF-35eo/s1600/IMG_0404.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_X3qwa5ckm4/U4KaMrTr83I/AAAAAAAABFc/jE9CmF-35eo/s1600/IMG_0404.JPG" width="200" /></a>Students will start the practice session by writing a clef on their staff paper (treble or bass - if you are using another clef you will want to use the Lines and Spaces dice instead of the Pentatonic Dice.) After the initial warm-up, the student can roll the Time Signature die to determine the time signature of her piece. Write it on the paper. Between each piece or activity during practicing the student can roll the Pentatonic Die and a Rhythm die and fill in the staff paper with her piece. When practicing is over she can play her piece or have mom or teacher play it. See what great music can come after a great practice session!<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Treble Cups (for piano)</b></h2>
* Treble Clef Die and Lines and Spaces Dice<br />
* 5 Paper or Plastic Cups<br />
* Paper Keyboard or Giant Keyboard Mat<br />
* Small ball or crumpled paper, bucket<br />
* Ages: 6 and up<br />
* 5-10 minutes<br />
The student chooses a cup and tries to match the dice to the correct key on the<br />
keyboard. For each one the student gets correct, he/she gets a chance at tossing<br />
a ball or beanbag into a bucket.<br />
For Group Play - Split into teams. The team gets a point each time their player<br />
correctly answers and the team with the most points wins.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>100 Beats</b></h2>
* 2, 3, or 4 Notes Dice (2-8ths)<br />
* Any chart with 100 (or more) squares or spaces.<br />
Roll the dice and clap the rhythms. Then count the number of beats and move a game piece that number of spaces on the board. A student can play this on her own or with a parent or other student.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Musical War</b></h2>
* 2 Notes Dice (16th Notes)<br />
* 2 Players<br />
* 20-50 game pieces (gems, chips, pennies, etc.)<br />
Both students roll their dice at the same time. The note with the higher note value gets a game piece. If the note values are the same WAR begins. Double the number of pieces and roll again. The winner gets the game pieces. If it’s the same value again double the game pieces again. When all the game pieces are gone the winner is the one with most game pieces.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Sharps & Flats</b></h2>
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* Basic or Advance Key Signature Dice<br />
* Ages: 8 and up<br />
* 5-10 minutes<br />
The student rolls the die and places a small object like an eraser on the corresponding keys on the piano. This game can be played with a timer by having the student play up to 6 rounds trying to get faster each time. Record the fastest time and try to beat the record in the next lesson.<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Tic Tac Toe Rhythm Dice</b></h2>
* 2-3 rhythm dice<br />
* Needed: 2-3 minutes<br />
Student rolls 2-3 dice together and the teacher plays one of the rhythms. The student<br />
must identify the die that was played. The game is over when the student has guessed<br />
correctly 3 times in a row<br />
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<h2 style="text-align: center;"><b>Name That Symbol</b></h2>
* Notes Dice Variety<br />
* 5-10 minutes<br />
This can be played in a group with any instrument.<br />
The teacher rolls 1 die at a time and the student(s) must shout out the name of the symbol. The student who gets it correct first keeps that die. Play continues<br />
until all the dice are taken. The student with the most dice wins.Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-5070630013527402012014-03-06T07:09:00.003-08:002023-04-26T09:17:55.620-07:00Roll 10 - A Quick Game with the Music DiceI made up this game to add variety to another game that I made for my daughter (I'll post soon!) This is a really quick game that involves any of the music dice and it takes about 2 minutes or less to play. We played it with the 16th note rhythm dice, but you could use any of the music dice.<br />
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<b><u><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: large;">Roll 10</span></u></b></div>
<span style="color: #cc0000;">Put down 10 dominoes (you could use pennies, jewels, or any kind of item that you could lay out.) Have your child roll the music die and tell you the name of the note. If she successfully tells you the note, she gets a domino. If she is incorrect or if you need to help her, you get the domino. Whoever has the most dominoes at the end wins. </span><br />
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The thing I love about this game is that the more you play it the more successful your child will be at winning so that makes them want to play it more. This was an excellent way for my 4-year-old to learn the different kinds of notes. Once she gets this mastered I will move on to the number of beats of each note, then another kind of dice. It takes hardly any time to play, it's a fun way to learn basic concepts because it's natural for the child to want to earn all of the dominoes. Since it's only ten rolls it's not overwhelming or frustrating. Hope this helps someone make practicing more fun.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xz1ZKwRdkGY/UxiPKGQ4KtI/AAAAAAAABE0/06Zaxhf7MQc/s1600/IMG_0763%5B1%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xz1ZKwRdkGY/UxiPKGQ4KtI/AAAAAAAABE0/06Zaxhf7MQc/s1600/IMG_0763%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">You can find this and many more music dice at <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice" target="_blank">The Practice Shoppe</a>.</div>
Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-90801212991164485182014-02-18T11:36:00.003-08:002023-04-26T09:14:46.039-07:00Recipe for a Successful PracticeA few weekends ago I got the privilege to present at a Suzuki Piano workshop for parents. As I was thinking of ideas of what to present I decided that we were (mostly) all moms and we do a lot of cooking and can relate to recipes. Therefore, the title of my presentation was "Recipe for a Successful Practice." <br />
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Nothing I said was new or scientific, but rather a fun way to reinforce some basic qualities of a successful practice. I've included my handout here and hopefully, you can get some ideas on what you need to improve to make your practicing more successful. You could give a presentation like this to parents of your music students. It's good to hear the same things over and over!<div><br /></div><div>2023 update: <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/new-products-for-2023/products/recipe-for-a-successful-practice-digital-download" target="_blank">Here </a>is an updated handout.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSnuZe8j61B9hIILwDYAGoXUojohBRok5bo8154ac_1zJnzKJ6J-mUzPtUYfmlHhOF-edLmFDp9VVLx1inwMthIq5DywdH4CLlrZSWQheD-vdx6kGL2nKtUzHUeQ6CMvr4cXn98SW4rNGu_4vVBPg-zEQV0AO9agfobfnKZl9oGzWfPkgzVjVMj5O/s2000/Successful%20practice.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1545" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigSnuZe8j61B9hIILwDYAGoXUojohBRok5bo8154ac_1zJnzKJ6J-mUzPtUYfmlHhOF-edLmFDp9VVLx1inwMthIq5DywdH4CLlrZSWQheD-vdx6kGL2nKtUzHUeQ6CMvr4cXn98SW4rNGu_4vVBPg-zEQV0AO9agfobfnKZl9oGzWfPkgzVjVMj5O/w494-h640/Successful%20practice.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>
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<br /></div>Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-20685071484396289002014-02-11T11:46:00.001-08:002023-04-12T08:06:10.792-07:00Memorizing All Major Key Signatures<div class="MsoNormal">
As the newsletter editor or the <a href="http://www.suzukimusicutah.org/" target="_blank">Suzuki Association of Utah</a> newsletter, I get to read a lot of great articles about teaching. I particularly liked this one from the SAU Flute VP about memorizing key signatures. This is one of my goals for my Book 4+ students this year. </div>
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I was also thrilled because I just received a new shipment of key signature dice. I've had the dice with the basic key signatures (C, G, D, A, F, and B-flat), but I've had several requests for the more advanced key signatures, so here they are!</div>
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<a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/key-signature-dice-advanced" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="319" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yZ_auK_eKHo/Uv0f7QPdCjI/AAAAAAAABEc/7PpMul_s5Xg/s1600/key+signature+advance.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Memorizing All Major Key Signatures</span></b></div>
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<i>By Katrina Young</i></div>
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Since the
Utah Suzuki Flute players are learning their major scales for our SAU Sweet
Scale competition on October 12<sup>th</sup>, I thought I would include some
tricks and incentives that have helped my studio in the past to learn and
memorize their scales. </div>
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<b>For visual learners:</b> I adapted this idea from Cindy
Henderson. Cindy includes in her student
flute journal the note names of the scales written out with the sharps and
flats circled. I realized that some of
my students would respond better with color and being able to focus on only one
scale at a time. I made these major
scale flip charts for my students. If you would like to make a set for yourself,
they can be downloaded <a href="http://www.suzukimusicutah.org/index.php?p=1_23_Past-SAU-Newsletters" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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We discuss
how each scale is like houses on a street.
For example, “E street” has two sets of sharp houses that live next
door to each other. The “F# street” has
only one house that is not sharped on the entire street! When we venture into the flats neighborhood,
we discuss how flats also like to live next door to each other. These cards help students see and recognize
the patterns of major scales. To make
these cards, simply print onto white cardstock, cut on the black line, punch a
hole in the corner, and place on a binder ring.
I arrange the scales on the ring based on the circle of 5ths for my
students.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p> </o:p><b> </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>For Kinesthetic learners: </b>I give these students the following
worksheets. By writing down the letter
names of the scales themselves, they understand how the scales are formed and
why we have a circle of 5ths and 4ths. Using the sharp major scale worksheet, I
walk students through how we move around the circle of 5ths. We start with the C major scale. Have students count up to the 5<sup>th</sup>
note of the C major scale (G) and this is how we find what the next scale will
be around the circle of 5ths. They fill
in the next set of boxes starting with G.
To find what note will be sharped in this scale, the rule is to always
add the sharp to the 7<sup>th</sup> note or degree of the scale. In the G major scale this is F#. When the worksheet is finished, it leaves
students with a handy chart to refer back to. You can download these worksheets <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/digital-downloads/products/scale-worksheet-digital-download" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lwI0Hnhk_IQ/Uj3o8PkeYRI/AAAAAAAAA8s/QBxjYxtKVBo/s1600/Flat+major+Scales.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lwI0Hnhk_IQ/Uj3o8PkeYRI/AAAAAAAAA8s/QBxjYxtKVBo/s320/Flat+major+Scales.JPG" width="248" /></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xFeTgXjbE_4/Uj3o8DWGW3I/AAAAAAAAA8o/ZNoTWnB0A0Q/s1600/sharp+major+scales.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xFeTgXjbE_4/Uj3o8DWGW3I/AAAAAAAAA8o/ZNoTWnB0A0Q/s320/sharp+major+scales.JPG" width="249" /></a><br />
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<b>Make up a sentence to help you remember the
circle of 5ths and 4ths: </b>Cindy
Henderson uses these sentence “gimmicks” in her studio. For the sharp keys in order around the circle
of 5ths she says: </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b> # #<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b>G</b>od <b>D</b>estroyed <b>A</b>ll <b>E</b>arth <b>B</b>y <b>F</b>ire
<span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">of </span><b>C</b>ourse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
# of sharps in key: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7</div>
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<br /></div>
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For the Flat
keys going around the circle of 4ths she says:
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
b b b b b b</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b>F</b>at <b>B</b>oys <b>E</b>at <b>A</b>pple <b>D</b>umplings <b>G</b>reedily <span style="font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">of </span><b>C</b>ourse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
# of flats in the key: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
My own eight-year-old daughter made up a sharp order sentence the other day. It is silly, but it helped her memorize the
order in one day: Good Dogs Always Eat
Breakfast Fastly and Cleanly! Make up
your own sentence! It will stick in your
head better.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b>Make an incentive to learn them:</b> Each student in my studio has a fishy scale
card from susanparadis.com. As they pass
off one of their scales, I fill in a scale on their fish card. Once they learn all of their scales for the
sweet scale competition, they will get a box of Swedish fish! Sometimes, incentives such as these really
help when things seem hard to learn. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-inG1sJmHxjg/Uj3md45a3sI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/h44VO_5uz-4/s1600/Swedish+Fish.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="154" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-inG1sJmHxjg/Uj3md45a3sI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/h44VO_5uz-4/s320/Swedish+Fish.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-82263223292681768332014-02-07T20:01:00.001-08:002023-04-12T07:57:14.331-07:00Music Dice Game and a Fun Chart<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />
This week I've been sick. Moms aren't supposed to get sick. It makes mom-hood really hard. All was bearable until I had to teach lessons this week on top of everything else. After smiling and acting happy through my morning lessons I threw in the towel and canceled all my afternoon lessons, took a hot bath, took a long nap, and then just sat at my computer and vegged until my husband got home and cooked me dinner. With all of this spare time on my computer, I was able to tinker with some games I've had in the back of my mind for a while now.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://sites.google.com/a/thepracticeshoppe.com/the-practice-shoppe-2/practicing-games" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ds1ttVNQYF8/UvWkOgOT8EI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/hZD7YmvF5nw/s1600/heart+star+note+maze.JPG" width="248" /></a></div>
<br />
I should come up with a good name for this <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/digital-downloads/products/heart-note-star-maze-bundle-digital-download" target="_blank">game</a>, but I don't have one. Basically, I used 4 <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/notes-dice-1" target="_blank">two-eighth-note dice</a> and my daughter and I took turns rolling rhythms. We'd count up the number of beats, clap and count, and then move our game piece that many counts. She loved it! It wasn't very hard for her, but it gave her good practice clapping and counting the various rhythms.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VCpQbD0Lsi8/UvWlbe90k3I/AAAAAAAAA-4/UHDH8RghVvQ/s1600/IMG_1332%5B1%5D.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VCpQbD0Lsi8/UvWlbe90k3I/AAAAAAAAA-4/UHDH8RghVvQ/s1600/IMG_1332%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roll the dice</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DV1ErVGikug/UvWlSzSG9vI/AAAAAAAAA-w/5k5aba_g8vE/s1600/IMG_1331%5B1%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DV1ErVGikug/UvWlSzSG9vI/AAAAAAAAA-w/5k5aba_g8vE/s1600/IMG_1331%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Count the number of beats</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-isV5Yyv_shw/UvWljog9QoI/AAAAAAAAA_A/lGOuIpLgdbg/s1600/IMG_1340%5B1%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-isV5Yyv_shw/UvWljog9QoI/AAAAAAAAA_A/lGOuIpLgdbg/s1600/IMG_1340%5B1%5D.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clap the rhythm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9FXK27tgmqI/UvWlneyuQmI/AAAAAAAAA_I/-h4NVCQg_O4/s1600/IMG_1330%5B1%5D.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9FXK27tgmqI/UvWlneyuQmI/AAAAAAAAA_I/-h4NVCQg_O4/s1600/IMG_1330%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Move the game piece the number of squares as the number of beats in the rhythm rolled.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/notes-dice-1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gcpIGetJmAM/UvWmDD_LcsI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/x165yq4Ls74/s1600/DSC_6951.JPG" width="200" /></a> I used the <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/notes-dice-1" target="_blank">two-eighth-note dice</a> because nothing is less than one beat so the rhythms don't get too complicated (and it's easier to move the game pieces.) Sometimes if we had a nice round number like 8 or 9 or 12 beats, we'd break it up into measures so she could count 1-2-3-4 or 1-2-3. Otherwise, it would just be the number of beats of the note (4 for whole, 3 for dotted half, etc.) Since the game board was pretty long (192 squares is what my daughter counted - I haven't verified) the game took over 15 minutes. So, I made two smaller boards for younger kids, or if you wanted a shorter game.<br />
<br />
I love these game boards. I definitely think I will laminate these ones to have on hand. Not only are they good for this particular game, but I was thinking that I could use them to help guide the practice. For instance, my daughter could roll a die (a 24 or 30-sided dice would be great for the long board) and whatever they land on is what they play. We'd determine what the different symbols would mean before playing the game. One idea would be the heart would be her choice, the star would be my choice, and the note would be note reading. You could make up your own rules. That's the great thing about this chart. There are no set rules - just make them up to suit your individual needs.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://sites.google.com/a/thepracticeshoppe.com/the-practice-shoppe-2/practicing-games" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-16SphBPZOdU/UvWkkoz2o6I/AAAAAAAAA-o/mzD_Q-NzjUw/s1600/heart+star+maze+3.JPG" width="248" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://sites.google.com/a/thepracticeshoppe.com/the-practice-shoppe-2/practicing-games" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uYUx0qcwTA8/UvWkQrszCzI/AAAAAAAAA-g/677visE7dCc/s1600/heart+star+note+maze+2.JPG" width="248" /></a></div>
By the way - the long chart has pretty small squares. We were using my gorilla erasers for game pieces. I was thinking a small die would also work. It would be hard to use anything much bigger than a centimeter. Keep that in mind when planning this game for your kids!<br />
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<a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/mini-erasers/products/gorilla-pencil-top-erasers" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-16LdZ0-ol2k/UvWspXqKrNI/AAAAAAAAA_g/dN-_am718_8/s1600/gorilla+pencil+topper.jpg" /></a></div>
I'd love to hear if you have any other ideas for this game board!Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-33501203811494094892014-01-22T13:53:00.006-08:002023-04-06T09:57:30.546-07:00A Little Game of War<br />
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<a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/notes-dice-2" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4pb6cxrTmw8/UuA7slEIL4I/AAAAAAAAA9o/EFU7-iwYEXQ/s1600/2+sixteenths.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
At group lesson last week we played a fun game with my beginning to intermediate students with the musical notes dice with sixteenth notes on it. This die has six different notes ranging from sixteenth note to whole note. Each note has a different value. I paired the kids up by ability level and they would each roll a dice. We had colored chips in the middle (although pennies, jewels, rocks, beads would work.) Whoever got the higher value of dice would get one of the chips. If they got the same value then they would roll until someone won and that person would get however many chips it took to roll the winning dice. They always had to say what kind of note and how many beats (ex: "quarter note, one beat." "sixteenth note, one-fourth beat." What I really liked about this was that even the beginning 4 year old knew the note names values of the dice after only about 2 minutes. This was a fun way to really drill this concept in a short amount of time. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ltmK7EiYqlU/UuA68N6ReOI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/rD6neu8JzyY/s1600/IMG_1206%5B1%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ltmK7EiYqlU/UuA68N6ReOI/AAAAAAAAA9Q/rD6neu8JzyY/s1600/IMG_1206%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p1HvecloKU0/UuA7Dl80TEI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/8x9Q-yzrJak/s1600/IMG_1207%5B1%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p1HvecloKU0/UuA7Dl80TEI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/8x9Q-yzrJak/s1600/IMG_1207%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V-GfEQsAVkU/UuA7MvbEy-I/AAAAAAAAA9g/A4JjXjQMwAY/s1600/IMG_1208%5B1%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V-GfEQsAVkU/UuA7MvbEy-I/AAAAAAAAA9g/A4JjXjQMwAY/s1600/IMG_1208%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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You can buy these fun dice <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/16-mm-notes-die-sixteenth-red">HERE </a>at <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/" target="_blank">The Practice Shoppe</a>!</div>
<br />Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-42666590343076053062013-09-30T20:11:00.000-07:002013-09-30T20:11:29.569-07:00Trick or Treat...or Share<blockquote id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6575" style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 1em;" type="cite">
<div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6574">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Here's a fun October practice idea called "Trick or Treat...or Share."</span><div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6601" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6573" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
I have 9 pieces of paper (about index card size) with pumpkins on them. Three of them say "Trick" on the front; three of them say "Treat," and three of them say "Share." Laminate them if you want. On the back of the cards, I put post-it's with what we would do during practicing. The child chooses a card, and we would follow the instructions on the back. You might incorporate these in your normal practice routine every once in a while--in between other things they are practicing. Here are a few examples of what you could put on the back of them.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6576" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6577" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
<b><u>The "Trick" Card</u></b></div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
The "Trick" card has a trick that the children perform. Here are some examples:</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6580" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
<ol id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6579" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding-left: 40px;">
<li style="margin-left: 15px;">Play this preview spot so many times, for a particular reason (i.e. getting the 3 in tune.) Wow! Tricky!</li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6578" style="margin-left: 15px;">Name that tune, tell the composer, and play the song in the dark with good tone.</li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6581" style="margin-left: 15px;">Do jumping jacks while telling your favorite joke. Note this doesn't have anything to do with practicing. It's just a good break to get them smiling.</li>
</ol>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6582">
<b><u>The "Treat" Card</u></b></div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
The "Treat" card has nothing to do with food, unless you want to add that. Instead, the children end up with a reward that has to do with music.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6585" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
<ol id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6584" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding-left: 40px;">
<li id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6583" style="margin-left: 15px;">Mom/Dad plays something for you on your violin (or at least tries to play something)</li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6600" style="margin-left: 15px;">Listen to a classical piece that is not a Suzuki piece.</li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6586" style="margin-left: 15px;">Watch a video of someone playing the piece you are on (or another piece). This could be a famous virtuoso or someone else you just happened to find on youtube. Talk about what you liked and anything you didn't like.</li>
</ol>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6587">
<b><u>The "Share" Card</u></b></div>
</div>
<div style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
The "Share" card has something that the child could share with you or someone else that happens to be around--even a few stuffed animals would work.</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6590" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">
<ol id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6589" style="margin: 1em 0px; padding-left: 40px;">
<li id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6588" style="margin-left: 15px;">Share a hug.</li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6591" style="margin-left: 15px;">Play your favorite song for someone else or an audience of stuffed animals. You could even make the stuffed animals say one thing they really liked about the performance.</li>
<li id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6592" style="margin-left: 15px;">Make up a song that sounds spooky.</li>
</ol>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6593">
Hope you have fun with this idea if you decide to try it!</div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6594">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_7_2_1_1380574221384_6595">
-Tabitha</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
Thackeray'shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02002550152751270090noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-59925642562651838182013-09-17T12:23:00.003-07:002023-04-06T09:56:11.220-07:00Practicing Work-Out!I got this idea from James Hutchins on the Suzuki Parents as Partners Online conference two years ago. Since then I've used it a lot with my students and want to have it readily accessible to my students this year so I put it behind the front cover of their practice books this year. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UWxrLx72cD8/Ujiq9u8ig0I/AAAAAAAAA78/SgvYU9D1v_w/s1600/IMG_0761%5B1%5D.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UWxrLx72cD8/Ujiq9u8ig0I/AAAAAAAAA78/SgvYU9D1v_w/s320/IMG_0761%5B1%5D.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Basically, a "workout" is focused practicing using review pieces. My "workout" page is just a list of the Suzuki violin pieces in books 1 & 2 in order. You could make your own "workout" page with your own list of pieces that would be easy enough to practice without thinking about the notes. <br />
<br />
I assign a time for the workout. With my own kids, I like to choose a specific time that is on one of our <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/cube-timer" target="_blank">Cube Timers</a> so that they can just flip it over and practice (so easy!!) For this specific amount of time my students play through their list focusing on whatever it is I've assigned them. For some it could be playing with their eyes on the highway, for others, it might be keeping your scroll up. It could be to help posture points, intonation, or focus. If the student can play the first piece all the way through with the focus point they can move on to the next piece on the list. They keep playing through the pieces until the timer dings - then they are done with their workout for the day. They mark where they stopped and start there for their workout the next day.<br />
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I love assigning workouts because it really lets a student focus on one thing for 5 or 7 minutes without the student thinking about the notes or bowings. For Suzuki students, this is a very efficient way to do their review. <br />
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If you are a Suzuki violin student/parent/teacher you may <a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/downloadable-practice-charts/review-guides" target="_blank">download my workout sheet </a>(I laminate it and write on it with a dry-erase marker so that we can reuse it - and have the student mark their spot with a post-it flag.) You can also make your own list for different instruments or repertoire. Let me know what successes you've had with your students using a "workout!"<br />
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<br />Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-61230153063014684152013-09-14T09:03:00.001-07:002023-03-27T16:32:46.292-07:00Student Plan - Setting Goals for the Year<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">For three years now I have included a "Student Plan" in my student's practice books. This is a paper where we write down goals for the year. Each year I change it up a little (and hopefully improve it) and I believe that it helps us stay focused on certain things the students, parents, and I would like to accomplish during the year.</span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">The beginning of a new school year (rather than January) is my favorite time for a "new beginning" when it comes to music lessons with my children and students. We've survived the craziness of summer and are ready to start a new routine with new goals. </span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I ask the students to come up with 1-3 goals (they could come up with more if they'd like, but I've never had anyone do that yet.) I tell them it can be anything they'd like that has to do with violin and I don't care. Some goals the I've seen:</span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Finish book 2 by the end of the year.</span></span><br />
<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Play in church.</span></span><br />
<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Practice every day.</span></span><br />
<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Improve my posture.</span></span><br />
<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Learn a duet with my sister.</span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">etc.</span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">Throughout the year I consistently refer back to the goals and I try to keep the lessons on track so the students can accomplish their goals. It's fun at the end of the year to look back and see if the kids accomplished their goals.</span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">This year I also added a section where the parents could write goals they'd like to see. This could be their own personal goals or something they'd like to see with their child. The most common of these goals is about happy practicing, or starting practicing without complaining. I think this is a great way for the kids to realize exactly what the parents expect from them.</span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">New this year is also a section where I, as their teacher, can write some things I'd like the students to work on. This often has to do with specific posture points or musicality. One goal I often put is for that I want the student to learn to love the violin. That would be my ultimate goal for these students of mine. </span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I also include a section where they can plan when they are going to practice and listen as well as what we plan to play for the upcoming recital and Federation.</span></span><br />
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<span face="trebuchet ms, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I've always been a goal-setter because I strongly believe that writing down goals is a better way to accomplish something. I've heard several studies about goal setting online (some of which seem to be false, unfortunately), however, I did read that a</span></span><span face="'trebuchet ms', helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;">ccording to Dave Kohl, professor emeritus at Virginia Tech: P</span><span face="'trebuchet ms', helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14px;">eople who regularly write down their goals earn nine times as much over their lifetimes as people who don't.</span><br />
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<span face="'trebuchet ms', helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14px;">That should be reason enough to spend a few minutes each year creating goals for yourself. I tell all of my students this to help them get motivated to write down their goals.</span><br />
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<span face="'trebuchet ms', helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14px;">What are some things you do to help your children or students accomplish their goals?</span>Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-56091257354856027052013-08-26T18:45:00.003-07:002023-03-27T16:31:35.846-07:00Cube Timer Wonder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VcRdvMe7Z_s/UhwAgwg6f4I/AAAAAAAAA6o/g5KnvquVltY/s1600/1,3,5,7+blue.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VcRdvMe7Z_s/UhwAgwg6f4I/AAAAAAAAA6o/g5KnvquVltY/s1600/1,3,5,7+blue.jpg" /></a></div>
I've been so delighted with these new Cube Timers that I found recently. I have had several people request that I put these online and I love how this spices up our practice!<br />
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My daughter's teacher just concluded a contest that really helped reinforce <i><b>smart</b></i> practicing! I often roll a die or spin a wheel or just tell my students or children to do an over-and-over spot _____ amount of times. I often do 10 times per day because I use a bead counter a lot. If it's a short over and over it may be 20 or 30 times a day. This contest counted the TIME rather than the repetitions and the great thing about using time instead of the number of times is that the quality of overs and overs is better.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WP6-sZp8VS0/UhzCaJmuZPI/AAAAAAAAA7U/JN0FCOYWd94/s1600/Virtually+Volumes.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WP6-sZp8VS0/UhzCaJmuZPI/AAAAAAAAA7U/JN0FCOYWd94/s200/Virtually+Volumes.jpg" width="154" /></a>Each student has a cube timer and would practice hard spots in their piece over and over for that amount of time. My younger daughter only has the attention span to do 1 minute at a time - so we flip the cube to the 1 and it would automatically start a 1-minute timer. She'd practice her spot for 1 minute and when the timer would go off she'd finish her spot and be done. (If she needed more time we'd do another minute.) My older daughter would do her spots for longer - 3, 5, or 7 minutes. For every minute they did an over-and-over spot they would color in that many numbers on this chart. (5 minutes of overs and overs would be 5 numbers.) At the end of the summer, every student handed in their charts, and everyone got a prize, but the people with the most minutes got to choose first.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bdeYeIIuYFY/UhwEYaWu3iI/AAAAAAAAA7E/jZ4ucFUjVkw/s1600/photo+(36).JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bdeYeIIuYFY/UhwEYaWu3iI/AAAAAAAAA7E/jZ4ucFUjVkw/s200/photo+(36).JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
Since the contest finished we have still been practicing using the cube timer almost daily...it's become part of our routine. My 4-year-old does at least one task for 1 minute using the cube timer each day (this week it's circle bows.) My 7-year-old uses part of her practice just going over difficult spots in her pieces using the cube timer. With her I sometimes roll a die to determine how many spots we need to do - and then we do that many spots with the timer. The biggest success has been with my 11-year-old who practices on her own. She's using the timer to practice all sorts of spots in her pieces. Her practicing has gone from playing her pieces over and over to playing spots in her pieces over and over.<br />
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What I like most about these cube timers is that they are so easy to use. I know most timers aren't very hard to use, but it requires pushing buttons and setting or resetting the timer. With the cube timer, all you have to do is just flip the cube and the timer starts. There is a digital timer on the bottom if you are curious about how far along you are on the timer. There is light on the top so you know it's working.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8QGwjGF5s6Y/UhwAgydgotI/AAAAAAAAA6s/8A0rW33ayVE/s1600/5,+10,+20,+30+purple.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8QGwjGF5s6Y/UhwAgydgotI/AAAAAAAAA6s/8A0rW33ayVE/s200/5,+10,+20,+30+purple.jpg" width="197" /></a>We've been mainly using the 1, 3, 5, 7 timer, but I really like the longer timers as well because you can break a practice session into 15-minute sessions, or use the timer to time the practicing. I'm also thinking I may use it to time computer time for my kids (30 minutes - no buttons, just turn the timer over.)<br />
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<br />Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-81551512691701684992013-07-16T19:38:00.002-07:002023-03-27T16:28:59.362-07:00Composing Music with Music Dice This week we've been making practicing fun by using several different kinds of music dice. My 6-year-old resists practicing more than my other girls so I'm trying to motivate her to enjoy music and that includes writing music. She absolutely loved this activity which we spend a couple minutes between chunks of our practice time.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g6gIhm5ssMI/UeX_tPIN6RI/AAAAAAAAA6A/sKzD6ov2-6k/s1600/IMG_0404.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g6gIhm5ssMI/UeX_tPIN6RI/AAAAAAAAA6A/sKzD6ov2-6k/s320/IMG_0404.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have this great staff paper that is really big and long. This is great for kids who like to write big. I bought it at <a href="http://www.musicmotion.com/" target="_blank">Music in Motion</a> and I'd like to stock some in my store soon. However, there are plenty of free sites where you can download staff paper with a variety of sizes like <a href="http://www.blanksheetmusic.net/staff_paper.asp?cId=22" target="_blank">this one</a> that has three different sizes.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E2S1ZSyuTfg/UeX_vMyyfCI/AAAAAAAAA6I/bC7fFC4zzDk/s1600/IMG_0411.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E2S1ZSyuTfg/UeX_vMyyfCI/AAAAAAAAA6I/bC7fFC4zzDk/s320/IMG_0411.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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The first step was teaching her how to make a treble clef. It's so much fun to draw treble clefs, don't you think! I love doodling treble clefs. After she drew a treble clef she would roll a <a href="https://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/products/16-mm-simple-time-signature-die?_pos=1&_sid=308fcd796&_ss=r" target="_blank">time signature die</a> to determine the time signature of her composition. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9-dDxdsORaI/UeX_vZUVMwI/AAAAAAAAA6M/DB6GIeCGQdk/s1600/IMG_0412.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9-dDxdsORaI/UeX_vZUVMwI/AAAAAAAAA6M/DB6GIeCGQdk/s320/IMG_0412.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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The next step was to use the musical notes die to determine which notes to draw. Since she's a violinist she used the <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/musical-notes-dice-a-pentatonic-scale" target="_blank">A Pententonic die</a>. There are other dice available such as the <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/musical-notes-dice" target="_blank">C Pentatonic die </a>(great for pianists and general musicians) and the <a href="http://www.thepracticeshoppe.com/collections/music-dice/products/musical-notes-dice-bass-clef-g-pentatonic-scale" target="_blank">G Pentatonic die</a> in the bass clef for cellists. Basically, all of the pentatonic dice have the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 8th notes of a scale (A, B, C#, E, F#, and A for the A Pentantonic dice.) These notes generally sound pretty good when arranged in any order.</div>
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I let her decide what kind of note (we were only doing quarter and half notes) and she figured out where to put the bar lines. When her measures were finished she and I would play her composition. I would play different versions of it as well (different rhythms, different pitches) so she could see that she could develop it into a song. She got such a kick out of listening to me compose a little piece out of her melody. I noticed her doing this later on her own.</div>
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Here is one such composition (notice the half note is backward. :) This has sparked an interest in practicing again...at least this week.Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-666526356904694864.post-16353600176510053152013-07-14T12:57:00.002-07:002023-03-17T20:14:26.346-07:00Twinkle GamesWe did it! My darling daughter finally received her Twinkle Trophy!! She played variation A and Twinkle Theme at least 100 times and all the others in the middle just as many (but we didn't count.) She can stand and play all six twinkles in a row with the piano. She has graduated from TWINKLES!! Yea!!!<br />
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This is such an accomplishment for me as well as her. I feel so blessed that this lovely girl loves the violin and I think a lot of it is because practicing has been (for the most part) fun from the beginning. She loves to get the violin down and play every single day. It has become a part of her. I've taught her the beginning phrase of French Folk Song and she plays it non-stop. This girl was made to play the violin.<br />
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With that said - it still hasn't been all cake and cookies along the way. Here are some "games" we have played to keep practicing interesting and fun. We don't play games every day, but when times get hard it's always nice to have one of these games ready so practicing can still get done. I will also use these games in the future because there will be lots of review of these twinkles!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Twinkle Memory</span></b></div>
I like to use <a href="http://www.practicemakesiteasy.blogspot.com/2010/12/twinkle-flashcards.html" target="_blank">Twinkle Flashcards</a> for twinkle memory. I just make two sets of the cards, shuffle them around, and set them upside down and play memory. Whenever she gets a match, we play that twinkle! <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lt167vUHyQ0/UeL_M78FPzI/AAAAAAAAA3c/qI8kVmEMmow/s1600/Twinkle+Rhythm+Flashcards.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lt167vUHyQ0/UeL_M78FPzI/AAAAAAAAA3c/qI8kVmEMmow/s320/Twinkle+Rhythm+Flashcards.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.meredithstrings.com/" target="_blank">Meredith Strings</a> Review Cards</b></span></div>
I just love these cards to use with all my kids and students. For the twinkles, I just take out the 6 cards for twinkle and put them on one side of me, and when she plays them I put them on the other side of me. When they are gone - she's done! Sometimes I turn them over, sometimes I don't so she can pick. You can also do these with the flashcards above, but these cards are so cute with the pictures - and they are great quality!<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Sticker Charts</span></b></div>
My daughter is a sticker person and she loves putting stickers on a chart. I have several different <a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/charts-for-suzuki-pieces-1" target="_blank">charts to download</a> and use as you're playing your twinkles. For us, we had to have a folder to keep them all straight, but it was worth it because each time she'd finish a chart I'd let her get a prize out of my prize box (a box full of dollar store items.) This was a great motivator - especially when she'd near the end of a chart. She'd end up playing some of the pieces more than ten times a day because she knew she was close to accomplishing her goal.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FTeDUKOKTmw/UeMBfFRMOTI/AAAAAAAAA4g/ax806egdXnA/s1600/Teeny+tiny+Caterpillar.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FTeDUKOKTmw/UeMBfFRMOTI/AAAAAAAAA4g/ax806egdXnA/s320/Teeny+tiny+Caterpillar.JPG" width="248" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-frj8gOVgwdc/UeMBeC6rmTI/AAAAAAAAA4U/cK_gc4XkW2o/s1600/100+twinkle+themes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-frj8gOVgwdc/UeMBeC6rmTI/AAAAAAAAA4U/cK_gc4XkW2o/s320/100+twinkle+themes.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/charts-for-suzuki-pieces-1" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Caterpillar</b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;"> and Twinkle game</span></b></a></div>
There are two versions of this game. Basically, it's just the twinkles listed twice and sometimes we'd start from one end and go to the other. Sometimes I'd just have her put a sticker on the chart and when it was full we were done. I laminated these ones so we could use them over and over.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E1ZbQ0qakv0/UeMCTrDMP9I/AAAAAAAAA44/JIDCJNC7fg0/s1600/Caterpillar+Twinkle+Game.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-E1ZbQ0qakv0/UeMCTrDMP9I/AAAAAAAAA44/JIDCJNC7fg0/s320/Caterpillar+Twinkle+Game.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FwVHsCJ1bFg/UeMCUlQdidI/AAAAAAAAA5A/fsRQlKZCZFk/s1600/Twinkle+Game.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FwVHsCJ1bFg/UeMCUlQdidI/AAAAAAAAA5A/fsRQlKZCZFk/s320/Twinkle+Game.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/practicing-games" target="_blank">Rhythm Game</a></span></b></div>
This was our favorite game. There was so much chance in this game. Sometimes it would go on forever and sometimes we were done in a snap. What I love about this game is that my daughter really recognizes the different rhythms. This was another game I laminated so we could use it over and over. Sometimes I wouldn't even use the game board and she'd roll the rhythm die to see what twinkle to play. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U5ATuDwmRJg/UeMEgvLH70I/AAAAAAAAA5g/Q6O4nZiVEwE/s1600/IMG_0062.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U5ATuDwmRJg/UeMEgvLH70I/AAAAAAAAA5g/Q6O4nZiVEwE/s320/IMG_0062.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://downloads.thepracticeshoppe.com/practicing-games" target="_blank">Twinkle Game Board</a></span></b></div>
This is a fun game board that uses all sorts of bright colors and has lots of activities. This one is a favorite to use with a fun die (really big - or really small - or just really pretty.) I noticed with a 3-year-old attention span it was a bit long, but it could be divided into a couple of days of practicing or would probably be great for a student who is 5 years or older.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y4iml3KciF8/UeMFVEsNnWI/AAAAAAAAA5o/s4h-2GW5qAQ/s1600/Twinkle+Twinkle+I'm+a+Star+Game.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y4iml3KciF8/UeMFVEsNnWI/AAAAAAAAA5o/s4h-2GW5qAQ/s320/Twinkle+Twinkle+I'm+a+Star+Game.JPG" width="247" /></a></div>
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There are also lots of blank game boards available to download for free online. I'd love to hear some of your ideas for practicing the twinkles!Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09414173152464168734noreply@blogger.com2