7 Ways a Pocket Piano Makes Your Teaching Easier
Featured on Monday 27 August, 2018
My Song File now has piano recordings* for all songs on the site! Quality piano melody is now only a click away for all 910 songs and will be included with all new songs. It's like having a pocket piano wherever you go!
Piano melody is available for all songs for free and doesn't require a login.
Even if you have a beautiful singing voice and perfect pitch, or have a piano in your classroom (and the skills to play it), piano melody recordings can still be very useful. Read on for 7 ways piano recordings will make your life easier!
*Piano recordings use Virtual Studio Technology (VST)
1. Prepare Lessons
Some lesson preparation tasks, like selecting new songs from an unfamiliar collection, are easier if a recording is available. For example, choosing songs for a multicultural theme, like the Lotus Flower Song (free sheet music for a limited time).
2. Save Your Voice
Classroom music teaching is demanding on the voice so it's important to rest strategically. As the children learn the song, the melody can guide them more and more while you use your voice less and less. This is handy in songs like Danny Boy which has a wide melodic range (free sheet music for a limited time).
3. A Tool for Composition
Play a melody, like Hush-a-bye (free sheet music for a limited time)
on a loop while students compose or practice parts or ostinato. Start with untuned percussion for young students, tuned percussion like xylophone (or other instruments like recorder) for more capable students.
4. Sing in Canon
Classroom music teachers are amazing but can't do everything, like sing multiple parts in a canon. Think of piano recordings as a faithful side-kick.
Guide part of the class with the recording for Banuwa (free sheet music for a limited time) while you guide another part of the class in canon.
5. Make Sick Days Count
Sick days are inevitable, but you can still make every school day count. Use piano recordings to secure your students in intonation and tempo while they practice known pieces with a supply teacher.
This works very well in Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning as it has some tricky rhythms. You might also like to show your students the score (free for a limited time) so they can see how the ties work.
6. Monitor Progress
Playing a recording allows you to move around the classroom and listen to your students. Ask them to sing the lyrics of Autumn Leaves (free sheet music for a limited time)
along with the piano while you listen for intonation, expression and balance (i.e. how well your students listen to each other).
7. Assess
Ask students to sing along to a piano recording in solfa or show hand signs, or pause the audio every bar while they jot down solfa or rhythm names. Try it with this song in La Pentatonic - Land of the Silver Birch (free sheet music for a limited time)
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