Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS) Newsletter!

August 5, 1999

Table of Contents:

1. MTIPS Theme: Motivation from Within
2. Welcome Notes
3. MTIPS Development
4. Notable Quotables
5. Musical Sites

1. MTIPS Theme

Often, due to the scope of the method book a student may be using, the beginner is lead to believe that all songs on the piano occur in a five finger position, smack dab in the middle of the keyboard. By allowing the student to create an arrangement of a song he has just learned, we can promote the piano as a full range instrument; an instrument that represents the full aural spectrum of the orchestra!

2. Welcome Notes

Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS)!

Welcome to our new subscribers! And thank you to our friends who forward MTIPS to their friends. That's how we grow and have a greater impact on the music community. THANKS!

I hope this issue of MTIPS finds you feeling happy and content. The past week has been absolutely beautiful here on Long Island. Our heat wave has broken, humidity has dropped and the days are full of the music of the trees and animals. Truly a delightful time!

MTIPS is a free monthly newsletter that's goal is to provide piano teachers, (hopefully you!) with insightful practices that will make the career of sharing music with soon-to-be musicians a more rewarding and successful one. I hope that this electronic publication assists you in creating a more enjoyable and successful lesson for you and your students. Please let me know how I can be of service to you in reaching this goal. You may contact me at NickAmbrosino@musicsimplymusic.com.

I look forward to playing with you through this newsletter. Let's have some fun!

3. MTIPS Development

Continuing our exploration of the creative avenues of education, AKA: improvisation, a simple, non threatening, yet effective activity for promoting creative decision making in our students is song arrangement. I have specifically found this extremely valuable (not to mention a huge amount of fun - oops, I mentioned it!) for beginning students.

Often, due to the scope of the method book a student may be using, the beginner is lead to believe that all songs on the piano occur in a five finger position, smack dab in the middle of the keyboard. By allowing the student to create an arrangement of a song he has just learned, we can promote the piano as a full range instrument. An instrument that represents the full aural spectrum of the orchestra!

Try this exercise. Have your student choose a song with which she is very comfortable. Now, tell the student that you are going to make the song sound like one that only she plays. Even though other students may work in the same book, no one will have the unique arrangement that she will have. Now, tell her to decide which parts of the song she likes best. These are the parts she is going to play twice before going on to the next part according to the original version. She can decide to play the echo part in the same octave as the original, or she can play it with one/two hand(s) up/down an octave. After she finishes the song, she may choose to repeat the entire song up or down and octave. She may decide to play the entire song slower or faster or louder or softer. Get the idea?!

One last note. I hope you are getting the idea that as much as making music can be a creative venture, so can teaching it. It's an exciting path to explore because it is different for each student. More on this in the next issue. 'Til then, have fun making and learning music with your students!

4. Notable Quotables

"To improvise means to have fun with something - to change it around and make it different" - Wille Ruff

"Improvising is a way of achieving identity." - Alfred Nieman

5. Musical Sites (an oxymoron?!)

You may want to check out the following site. It provides valuable information about composition and music in general. I find the site to be a wealth of musical knowledge. Enjoy! http://www.liftoff.8m.com.

Have a wonderful month!

Copyright © 1999 Nicholas Ambrosino. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute MTIPS so long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author is attached. The author of this article is Nicholas Ambrosino and he may be contacted at:

http://www.musicsimplymusic.com
director@musicsimplymusic.com

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