Music



http://www.amazon.com/Students-Effective-Practicing-Educational-Library/dp/0634068849 This is a book I used when I was about 10 years old, taking piano lessons. My teacher saw natural talent in me and a natural sense of self-motivation, so she bought the book for me to look at. Students are genuinely surprised when things go wrong in a lesson. They don't realize that they only half-listen while practicing. When they do notice a problem, they simply play the passage over and over (cementing in the mistakes) and hope for the best. That's what most students call practicing. The Piano Student's Guide to Effective Practicing shows the student how to save time and build good practice habits. It helps the student solve specific problems with 58 concise practice tips - clearly-explained drills and tactics for mastering challenging passages. Printed on heavy-coated stock for durability, the Guide is designed to be kept on the music desk for quick reference by the student when problems occur in daily practice. Practice tips are categorized to address issues of accuracy, balance, clarity, continuity, coordination, comfort, evenness, expression, fingering, rhythm and speed. The tips work for students at all stages and ages, including adults. The first thing I love is when I have parents for advocates. They do a good job helping me with my job and take it home with them for 10-30 minutes a day. I also like to have them play a song they passed a few months earlier and show them how much they’ve accomplished since then. The first website listed is a good resource for parents. The second website is slightly more kid-friendly, but need to be worked into the lesson by the teacher. Students must be TAUGHT how to practice just as how to play. It is more important to learn how to practice on your own because the student is only with the student for 30 minutes a week. The rest is up to them and their parents. [] http://www.articlealley.com/article_1450931_48.html I think the book would be the better option. It has graphics, tutorial-like scenarios and ways to troubleshoot problems. I think if the teacher as well as the student would implement this book, it would be of much better use, just as any text would be. It is a fun format which makes it less boring to look through, whereas the other two options found online are much more adult and boring. I believe a child learns better when he takes ownership in what they’re doing and SUPPORT is given from the teacher and parents, not overbearing and controlling their studies. ** 4. **  Jenny Tally, Mondays @ 1:30
 * Title:** The Piano Student’s Guide to Effective Practicing
 * ISBN #:** 978-0634068843
 * Copyright Date:** April 1, 2004
 * Edition #:** 1st
 * Publisher:** Hal Leonard Corp.
 * Author:** Nancy O’Neill Breth
 * Price:** $6.99 (new directly from Amazon)
 * Where to Purchase:**
 * Pages:** 6
 * 1.**
 * 2.**
 * 3.**


 * __Tonal Harmony__**




 * ISBN: 978-0-07-285260-8**
 * Copyright 2004**
 * Fifth Edition**
 * McGraw-Hill Publishing**
 * Stefan Kostka and Dorothy Payne**
 * $104.38 - []**

This chapter introduces the basic concepts behind diatonic chords, which are the basis of most tonal music. [] This website provides the same information on diatonic chords as the book, but it also provides quizzes, exercises, and examples of songs as well as many other useful links. This chapter introduces the fundamentals of music, starting at the most basic. It explains the layout of key signatures, time signatures, basics of rhythms and many other beginning theory concepts. [] This website provides an in-depth look at the basics of music theory. It includes scale/interval explanations and exercises, note reading exercises, and even information about figured bass. The book discusses many different types of advanced chords from augmented sixth chords to neapolitan chords to complex polychords. It uses mostly examples from well known pieces of music to illustrate the use of these chords. [] This website is based on Augmented sixth chords. It has explanations and visuals of all the different kinds of augmented sixth chords, plus links to many other different kinds of chords: secondary dominant, diminished 7th, Neapolitan, half diminished 7th, and even augmented 5th chords.
 * 1. Diatonic Chords in Major and Minor Keys**
 * 2. Key Signatures/Circle of Fifths**
 * 3. Advanced Chords**
 * Why the websites are useful:**

The web offers a variety of extra enrichment opportunities to support what it taught in the text book. We feel that in this case, the textbooks is an indispensable tool and cannot be eliminated completely because the text is laden with many examples of the content, whereas the websites mentioned above do not; however, the websites //do// provide a much more varied perspective on the content, which increases the potential for reaching more students at a time.

Making Music



ISBN#: 0-382-34349-2 Copyright date: 2002 Publisher: Pearson Education, Inc. Author: Scott Foresman Price and link:The student edition is $72.47. [|Purchasing link]

Info: This book is intended for a fifth grade general music class. Each grade level in the series of books comes with a teachers edition, a resource book with work sheets, pronunciation guides, assessments, Orff sheet music, sign singing, keyboard exercises, recorder music and extra activities. There are listening map transparences, and eighteen CD’s worth of music.

1. Silver Burdett Making Music is a general music book designed to give students an overview on the basics of making music. At this grade level students are beginning to sing some two part harmony, and three part cannons. There are a lot of pieces that are in other languages, but the English translation is still underneath the original text. Music information, such as music theory or music history, is peppered among the tunes. These informative bits cover everything from listening maps, to biographies on composers, to conducting, to styles. There are also guides for accompanying, such as drum beats for the students to play as well as guitar chords.

2. [|DSO kids] (Dallas Symphony Orchestra) is the first web site I found that is geared toward general music. There are sound clips to listen to, music games to play, practice tips for those students who are learning instruments. There is a club that students can join as well as a teachers resource page with books and text books that would be good to use in a classroom. [|Creating Music] is another site geared toward general music education. Students can click on a link that lets them make up their own songs by selecting sounds and drawing lines. You can use your keyboard with one game to “play along” with Beethoven. There are games to play that help with pitches and rhythms. And there are listening clips that describe different pitch ideas.

3. I would not say that the books or the websites were better. They both have their uses. It would be hard to replace the songs that come in the book that students can sing or play while reading the music, reading is a very important musical skill to have. These websites are really great of extra exploration. Students can go on these websites and play games and listen to recordings we may not have in class to further enhance what they are already learning with the book, because the websites expand a little further on some of the style and singing techniques already found in the book. The only thing I could really think of is to jut get a book with only music in it, but I do not know how well students would respond to that sort of thing.

4. Alicia Kerwood Monday 1:30