“Children will be drawn to their recorder in a way that will give the word ‘practicing’ a new meaning.”
Posts Tagged ‘beginners’
Going back to school tips – no.3
Sunday, September 26th, 2010After learning 2-3 notes (I personally start with B,A and G), here’s a fun exercise that continues to work on basic fingering coordination through ear training.
First, I make them stand in front of me in a half circle. Then, I play for them a short easy sequence with these 2-3 notes, and make them repeat it as a group. If the repetition is terrible, like it often is in the first time, I play it again and make them repeat it again.
Then, I try the same thing, with the same sequence, but standing with my back to them, or behind a screen, if there’s one in the class. Most of them were looking on my fingers when I was playing in front of them instead of repeating what they heard. So this way I help them make the connection to their ears with the help of their memory. I do this exercise a few times – first in front of them, then with my back to them – until I feel it gets better. Alternatively, it’s quite possible to just cover your fingers with the other hand, in case your class is on the hyperactive side…
When they start doing it better, then comes the hard part – I play another sequence, but only with my back to them (or with my fingers covered). Meaning, this time they have to purely rely on their ears, which is very hard for most at first. I try to do this a few times and see how they manage. If they do terrible, I can try giving them a hint, like – “I’m starting with a B”.
As a bonus, and to make it more fun for them, every lesson I can choose one child which would take my place in the exercise. He\She will be playing the simple pattern that everybody has to repeat. Of course to make it work, you would have to be very clear on how many notes are allowed in a pattern, and that you don’t have patience for goofing around…
Have fun!!
Going back to school tips – no. 2
Monday, September 6th, 2010I think we could all agree that keeping our students interested and motivated is not an easy task. And though I was not present at the time, I bet 40 years ago, when nobody had any play-stations, Nintendo or computer games, this task was much easier to accomplish.
Meaning, there’s no choice but to try and keep things interactive and super fun. So here’s an idea for a fun exercise for very beginners. I call it “the bird exercise”:
After teaching them B and basic tonguing, I teach them to play a basic pattern, like 3 quarters B, B, B or like B, B-B, B (quarter, 2 eight notes, quarter). Then I place everybody in a row and start having a question-answer sequence with each of them in his turn – I play a short melody and the student answers – B, B, B. I play a different melody and the next answers – B, B, B and on and on. The teacher’s melody is always a short funny one. With me it usually sounds like birds (or at least that’s what the kids say), and that’s how it got its name.
I prefer to do the question answer sequence one by one with the kids, but many prefer to do it so that everybody answers together in the same time. Of course both are possible. I personally prefer the individual one by one option for 2 reasons – 1. because this way I can hear each student individually and see how he’s doing and his basic skill level. 2. because with this option, one exercises also listening to one another, which I think is one of the most important things music could and should teach us.
Have fun!
The day I knew
Thursday, June 3rd, 2010It was November 2009 when the first version of the JoyTunes-recorder game was ready for testing. Anxious to see the reaction, I called a colleague of mine and asked her if I could try the game on 2 of her first year students. I wanted to personally see that everything was working properly even before we start the extensive Beta phase. My colleague, of course, was very curious to see what it was all about, so we ended up visiting together two of her students’ homes and watching them while they play the game.
Of course, it was a little strange for both students to play while their teacher and a stranger are watching but very soon, as they started playing, we were completely forgotten. The game was all that mattered.
As we started with the first student, I was enjoying myself immensely, I have to admit. The student understood almost everything by herself (well, you know how it is with kids and computers these days…) and went on and on, wanting to advance to more complicated levels and songs. This lasted for more than an hour and a half! Her teacher was excited from how her blowing improved so quickly and the fact that she was practicing fingering for so long without getting bored. Finally, her mother came up to me with tears in her eyes. Apparently, no matter how much she talked to her daughter and urged her to practice, her daughter never wanted to touch the recorder between lessons. She called it a miracle, which of course warmed my heart.
After that, feeling very satisfied (and with a fresh list of small fixes to add) I moved on to the other student. In her case, however, it was almost impossible for me to learn anything at all. She needed to constantly fight off her older brother, who studied recorder for a few years and also wanted to play. They fought and played in turns for almost 2 hours (!!!) before their mother suggested they do something else besides play the computer. However at that point, to my total surprise, the younger daughter didn’t give up. She closed the computer, opened the music booklet she got from her recorder teacher, and started practicing…
I find it hard to describe how overwhelming that day was for me. That was really the day I realized how much good this software could do. You see, like England in the late baroque times, where almost every single person could play recorder (even if they couldn’t read), I also had a dream of a world where everybody could play an instrument. I know it sounds corny, but I’ve been thinking about it for many years, and it’s been constantly in my mind as the JoyTunes project became more and more real. Our hopes were that by transforming practicing from a chore to an exciting and fun game, we could make the recorder beginner’s life a lot easier and also pull many more people to the world of recorders and music. On that day, after personally witnessing how the game encouraged and helped those beginners, I knew we’re on the right track.