This year in the studio, students are collecting badges for the hard work they’re doing practicing and preparing music. Badges can be earned through a variety of means. Some badges come from attending studio events, others from learning songs in their method book, practicing ear training, beating a high score in an educational music game,… Continue reading Practicing Badges
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November Composition Project 2017
For November, students are working on compositions! We’re composing using a variety of methods. Some students are writing their songs out by hand and others are beginning by putting songs they’ve already finished into Musscore, a notation program. Students who are writing them out by hand will get help from me to input them into… Continue reading November Composition Project 2017
Spring Recital 2017
The studio’s spring recital was today. It was a fun concert! Students celebrated all their hard work practicing this year by playing some of their favorite music. Puffy the puffin enjoyed hearing everyone’s lovely playing. He had the front seat in the house – right on the piano! Performances included pieces for solo piano, piano… Continue reading Spring Recital 2017
MTNA 2017
I recently returned from the MTNA/CFMTA conference in Baltimore. It was a lot of fun! I saw a lot of great speakers, listened to some awesome music. I am looking forward to using some of the great ideas I heard in my teaching! The first night featured a concert by comedic duo Igudesman & Joo… Continue reading MTNA 2017
Brainy’s Practicing Challenge 2016
This was the second year for Brainy the Octopus’s practicing challenge. This ran for three weeks. Each week, students were challenged to play one of their pieces eight times. If they met the challenge, brainy collected a penny. At the end of the three weeks, all pennies were tallied and the total number of pennies… Continue reading Brainy’s Practicing Challenge 2016
Winter Recital 2016
This afternoon the studio had it’s winter recital for 2016. Students worked hard and did a lot of practicing – thanks to everyone for sharing their music! A lot of preparation is involved in learning recital music. Practicing pieces to learn notes, rhythm, and dynamics (and all the rest) is the first step, but as… Continue reading Winter Recital 2016
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Musical Passports
If you’re following the Studio on our Facebook Page, you’ll know we’ve been doing a new activity in the studio this year – musical passports! We’ve been visiting different countries as a part of our musical travels this year. So far, we’ve visited: Japan, Germany and Austria, and North and South Sudan. Most of the… Continue reading Musical Passports
Spring wrap-up
It was a fun year in the studio! We started the year with Composer Elections, and in December, we had a practicing challenge. Brainy the octopus collected food for the food bank for every selection played 8 times during the week. Students have taken part in the Saskatoon Music Festival, RCM examinations, and studio events.… Continue reading Spring wrap-up
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Mike Babcock received an honourary doctorate at the University of Saskatchewan at their spring convocation ceremony last week. This quote came from his acceptance speech.