India's National Anthem

My student Ruchika came in May with a request - to learn the national anthem of her country, India. At first only her mom could sing it and we had no music, so I began notating by hand and after many revisions came up with my own version on Sibelius. I think I can play this now from memory. I found a site that had sheet music for each of the national anthems, so I was able to understand it better, and transposed it to a key my student could easily sight read. She played it, along with a sonatina and a waltz, for a talent show they had at the Hindu temple in Maple Grove. Here's a link to a youtube video of her performance of the national anthem. Mom says the performance went great. Go Ruchika!

Curtain Rod

Who knew that a shower tension curtain rod could be so useful? I've got to give credit for this idea to a Suzuki teacher in Baltimore, Maryland. She posted pictures of her students using the tension rod here but I just noticed a few days ago that the picture links aren't working, so I've included a before and after picture of my own. My 6 year old student, who has had about 8 lessons is really excited every week about what she can play, but finds holding her hands in the proper position difficult. Notice the 'before' and 'after' - a complete transformation! My student is playing out of the Phonics 4 Piano - Pianimals series, learning how to coordinate finger number with letter name. The series is published by Marie Price and Flo Arnold and sold through their website.

AFTER

So Thankful for Hard Working Students

I just love it when my students grab onto an incentive idea and run with it. My last student of the day came to her lesson SO excited today! She had finished all the games in her current level of MusicLearningCommunity.com. Our agreement was that she would earn $100 composer bucks when she finished a level, and this totally inspired her to finish in 1 week. All of a sudden I saw a huge leap in her understanding and ability to sightread. How fun is it to teach a really motivated student?! I'm so grateful for this spurt in growth.

This year shines as one of my most successful teaching years. After 30+ years I'm finally doing something right! Back row from left: Ben, who is a senior next year and doing PSEO, Ellen, who is homeschooled and performed an almost perfect Level 6 Piano Exam (first piano exam she's done), Mary, who has a scholarship as a piano major at Northwestern College, studying with Dr. Barbara Rogers, and Jackie, who has done an incredible job of progressing in piano while taking many AP courses in high school; Middle Row: Jessica, who was a finalist in the State Piano Contest and plays with great enthusiasm, Hannah, who loves the arts and surprises me with her progress at every lesson, Hailey, who did a great job on 2 recital pieces, Bryce, who practices 7 days a week most weeks and has incredible fun and personality in his playing, Devin, who has come a long way in a short time as a beginner, Marah, who was so excited at her lesson today; Front Row: 6 yr. old twins Sydney and Alexis, who played our own arrangement of Twinkle, Twinkle after only 6 lessons. Wow! I love teaching these students and consider myself so blessed to have them in my life.

Minnesota State Honors Concert

What do you think of the next President of MMTA, Sue Krebsbach, and President Elect, Kirsten Levorson? Are they jailed? Actually they are just selling tickets at the state Honors Concert at Northrop Auditorium, which took place Saturday, May 30.

Minnesota Music Teachers Association was organized on June 27, 1901 under the auspices of the Professional League of St. Paul, and is affiliated with the Music Teachers National Association. It was organized to "promote the true culture of music by the interchange of ideas, to advance the interest of musical art, and to foster professional fraternity." Active members were professional teachers of voice, musical instruments, or "any subject pertaining to the theory of music." In the season of 1928-1929 MMTA began sponsoring a concert by student winners chosen in a statewide competition. In 1936 the MMTA developed a program of ten-piano concerts, given by winners of regional piano tryouts. The Ten-Piano Concert evolved into twelve, then twenty pianos, and later became the State Honor Student Concert or Honors Concert.

Below: Views of Northrop Auditorium; 3 of my students who performed: Paige, Junior A; Emily, Junior B; Mary, Senior Young Artist. Not pictured: Matthew and Katie, both Intermediate A