Review Series: Music Teacher Store; Wrap Ups

I’m excited to do a review series for Music Teacher Store. Music Teacher Store is an online store that features music products made from other music teachers. Currently there are 13 authors on the site. In 2012, while attending a music teachers conference, several of the vendors were talking about how they can create a better way to share their products with more music teachers. MusicTeacherStore.com was then born. Created and owned by teachers, Music Teacher Store  is a helpful place to find quality teaching materials.

Today, I would like to review a product called Music Theory Wrap Ups.

Students love wrap ups! Several of them have seen them before in their school classrooms for math, vocabulary etc… so when they saw the music set they knew exactly what to do. The music theory set includes: Keys & Notes, Signs and Symbols, Rhythm & Vocabulary and Intervals & Chords. They are available individually or as a bundled set. This is a great video showing wrap ups in action (the video is using a different wrap then the music theory wraps)

Here are some ideas how you can use wrap ups in the studio:

-Students can easily use these while waiting for their lesson.

-A way to test a student to see if they understand what they are learning.

-Students can time themselves and see how fast they can wrap up.

-Make it a contest and see who can wrap up in the fastest time.

Have you used wrap ups in your studio? What fun things have you done with them?

Tech Tuesday: Piano Maestro News

(I had a full day yesterday, so I didn’t get this post out in time, but better late then never right?)

So did you hear the exciting news yet? JoyTunes officially announced that their app, Piano Maestro is now FREE for teachers and their students! Click here for the official announcement.

I’m so excited! My students have been using Piano Maestro over the last 6+ months and they love it. Half of them are doing it at home as well. I would love to see all them have access at home eventually. The thing that I love most about this exciting news is that it shows the world that despite the tech tools out there that can “teach” how to read notes, teachers are still important! JoyTunes knows that teachers are #1 and the app is a great supplemental tool.

If you haven’t had the chance to try Piano Maestro yet or don’t have an iPad. Now is the time to see what it’s all about. One of my favorite things to do with Piano Maestro is simply having my students play their scales with the app! Scales no longer get the groans they used to. It’s so much more fun with background music, getting 3 stars and sharing the moment!

Heads up! My September guest will be posting more about Piano Maestro so keep your eye out! Are you part of the JoyTunes Teachers group on Facebook? If not, be sure to join here.

Follower FREEBIE!

CELEBRATION TIME, COME ON!

I just hit 200 followers on TpT. You know what that means? A FREEBIE!!!

Thank you everyone for following me on TpT. I really appreciate it. Enjoy your freebie here!

 

 

Musical Riddles

I decided to extend the “teachinghelpingteachers” donation for Musical Riddles another day. If you missed it yesterday, I’m donating a percentage of this product to help another music teacher who is in need. It is a fun powerpoint that could be used in group classes and camps where students figure out the answer to the musical riddle. You can check it out here. Thanks!

 

You can use musical riddles as a scavenger hunt (I did this at Christmas camp one year) or in a game show style setting, or simply as a review. Enjoy!

Teachers Helping Teachers

If you missed the announcement yesterday on Facebook, TpT is having a 1 day back to school BOOST sale. One more chance to get stuff on your wish list. Yay!

In conjunction with the sale, I am donating a percentage of my Musical Riddles powerpoint to help another music teacher in need. When you go to TpT, just type in “teachershelpingteachers” in the search bar and you will see all the products that many music teachers are selling to help.

If you haven’t visited my store in a while, I recently added a bunch of puzzles! Be sure to check out the bundles and MEGA bundle for the best deals!

Remember feedback is important. I thought I would share a helpful post in how and the why of leaving feedback on TpT. Please take a moment as it gives very helpful advice.

Leaving TpT Feedback (how and why)

Don’t forget to use code: BOOST when you check out today!

Oh! And I am just 13 followers away from posting a FOREVER FREEBIE in the store. So if you aren’t a follower yet, be sure to click the follow button!

Fall Kickoff 2014

A couple weeks ago, we kicked off the new school year! When students walked in, I gave them their Getting to Know You sheet to fill out for the year.

Then students shared their practice prop projects they worked on over the summer. (Students make a project that represents their practicing. This can be minute based, goal based or piece based). Here are a few. If you want to see more with more details, then visit my studio blog. I’ll be posting them in the next day or two…

I then introduced our new theme and program- REACH BEYOND THE STARS

This year I want students to play A LOT of music so they each received a music binder. I had them decorate their binder. These binders will be filling up with lots of fun music from…

Higgledy Piggledy Jazz

Jerald Simon

Piano Morning

Piano Pronto

Supersonics Piano

Teach Piano Today-Piano Book Club

Will Bailey Piano Tunes

Isn’t this an awesome line up?

Then if we had a little time at the end we played this fun space jokes game…

I just have to say, this year is going to be OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Spotlight Solos Winner

 

Congratulations! Our winner for Jennifer Eklund’s- Spotlight Solos book is…

Valerie Merrell

Good news for everyone! Jennifer is running a back to school special for the month of August. Everything in her PianoPronto store is 20% off. Now is the time to take advantage and stock up!

Be sure to use code: school20 to get your discount when you order. Thanks for the giveaway Jennifer!