Flashcards – Create your own learning resources

Since the start of term I have been using a variety of flashcards intensively with my students to improve note recognition in sight reading . It has proved to be popular with my students as they can compete to see who can accurately read and play the notes in a shortest space of time. Some …

Christmas Piano Music

I first wrote this post over two years ago as “Easy Christmas Carol Books”. Having had a few queries since from parents about which music to buy their children for Christmas, I decided to add some books below with more challenging yet fun arrangements. — “As the frosty mornings are starting to set in and …

Raindrops develop from CDE beginnings

Many of my students will recollect the “CDE song” as one of the first pieces I taught them on the piano. The song is actually published in “Music Lessons Have Begun, by Leila Fletcher” which was a tutor book I learned from myself as a child, yes it was published that long ago! I don’t …

Music Reading Games

This week I am taking a look at some of the free music learning resources available on the internet. I have recently been using Jayde Musica with my students. Whilst it would be nice to have midi integration in this game so that you can play the notes on an attached midi keyboard rather than …

Snowflakes (SATB Christmas Carol with piano accompaniment) by Graeme Hopson

Having worked with this carol for 12 weeks, I have grown to really like it as have members of my choir, the Neston Ecumenical Singers. The words are by the American, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The composition came about late in 2008 as a result of an annual competition organised by The Longfellow Chorus promoting the poetry of …