Friday, September 11, 2015

August 2015

Happy Tuesday!

Registration and Try it classes are here for new and experienced teachers we are all hoping to fill up our classes for the fall. 
I find this sometimes a stressful time; giving a try-it class expends time and energy and even if they leave with a registration form in hands does it mean they will come back with it filled in and with a cheque to register?
One mom came today and she would love for her daughter to take lessons but time and money are thin. I assured her she would make the best decision whether it was this year or next year.  She was relived that I gave her permission to just take her time and make the right decision for her family. But on the flip side I'm wondering if I'm going to enough students!
Recently in an email from our BC coordinator, Wendy Guimont, gave some encouraging tips on marketing through Facebook. Check out the Facebook tips for some new ideas. 

Have a wonderful last few weeks of August resting and gearing up for a new teaching year.  Keep an eye out for my new solfege songs and activities coming out in September. 

Musicallyours,
Lois Dicknoether
Solo Time Music Games
info@solotimemusicgames.com 

Solo Time Music Games
are designed to instill a life long passion 
and understanding of music and its concepts 
through a fun hands on experience.

 Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterFind us on Google+View our videos on YouTubeFind us on Pinterest  
Teachers Notebook
  

This year I have students making steps towards understanding
 Intermediate Rudiments; as a result I've started (why should I be surprised)
working on teaching aids for this level. 

is a fun teaching aid with a super hero theme.
There are 108 Key Signature flashcards
 from C major (a minor) to 7 sharps and 7 flats.
Once students have comprehended major key signatures up to 7 sharps and flats then switch this teaching aid up and have them determine
 the scale degrees in the minor scales.   It's a dual purpose teaching aid!

Included in this printable are a few other ideas to help your
students solidify their knowledge of scale degrees.


BONUS!
You can receive this PDF file for FREE!

 When you order"FIVE" Solo Time Music Games "Flashcard" Games from the Solo Time Games website.

To Market To Market
Have you created your studio Facebook page yet? 
I've noticed many of you have but what are the
 next steps in getting your page noticed?

1) First of all get your friends and family to like your page.
This step is like referrals and easy marketing.
Send out "invites" to everyone on your regular Facebook page to like your page.

2) Create an "Event" like a Try-It class or a studio visit.
Ask your friends and family to "Share" your event on their page.
Even if they live in another city they might know someone in
your city who might see the "Share."

3) You can also pay Facebook to "Boost It" for  
you. The "boost" is posted to your specific area and age group
but I have found that when my friends who shared the event
 with their friends it gets about the same return.

4) Don't forget to:  Create a "Call to Action Button" on your studio
Facebook page where parents can get in touch with you via your website. 

Another great idea from a couple of teachers was to join on
Facebook a few different groups like:
 "Children's Trade and Share" "Free to give a way"
"Women in Business"  "Buy, Sell and Swap" etc.

There are many forums under different names that you can join and you can post a comment about your studio with pictures
 and comment about what you do.
Post there about once a month (don't spam it or they will kick you off). 
There are rules about what you can post for every group
 but most are open to the little bit of self-marketing.

I managed to have three families  come to a try-it class
by posting in these forums.
These are just a few ideas that take little time to help you
 in your marketing efforts. 

July 2015

Happy Hot Summer Days to you all!
What a great time the Music for Young Children conference was in Halifax. It was wonderful to reconnect with many of you and meet new teachers from all over Canada and Asia.
I had not been to eastern Canada for many years and I spent another ten days after the conference traveling Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island with my husband, John.  
The music in eastern Canada is different than this side of the continent.  We do have fiddle music and fiddlers out here but it's just not the same as attending a Ceilidh (kitchen music) in a small hall that is jam packed with people foot tapping and singing along. I was honoured to be entertained by such amazing musicians.  

Soh, mi, re, doh, Soh, mi re, doh, Soh mi, re, doh!
I'm positive that was the crosswalk tune as we crossed the streets of Halifax. If you heard it differently let me know, it became a little annoying afterwhile but in the realm of solfege I've written some new tunes please read about them below. 

Thank you to those who placed orders for games while at conference they are all in the mail.

Jakob and Declan are coming out this week and I'm looking forward to enjoying the hot BC weather with them.

Stay tuned for the newsletter in August about advertising and some new  music games for Intermediate Rudiments.

Musicallyours,
Lois Dicknoether
Solo Time Music Games
info@solotimemusicgames.com 

Solo Time Music Games
are designed to instill a life long passion 
and understanding of music and its concepts 
through a fun hands on experience.

 Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterFind us on Google+View our videos on YouTubeFind us on Pinterest  
  
MYC Solfege
I was honoured when Olivia Riddell, President and International director of Music for Young Children choose to print a couple of solfege tunes that I arranged in the new Sunshine One teacher manual.

If you bought the manual you will only see the song but there are many more activities that go with each of the two songs. MYC head office has sent out the link to all the teachers that links you to the extra activities that go with each song via "Sharefile."
Please check out the extra musical fun with the new songs "Dino D" and "Fireman Fred." My Sunbeam students loved doing the actions and adding ostinato's and rhythm instruments over a period of four to six weeks to each song.
But that's not all!
Stay tuned for a new collection of songs called
"Solfege is not a Chore"
coming out in September.
Songs about chores, critters and pickup beats. 

May 2015

Dear Teaching Friends,
May is here and recital is also coming up quickly.  After so many years of teaching I still get stressed out about students being "recital ready."
I have to remind myself that every other year they are ready for recital by the time recital comes.  But I think more than anything I'm worried for them so that they can come away and be proud of what they have accomplished and performed at recital.  I wish all of you the best for your year ends as they come to completion.

Speaking of studio year ends now's the time to think of the fall:
 -  Updating your website with new information about upcoming classes for the fall.
- Giving try-it classes
- Flyers in new housing divisions
- Summer camps
- flyers and newspaper ads
- offering incentives to parents who come back to talk about you and your studio and what you have to offer with their friends.  What kind of incentives?  A month's free lessons if a friend of theirs registers, or a gift card. 
- impromtu music class at playgrounds and out door water parks.

Advertising starts now for the fall. Last year in BC we had a teachers strike at the beginning of September I went around my area offering a music camp during the strike. Although I didn't have any camps there were a few students who registered for the lessons. So all in all it was a success.

And back to talking about websites:  Berva Warkenton in Langley BC has a new great website up. It's pretty impressive.  Also check out her registration forms as they are really clear and informative.  I'm taking some of her ideas into my forms.

Have a great recital! 

Musicallyours,

Lois Dicknoether
Solo Time Music Games
info@solotimemusicgames.com 

Solo Time Music Games
are designed to instill a life long passion 
and understanding of music and its concepts 
through a fun hands on experience.

 Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterFind us on Google+View our videos on YouTubeFind us on Pinterest  
Teachers Notebook
  
There is a free new product for the next little while called "Kite Words. "
New this month! MYC critter note review
Year end also means going through your studio and cleaning up.  I go through my games  and replace (or give to new teachers just starting out)
my pdf files and flashcards and print up new ones if there is a need.

If you have any Solo Time Flash Card Games and the flash cards need to be refreshed let me know as they are available to purchase separately
 from the games for $2.00 a page.   Many have been updated over the years and are newer and more colourful.

Finally, I have gotten around to completing this project and
testing it with my students.
This note review game has fourteen pages designed for beginning students in the Sunshine 1 and 2 and Sunbeam 1 and 2 levels.
There are seven colourful Critter Game Boards with seven pages of notes. Students name the notes and place the correct note on the game board.
The  Edyth the Elk game has been such a favorite with my girl students that I had to print a second one so there wasn't any conflict in class!

Take a look at it - Critters for MYC

Spiderman and Pedagogy

Spiderman and Pedagogy
Master Class with Mr. James Agnoson
What do Spiderman and a master class with Mr. James Anagnoson have in common?  Inspiration to help my students become better listeners to their music.
I hope your teaching year is going well.  Sometimes when you start new classes you wonder about the dynamics between students, parents and myself.   This year has turned out to be a delight.  Smart kids, excited parents, (they come on time) and for the most part students come ready to play and learn.  But hand position and tone is always an issue I repeat week after week.
I was shopping at Hallmark and saw this cute little Spiderman stuffy, his head is just the right size to have a young student place their hand over his head to show how their hand should be in "spider finger position" when they play piano.  Spidey is a great success, the boys love him, but by the time they move from Spidey to the piano and start playing all hope of a good hand position is gone.  
Then I sat in on a master class with Dr. James Anagnoson, Dean of the Glen Gould School of Music in Toronto.  Not only did I come home to the studio inspired but ready to approach my teaching a little differently.  Slow Practice, Slow Practice; I knew that but sometimes you just need to hear it again.  He stressed body position while sitting on the bench some of my students seem to grow 2 inches every week, I need to help them be aware of how they sit by moving the bench back.  Their feet can now be flat on the floor instead of swinging or cross legged (horrors).  Helping the student to listen to the tone and quality of a note or passage when played in a hand position that produces it, hence Spiderman's job is sitting at the piano to remind them. Fixing fingering  to get a better tone and quality sound out of the piano and playing a passage for them then placing their hand on mine while I play the same passage, helping them to hear and feel their piece.  I like to  choose a varied group of pieces from easy to hard that will help them accomplish all these things. 
And then a little practice incentive to encourage all these things.
 
In comes Wendy of Compose Create to create the incentive that was perfect for this season.  She posted a free resource that has four thermometers on it, each thermometer represents a different goal for the students to accomplish.  I'm using it this Christmas season to help students with their Christmas song.  Under each thermometer a different aspect of the song that is to be accomplished: articulation, technique, dynamics, artistry, memory etc.  You can write whatever is appropriate for a particular child.  My advanced students received all four thermometers and the younger ones got one or two.  We colour the thermometer each week to show their progress as we prepare for Christmas recital.
I love it when I'm encouraged by attending a seminar and great ideas from other teachers come together to help me be a better teacher.

Have a wonderful teaching season leading up to Christmas and I hope you are inspired by these few ideas.

Have a wonderful weekend
Lois Dicknoether
Solo Time Music Games

Thursday, September 10, 2015

April 2015

Dear Friends and Teachers,
I'm loving this season! Spring came a couple of weeks earlier than usual this year and it's wonderful to see the daffodils and tulips in bloom.
I'm always trying to find ways to nicely suggest to my students' parents that they need to be involved with their children's practice at home. When parents help their child at home the student comes back to class with confidence and is excited to play for me. I feel really sad for the child who hasn't practiced because the parents are too busy with work or other things, and comes in to his or her lesson feeling unhappy before even getting started.
 
Below is a picture of a parent helping his child by pointing, because she had insisted that he do so. He had just undergone major surgery and was helping out any way he could. There's creative thinking for you.



There are many other creative ways to help your child with practice but this is one I had never considered. 
On another subject, the Solo Time Music Games recent website upgrade has been having issues with  the page called "My Account".  I'm expecting this to be cleared up soon. If you order any games please order directly through me at info@solotimegames.com not through the website as there is a glitch and it can't be fixed until my computer guy gets out of the hospital!
In this newsletter, I have attached a list of games that are in groups of Sunshine, Sunbeam, and Moonbeam levels that might make it a little easier for you to order any flashcard games that you would like for your students.
All games ordered (10 or more) in May will receive a 15% discount. There will be no shipping charged if I am able to take them to the MYC Conference in Halifax in July for you. If you are not attending the conference, you can still receive the 15% discount but postage will be extra.   
 
I'm also very excited about the game that I was commissioned to design for  the teachers who attend the Music for Young  Children Conference in Halifax in July. It's looking great; it has to do with rhythms about Nova Scotia, and this set includes 16th's, which I haven't done before. I think your students will love it.
I hope to see you in Halifax in July.
Musicallyours,

Lois Dicknoether
Solo Time Music Games
info@solotimemusicgames.com 

Solo Time Music Games
are designed to instill a life long passion 
and understanding of music and its concepts 
through a fun hands on experience.

 Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterFind us on Google+View our videos on YouTubeFind us on Pinterest  
Social Networking Sites
I attended a business seminar a few months ago and the topic was social networking. I asked the presenter this question:  With so many options on the Internet, in how many social networking sites I should be active? The instructor suggested I participate in only two or three sites and spend only about thirty minutes a week updating and keeping them current.

My shoulders sagged and I sank down in my chair as I thought, no wonder I get so discouraged. I'm trying to fit  all my fingers into every social network pot there is. I even joined Ello, and still don't know what that's about.

Trying to be active in business and in my life, clean the house, teach, cook, and remain sane at the same time was getting to be a little to much, never mind having time to take care of myself or just relax. So I took a few months off just about everything to re-group and remove a few things from my to-do list that weren't serving me or my goals, and to add ones that seemed more enjoyable, both from a personally profitable perspective, and business-wise.

One of my decisions was to choose which social networking sites worked best for me. Of the eight or nine I was trying to be active in, none seemed to bring me any pleasure or business, just guilt that I wasn't being active enough.

So I decided that Facebook seemed to be the only one where I can connect with friends and business contacts, so I'll stay there. I love Twitter but after a while I realized I wasn't using it for my business, only for information about what's going around the world. I will stay on Twitter because I enjoy it but will change my focus to make it more useful. I decided to drop out of LinkedIn as it brought nothing new to my business. Google circles was just time-consuming, so I dropped it and also Instagram.

Pinterest will be the final site that I spend time on (who doesn't love Pinterest?) but the rest have gone by the wayside as they just don't fit into my personal and business goals.

To help you make your ordering decisions prior to the conference...


 Click this link for a list of all the Flashcard games
and which level they belong too


Deadline: May 30, 2015. 
There is a special treat for you there in the pdf file.

I do admit to playing Candy Crush on occasion, though. You tell me which level you are on and I'll tell you mine. (Privately, of course, I wouldn't want anyone to know I'm wasting my time on that game.)
New this month! MYC critter note review
Finally, I have gotten around to completing this project and testing it with my students. It has been sitting around undone for ages but it's ready now.
This note review game has fourteen pages designed for beginning students in the Sunshine 1 and 2 and Sunbeam 1 and 2 levels.
There are seven colourful Critter Game Boards with seven pages of notes. Students name the notes and place the correct note on the game board.
The  Edyth the Elk game has been such a favorite with my girl students that I had to print a second one so there wasn't any conflict in class!

Take a look at it - Critters for MYC