… already composing with your students.
Because, if you’re like me, even after years and years of piano lessons as a child (and then as an adult attending university) nobody ever sat down and taught me how to compose… at least effectively. So when I became a piano teacher, composing was not even on my radar; 100% of my time was spent teaching piano students to learn to play… not to compose.
And Then One Day I Was Hit With 3 Realizatons
1. If nobody ever taught composing, there would be no music to play. (This didn’t necessarily inspire me to compose… but it’s interesting none-the-less). 2. How is it that we teach children to read AND write, but not to play AND compose?. I had no good answer for this… and thus started to think seriously about composing.
But Most Importantly
3. If we want to “hook” piano students for life, they must identify themselves as musicians… and nothing is more effective in inspiring this than creating their own music.
And that is when I finally realized that my piano students
MUST START COMPOSING!
When I Can’t Find… I Create
Have you ever tried to find an effective book on composing? It’s like searching for a needle in a haystack. So, as we often do, Trevor and I decided do create our own resource; an interesting book that piano teachers could use to teach their students to compose (one that did not have long-winded discussions on music theory that do nothing but confuse and snooze) and now, over 10 years later… we have wrapped our “successful-every-time” method up in a package of creativity, intrigue, and excitement.
Enter… The Curious Case of Muttzart and Ratmaninoff… Click here to learn more.
Kelly Koch says
I bought this book on the first day it was available, and it has already been VERY successful in my studio. I love reading the comic to my students first…even the “coolest of the cool” will snicker when the Tuna Juice comes out.
This resource is perfect for the student who needs another kind of challenge. It’s also perfect for the student who doesn’t want to compose (usually because they don’t know HOW). It’s perfect for a student that you want to reinforce note identification in a unique way. And finally, and surprisingly, it’s a super resource for sight reading!
Thank you for providing this clever and fun resource for piano teachers who are trying to think out of the lesson book!