Andrea and I live just outside of Victoria, BC. It’s a cute, somewhat historic little city with neat little alleyways that our girls love to explore.
As we walked through one such alleyway the other day I joked with Lexi that a curious looking brick may reveal a secret door if we pulled it. Imagine our surprise when pulling the brick did not reveal a secret door, but rather a secret note that had been folded and tucked behind the loose brick! The note simply read…
“To whomever finds this note, have a wonderful day!”
And as silly as it seems, the note really did make our day better! So we replaced the note for someone else to find and went on with our day, all the while my mind churning with potential musical implications.
Create a “Secret Piece” And Make Someone’s Day!
Next week, consider joining us as we write secret pieces for people we will never meet; all with the purpose of improving the day of a complete stranger. It’s simple and straightforward and your piano kids will love it.
Here’s How It Works:
- Compose a light-hearted, happy piano piece with your student. Publish it using notation software like MuseScore (free).
- Seal the piano piece inside a decorated envelope.
- On the outside of the envelope write “I wrote this song just for you. If you don’t play piano, find a friend to play it for you. Have a wonderful day!”
- Don’t write your piano students’ name or anything else on the envelope… just the words above. If you want to sneak in a little piano studio advertising, include your logo on the page somewhere 🙂
- Instruct your piano student to take the envelope home, and then with their parent, stash it in a special location in your community (the hiding place should be good, but not great… we want the envelope to be found!)
And that’s it! Your student will have made someone’s day a little happier and a little more exciting… and learned a little bit about composing along the way.
If you need help composing your secret pieces, you’ll definitely want to check out our composing resource, The Curious Case of Muttzart and Ratmaninoff. 12 lessons take your students from knowing nothing about composing to understanding motives, repetition, sequencing, retrograde and more!
Sandy says
What a lovely idea, making the world a better place, one song at a time. Thanks for sharing.
Natalia says
Love this idea!!
Barbara says
Awww, what a sweet idea. And besides making someone’s day a little happier it’s a way to promote the wonderful instrument called piano in a very non-commercial way. Makes me feel good just reading this…can’t wait to share it with my students.
Suzanne Hilton says
I LOVE this idea.
I’m going to encourage my students to compose a song and hide it our local library inside a book.