Our goal in 2015 is to “wow” you with out-of-this-world piano teaching advice and never-before-seen piano teaching resources. So today we wanted to share with you two resources that are going out this month to our PianoBookClub and PianoGameClub subscribers.
Exploring Dynamics With Dinosaurs
What do PianoBookClub’ers think of this month’s book? Well, here’s what one teacher emailed us to say…
“How to Babysit a Brontosaurus” is the cutest book EVER! I love the dynamics, the clever story and the creativity! I may have ALL of my students sightread this one. Thank you soooooo much!!!
Click on the book cover below to preview January’s book. Note: At the end of the preview you can also check out sample pages from past PianoBookClub books… so you can see what we’re all about 🙂
Note: How To Babysit A Brontosaurus is no longer available but you can check out this month’s book by clicking on the image below.
January’s book, How to Babysit a Brontosaurus, gives you the supplementary repertoire you need to bring dynamic markings to life. Using a story-based approach jam-packed with humor, your dinosaur-loving piano students will be motivated to use the dynamics within each piece to bring the action to life. Each of the eight pieces are accompanied by a story page, providing vivid imagery and inspiring your students to play with plenty of expression and all of the dynamics.
Sarah’s 8th birthday starts off with peace and quiet… just the way she likes it. But when Uncle Dan’s dinosaur (Brian) shows up unexpectedly, Sarah’s weekend takes a dynamically different turn!
Explore piano, mezzo piano, forte, mezzo forte and crescendo and diminuendo in this Early Elementary level book.
Not already a subscriber to PianoBookClub?… Click here.
An Action-Packed Piano Game Collection
Every month we’ve been sending out four new piano games to our PianoGameClub subscribers. The following games will be pumping up the fun in studios this month:
- Chord Shark – Can you pull a fast one on your teacher while building major chords?
- Vroooom – Find the correct melody and build a Mighty Monster Truck!
- Splash – If you’re a Note Value Ninja you’ll get to Burst Your Competitor’s Bubble!
- High Five – Don’t leave ‘em hangin’ while you learn about major and minor chords
Fiona Barnett says
This probably sounds really stupid, but I just wonder whether I’ll end up having too many resources. I love all the games and supplementary material you make and I’ve downloaded a load of them, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to catch up if I subscribe to either the pianogame or pianobook club, even though I’d like to!
Andrea says
Hi Fiona… thanks for commenting! You’re right, subscribers to both PianoGameClub and PianoBookClub receive a bunch of resources every month 🙂 Our goal with both of these programs is to provide out-of-this-world value for a few bucks a month so that teachers can build an incredible library of resources.
Whether you get to a particular game or piece the day it arrives, or even the month it arrives is not as important as knowing that you will always have the perfect game or perfect piano piece to turn to when the time is right.
We think of these resources as student savers. If a particular child is losing interest, tough to handle, or simply having a challenging time outside of piano lessons, the perfect game or piece to motivate THAT particular student will be sitting on your shelf.
Mallory says
What I do each month is send the resources that are relevant to my current needs to the printer, then I organize everything by topic or type of student so that I can come back to it in the future when the need arises. I just have a few folders in my Dropbox where I can organize things to find them more easily. This way, I’ve categorized all the resources and it doesn’t get overwhelming as they pile up. So far I’ve found that even when I get something I don’t have a use for at the moment, the need often arises later.
Andrea says
Hi Mallory – this is exactly what I do and it works wonderfully and yes… the idea is to have an extensive library of resources for when you need it (and you will!) 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your system!
Abigail Burnett says
If I sign up for your piano book club, what if I don’t “like”this month’s book and I actually want to purchase a previous month’s book? like the texting book?
Debi says
I would be interested in the answer to this question as well ..
Andrea says
Hi Abigail – as the PianoBookClub is a monthly book of the month club everyone receives the same book each month. Current PBC members will start to have the opportunity to purchase previously-released books starting at the end of this month!
Stephani says
I’ve been a member of both clubs since the beginning. Love it! I’m Using the book club music in all sorts of ways: sight reading, reinforcing concepts (like dynamics in the above example), teaching concepts (like how to play from a lead sheet), getting others involved in making music with the students(like the duet book above), recital songs, and student savers. There may be a book I don’t use for a while, but I still enjoy having it in
My aresenal, er, library.
I absolutely love the games. I appreciate that there are a variety of levels, so the students who are learning the difference between quarter and whole notes can play one game, and my older students can play a game identifying key signatures or listening to intervals, or making chords, and everything in between.
So, if you’re on the fence about these, that’s my 2 cents. 🙂
CHRIS says
I am interested in subscribing – but I have an old laptop. I am afraid that I won’t be able to print the materials once I have subscribed. What is required on my computer? Thanks, cute books, and they look very appealing for the student.
Andrea says
Hi Chris – thanks for your interest in PianoBookClub and PianoGameClub! All that’s required is the ability to open a pdf file (so a free download like Adobe). You don’t even need a printer as we really recommend then sending that pdf to your local office store (like Staples) for printing as it’s more time and cost efficient. The ability to open a pdf should be standard for all computers – even old ones 🙂
Milla says
Follow Fiona Barnett. Love everything about both clubs, but not able to digest it all.
Sully says
I think the idea is that you are not meant to use the resources as soon as you get them, just for the sake of using them. Instead I think you use them whenever you need to, for the sake of the student’s needs. Wouldn’t the plan be that whenever a student requires specific help with something, you will already have a resource for them, because of the library that TPT is sending you?
Christobel says
I agree. I love the posts and use about half of the free materials each year, but I find the games take some working out before the lesson and I would prefer to have a selection of good ones that have stood the test of time available for purchase in the same way as the composing and Theory resources. I don’t like subscriptions much. How about offering these, guys? You could have category games, such as primer, level 1, level 2a, level 2b etc. and/or rhythm, ear training, sightreading, technique, etc.
Karen says
Will you ever be offering the books individually without a subscription? That would be a great help to me.
Bev says
The books and games are fantastic! I look forward to them every month! I’m still working on my organization of the products: first step was getting them all in 2 folders in my computer. Second step will be printing them out, labeling them and grabbing them as needed. THESE 2 SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE THE BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK on the internet.
Bonnie says
I subscribe, and I find that I never waste time. I have all of the material downloaded to my tablet (which accompanies me to lessons). If a student has a question that leads perfectly into one of the resources, I bring it up right there!
Fiona Barnett says
I’ve now subscribed to the piano game club and the vroom game in particular is my favourite. Well worth the money, I’m looking forward to the next ones!
Dagmar says
I like the books very much! A few weeks back we had a concert in our music academy in the local concert venue (I teach in Belgium) and the story “How to babysit a Brontosaurus” was a huge success. I did it with 3 second year students, each playing two pieces, and the first and last piece we “arranged” a little bit, so they could play it with six hands (mostly doublings and octave displacements). They also did the story part and made up some “choreography” so that the whole cycle was a 8-minute happening which the audience (2 concerts – over 500 people!) was very enthousiastic about.
The games are for the time being not really suited for me: As we use the “do-re-mi”-system instead of letters, I need to rework most of them. Also time is a problem … But the subjects and lay-out of the games is super!!