If you ask me, monsters get a bad rap. Because of one silly day in October, everyone is terrified of all monsters.
But what if they aren’t really as bad as the Halloween costumes make them out to be? Could monsters even be a piano teacher’s best friend at this time of year (albeit a furry and slobbery one)…
To prove that this could happen, today we’re showcasing two great resources for this time of year that will turn monsters into your favorite piano lesson sidekicks.
Piano Lessons Are More Fun With Monsters…
The first resource is our latest release from PianoBookClub… The Rhythmic Haunting of Ruby Wrigglesworth. The second is a musical activity called Monster Mashup that you can print and use today.
Current PianoBookClub’ers are loving The Rhythmic Haunting of Ruby Wrigglesworth; a piano resource that will work wonders for Late Elementary students’ rhythmic understanding and accuracy.
Note: The Rhythmic Haunting of Ruby Wrigglesworth is no longer available but you can check out this month’s book by clicking on the image below.
If you want to tap into that “tween” sense of humour as motivation for reinforcing rhythm, The Rhythmic Haunting of Ruby Wrigglesworth will fit the bill. It is a totally comical (and tad eccentric) Late Elementary book that explores seven different rhythmic challenges typically encountered by young piano students including swing rhythms, triplets, dotted rhythms and more!
And Now For Our “Monster’s Aren’t So Bad” Resource #2
Last year, we released a PianoBookClub resource called “A Bag O’Halloween Tricks”. Today we wanted to share one of the seven activities from that book that was all the rage with teachers and students… and that you can print and use today!
With Monster Mashup your students can have a blast rearranging the measures of a piano piece to create a million (well, maybe not a million) different versions. It truly is a piano piece that inspires hours of fun.
Carolyn Miller says
September 10, 2015 at 5:03 amThis is great ! Thank you.
Amy Reiff says
September 10, 2015 at 6:55 amI love the Monster Mashup! Thanks.
Have you had your creativity insured by Lloyd’s of London yet? You should!
Andrea says
September 10, 2015 at 10:21 amLOL – that’s hilarious Amy 🙂
Paula says
September 10, 2015 at 7:48 amHi Andrea and Trevor,
Monster Mashup will be going out to some students this week and I’ve just been reading through Rhythmic Ruby when it came with my book club membership. These are fantastic resources (as always) and I know my students are going to love moving the music around in Monster Mashup! I’m trying to think of a good way to have the bars kept such as a small ziplock bag and attach to the music with something easily removable. If I laminate the music I could use some double sided tape or I might just put it in a page protector and do the same thing. It’s a great concept to give them freedom to choose how they’ll play the piece and teaches beginning composition as well Have a great September and I always look forward to my new book of music every month – thanks! Paula
Andrea says
September 10, 2015 at 7:54 amHi Paula – great to hear it and we’re excited for your kids who get to use The Rhythmic Hunting of Ruby Wrigglesworth 🙂 I use double-sided tape with the measures and they last really well and can be moved lots and lots. I keep it simple and just “store” them directly on the music and then they can change them around as wanted/needed at home. Thanks for your kind comments about PianoBooKClub 🙂
Bonnie Monk Kraxberger says
September 10, 2015 at 10:37 amLove it! I’m planning on printing those measures on cardstock and putting magnetic tape on the back of them. Then I’ll place the sheet music on my whiteboard and be able to move the measures around easily.
Andrea says
September 10, 2015 at 11:01 amThat’s a cool idea Bonnie!
Kerri says
September 10, 2015 at 9:15 amThis is awesome! I already have Ruby (love it – awesome – thank you!) but I LOVE the Monster Mashup! It’s such a simple activity and not a huge difficult piece for Halloween! My kids are going to love this! 😀
Andrea says
September 10, 2015 at 10:22 amHi Kerri – so glad to hear that you’ll be using them both! Have fun!
Shar says
September 11, 2015 at 4:53 pmI’m using this wonderful game (love it!) to send to a piano student who loves piano, but the family (of 2 students) thinks they’re too busy for lessons this school year. I hope to keep them interested and hopefully calling when they find out how much they miss piano!
Andrea says
September 11, 2015 at 9:00 pmGreat strategy Shar! Hope it works 🙂
Janice says
September 29, 2015 at 7:06 pmLOVE the Monster Mash-up! I printed some up last week for elementary students and this week they came back with their songs. They really enjoyed making up their own music.
Andrea says
September 29, 2015 at 10:48 pmYay! So great to hear Janice – thank you 🙂