Student books in 6 different categories are available now in both digital and hardcopy. There is now “To the Lake”, “Outdoor Adventure”, “To the Farm”, “Country Carnival” and two levels of “Rockstar Rally”.
Ideal for students ages 4 and up.
On the staff from the start
Music is a mix of familiar tunes and original pieces
Multi-key approach
18 songs that can be learned by note or rote
Clean easy-to-follow pages (great for special needs students!)
Two levels of Roadtrip! are currently available in Piano Maestro.
Register for Roadtrip! Students (ages 4-5) are scheduled for half-hour lessons with their parents present.
Student books in 5 different categories are available now in both digital and hardcopy. There is now “To the Lake”, “Outdoor Adventure”, “To the Farm”, “Country Carnival” and two levels of “Rockstar Rally”.
Ideal for students ages 4 and up.
On the staff from the start
Music is a mix of familiar tunes and original pieces
Multi-key approach
18 songs that can be learned by note or rote
Clean easy-to-follow pages (great for special needs students!)
Two levels of Roadtrip! are currently available in Piano Maestro.
Register for Roadtrip! Students (ages 4-5) are scheduled for half-hour lessons with their parents present.
Student books in 5 different categories are available now in both digital and hardcopy. There is now “To the Lake”, “Outdoor Adventure”, “To the Farm”, “Country Carnival” and two levels of “Rockstar Rally”.
Ideal for students ages 4 and up.
On the staff from the start
Music is a mix of familiar tunes and original pieces
Multi-key approach
18 songs that can be learned by note or rote
Clean easy-to-follow pages (great for special needs students!)
Two levels of Roadtrip! are currently available in Piano Maestro.
Register for Roadtrip! Students (ages 4-5) are scheduled for half-hour lessons with their parents present.
Roadtrip! is a primer level method book for very early beginners ages 4 and up. The multi-key approach offers eighteen songs that are easily taught by note, rote, or number allowing student to master basic music fundamentals while creating a musical memory book that becomes a keepsake item to commemorate their maiden voyage into piano lessons.
18 songs: Non-position based; black key pieces; R.H. & L.H. only pieces; on-staff reading only
Also features: improvisation activities; ear training; composition; teacher duets
There will be 4 books in this series, when it’s finished. The second one, Roadtrip! Outdoor Adventure is available now and I have copies at the O’Connor Music Studio. Also planned are Farm Adventures and an Outerspace Adventure.
What this means for the O’Connor Music Studio – younger beginners will be able to get a great start to their musical lives. Previously, I’ve only accepted students starting at age 6.
Starting with the new school year, interested parents can enroll their students from the age of 4.
Students at the O’Connor Music Studio know that music theory is always a part of lessons. I strongly believe that theory is needed so that students understand what they are playing and why.
To me, theory work is just as important as playing. A firm knowledge of musical structure makes playing everything easier.
Music knowledge learned through piano lessons transfers easily to other musical activities. Students in Fairfax County Public Schools, students learn to play recorder. Students are sometimes surprised to learn that they already know all the notes – from their piano lessons!
When you sing in a choir, harmonize with Sweet Adelines, play an instrument in your school or community band/orchestra, join your church’s handbell choir (note:Pender UMC has an excellent Handbell program), teach yourself guitar – theory will help in every instance. By learning to read, write, and understand this musical language, many more musical opportunities will be made available the rest of your life.
Most piano methods come with a theory book that matches page by page what concepts are being learned in the lesson books. I actually recommend that students do the theory first when they get home, while the concepts are still fresh in their minds.
If the student is not in a piano method, I’m starting to use the Theory Time series. Book One covers music alphabet, introduction to keyboard and staff, stem rule, steps & skips on a keyboard and staff, repeated notes, dynamics, treble clef lines & spaces, bass clef lines & spaces, quarter note & rest, half note & rest, whole note & rest, dotted half note, bar lines, double bar line, measures, time signatures, rhythm drill, vocabulary, ear training and a review test. Free ear training videos for each ear training exercise are hosted on the Theory Time YouTube channel. The Grade One workbook is appropriate for beginning 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade students. This workbook includes 51 pages, 13 lessons and 8 Fun Sheets.
So often transfer students will come to me and play a piece they’ve been working on. When they make a mistake, they’ll stop and start the piece all over again instead of correcting the mistake on the spot and moving on.
If they do this at home in practice, they’ll have played the beginning part many times more than the ending – or they may have never gotten to the ending at all!
The infographic above shows a way to get around this problem. It’s also great for memorizing pieces during recital preparation.
Similar to this are some pieces in the early pages of beginning method books. Lines 1, 2 and 4 will be identical with only line 3 being changed.
If a student plays this over and over all the way through, he’s learned line 1 three times better than line 3. I always suggest practicing line 3 by itself several times to help counter this problem.
Kris Skaletski and Jennifer Eklund are happy to announce that, Roadtrip!, the first book in our new preschool method book series, is officially for sale! Student books are available now in both digital and hardcopy. The teacher guidebook, with comprehensive lesson plans and multiple teacher duets for all 18 songs, is available digitally now. Hardcopies of the guidebook will be available next Wednesday, July 29th.
Ideal for students ages 4 and up.
On the staff from the start
Music is a mix of familiar tunes and original pieces
Multi-key approach
18 songs that can be learned by note or rote
Clean easy-to-follow pages (great for special needs students!)
BONUS: The soundtrack is FREE in the introductory selling period! You can hear all the music and see the insides of the student book and teacher guidebook on the website. Full-time fun ahead!
Roadtrip! is a primer level method book for very early beginners ages 4 and up. Students master basic music fundamentals while creating a musical memory book that becomes a keepsake item to commemorate their maiden voyage into piano lessons.
18 songs: Non-position based; black key pieces; R.H. & L.H. only pieces; on-staff reading only
Also features: improvisation activities; ear training; composition; teacher duets
What this means for the O’Connor Music Studio – younger beginners will be able to get a great start to their musical lives. Previously, I’ve only accepted students starting at age 6.
Starting with the new school year, interested parents can enroll their students from the age of 4.
Students at the O’Connor Music Studio know that music theory is always a part of lessons. I strongly believe that theory is needed so that students understand what they are playing and why.
To me, theory work is just as important as playing. A firm knowledge of musical structure makes playing everything easier.
Music knowledge learned through piano lessons transfers easily to other musical activities. Students in Fairfax County Public Schools, students learn to play recorder. Students are sometimes surprised to learn that they already know all the notes – from their piano lessons!
When you sing in a choir, harmonize with Sweet Adelines, play an instrument in your school or community band/orchestra, join your church’s handbell choir (note:Pender UMC has an excellent Handbell program), teach yourself guitar – theory will help in every instance. By learning to read, write, and understand this musical language, many more musical opportunities will be made available the rest of your life.
Most piano methods come with a theory book that matches page by page what concepts are being learned in the lesson books. I actually recommend that students do the theory first when they get home, while the concepts are still fresh in their minds.
If the student is not in a piano method, I’m starting to use the Theory Time series. Book One covers music alphabet, introduction to keyboard and staff, stem rule, steps & skips on a keyboard and staff, repeated notes, dynamics, treble clef lines & spaces, bass clef lines & spaces, quarter note & rest, half note & rest, whole note & rest, dotted half note, bar lines, double bar line, measures, time signatures, rhythm drill, vocabulary, ear training and a review test. Free ear training videos for each ear training exercise are hosted on the Theory Time YouTube channel. The Grade One workbook is appropriate for beginning 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade students. This workbook includes 51 pages, 13 lessons and 8 Fun Sheets.
So often transfer students will come to me and play a piece they’ve been working on. When they make a mistake, they’ll stop and start the piece all over again instead of correcting the mistake on the spot and moving on.
If they do this at home in practice, they’ll have played the beginning part many times more than the ending – or they may have never gotten to the ending at all!
The infographic above shows a way to get around this problem. It’s also great for memorizing pieces during recital preparation.
Similar to this are some pieces in the early pages of beginning method books. Lines 1, 2 and 4 will be identical with only line 3 being changed.
If a student plays this over and over all the way through, he’s learned line 1 three times better than line 3. I always suggest practicing line 3 by itself several times to help counter this problem.
