$27.00 USD

 

HALLOWEEN ON PIANO TEACHER WORKSHOP

Be ready for October, amaze your students with their own creepy creations, as you sneakily teach them music theory without them even realizing it.

WORKSHOP DATES/TIMES (CDT/Austin Time) on Zoom
Choose one:

  • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19th @10-11:30ishAM*
  • THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th@ 10-11:30ishAM*
    (*with a tiny coffee refill break.  You can also stream afterwards if you can't make it)

WHAT IS "THE 13 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN":
The video above outlines my 13 day creative Halloween program which has evolved over the past several years in my Austin, Texas, independent piano studio, with wonderfully spooky results.  (The video also has some fun footage from my students, which is why I'm posting it here!).

Although I run this program online for 13 days every October now, in past years, I have extracted components of it to open each of my students' lessons across my studio with 10-minute mini-lessons.  These have often sparked creative creepy improvisation, play, and fun.  Sometimes, these mini-lessons have turned into the whole lesson for some of my students, and even though that wasn't my plan, I just let go and went with it. 

I have used and adapted these (often on the fly) with all levels of students and ages, children and adults.  When I have had siblings with lessons back-to-back, I have had them do this together at the beginning of their lesson block, to save time and also so that they regularly experience creating music together (you can see some of this in the video!).

ABOUT THE HALLOWEEN ON PIANO CREATIVE TEACHER WORKSHOP
My purpose for offering this teacher workshop is to share the lesson plans and materials I have made and use in The 13 Days of Halloween, and my experiences of using them to grow my students' musical creativity and freedom at the piano, with a side quest of brushing up on music theory as the need for it arises.

In the zoom workshop at your piano (and mine), you will experience the full program, The 13 Days of Halloween on Piano, the way my students have—except all in one day (with one homework assignment afterwards)!  This will be like a guided test drive to try it out, by exploring and creating the way students would, and to see the activities may be a fit for your own students in your studio in October (or other times, too, of course!).

From what we do, you are invited to adapt, adopt, abbreviate, expand, or alter the materials and activities in ANY WAY to fit with with your students and studio.   You will receive a copy of all of my CANVA files, which will be yours to keep, tweak, and refine from year to year as your students and your studio grows.

You will also receive access to all of the daily handouts and classes I'll be teaching in the upcoming 13 day session (which meets October 13-25th).

Here are some snippets of the daily lesson pages from last year(about to be updated for 2024!)

WHAT STUDENTS DO in 13 Days of Halloween:
In the program (and in the workshop!), students do these things, (with short daily creative musical prompts for each class, which end up culminating into the two pieces described below).

  • Learn about two 20th Century composers' works and compositional techniques (Schoenberg & Satie)
  • Make a 12-tone Row and One Permutation (it's okay if you have never done this before!  It's super fun!)
  • Learn/review, practice and create with ALL Minor Chords
  • Create a haunting GNOSSIENNE for piano in the style of Erik Satie
  • Create an IMPROVISATORY PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT for a dramatic, cinematic, spooky or spine-chilling reading or recitation

ALSO (WITHOUT REALIZING IT):
 students also do these things:

  • Review of the names of the all the keys (especially for sharps and flats away the staff)
  • Review how to notate sharps and flats (if you have them notate their 12-tone row). This opens a door for a short discussion on when to use a sharp name or a flat name, and how important it is to be consistent for young composers.
  • Grow their minor chord confidence, recognition, and independence (through doing this, I've become aware which of my students actually perceive as altered Major chords.  A good way to fix that.  Isolating minor chords this way helps their general fluency).
  • Open their ears and minds in preparation to exploring, understanding, and enjoying 20th Century music and atonality.
  • See themselves as music creators and begin to perceive music composition as a technique that can be practiced (not so nebulous)

Most importantly, and harder to quantify, is that I have found that each time I've worked through these materials with students, (which has been mostly one-on-one), all kinds of learning moments and music theory discussions emerge—things I had not anticipated, but when they have, I have an overwhelming feeling of—OMG-YES!!! I'M SO GLAD WE ARE DOING THIS.  Things my students *should* know—but don't quite—are revealed as they are busy trying to create, and I am able to teach concepts that have sudden relevance (which is, of course, when learning actually happens). 

I'd love to share this with you, and see what you create, too!

 

About Me
My name is Hollie Thomas.  I am technically a composer, classical and pop pianist, and a language turned music educator currently based in Austin, Texas, but I most identify with being a musical tinkerer.  The focus in my online teaching studio is developing curriculum and learning environments for building foundational chord fluency and freedom through creativity on piano.  I believe everyone was meant to understand and make new music freely and fluently daily, and I am here to connect with others who share this mission!