firework gold webHere is the latest edition of Great Finds! Happy Thanksgiving & Hannukah, (or Thanksgivukkah)!

Sight Reading Factory

Sight Reading Factory generates reading exercises that make musical sense. Instrument types and levels are easily configurable.  There are 5 levels of difficulty when you select piano. As the levels get higher readers are presented with more complex rhythms, larger leaps, expanded ranges, and increased accidentals. Level 1/2 is for those who have had about a year of lessons and Level 5 is for more advanced players. Key and time signatures are also completely configurable at each level so you could do Eb Minor at Level 1 if you really wanted to.

You can track what you or your students have been practicing via the new Dashboard.  Each exercise can be played as well as viewed. sight r FactBut, while you can check your work, the program does not actually listen to what you play and give you feedback. You can use a mobile device, desktop or laptop for generating and viewing the exercises. Sight reading can also be displayed on a SMART board or by projector if desired.

There are options for tracking a classroom or studio of students as well as individual accounts. The base price is $29.95 a year. There is a user referral program as well so you can earn extra months of usage on top of your chosen plan.  Chords will be included in the new updates which, according to information on the site, are due out soon.

I’m excited to try this out with my private and class piano students.

Holiday Sight Reading Challenge

Wendy Stevens, of Compose Create, shared a crackerjack Holiday Sight Reading Challenge on her blog.  Students decorate paper ornaments and put them up on the wall for all to see. For every 5 days of sight reading practice the get a large ornament. You can download the ornament template from the link above.

This would also be a wonderful home project for parents who what to motivate their students through the holiday season IMHO. Parents (or teachers) could start with leaves, move to icicles and snowflakes, on to ornaments for Christmas or Hannukah, and then finally to New Year’s hats and noisemakers (and possibly footballs).

Piano Technique Books

At PianoTechniqueBooks.com you can find a great number of books, eBooks, CDs, and videos on piano technique all in one place. Materials can be purchased individually or you can become a member (subscribe) and access the entire (growing) library of eBooks, videos, and music for one price of 9.99 monthly (cancelable at any time).

Resources include materials by Geiseking, Neuhaus, Fink, Sandor, Czerny, Matthay, Lister-Sink, and Tatum. Hardcover books are not included under the subscriber access blanket.

Panorama of American Music

Pianist Yvar Mikhashoff was well known for his monster concerts which lasted 4 or more hours. These Panoramas were organized around a single theme. In this Panorama of American Music, a survey of 62 works from 1911-1991 was presented. Thirty six composers were represented and there were 7 first recordings. The sets are organized by decade.

Listening to these selections truly does give a view of the world of piano composition in the 20th Century. I can’t wait to listen to the entire set.

 

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