Midnight, our enormous, fluffy household pet and piano studio mascot has helped out with school science projects, has rid the studio from pesty flies, and she greets and entertains students during lessons. I composed the song, My Black Kitty in honor of my little friend. I gave this piece especially to one of my students who absolutely adores Midnight, to play the song in our Spring Piano Recital!
Medieval Melodies a Fairy Tale Suite Volume I and Medieval Melodies a Fairy Tale Suite Volume II are both available for downloads on sheet music plus as complete digital books. Medieval Melodies: A Fairy Tale Suite – Volume II for the iPad is also available for purchase in iBooks. The iPad version includes complete sound recordings and stunning art work for each piece. All of the illustrations were cleverly drawn by my ever-so-talented husband, Troy, and was an achievement of the combined talents of my brother, Tim Cox with his technical skills, and his wife, Jenny Cox as our fine editor.
My students have enjoyed these pieces immensely. Volume I is for the late beginner, and Volume II is for the intermediate level student. I trust your students will enjoy the fairy tale adventure hidden in these books as my students have enjoyed bringing them to life!
My amazing mother is a great example of the woman spoken of in Proverbs 31 of the Bible. She always works willingly with her hands and is completely selfless. (She made the dresses in the picture.) She taught me how to sew and cook and spent countless hours escorting me to piano lessons and ball games. Most importantly she taught me about God through her words and through her life. She inspired me to write this song,A Godly Mother. My sister in law, Deborah Cox, and I performed the piece on Mother’s Day at my mom’s church a few years ago. Our own daughters Charis and Amber, and Allison my brother Tim’s daughter joined us in singing, “Jesus Loves Me” as it ties into the song in a story format. “When I was a little girl, my mother sang ‘Jesus Loves Me’…”
My students did a tremendous job this year as they shared Christmas joy on the piano at our Rockingham Memorial Hospital!
Students always enjoy when I update my bean bag piano notes each season! Butterfly and bug bean bags have proved to be a great summer time hit. We use them for notes games, intervals and theory.
Scarves are a wonderful prop to spark a preschooler’s imagination and are great for Junior Church, preschool music or anytime there is a group of active little ones. The children can pretend they are a Clumsy Dragon, fish swimming in an ocean or flowers springing forth with color. The ideas are endless! The scarves are 9′ by 9′ and come in a variety of colors. I ordered mine from Music in Motion.
Troy and I recently celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary, and I am so thankful for the life we have had together. I always counsel any single person how important it is to wait on God for the right spouse. We sang to each other on that very special day – God Gave You to Me. Troy wrote the lyrics to the verse he sang to me, and I wrote the words I sang to him. I received many requests for this piece, and finally here it is – (We have just been a little busy – having three children, studying for the ministry etc.)
C-Christmas Tree D-Dog E-Egg Ornament F-Frosty G-Gift A-Angel B-Baby Jesus
The students liked the original set of Keyboard Kritters, and emphatically expressed they wanted “more” for Christmas! Ideas: I ask the students to place the correct Kritters on the starting notes for both hands when introducing a piece, or sometimes when there is a tricky chromatic section I’ll have them place the Kritters on that passage of notes before playing. We also routinely use the Keyboard Kritters for flash cards. My younger students have enjoyed the added “spice” to the lessons!
Our first Christmas together as newly weds, I quickly learned that Gingerbread cookies were indeed my husband’s favorite! One year I made the mistake of only doubling the recipe instead of tripling the amount of dough! Oops – big mistake! This early elementary level piece, Gingerbread Cookies is a fun and festive piece. My children and I are gearing up soon to make our Gingerbread Cookies!
I also would like to introduce an intermediate level Christmas piano piece, Sleigh Ride, in which you can imagine being swept away across the snow! This has been a favorite among my students.
We tried out our fall glow in the dark bean bags on our glow in the dark grand staff mat now that the time has changed, and boom – the students loved it! I added glow in the dark paint to my existing bean bags and to the lines on my grand staff to create this “special effect”. My older students even joined in on the fun! (Sassy Kitty always enjoys this part of the lesson too!)
Laura Swagerty 