The Consulting Arts
The Consulting Arts spawns environments that are catalysts for creativity, focusing on piano, voice, creativity coaching, art and writing. Karen Smith-Will teaches students of all ages and with various learning styles, disabilities, and health concerns. Typically her students' ages range from 5-100, and accommodations can be made for exceptional students.
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Why music?
- Great for an aging brain - a longitudinal study with >1000 participants. Another longitudinal study from Australia
- Great for fine motor control - a study demonstrating how pianists have control over nuance, aka "timbre."
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: The Consulting Arts
Virtually all of our students at The Consulting Arts have a strategy for learning music theory. Some of them have separate Theory books, in addition to their lesson books. Some students have whole sessions on a difficult topic (like the circle of fifths), or go through lengthy sessions taught by one of our friends, a former music professor.
One of the readers of this blog, Anna, brought to my attention that that there are many additional resources that can be useful. She is a Girl Scout, and her message reminded me that many of our students have been scouts.
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: The Consulting Arts
How many days a month do you listen to music? Practice music? Play music for others? Lead music professionally, as a performer or as a teacher?
The 25 students of The Consulting Arts made it their goal to play or sing music every day during the month. And you know what? It was hard! Every student we have participates in multiple activities…BUT—they still tried. All our students increased the number of days they played music in October 2017.
The winner of the contest (link to original article), with 29 days of music in October, was Anna DeLung.
Read more: Play Days 2017 is finished—& music can improve your life!
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: The Consulting Arts
This contest exclusively for registered The Consulting Arts students is inspired by one of my friends who has always said that instead of calling it “practice,” you should just call it “playing music.”
How many days of the month do you really play or sing? Now that you’ve started back to the routine of Fall, you should have a good idea of where music fits in your new schedule. The TCA student that plays the most days in October 2017 will be the winner. If there is a tie—we hope there will be tons of students that play every day in October!—there will be a drawing on Wednesday, November 1.
Prize: 2 Exhibits Tickets to the Science Museum of Virginia (expiration November 30, 2018)
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: The Consulting Arts
A theme that occasionally emerges in my conversations with others is the relationship between "sacred" and "secular:" is there a continuum between the two concepts? Should the two be considered as mutually exclusive? In viewing an award-winning documentary this evening, A Model for Matisse, I was struck by Henri Matisse's own observations on this dichotomy: "I’ve always sought that the earthly nourishment of my art may reveal His manifest glory to those who are blind to it."
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- Written by: Karen Smith-Will
- Category: The Consulting Arts
Reading individual notes is a incremental building block that can later be used for sight reading music. These games make sight reading fun to learn and competitive:
- Reading on the Treble or Bass Clef (has 10 levels and has a score)- http://www.vicfirth.com/education/keyboard/speednotegame.php
- Reading on the Treble or Bass Clef (has 3 levels and has a score) - http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/music/namethatnote.htm
Bonus:
Sight reading series - I Can Read Music: A Note Reading Book for Violin Students by Joanne Martin - this series is available for the treble staff. Wish they had one for bass! Although it says it is "for Violin" Students, it can easily be used for voice practice.