I brought solfa into my piano studio a few years ago, to help with sight singing. This has quickly expanded and I now try to include an aural exercise in every lesson.
Sometimes things get in the way, but if I miss a week, it’s first on the agenda the following week.
Doing an aural exercise in every lesson is so important because it helps with so many other aspects of music learning. Apart from the obvious benefits of being able to play by ear more easily, it also helps with general listening skills.
Have you ever had a student who just did not listen to themselves…at all?! An aural exercise each week will prevent that trend from taking hold.
Ear training doesn’t have to take long either. The beginner exercise you see in this video takes about 2 minutes of lesson time.
This student is really accurate, don’t expect all students to catch on this easily. If your student has real trouble, reduce to just two notes.
You can always expand this later but you want them to feel successful first. That’s the primary goal.
What are quick clips?
Colourful Keys Quick Clips are all about giving you a taste of what my lessons are actually like – in action.
I certainly don’t claim to be an expert, and I don’t have all the answers. I just know how much seeing real teaching with real students has helped me to grow and improve as a teacher.
Let me know what you think!
I hope you enjoyed this Colourful Keys Quick Clip. If you have any thoughts or questions, be sure to ask them in the Vibrant Music Studio Teachers group on Facebook or in the comments here, and do make sure to subscribe to my emails and YouTube channel to get notified when a new quick clip is published.
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Great clip! I love using slfa in my teaching. I have found it essential for sight dining later on for the response to be sung in tune. Do you ask for this too oncevstudents are comfortable?
Singing!!!
Once students
Yes, sight singing tests in exams are actually the reason I first started using solfa. Now we use it for ear training, transposing, theory and sight singing (regardless of whether they take an exam or not). 🙂
I love the idea of having them use body movements to represent the pitch! Bubble Tones is also a fun app that helps my students with basic solfa ear training.
Ooh good to know! Thanks Heidi! 🙂
Awesome, Nicola! I’ve been wondering how to incorporate solfa into my lessons (it wasn’t something I was introduced to until college), so this is perfect! I’m going to try it today! Do you wait to introduce the hand symbols, or do you introduce them at the same time you introduce the note names?
I use the hand symbols sometimes, mostly as we’re singing patterns of notes to practice the intervals. Some students know the hands signs from school (only a few) and those kids are welcome to use them all the time and often do.
Hi Nicola, I would like to incorporate singing into my lessons; so thank you for the tips! My question is, how do I approach it with a student who refuses to sing? I have a couple students that are very resistantvto singing. Even when I offer to sing together they won’t do it. What do I do? Thank you!
Just keep singing! Don’t force them but just say “let’s sing it!” and if they don’t join in with you that’s ok. Just keep doing it so it becomes normalised.