Chad D. Thomas

Monday, September 4, 2017

NFL Golf Umbrella

Windfarm 101: Is Your Land Ideal for a Wind Turbine?

While I'm out of the office this week (on vacation with my family – WOOHOO!!), I wanted to give the stage to Susy Bento, the marketing and communications manager at Alcen Renewable. If the idea of using your vacant land to produce renewable energy has ever sounded interesting or appealing to you, I think you'll […]

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Friday, September 1, 2017

Hiatus Interruptus #4

Okay, so come Tuesday I'll finally be firing up this whole bike-blogging media machine again, at which point the whole rickety contraption will start sputtering to life in a cloud of putrid black smoke. In the meantime, however, here's my latest column for Outside, which is all about why short rides are awesome:

Yes, in case you didn't know, long rides are totally déclassé should be consigned to the recycling bin along with 23mm tires and that hideous Kelme cycling jersey that somehow infiltrated your wardrobe, though I predict they'll mysteriously come back into style just as soon as my children are grown up and out of the house.

Funny how that works.

Oh, and speaking of my Outside column, you'll be pleased to know the trendy gravel tire I purchased in my last one performed admirably on some actual Vermont gravel:

And don't worry, at a tasteful 30-ish miles this particular excursion still qualified as fashionably short.

OK, that's it for me. I'm off to nurse the last few sips of my vacation, and I'll see you all back here on Tuesday, September 5th, assuming I don't decide to retire between now and then.

Ride safe,

--Wildcat Rock Machine

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Golf Wind Chime

Golf Wind Chimes

Ridiculous Golf Item of the Week

The post Golf Wind Chime appeared first on GolfBlogger Golf Blog.

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Weekend competition and review: Improve your sight-reading! Teacher’s book

Educationalist Paul Harris has written countless publications (over 500), and many have graced my music desk, both for my students (Improve your sight-reading! series, Improve your aural! series), and for my own reading (Simultaneous Learning, The Virtuoso Teacher).

This new volume (published by Faber Music) is intended to help teachers teach their students to sight-read. So just how important is a book like this? Very! I frequently run courses and workshops about sight-reading, such is the demand for finding the optimum way to improve what is essentially a demanding skill.

In this helpful publication, Paul has taken his own formulae, and carefully dissected it, step by step, running through the most important aspects, helping teachers to grasp a clearer understanding of how to ‘put it across’ easily to their pupils in lessons (always a challenge).

The book opens with much written information covering what must be considered before playing a note (I’m very keen on this; good sight-reading begins with sound preparation). Teachers are then guided through the most vital steps. After a note on how to use the book (and the Improve your sight-reading! series), everything is examined from developing musicality, to multitasking (which runs through the basics, such as rhythm, note and melodic patterns, verbalising, reading ahead, remembering the key, fingering) and the crucial Super Golden Rules. Handy sight-reading warm-up tips appear, before moving to the main body of the volume, which works through copious musical examples (in a similar manner to the Improve your sight-reading! series, but with more practice tips to implement in piano lessons).

Based on the Grade 1 – Grade 5 (ABRSM) piano exams, there are several stages of learning for each grade; each one focuses on a particular element (stage 1 in Grade 1 highlights the time signature 4/4, the crotchet beat and rest, and the key of C major, for example). These stages are clearly set out at the beginning of the chapter (for every grade), alongside an Activities notice board which seeks to explain various activities to be introduced to students whilst working through the corresponding chapters. Once the various stages have been worked through (with a page of musical tests for each one), we move onto Grade 2.

This book succinctly explains how to address the sight-reading factor, and teachers will no doubt find it a practical, convenient volume to keep at the side of the piano.

I have one copy to give away in my Weekend Competition, so please leave your name and comment in the comment box at the end of this post, and I’ll announce the winner on Monday evening. Good Luck!

You can find out more about this publication here.

My Books:

For much more information about practising repertoire, take a look at my two-book piano course, Play it again: PIANO (Schott). Covering a huge array of styles and genres, 49 progressive pieces from approximately Grade 1 – 8 are featured, with at least two pages of practice tips for every piece.

If you’re thinking about learning to play the piano, my guide-book, So You Want To Play The Piano? (Alfred) is full of useful help and support.

The Faber Music Piano Anthology (Faber) is also a valuable resource for those who desire a collection of standard repertoire from Grades 2 – 8, featuring 78 pieces in total.

My Compositions:

I have written a selection of educational piano music (both solo and duet) and you can hear it and find out much more here: EVC Music Publications.

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