Composer for February…Carol Matz!
Background
Carol Matz is a composer, arranger, and teacher. She has written over 300 published titles for piano students, and presents workshops around the world. I attended Carol Matz’s workshop in March 2017, and was very impressed by her passion and enthusiasm for sharing music with students. You can read her interview here.
Popular Pieces
While browsing through music book stores a few years ago, I came across Carol Matz’s “Famous and Fun” series. She writes pop, classical, folk, Christmas, rock, Jewish, and duet music, as well as music geared toward adults.
It is easy to choose the appropriate level (1-5) for my students, and many of them love to choose something from the wide variety of styles. This series is excellent for supplementing any method book.
Her Christmas books are particularly popular in my studio:
Carol Matz has recently released a new interactive piano method (the first of its kind on the market). The levels are 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, with more levels to come. 1A starts with a “pre-reading” approach, which means students do not read on the staff yet. However, mid-way through the book, students are introduced to the musical clef. Each piece is accompanied by a teacher duet. The pieces are accompanied by black-and-white pictures.
The “interactive” part of this method comes from digital content that students can access after they purchase the hardcopy or digital copy (pdf) of the book. The online content corresponds with the method book, and includes theory games and activities, ear training, sight reading, technique sheets, extra pieces and more! These online activities augment and reinforce what the child is learning in the lesson, and allows parents to get more involved with their child’s progress at home over the course of the week.
I have used many of Carol Matz’s “Famous and Fun” books, and will be exploring her new series “Interactive Piano method” for young students who may benefit from the digital content.
Interested in starting your piano journey?
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