 We are enjoying the spooky sounds of the C minor cadence in class! Please peek over at your child while they are practicing and remind them to use the correct fingers for each chord (check HW Booklet p. 68), as well to 'slide in' to keep a good hand position and not having twisting to reach the black keys. Be sure your child is listening to the assigned songs each week — especially Magic Keys for this week! We are learning some fun (and challenging) new theory concepts, and those lyrics are really going to send it home for them. Homework: p. 28–29 Color the keys used for the C minor chord.  Ode to Joy We practiced hearing downbeats last year, now we’re listening for the upbeats as well. The downbeat is the first beat of the measure, and the upbeat just precedes that stronger downbeat. This song helps us feel that with our bodies — and helps us to get to know a little bit about Ludwig van Beethoven along the way! Halloween Night This 'spooky' song is a great repertoire piece to give us a little more practice on our C minor cadence. Hands will play together in our new 3/4 time signature, and we will even have an opportunity to try a bit of improvisation as the semester continues.  Even the Muppets like to have a little fun with the upbeat in Ode to Joy. Enjoy this fun video! For my convenience, I have preloaded content for the whole semester. I will update each future post with specific time-sensitive info before I send the link each week. If you choose to read ahead you might see details that don’t apply to your child’s class. For this reason I do not recommend reading ahead. Thank you!
Next week is our first “Showtime” week! I will be having the students show off however they have been practicing “Bounce and Roll” and assessing that they understand the skills being taught within that repertoire piece. They’ll get a little solo time with me to show me their stuff, I’ll make a little note about how they played on their semester progress report, and we’ll never play that song in class again. I don’t give “grades”, this is just to help me get an idea of each child’s individual progress on a song, their playing ability, and will also help me identify any “problem” spots that might need a little attention. I'd like to do this at the beginning of class, as soon as the kids enter class, so if you’re able to drop them off 5 minutes earlier, that would be helpful as well. Or you can "Marco Polo" me a video in the group I set up. Also, here are a couple tips for 3rd year:
Homework: p. 26–27 Students name the notes on the staff. Be sure your child is marking tallies for each time they practice a piece. The goal is 5 times a week on each song. Also, be sure to look at the specific instructions for each piece, since most pieces will NOT be played hands together for the entire piece every week! And don't miss the video listed at the bottom of this blog post! Your child will never forget the treble clef notes again! Magic Keys This song is a multi-tasker! It helps us understand key signatures and chord theory, plus gives us the opportunity to practice our scales and cadences while self accompanying. Wow! Now that's complete musicianship! Check out this blog post! Scratch My Back When a cadence pattern doesn't make it back 'home' to a red chord and gets stuck halfway on a yellow chord it is 'unresolved'. This fun activity helps us not only hear, but feel an unresolved half cadence with our whole body! Everyone did a great job pointing out flat, sharps, and naturals on their quiet keyboards in class this week. Here's an online version that you and your student can play at home (or on the go) any time, and here's a little 'accidental' humor for you this week. Now that we have 'unbanded' all of the Treble Clef notes in our flashcards, you will enjoy this Treble Clef parody of Taylor Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble! For my convenience, I have preloaded content for the whole semester. I will update each future post with specific time-sensitive info before I send the link each week. If you choose to read ahead you might see details that don’t apply to your child’s class. For this reason I do not recommend reading ahead. Thank you!
Next week is parent week and tuition is due on the 20th! Reminder: Class starts with our new "AbracaDObra" activity to find "DO is Home", then moves into learning to write music on the staff. Be sure to come a few minutes early so your child gets the most out of these opening activities! We’ll be adding new note flashcards on our next “parents day” class (Lesson 5), so now’s the time to make sure your student really has a handle on the Treble Clef Space Notes. It will be much easier for them to learn new notes if they’re already really good at identifying the old ones. Homework: p. 24–25 Students color in the key named below each keyboard. Alouette This song is jam packed with opportunities for musical development. We will further develop our sight reading skills (playing something we have never seen before), stretch our experience with playing intervals, encounter rhythmic reading and learn more about the classical ABA (ternary) form with our fingers instead of JUST our ears. And you thought it was just a fun song you remember singing as a kid! We also learned about the repeat sign this week and how it makes us 'repeat' something in the music. Here's a fun dance you could do with your child to help them remember to 'dot dot do it again'. For my convenience, I have preloaded content for the whole semester. I will update each future post with specific time-sensitive info before I send the link each week. If you choose to read ahead you might see details that don’t apply to your child’s class. For this reason I do not recommend reading ahead. Thank you!
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Clara McDonaldAs a music educator of 25 years, my passion is infusing others with music! Archives
May 2023
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