 Parents, thank you for coming to class! It was so fun to transpose (play a song in a different key or place on the keyboard from where it is originally written) and improvise (play notes not exactly as they are written on the page, such as playing a broken chord instead of a block chord). These skills are incredibly important for our complete musicians. Encourage your young musician to create their own music and play around with the music on the page in addition to learning how to play exactly what is written. Both skills are needed! Next week is Showtime for Halloween Night. I will be assessing if students can play the C minor red, blue, and yellow chords, and if they understand 3/4 time. I love that Let's Play Music is more than a piano course. Our ultimate goal is to teach full musicianship. Singing on pitch, hearing the pitches in our head (audiation) and internalizing the words in the songs to cement music concepts, will help bring about a top quality musician. Keep listening to the album and singing along! Homework: p. 36–37 Students write the note names on the blanks.  Let's Play Music Wait a minute ... This song isn't new! Using a song that our ears and fingers are VERY familiar with is a perfect stepping stone for being able to transpose. That's just a fancy word for reading notes in one key and playing in another. And it's kind of a big deal!! All of the foundational learning we've had in solfege, intervals, and skips and steps makes transposing super easy. We’ll have many more chances to transpose it this year. Kitty Casket Yep, you probably already guessed it. Similar to our 'Scratch My Back' game, this helps us feel that unresolved half cadence with our whole bodies! But, this time we will have the opportunity to play it with our hands as well.  Now that we have introduced the spaces in the bass clef, you will appreciate this educational parody of Meghan Trainor's music "All About That Bass" that reinforces the notes of the bass clef in a fun way! And just for fun, I have attached some coloring pages for our new 'Skaters' puppet show. Enjoy! 
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!
It was fun to see everybody play! If you haven't already sent me a video of Alouette, please text me or send it using Marco Polo. Homework: p. 32–35 Students can read about Mozart, the composer of "A Royal Problem" (which is really Symphony No. 40 in G minor) and need to label, add a repeat sign and double bar line, and determine which themes are major and minor. (See p. 60 in the Reference Section for the answers.) Song of Joy After experiencing it with our bodies, your child is ready to execute this tricky upbeat rhythm with their fingers. This song is also an opportunity to play as part of an ensemble in class and to audiate the model in their head while playing on their own. Speaking of playing as an ensemble staff, check out this live instrument flash mob of Ode to Joy in Spain! Hows it going with your flashcards? Have you shuffled in the treble clef lines yet? Click here for an online game to quiz your student on all of the treble clef notes we have learned so far! 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!
How about another Showtime?! Wasn't it fun to celebrate your child playing a piece by themselves? Before next lesson, I'd love for you to send me a quick video of your child playing Alouette with both hands (and singing!). You can use Marco Polo (preferred) or just send a text. Ask your child why the stems for the Bug Scale notes go in different directions. They should be able to tell you that notes below the 3rd line have stems going up on the right, while notes on or above the 3rd line have stems going down on the left. "1-2-3 Wheee!" I always say that the stems don't like to stick out of the staff! We are also working on rests by writing in half and whole rests in Alouette. Ask your child to show you their rests! And then ask them if Alouette is in 3/4 (lollipop) or 4/4 time (watermelon). They'll tell you what that means! Homework: p. 30–31 Students color the keys used for chords in the key of F Major. F Major Cadence How exciting to play our primary chords in a new key! We will learn to strengthen and stretch our fingers in a new way. The fingerings will feel familiar, but we will also need to use our newly acquired knowledge about 'magic keys' as well as our ear training to play our chords correctly. A Royal Problem Like all of our puppet shows, 'A Royal Problem' (Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor, 3rd movement) aids in the intelligent listening of classical music. We learned to recognize major and minor tonalities, staccato and legato themes, and continued our study of classical ABA (ternary) form. Our Royal Problem puppet show is really the 3rd Movement of Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This work has elicited varying interpretations from critics, but the most common perception today is that the symphony is tragic in tone and intensely emotional. Watch a full orchestra performance HERE. As you watch with your student, ask them to label the A (problem) and B (not a problem) section for you. This will prepare them for their homework next week. 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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