Lesson 5

Thank you, parents, for coming this week! It was fun playing on our floor staff again. Remember, Scale Degrees are just a fancy name for counting the notes of the scale. We assign each note of a scale a number according to its relationship to DO (1). Musicians will usually use Roman Numerals to denote scale degrees but we are simplifying things for now and will introduce Roman Numerals later.

Even though the students cannot play all three parts of New World at the same time, you (the parent) should be able to play a part or two with them at home. Have fun playing as a family ensemble!

Next week I will meet with your child in their 1st private lesson to begin creating their composition. We have been working during class to brainstorm ideas we might like to use and have been encouraging 'tinkering' at the keyboard at home. Please encourage your child to be thinking about a musical question (and maybe an answer) that we could work on together next week. This could be a simple melody or some chords that they have written down, can play, or even just hum. This is only the beginning of this process, so I'm not looking for you to send a 'finished' product. Please send your child with their HW Booklet as well as their Orange Roots Songbook so we can look over their Composer's Corner activities together. Thanks!

Homework: pp. 12–13 Students write in the scale degrees and answer questions. Be sure to use "1" for both low DO and high DO!

Composition
The composition is the culminating event for your Let's Play Music student! We have been experiencing, internalizing, and now labeling many things over our three year development as a young musician. We will rely on our knowledge of: major and minor, time signatures, chord uses and sounds, ABA song form, staccato and legato, theme and variations, block, broken, and marching chords, and MANY other skills that will help your child as they compose and create their own original composition.
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Magic Keys
This is our 2nd song to graduate up with us from our purple semester. As we continue to sing (and play this song) we will further expand our understanding of key signatures and note relationships — this is the KEY in transposing music! Our new verse allows us to understand and play in the key of G Major. Click here for a quick video to help with practicing. I have also attached a parent help that dissects the lyrics to Magic Keys with visual examples and simple explanations to better help you understand the theory concepts I am teaching in class.

magic_keys_theory_page.pdf
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Inspiration for composition can come in many ways. Here is a great story about a man who saw birds sitting on telephone wires and it inspired him to create his own composition. Can't wait to see where all of our students get their inspiration from! Excited to meet them all individually next week.