Reminder: Parents attend next week. Be sure to put your yellow stickers on Bass Clef Notes B, D, G for the left hand. Celebrate Connection
Homework pp. 10–11: Students write the finger numbers on the keys for C position and Middle C position. We went over this several times in class but students can certainly use the Reference Section p. 55 to check out the answers. C Position & Middle C Position How can you tell the difference between these two hand positions? 1. C Position: RH Thumb (Finger 1) is on Middle C and LH Pinky (Finger 5) is on Bass C. 2. Middle C Position: both Thumbs (Fingers 1) share Middle C. We call it butterfly position! A fun review is to chant each position, simply moving the LEFT HAND back and forth. Practice in the air, at the kitchen table, in the car running errands, and of course on the piano! C Major Scale We learned how to play UP the C Major Scale (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do) with our LEFT HAND. We don’t have enough fingers to play this scale, so we learned how to POP our bubble hands and then reset them to complete the scale. I am Robin Hood Sing the melody together while parents drum along on laps, the edge of the piano, or on a pot. Switch places so parents can play and kiddos can drum! Students should enjoy ‘drumming’ the slow slugs on the piano with the interval of a 5th using Left Hand fingers 5 and 1 when practicing this song. YELLOW Chord This bottom heavy chord is built with a 3rd on the bottom and a 4th on the top using LH fingers 5-3-1. Place Left Hand in C Position. SLIDE Finger 5 (pinky) and Finger 3 (middle finger) down one baby step while Finger 1 (thumb) stays put. We call our new puppet show “The Pirate Ship” but the real title is Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms. The Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes. They are among Brahms' most popular works, and were certainly the most profitable for him. Each dance has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. Brahms originally wrote the version for piano four-hands and later arranged the first 10 dances for solo piano. The most famous is Hungarian Dance No. 5.
Use this week to get your left hand red-blue chord transition solidified before we add the yellow chord next week. We should be getting to the point where we can play this transition with our eyes closed and even hands together! (That's tricky because the fingering is different for the RH than the LH. Only try it hands together when the muscle memory is solid in each hand separately). Celebrate Connection A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Homework pp. 8–9: Students trace and color notes to indicate baby steps, skips, and leaps. Caterpillar Song WOW! Our caterpillars are getting smoother and steadier with this 5 finger pattern! As your child progresses playing this song, watch for these 4 things: 1. Bubble Hand 2. Strong Independent Fingers 3. Smooth Sound 4. Steady Rhythm Turtle Shells Let's play our “Turtle Shell” intervals with the left hand! Using fingers 4 & 5 to play a 2nd is tougher than using the RH 1 & 2, so try warming up with “Where is 4? Where is 5?” before playing the interval. Repeat for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Enjoy a little twist on the classic game Twister to reinforce and strengthen those finger numbers. Love Somebody We LOVE when our parents play along with us! Share more love with your child by playing an octave higher or accompanying together with the chords while listening to the album. Ask your child to teach your family the ‘LOVELY’ game that accompanies this song! I am Robin Hood "I am Robin Hood" is used to introduce quarter rests and the notoriously challenging dotted quarter-eighth note pattern with a fun and full-body experience. Practice "shooting" an arrow with your child while singing and notice the hesitation needed to sing "Sho-ot the arrow, Wa-atch it fly!" Also, the open 5th in the left hand is a particularly satisfying sound to young children, resembling the sound of drums, and is easy to play! Echo Edna, a silly tool to help students let go of their inhibitions, helps our students in class be able to recognize steps and skips on the staff, sing them, AND play them. Teaching our students to read music using steps and skips leads to more fluent playing and better sight-reading.
"Simon Says to Step or Skip" is a fun game to practice this concept at home. Print or make your own step, skip, up, and down cards. A fun way to add tactile and visual reinforcement is to use small pencil top erasers or any small toy as a starting note and then step or skip with another one. It’s So Fun! Be sure to listen to the specified album songs and practice each piece. Sitting with your child at the beginning of the practice week will instill good habits and allow you to correct any fingering or note mistakes. Then they can successfully practice on their own the rest of the week! Place blue stickers on your piano for the Left Hand C-F-A and reinforce the correct fingering of 5-2-1. Celebrate Connection A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Homework pp. 6–7: Students are filling in the crossword puzzle using the music alphabet. Remember, after G comes letter A! Music Alphabet “The first 3 notes just happen to be Do Re Mi!” Maria got it right teaching the von Trapp children the solfege before note names. We are getting ready to label all of the white keys on the piano. This begins with the music alphabet — C D E F G A B! Block and Broken Playing music is like reading a book. We start at the left side of the page and move our eyes to the right. When the note changes, so do our fingers. Help guide this song while sitting on the left of your child and pointing to the notes in each measure. Once your child is comfortable playing the song, practice making sure each measure gets 3 steady beats. Feel free to sing, “RED-2-3; DO-MI-SOL. BLUE-2-3; DO FA LA,” etc…This will help your student understand how to read the music and work towards playing this song with a steady beat. Snowflakes are Falling Brrr ... it’s cold outside! Warm up inside your home by playing this ostinato on the tone bells. Sing starting on RE, “Snowflakes are falling, falling very gently”. Then play LA, SOL, FA, MI for “down, down, down, down”. Try it in a round as a family around the fire with the music album! Who Am I? I’m the SPIDEY BLUE CHORD!
Spin a chord of fun playing the Left Hand Blue Chord with fingers 5-2-1. |
Clara McDonaldAs a music educator of 25 years, my passion is infusing others with music! Archives
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