The students are mastering the fingering placement for the yellow chord and gaining confidence as they continue to have successful experiences in class as well as at home. The Blue Chord will be taught next week! Celebrate Connection A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Red-Yellow Chord Transitions Remember when playing songs with chord transitions, it's important that the whole hand NOT lift completely off the keyboard between chords. If it does, then students must search to find out where it should land! Instead, remind your child for the red to yellow transition, ONLY the thumb should slide using fingers 1-2-5. Bunny’s Birdhouse The rat tat tats in Bunny's Birdhouse help with independent finger movement, in which one finger alone must press down to play the melody. It is important that the other fingers NOT lift way, way up off the keys (fly-aways!). Try to play with each finger gently staying on its key, so that the hand is always in C position. Also while practicing the rat tat tats, the top note is a G which is on the 2nd line. When practicing you can sing 2nd line, middle C, 2nd line again OR 5-5-5, 1-1-1, 5-5-5-5-5. Or Sol-Sol-Sol, Do-Do-Do, Sol-Sol-Sol-Sol-Sol OR Number 5, Number 1, Number 5 Again! Sol or G should be played with finger number 5 and the middle C with finger number 1 or the thumb. The ending is a Sol-Fa-Mi-Re-Do played with descending fingers 5-4-3-2-1. Turtle Shells Did you know that intervals can be played ANYWHERE on the keyboard? Any two keys right next to each other are a 2nd, skipping one key creates a 3rd, and skipping two keys creates a 4th. Ask your child to play for you a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or 5th anywhere on the keyboard. They are pros at this! BEEF, it’s what’s for dinner! Our new puppet show comes from a ballet named Rodeo written by Aaron Copland. Enjoy learning more about the composer and watching some excellent choreography while listening to the 4th movement of this ballet, Hoedown. Yee Haw! 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!
Remember to place the yellow stickers on your keyboard. Now that your child can play the yellow chord, there are more songs they are able to learn! Practice time will increase up to 5-10 mins. Adding this chord can be tricky for most students. If you find your child struggling, continue doing the Bubble Hand Exercise to strengthen those little muscles. Celebrate Connection A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Homework: p. 34–35 Students trace each chord and its pieces. Have your child tell you if it a Red, Blue, or Yellow chord. Chords in Pieces Chords in Pieces are simply each block red, yellow or blue chord BROKEN into 3 separate pieces or notes. The 3 notes of each chord can be in any order and they remain the same color chord, just rearranged in different patterns. For example the red chord can be rearranged in pieces of Do-Mi-Sol, Mi-Sol-Do, OR Sol-Do-Mi! All of these arrangements are still the red chord. This is the same for the blue and yellow. Row, Row, Row As you’re ROWING along this week, keep a slow and steady beat to really SINK in the Yellow Chord! To prepare to play the Yellow Chord, remind your child aurally and visually that only the thumb (#1) slides over to the next key. All other fingers (2, 3, 4, 5) stay put, lightly resting on the keys. As long as those fingers stay put, the hand has an anchor and the child knows where he is on the keyboard, even without looking. Our goal is to keep all of the fingers in contact with the keys, so they will be ready for quick transitions. Hoedown Print out the fun coloring pages that are attached below and turn on "Hoedown" while they color. Now that we're working on Row, Row, Row Your Boat in class, have fun watching this video of a children's choir leading or round, or this video of a guy singing with two more of himself in a round! 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!
I love seeing the coloring in students' piano books! It’s completely acceptable and we will color more in class! Celebrate Connection A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Homework: p. 32–33 Students identify solfege patterns. Primary Chords Song Do you want to build more snowmen? Combinations of intervals build chords. We will use ‘snowmen’ to teach the 3 common shapes of chords throughout the 2nd year of Let’s Play Music. A ROUND snowman shape represents the Red Chord built with two stacks of 3rds. A TOP-HEAVY snowman shape represents the Blue Chord built with a 4th on the bottom and a 3rd on the top. A BOTTOM-HEAVY snowman shape represents the YELLOW Chord built with a 3rd on the bottom and a 4th on the top. We can find melodic patterns in many songs! Feel free to print out and use the attached melodic pattern flashcards to become pros at hearing, singing, signing, AND playing them! Here are the patterns in some of the songs we are learning this semester. Sol-Fa-Mi-Re-Do: Dings in Firetruck, end of Row the Boat, end of Bunny’s Birdhouse Mi-Re-Do: Solfege Seafriends: end of octopus line, end of Farmer in the Dell, end of Sally Go Round Sol-Sol-Do: Solfege Seafriends: end of whale line Sol-La-Ti-Do: Say, Say Oh Playmate: ending
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
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