Lesson 5

Parents, thank you for coming today!

Be sure to practice keyboard letter names with the Alphabet Pieces Game. Remember that students should be using the visual cue card in the back of their songbook, rather than counting up to find their notes.

Celebrate Connection
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Blink with each note/chord you play in the bass clef (LH).
• Knock on the wood/plastic of your keyboard when you come to Mr. Rests.

Homework pp. 12–13: Students fill in keyboard letter names and identify notes.

Bass C and Treble C
The 3 C’s are in a family; they have different first names and the same last name! We’ve known Middle C since last semester. This week we introduced Bass C and Treble C. Ask your child to sing "The 2nd Space is C in the BASS" AND "Space 1, 2, 3 is Treble C"! These anchor notes on the staff will help orient us as we expand our keyboard skills.

C Major Scale
Knowing Treble C, we can play the C Major Scale going DOWN. Begin with RH finger number 5 on Treble C. (The C above middle C.) Play Do, Ti, La, Sol, Fa (fingers 5-4-3-2-1) then POP finger number 3 over the thumb to play MI. Reset the BUBBLE hand and finish the scale with Re-Do (fingers 2-1).

I am Robin Hood
"Shoo-oot the Ar-row, Waa-atch it fly ...", teaches us how to feel and play the dotted quarter eighth note pattern right on target. To feel this rhythm more accurately, dance with the music, stomp out the rhythm with hands and feet, or even sit them on your lap and bounce your knees up and down to the rhythm while chanting the song together. Mix up practice with this song by playing the bass clef 5th an octave lower to really sound like a deep drum!

Hickory Dickory Dock
This song introduces parallel motion as well as following a steady beat using a metronome. Have students "tick-tock" their hands back and forth in the air to get used to the motion of play LH 5 and RH 1, then tipping to the other side for LH 1 and RH 5.

Mr. Rest
Could you believe all the musical symbols Old MacDonald had on his musical farm? A rest, though played with silence, is a very important aspect of music. Mozart said, “The music is not in the notes but in the silence between.” Rests are powerful!

Playing the Alphabet Pieces game every day will help us solidify keyboard geography by learning the names of ALL of the white keys. Enjoy playing this game with its theme and variations!