Here is what we did in class this week:

• We reviewed the order of sharps and practiced drawing sharps
  • The middle space of the sharp sign needs to be centered over the line or space where the sharp is meant to be. Otherwise we can't tell which note we're trying to make sharp!

• We worked on Hanon #1 and got better at the transitions between all the chords on the bottom row. Soon we'll be able to play hands together and up to tempo!
• We did The Pirate Ship puppet show because we'll be learning about Johannas Brahms this week and he wrote that music!
• We got to play our chord progressions from page 32 for our classmates. 
  • Some of us would like to change ours a little before next week so we can make it sound even better! 
  • We'll be adding a melody for our chord progressions soon, so your child should be thinking of something that will sound good with the chords they chose.

• I worked with each of the kids during class to see what was working and not working with their primary songs. I added finger numbers to everywhere they had to play something that didn't already have the correct finger over it. I emailed a PDF of their song to each parent so they can begin working with the new updates. Please print it for them! If you can't print it, please let me know. I had to finalize each piece after class was over, so I couldn't get the kids a hard copy before they left.
• The kids should break down their primary song by practicing the first line only of their song this week.
  • Your child should play slowly until they can get all the notes correct and speed up ONLY when they can play without making mistakes.
  • Help your child memorize the 1st line of their song this week! If they only practiced the 1st line the past 2 weeks, this should be easy!
  • Here is a web page I made with all the primary songs and the MP3s so you know what they sound like.
  • Your child is welcome to learn any of the other primary songs ONLY AFTER they have learned their own song.

This week your child will do the red highlighted assignments at home! Parents don't need to initial this week, but I do need to see tally marks on the red lines for the kids to get their reward in class!

I have added additional flashcards to my Quizlet collection. You can access those on my website, or through Quizlet.com. I have also added a few sets to the "Repertoire" section of the Student Portal. Please let me know if you are using these resources and I will continue adding to it! Also let me know if you can't get them to work! (Sometimes things work fine for me as the teacher, but not so well for the students and I have no way of knowing if nobody tells me they aren't working!)

Don't forget to please help your child pass off their songs and scales to earn pins! You just need to send me a video of them playing. The scales can be played with or without the back track, but they need to be perfect at least one time with both hands.

I added more pins your child can very easily earn! 

• The yellow ones are the short songs that come after the scales/chords/arpeggios/inversions in the red book. When they can play all the songs in a given key, they will earn that pin
• The other pins are for 
  • Canon in C (playing one of the variations of the chord progression) 
  • Welcome to Bridge song
  • Paint's Mountain Adventure
  • Dinosaur Triads
  • Major Scale Magic
  • That's How You Make a Minor Scale

I'm getting a lot more pass-off lately! Keep it up!

• We reviewed how to create scales by playing hopscotch
  • Major: WWHWWWH
  • minor: WHWWHWW

• We practiced counting rhythms with bugs and actual counting using fun jingle bells
• We did the Skaters puppet show because we talked about Johann Strauss II and he wrote that music!
• We practiced feeling a strong beat by playing "One Potato, Two Potato" with beanbags
• We reviewed how to transition between the different chords on the bottom line of Hanon #1. The purple chord feels just like the yellow chord but your fingers move up instead of down.
• We practiced wrist circles in Starry Sky.
• We reviewed Love Somebody so that we'll soon be able to transpose it to the key of D Major

• The kids should break down their primary song by practicing the first line only of their song this week.
  • This will help them memorize their song if they are only doing a little bit at a time and perfecting it.
  • Your child should play slowly until they can get all the notes correct and speed up ONLY when they can play without making mistakes.
  • Each child got something that they should be able to manage with some practice, but it shouldn't be too difficult. 
  • If they would like to sing the words to their song, just let me know and I'll give them a copy with lyrics. 
  • Here is a web page I made with all the primary songs and the MP3s so you know what they sound like.
  • Your child is welcome to learn any of the other primary songs only AFTER they have learned their own song.
  • If they would like a different song, let me know and I'll see what I can do.

This week your child will do the blue highlighted assignments at home! Parents don't need to initial this week, but I do need to see tally marks on the red lines for the kids to get their reward in class!

I have added additional flashcards to my Quizlet collection. You can access those on my website, or through Quizlet.com. I have also added a few sets to the "Repertoire" section of the Student Portal. Please let me know if you are using these resources and I will continue adding to it! Also let me know if you can't get them to work! (Sometimes things work fine for me as the teacher, but not so well for the students and I have no way of knowing if nobody tells me they aren't working!)

Don't forget to please help your child pass off their songs and scales to earn pins! You just need to send me a video of them playing. The scales can be played with or without the back track, but they need to be perfect at least one time with both hands.

I'm getting a lot more pass-off lately! Keep it up!

Here is what we did in class this week:

• We reviewed the key of D minor and learned to do the chord progressions.
  • We use the notes of a HARMONIC scale because the TI leads back to DO better than te does.
  • Here is the solfege we use for our chords (compare with the diagrams below)
    • I Chord = DO-me-SOL
    • IV Chord = DO-FA-le
    • V Chord = TI-RE-SOL (instead of te RE SOL)
    • V7 Chord = TI-FA-SOL

• ARPEGGIOS are just playing the I chord broken using both hands
• INVERSIONS are the same as they are in the key of C Major but starting one whole step farther up. 
• There are no black keys for arpeggios or inversions but they still sound minor.
• If your child hasn't passed off any scales yet, they can definitely begin with the d minor scale and songs on p. 30-33
• If you have any questions about the key of d minor, please feel free to ask!
• The kids can pass off Land of the Silver Birch by playing either Triads or Performance version.
  • In this song, we play the V chord MAJOR, rather than minor
    • To make a chord major, we move the middle note UP a half step

• The kids should break down their primary song by practicing the first line only of their song both this week and next week.
  • This will help them memorize their song if they are only doing a little bit at a time and perfecting it.
  • Your child should play slowly until they can get all the notes correct and speed up ONLY when they can play without making mistakes.
  • Each child got something that they should be able to manage with some practice, but it shouldn't be too difficult. 
  • If they would like to sing the words to their song, just let me know and I'll give them a copy with lyrics. 
  • Here is a web page I made with all the primary songs and the MP3s so you know what they sound like.
  • Your child is welcome to learn any of the other primary songs only AFTER they have learned their own song.

This week your child will do the red highlighted assignments at home! Parents don't need to initial this week, but I do need to see tally marks on the red lines for the kids to get their reward in class!

I have added additional flashcards to my Quizlet collection. You can access those on my website, or through Quizlet.com. I have also added a few sets to the "Repertoire" section of the Student Portal. Please let me know if you are using these resources and I will continue adding to it! Also let me know if you can't get them to work! (Sometimes things work fine for me as the teacher, but not so well for the students and I have no way of knowing if nobody tells me they aren't working!)

Don't forget to please help your child pass off their songs and scales to earn pins! You just need to send me a video of them playing. The scales can be played with or without the back track, but they need to be perfect at least one time with both hands.

Here is what we did in class this week:

• We learned about Charles Gounod
  • His most famous song is Ave Maria
  • He wrote the song we use for our March of the Gnomes puppet show
• We practiced pencil pointing while counting out loud to our rhythms
• We learned the key of D minor
  • There is just one flat, a B♭
  • D minor is the relative minor to F Major
  • The fingering is the same as a C scale, but there is a black key on the 6th degree

• Land of the Silver Birch Triads song uses these same triads
  • In this song, we play the V chord MAJOR, rather than minor
    • To make a chord major, we move the middle note UP a half step

• The kids were each given a primary song they will get to play for the recital at the end of the year (in addition to the song they will compose). 
  • Each child got something that they should be able to manage with some practice, but it shouldn't be too difficult. 
  • If they would like to sing the words to their song, just let me know and I'll give them a copy with lyrics. 
  • Here is a web page I made with all the primary songs and the MP3s so you know what they sound like.
  • Your child is welcome to learn any of the other primary songs AFTER they have learned their own song.

This week your child will do the blue highlighted assignments at home! Parents, please initial the whole page so your child can get their reward in class!

I have added additional flashcards to my Quizlet collection. You can access those on my website, or through Quizlet.com. I have also added a few sets to the "Repertoire" section of the Student Portal. Please let me know if you are using these resources so I can continue adding to it! Also let me know if you can't get them to work! (Sometimes things work fine for me as the teacher, but not so well for the students and I have no way of knowing if nobody tells me they aren't working!)

Don't forget to please help your child pass off their songs and scales to earn pins! You just need to send me a video of them playing. The scales can be played with or without the back track, but they need to be perfect at least one time with both hands.

Here is what we did in class this week:

• We reviewed that chords can be any shape, but it is the pieces that matter!
  • We color coded our song on page 16 of the blue songbook based on what number the chord is, rather than by its shape. 
    • Red is always the I chord (1st scale degree) 
      • In the key of F, the root is F
      • In our song, these are the top heavy chords (2nd inversion)
    • Blue is always the IV chord (4th scale degree)
      • In the key of F, the root is B♭
      • In our song we don't have any bottom heavy chords (1st inversion)
    • Yellow is always the V chord (5th scale degree) 
      • In the key of F, the root is C
      • In our song, these are the snowman shaped chords (root position)
• We learned a new chord in our Hanon #1 song on page 5 of our red technique book!
  • The second chord on the bottom line is iv
    • This is the only minor chord (lower case roman numerals) that we play in this chord progression, the rest are Major chords (capital roman numerals)
    • We will refer to this new chord as the Purple chord
    • It is only one note different than the red chord, but the fingering is different for the middle note!
      • RH fingering is 1, 2, 5
      • LH fingering is 5, 3, 1
    • It feels EXACTLY the same as the fingering for a yellow chord, BUT your bottom finger (5 in LH and 1 in RH) stays where it is and the other fingers move up from when you play a red chord.

• Have your child practice going back and forth between the red and purple chords and between the purple and blue chords
• We reviewed our different Chord Progressions for the song "Canon in C"
  • Have your child experiment with the different styles at the bottom of the page while playing the chords in the order they are in the box in the middle of the page.
  • I made a recording of how each variation sounds as they are being played. You can listen to them here!
    • There is a track for hearing each style one time each and another track that has each style played two times in a row.
    • Have your child play along with the recordings!
    • The 3rd style is detailed out individually because it's the one the kids liked the most.
• The kids all got to perform something they were proud of in class today!
• We reviewed our tempo terms and listened to songs that go along with the different speeds
  • Largo: very slow 
    • New World Symphony
  • Andante: walking speed
    • Waltz of the Flowers
  • Moderato: medium speed
    • Skaters
  • Allegro: fast
    • Hoedown
  • Presto: very fast
    • Flight of the Bumblebee
  • You can hear all of these examples in a file that is in the Online Resources area of the Student Portal on my website (www.musikandme.com). You will need to be logged in (at the bottom on a phone or in the right panel on a computer) to be able to get to this file. It is called "tempo examples-slow to fast" and you can play it directly from the website once you get to it.

This week your child will do the red highlighted assignments at home! This week is a very easy week, so please be sure your child is getting 5 tally marks on each red item! It won't need to be initialed this week, but if the tally marks are there, they will earn a treat!

I have added additional flashcards to my Quizlet collection. You can access those on my website, or through Quizlet.com. I have also added a few sets to the "Repertoire" section of the Student Portal. Please let me know if you are using these resources so I can continue adding to it! Also let me know if you can't get them to work! (Sometimes things work fine for me as the teacher, but not so well for the students and I have no way of knowing if nobody tells me they aren't working!)

Don't forget to please help your child pass off their songs and scales to earn pins! You just need to send me a video of them playing. The scales can be played with or without the back track, but they need to be perfect at least one time with both hands.