Lesson #13

Thank you, parents, for coming to class this week! You are an integral part of your child's music education!
       
If you are paying monthly, final tuition is due this week.

Just so you know, Station Day is coming up on Lesson 15. That is also a parent day! A circuit of musical stations will be set up for the kids to rotate through. Each station will review the skills and concepts taught in class. One of the stations will be an 'interview' with me to show you how much your student has accomplished this fall!
       
Just a sneak peak at some of the musical skills and concepts that have been taught during Green Turtle Shells:
       
Skills:

1. Keyboard posture, hand & finger placement
2. Clapping & counting 4 count rhythms using rhythm cards
3. Playing steps and skips from notation
4. Playing primary chords with RH without looking at hand
5. Playing intervals of a 2nd, 3rd, & 4th
6. Playing individual fingers (SFMRD)

Concepts:  

1. Identifying middle C
2. Identifying C & F by playing on keyboard
3. Demonstrates knowledge of finger numbers
4. Identifying bug rhythms
5. Distinguishing steps & skips on staff
6. Identifying primary chords by notation
7. Identifying intervals by notation
8. Identifying melodic patterns by notation

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

• Make up a song for 5 minutes at the beginning or end of practice time
• Have a digital piano or keyboard at home? Change the "voice" for every song you play.
• After you've finished all your songs, roll a die and have chocolate chips, raisins, tiny marshmallows, etc. according to the number rolled.

Blue Sky  
Every time the word BLUE is said in this song we play a Blue Chord. Can you make up your own song with the Red, Blue, and Yellow Chord? Every time you or your child sings the color, play the corresponding chord! Check for correct fingerings!   
       
Primary Chord Transitions  
Transitioning between the primary chords should now be somewhat mastered by the RH. Enjoy playing “The Fabulous 5”: a fun game to help your student reinforce chord transitions! Invite your student to play the red and blue chord 5 times back and forth, back and forth (or the red to yellow whatever they need the most to work on.) The only catch is it has to be perfect! No mistakes whatsoever. If they mess up they get to start over. Once they can do this 5 times in a row perfectly, they get a HIGH 5 from you with oodles of fabulous praise!

REMINDER: It is crucial that your child is using correct finger numbers on the chords. The numbers next to the chords in the book are the ones to use WITHOUT EXCEPTION!

Bubble Hands  
This is an invaluable exercise. It reviews finger numbers, and strengthens fingers as well as promotes independent finger movement. Remember that as the children play chords and single notes, they most likely will not be able to keep a bubble hand. This is the ideal – the goal to work toward. As long as the child can form bubble hand in C position, we are on the path toward the goal.

Bonus Songs  
The appendix of the student songbook contains Frosty the Snowman and Silent Night. We won't play these in class at all, but once the chord transitions are mastered, these songs are so fun and easy to play. They are a great review over the holidays.

Brown Jug  
The Brown Jug game is another fun activity to play at home with a parent or whole family. You just need a playground ball and a little bit of room to roll and catch. It is easier at first to chant "roll, catch" and then begin the song. This is a great way to emphasize how the hands and body must keep the beat while making music! The kids have to be able to predict how hard to roll the ball so that it reaches the person on the beat. This same skill is required when playing a chord on the beat because they have to predict when to lift their hand so that it comes back down right on time.  

Can't Bug Me: Rhythm Ensemble  
The games we play with our percussion instruments help us practice sight reading rhythms, but just as importantly, they help us practice ensemble skills. It takes practice to come in all together, to keep a steady beat internally to stay together, to keep up with the group even when we make mistakes, and to listen to each other to sound like one. WOW!

Harmony Happenings
Our journey to learn harmony started last year singing a repeating pattern alongside a melody (Ding dong in Hear How the Bells). Then we sang in a round (3 Blind Mice). This year we’ve worked on a counter melody or two melodies sung on top of each other (Horsey Horsey). Then we introduced a 4-part counter melody (Solfege Seafriends). This week we sang Solfege Seafriends in a true canon, which is like singing 4 different melodies in a round. It's pretty tricky, but such a good exercise! Enjoy these arrangements of the famous Pachelbel’s Canon on piano and with a string ensemble.


  

Here is a link to all the skills videos as well as the link to be able to purchase a class video to make up for a missed class. (tap or scan)

Lesson #12

Next week parents attend and tuition is due for those making monthly payments! (Last one this semester!) 

We have been working hard on the transition between the red and blue chords. Please help your child practice if they are struggling with that at all! Our goal is to be able to play these chords without needing to think about it at all (eventually doing it with eyes closed). Don't forget, we use the same fingers for red and blue chords (1-3-5), and our thumb is the anchor so it doesn't move at all!

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

• Set a stopwatch on a parent's phone and time how long it takes to get through a song with perfect, even rhythm, and chords.
• Put on a concert for stuffed animals.
• Sing along with a Spanish accent.

Mystery Bug
We played a new rhythm game called Mystery Bug. 3 separate rhythm cards are laid out on the 1st, 2nd, and 4th beat. The 3rd beat is empty (turned over) and is the Mystery Bug. The entire 4 count measure is played and the students identified which rhythm (bug) was missing on the 3rd beat. Then we all counted and played the entire 4 count measure. You can play a variation of this at home by clapping different bugs and inviting your child to clap AND say what bug they heard. Ear training, rhythm training and internalizing the steady beat is happening all at once!

Brown Jug
The Brown Jug game is another fun activity to play at home with a parent or whole family. You just need a playground ball and a little bit of room to roll and catch. It is easier at first to chant "roll, catch" and then begin the song. This is a great way to emphasize how the hands and body must keep the beat while making music.
     
Echo Edna
This week Echo Edna placed various patterns of steps and skips on the board to sight read. She invited us to look at the board and think of two questions before we played the pattern. 1) Is it a step or skip? AND 2) Does it go up or down? Walking through both of these steps will help in all sight reading as well as the theory assignment this week.

 And if you have the Student Magnet Board and 2nd year Student Magnet Set, you can build the baby steps and skips from the homework on the board to make the homework more tactile.

With Thanksgiving just behind us, we can find and play the Red, Blue and Yellow chords in 5 Fat Turkeys from last year!

Lesson #11

Placement of all 9 stickers!

We learned the Blue Chord this week. Please place the Blue Chord Stickers on your keyboard or piano on the notes C-F-A.

It is VERY important that your child is using fingers 1-3-5 to play the Blue Chord! The thumb is an anchor (glued) on Middle C and the rest of the hand shifts up a baby step.

In class we colored the chords in Primary Chord Song and Blue Sky to help distinguish the notation of each chord. (Please help them finish coloring them at home if they didn't finish in class. The notes don't need to be filled in perfectly, just the right colors so they can be identified quickly.) Please be sure to have your child practice playing these songs to get confident in the chord changes. We want them to be able to do it with their eyes closed in a few weeks!

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

• Play a duet with your parent. Place your hands an octave higher or lower.
• Play your song as *piano* (quiet) as you can.
• Balance an object on your head while you play.

Turtle Shells  
We will continue to reinforce to your Green Turtle Shell that intervals can show up anywhere on the staff and be played anywhere on the keyboard! Have fun playing an interval game with any two objects by creating an interval and asking your child what it is and then inviting them to play it on the keyboard. Ideas of objects to use: coins, counters, erasers, cereal, candies, Legos, rocks, etc.

 You can reinforce building "turtle shell" intervals all over the staff by making intervals with black notes on the Student Magnet Board.
    
Echo Edna
Echo Edna gave each child their own 'secret code' (using steps and skips) to ‘decipher’ (sight read) on the magnet board. We used our laser beam eyes to solve the code while playing it on the keyboards at the same time!

Now that we are more comfortable with keyboard geography, hand position, how to build chords notated and on the piano, we are ready to keep our eyes on the book and not look down at our fingers while we play each of the songs in the songbook! We’ve already introduced Laser Beam Eyes. Here are some other fun ways to keep our eyes on the book while we practice! Don’t forget, parents, to follow the notes with your finger and sing along with your child!
    
Fill in any of the ideas below with the musical focus of choice, whatever needs a little more practice. Ideas include: red, blue or yellow chord, specific intervals, different melodic patterns, specific notes, Middle C’s, rat-tat-tats, steps or skips, different bugs (slug, beetle), etc.
    
1. Keep your eye on the (rat-tat-tats).
2. (Insert Child’s Name), time to turn on your Laser Beam Eyes while we play Blue Sky!
3. Freeze Ray the Middle C’s with your freeze vision!
4. I’ve got my eye on (the steps in Echo Edna)!
5. I’m watching you (Yellow Chords). Always watching!

Lesson #10

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.
     
Blue Chord will be taught next week. This will be so much easier for the children if they are good at the red and yellow chords already! Please let me know if your child is struggling with this. I'd love to help!    
     
Celebrate Connection    
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Play with the practice tracks on your album.
• Play and sing dramatically and try not to laugh.
• Sing your song in a grandpa voice.

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. Students must then search to find out where it should land! Instead, remind your child for the red to yellow transition, ONLY the thumb should slide down one white key and they'll be using fingers 1-2-5.
     
Bunny’s Birdhouse
The rat tat tats in Bunny's Birdhouse helps with independent finger movement, in which one finger alone must press down to play 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 54321.
     
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 them to play for you a 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th (skipping three white keys) anywhere on the keyboard. They are pros at this!

How to Play the Yellow Chord

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!

And because we're playing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" now, here's a couple fun videos of just how fun it can be to CHANGE a few things about it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY9O4M8DS7c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsESxOwASuw

Lesson #9

Thank  you, parents for coming to class this week! It is so fun to watch you bonding with your children through music! 

Remember to place the yellow stickers on your keyboard. (See image for placement!) 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. Our goal is to eventually be able to switch between red and yellow with our eyes closed! If you would like to write finger numbers on the stickers, feel free! Just be sure you have 1, 3, and 5 for the red chord and 1, 2, and 5 for the yellow chord! Also, be sure your child is only moving their thumb and leaving the rest of their fingers "glued" on the same keys. This will help them to switch between chords more quickly and easily.

IMPORTANT: If you have ANY questions about ANY of the things we're working on, PLEASE ask! I know a few of you are experiencing learning these concepts for the first time, right along with your child! So if you don't understand something, PLEASE let me know! You can't help your child with something you are confused about yourself! I'm happy to help! (For real!)
      
Celebrate Connection     
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Sing along in a baby voice.
• Start at the bottom of your assigned song list and work your way back to the top.
• Put a small mirror on your piano music holder and sing to the person in the mirror.

Kit Kat Keyboard
Breaking the keyboard into 2 separate groups will aid the students in creating a mental image in their brains and prevent "counting up." Do not let your student get in the habit of counting up...it's a hard one to break! For now, we are experiencing these groups of 2 and 3 and we will solidify them in Yellow Arrows. Knowing by sight is the goal!

Echo Edna
Edna helps us with our sight reading! We're starting out slowly. Next week, we will introduce the 2nd line. We want the kids to "first LOOK, then THINK, then SING, then PLAY." Going in that order will ensure maximum success the first time they play something. 

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. 

Though the 3 notes of a chord can be in any order, for simplicity’s sake, the position we are learning throughout 2nd Year is this very common position. Later, we’ll learn the other position of these chords. The great thing is that ALL the chords, whatever position they are in will be in either the snowman, top-heavy, or bottom-heavy position that the children are learning to play now. The shapes are important for knowing which fingers to use! 

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.     

Bubble Hands     
Going through all the verses of this song make a great warm-up each time your student sits down at the keyboard. This one is best to do WITHOUT the soundtrack so you can double check all the posture elements with the first verse, without rushing through it. Be sure to land the right hand with the thumb on Middle C. Then go through all the finger numbers in order once, singing the note that's being played: "Here I Am. Here I Am." Then randomly call out finger numbers to help them memorize them. This is an invaluable exercise. It reviews finger numbers, and strengthens fingers as well as promotes independent finger movement. As the children play chords and single notes, they most likely will not be able to keep a bubble hand. This is the ideal – the goal to work toward. As long as the child can form bubble hand in C position, we are on the path toward the goal. Good Bubble Hands will help chords to be easier to play!

Hoedown     
In the back of the piano book you'll find the "Hoedown" coloring pages. Turn on the puppet show music and have your child color while they listen. Or you can download extra and print out the fun coloring pages from your student download portal. You can do the mini puppets or the coloring book, or both! (Let me know if you have any trouble downloading these!) 

All chords can be played block (notes together) or broken (notes one at a time). Learn more about the different ways to play chords. 

 Using the Student Magnet Board and 2nd year Student Magnet Set, you can build the chords block and then break them apart into broken chords.

Practicing rhythms can be fun! I have made my "Rhythm Foods" game available on the student download portal! If you haven't downloaded and played it yet, it's lots of fun! I'd love to hear your experience with this game!

Here is a link to all the skills videos as well as the link to be able to purchase a class video to make up for a missed class. (tap or scan)