Wednesday, November 20, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #12

Have you recognized many of the rhymes and songs we have used in class this semester? That’s because the Sound Beginnings curriculum primarily consists of American folk songs and chants, nostalgic songs, nursery rhymes, and well-known classical pieces.

Registration for Pink Piggies is open now for my existing Sound Beginnings families and those on my waitlist! Look for a separate email about registration that was sent out last week. Be sure to take advantage of the EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT  so you don't have to pay the $20 registration fee!

Next week we'll sing these in class:

• Weather Bear
• It's Raining
• Echo Edie
• Name the Instruments
• Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Turn Around
• Down By the Bay
• The Bear Went Over the Mountain
• March
• Rocky Mountain

Nursery rhymes are much more than entertainment. They introduce idea of storytelling, promote social skills and boost language development. They also lay the foundation for learning to read and spell. Our use of them in class promotes listening to speech patterns and understanding rhyming words. It also provides the chance to interact with peers and parents and is intended to help increase vocabulary and prepare for further literacy skills.

We added the "LA" pitch in "It's Raining" because LA is the next easiest pitch to add to the SOL-MI interval when learning to sing in tune.

Singing songs while playing games that use large motions helps children develop coordination.

Optional home fun activity: Make the Teddy Bear puppet on page 31 in your workbook! Your child will be able to use it in class next week!    
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Sometimes it's nice to actually see the instruments playing the songs we hear in class! Here's "March" from the Nutcracker played by an orchestra. If you keep watching, it also has "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" and "Russian Dance," just in time for the holiday season!

Sound Beginnings is education through musical play! It prepares children for success in Kindergarten and Let’s Play Music. Sound beginnings provides research-based elements that stimulate growth in the areas particularly crucial to the development of the young child. These elements make up the foundation of the Sound Beginnings curriculum.  Here is just one:
	Our classes teach intelligent listening and understanding of classical form in a fun and interactive way. Each semester we study the timbre (tam'-ber) of various instruments and our 'smart moves' dances involve the whole body in an enjoyable, classical music experience.

Have a musical day!  
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, November 19, 2024 | Purple Magic Lessons

Lesson #12

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

When playing in the key of F, we can't forget the B-flat! There is an exercise at the top of page 21 in your songbook that will help the kids to remember to play the B-flat when they are in the key of F. Playing this quick exercise before any song in the key of F will help them remember that B-flat any time it comes up in a song. Have them try it both legato and staccato!

This week in class we took melodic dictation in the key of F Major! I played a Mi-Re-Do and the kids drew the notes in that matched what I played.

Please send a text, email, or Marco Polo video of your child playing "Turkey in the Straw" this week! Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect... I'm just looking to be sure they understand the concepts we have been learning.

Celebrate Connection

• Tap the rhythm of your RH while tapping the rhythm of your LH on the keyboard cover (Or just tap one hand if the song is hands alone).
• Pick a measure to play, then close your book and try it from memory.

Jingle Bells
Our fun Holiday song gave us a chance to add chords to a melody. Just like learning any new language, after you speak it, you learn to write it. Once our fingers get comfortable with playing it we will have another opportunity to transpose from C Major to F Major!

By being consistent and modeling positive reinforcement you can have great success with your at-home practice! Your child will naturally follow what their environment gives them. The incredible paradox is that as you help your child, you can grow too! Here are some video practice tips from a fellow Let's Play Music parent to help remind you of some at home practice Do's and Don'ts!

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)

Have a musical day!
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, November 19, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #12

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

We are heading toward the end of the year, which means we will be finishing up Red Balloons and moving to our Blue Bugs Semester. I’m so excited to start Blue Bugs! The time has flown by and I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching your children! It is amazing to watch as they learn concepts and develop skills that seem simple and fun to them, but are quite complex in their musical meaning, we just haven’t labeled them yet. We call this subconscious learning.
   
I hope you have enjoyed your ‘musical time,’ (aka play practice & music exposure) working with your children and helping them on their journey to not only develop lifelong musical aptitude but cementing skills and concepts that will serve them the rest of their lives. 

Who Took the Cookie?
This may seem to be a simple child’s game, but there is wonderful rhythm component. When you talk during the chant the child is learning to keep a steady beat and verbally respond to and anticipate the rhythm.

Chords in Pieces
Our ears were in training during this activity. The students were learning to hear and identify a right or wrong chord. So essential to developing the musician inside.

Puppet Show
Today we did something a little different. We identified instrumentation by listening to the butterfly kissing the flower! When the students can hear different sounds and instruments within a piece it comes alive and they become sensitive listeners.

Enjoy the following thoughts on why music is such a gift to your children. They are an insightful review of why music education is so important.   
   
3 Big Ways to Boost Your Child's Brain Using Music

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)

Have a musical day!
-Ms. Bethany :)

Thursday, November 14, 2024 | Green Turtle Shells Lessons

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. (They can 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!

• Duet with your parent (and 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.
   
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, always!

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)

Have a musical day!
-Ms. Bethany :)

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | Bridge Lessons

Hello Bridge Families! Here is what we did in class this week: We reviewed the "anchor C's" that help us quickly identify notes on the staff: We learned about the ledger lines above the treble staff The notes on the ledger lines above the staff are: ACE The notes on the spaces above the staff are: GBDF  We learned to play a song to help us remember what the ledger lines and spaces are. You can listen to the tune here as you follow along on page 28 in the Songbook. (It's okay to sing an octave lower than the notes!) 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 be able to play the 1st line of the song memorized without making mistakes. 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 blue highlighted assignments at home! Parents need to initial completed assignments this week in order 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! Please let me know if you have any questions! Have a musical day!                               -Ms. Bethany :)