Tuesday, January 28, 2025 | Blue Bugs Lessons

Lesson #4

Just a reminder that parents come next week & tuition is due for those of you who didn't pay for the semester up front.
  
Thank you for all of your consistency the last few weeks! I found myself singing solo this week on a few songs. We are going to be learning a lot of new songs in the coming weeks. So, make sure the music is being played daily in your home. Even while the kids are playing and/or not really focusing on the music itself, they will internalize what is happening in the background. Their brain has the ability to listen and take it in. Remember, they are designed to extract information from their confusion rich environment!! Daily music exposure is so important for so many reasons. If you don't get to it during the daytime, let them quietly listen to the music as they fall asleep. If you have questions, let me know!
  
In case you need some help remembering the chords in pieces, there is a reference under the focus concept to remind you which color matches with which pieces.

Within the next month we will start enrolling for next year. If you have friends or family that you want on my waiting list to start 1st Year, please share the link ASAP so I can get their information before I begin open enrollment up to the general public.

Please respond to my survey so I know what days/times work for you for next fall! I want to be sure you have a class! Here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdFOK8x1nAVeCZe5Kmer7dKzu6N-dPuS9011FakQp-FGtAVjg/viewform

Jungle Rhythm
Today when we played Jungle Rhythm, we moved to a steady beat, divided and subdivided a beat and it was all done through play! Your students didn't even realize they were subconsciously learning how to perform rhythms! Now this is how music should be taught!
  
Bill Grogan's Goat
This song has great musical value. We feel the beat and clap on the internal (non-sung) beats. Every time we "play" this activity the students are internalizing how to organize rhythm into time. This is a very complex music skill, but can be done at such a young age!
  
I've Been to Harlem
Teaching the ear to hear and distinguish between ‘happy’ (major) and ‘sad’ (minor) chords is our objective of this song. We can teach a child to compose their own music based on how they are feeling and how they want the listener to feel. This concept builds sensitive music listeners and caring intuitive individuals. Yep, your right... music actually teaches life lessons and builds character!

Identifying minor songs is a majorly important skill! Read why here...
  
Also, watch this video with your student about major and minor!  

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, January 23, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons

Lesson #3

Use this week to get your left hand red-blue chord transition solidified before we add the yellow chord next week. We should be getting to the point where we can play this transition with our eyes closed and even hands together! (that's tricky because the fingering is different for the RH than the LH. Only try it hands together when the muscle memory is solid in each hand separately).
   
Here are some practice tips to change things up. The winter blues might be setting in! Try putting red and blue stickers or candies on the keys that should be played for each chord. After practicing them a few times, they get to keep the stickers or eat the candies. Have a parent play through the practice and kiddo watches to be sure mom or dad is getting it right!

Celebrate Connection

A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Play "Freeze ad Thaw" - Parent or child will say "start". Child will play until parent randomly says "freeze". Child will freeze until parent says "thaw". Then trade places.
• Play your chords with a small washcloth or towel over your hands. Can you do it without peeking? Use your ears to tell you if you are playing the right notes. Make sure you always use the right fingers for each chord!
• Name that tune! In how few of notes can you name a song?

Caterpillar Song
WOW! Our caterpillars are getting smoother and steadier with this 5 finger pattern! As your child progresses playing this song, watch for these 4 things:  

1. Bubble Hand- at beginning and end of playing, but eventually throughout. Visualize fingers stuck in bubble hand position with honey, caramel, glue, Velcro, etc. to keep them from flying away!
2. Strong Independent Fingers- strike the key and make sure that finger comes up when you strike another note. Sing finger numbers with hands together.  
   
3. Smooth Sound- indicates finger strength and coordination. Remember SLOW is the way to GO!  
   
4. Steady Rhythm- fingers 1, 2, 3 are stronger and they like to go a little faster. Singing and emphasizing finger numbers 5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5, Ca-Ter-Pill-Ar, and the lyrics out loud will help keep a steady caterpillar.

Turtle Shells 
This week we focused playing the “Turtle Shell” intervals with the left hand. Everyone agrees that it’s harder than the right hand! Using fingers 4 & 5 is tougher than using 1 & 2. Before playing, warm up with “Where is 4? Where is 5?” then have your child play the interval (a 2nd) with fingers 4 & 5. Repeat for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th. If he masters the intervals with the left hand, play hands together. Enjoy a little twist on the classic game Twister to reinforce and strengthen those finger numbers.  

Love Somebody  
We LOVE when our parents play along with us! Share more love with your child by playing and singing the melody an octave higher or accompanying together with the chords using the CD. Ask your child to teach your family the ‘LOVELY’ game that accompanies this song!  

I am Robin Hood 
"I am Robin Hood" is used to introduce quarter rests and the dotted quarter - eighth note pattern. The philosophy that feeling a "pulling" feeling will promote correct performance of that particular rhythm pattern, is brought to life in a playful way through the "pulling" of arrows. The open 5th in the left hand is a particularly satisfying sound to young children, resembles the sound of drums and is easy to play! 

Teaching our students to read music using steps and skips leads to more fluent playing and better sight-readers. Echo Edna helps our students in class be able to recognize steps and skips on the staff, sing them, AND play them. Simon Says to Step or Skip is a fun game to practice this concept at home. You can print and cut out the cards in the student download portal, or make your own and shuffle them in two different piles (one with step/skip and the other with up/down). ‘Simon’ chooses any note to start on, then chooses one card from each pile and invites the other person to follow those directions. After a few rounds, switch roles. Did you do as Simon Said? A fun way to add tactile and visual reinforcement is to use small pencil top erasers or any small toy as a starting note and then step or skip with another one. It’s so fun!

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, January 22, 2025 | Bridge Lessons

Wednesday, January 22, 2025 | Pink Piggies Lessons

Lesson #3

All "Home Fun Activities" are optional, but if you choose to do them, please keep the materials in your tote bag and bring them to class each week. We may not use them at every lesson, but when we do, your child will be thrilled to participate with their own creations!

Be sure to listen to the class music! Next week we'll sing these songs in class:

• Ten Little Pennies
• Picaflor
• In My Class I Have Some Bells
• Little Turtle
• Fiddle-I-Fee
• March of the Toreadors
• Palo Palo
• Polly Wolly Doodle
• A Rum Sum Sum

This semester a few of our songs will help us explore the Spanish language. A recent study found that exposure to other languages had the surprising effect of making children better communicators in their own language! Exposure to other languages means exposure to different social perspectives, giving them “intensive training in perspective taking, which could make them better communicators in any language.”

Optional home fun activity: Color and cut out the Spanish counting cards on pages 31 and 33          
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

How are you liking our "Fiddle-I-Fee" book? Here is a video with our class story! Feel free to sign while you sing! Here's the link to the ASL signs for the animals, if you missed it last week!

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:
	In class we experience steady beat and imitate rhythmic patterns with our voices, bodies, and through hands-on use of instruments. We incorporate Eurythmics, which is movement-based rhythm training that is perfect for toddlers!

Have a musical day!        
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, January 21, 2025 | Orange Roots Lessons

Lesson #3

I can build a triad! From any note on the staff, I just add a 3rd and a 5th. Then guess what! I can move the notes around (as long as they stay on the same letter) and the root is still the same. If the chord isn't in root position, then "the note above the gap's the root" (just listen to the song... it explains it all!). We will continue to explore this concept in the coming weeks.

In "John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith" we found that it was missing a note in the first measure in the bass clef. We decided what note we should put there by finding out what the root of the chord was in the treble clef. We wrote some of the letter names in the space between the treble and bass clefs during class, but the kids were told to finish writing them at home.

While we are only practicing the first two lines of part I in "From the New World," it would be easy to just simply 'play' it, but remember to not only sing the note names, (“e-g-g-e-d-c” etc.) but try singing the rhythm as well (“shoot-the half note” etc.) while playing it this week. Or you could even sing the counts! (1+ 2+ 3+ 4+...)

John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith

This fun song from your childhood will get us learning a new style of bass root accompanying. Once we understand this we can improvise on a two handed marching style. It also is another opportunity to feel a half cadence. This song is also another opportunity to feel a half cadence (ends on a yellow chord instead of red).

 I Can Build a Triad 

Like the song says, "Pick any note to be the root... then add a third, and add a fifth!" Now that we are learning chord structure, our skipping snakes will help us to chant and spell each of our triads. Like any language, you speak (sing) it first, and then you can learn to write it. Want to practice making your own Skipping Snakes at home? Print out the attached file and have fun with your own alphabet magnets at home!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triad_(music)

John Jacob

There are lots of different variations on our 'John Jacob' song. I remembered singing it as 'Schmidt' instead of 'Smith' as a kid, and instead of 'look there he goes again' we would just sing 'la la la la la la la.' It can be lots of fun to take a familiar tune and improvise in fun and crazy ways. Which way does your family like best? The  Rock'n'Roll, the Sesame Street, or the Sing a Ma Jig version??  

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 :)