Tuesday, October 29, 2024 | Purple Magic Lessons

Lesson #9

It was fun having you in class this week! Thank you for coming! The children really enjoy parent days! Tuition is due for those that didn't pay for the semester up front. 

Please Marco Polo your child playing the Showtime song "Halloween Night" so we can spend class time doing more fun things!

We are teaching the children to transpose, which means to read notes in one key and play them in another. This is difficult for most people, but since we have spent so much time on note relationships (steps, skips, leaps, intervals and chords) it comes more easily to our Let’s Play Music students. Also, remember that this concept will sink in as the children continue to play songs and exercises in various keys. As they play and sing “Magic Keys,” they will come to understand why F is DO and C is SOL. We are also teaching the children to improvise, which is adding more than just what is written in the music. Next semester, we will do more of this.

We have a new puppet show! Your puppets are printed in the back of your book, so please encourage your child to color, cut out, and use them! Also, they are in the Student Portal on www.musikandme.com, if  you need to reprint them!

Celebrate Connection

• Have parent sing while child plays, then switch places! Now both sing together!
• Name that tune! Child closes eyes and parent plays the first notes of a song... in how few notes can the child name a song?

Let's Play Music
Wait a minute? This song isn't new! Using a song that our ears and fingers are VERY familiar with is a perfect stepping stone for being able to transpose. That's just a fancy word for reading notes in one key and playing in another. And it's kind of a big deal!! All the background in solfege, intervals, and skips and steps makes transposing super easy. We’ll have many more chances to transpose it this year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposition_(music)
   
Magic Keys
We are teaching the children to transpose, which means to read notes in one key and play them in another. This is difficult for most people, but since we have spent so much time on note relationships (steps, skips, leaps, intervals and chords) it comes more easily to our Let’s Play Music students. This concept will sink in as the children continue to play songs and exercises in various keys. As they play and sing “Magic Keys,” they will come to understand why F is DO and C is SOL.

Halloween Night
We played something in class that wasn't written in the book! That is called "improvising" and it is a wonderful skill to have. We'll do more of this next semester! 

Kitty Casket
Yep, you probably already guessed it. Similar to our 'Scratch My Back' game, this helps us feel that unresolved half cadence with our whole bodies! But, this time we will have the opportunity to play it with our hands as well. 

Song of Joy
We have listened to this piece a lot in class, and hopefully, they are listening to it at home, too, because we are modeling. This is a method of teaching that plays the full piece over and over so that the sound gets in the students’ ear and they will hear the full orchestration when they play it on the piano. This is a step up from audiation, which is simply hearing the music in the head. Remind your child to imagine what it sounds like as they play it. Remember, Beethoven heard it in his head, too. 

Now that we have introduced the spaces in the bass clef, you will appreciate this educational parody of Meghan Trainor's music "All About That Bass" that reinforces the notes of the bass clef in a fun way! 

I've added the Skaters Coloring book for you to download, if you wish. Log in at www.musikandme.com and you can download, print and let your child color the characters as you discuss their favorite part about the puppet show! (Can you hear the characters that you are coloring?) Cut them out to make your own puppets!

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 :)