Thursday, January 9, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons

Lesson #1

What a great class this week! We learned so many new things and reviewed many others. Remember, tuition is due if you didn't pay for the whole year up front. Please be sure to look at the calendar in your student portal so you can be aware when scheduling for parent days. Remember, to access your student portal, go to www.musikandme.com and find the login section (either on the right if using a computer, or the bottom if you're on a phone). Once you're logged in with your username and password, click the calendar icon on the left (3rd icon down). You can sync it to your own digital personal calendar too!

If your child wants to still work on the Christmas Break Challenge this week, I'll still give out rewards next week, if they bring it back signed!

Don't forget that the keyboard stickers are like training wheels. Once the children know where your fingers should go, they don't need them anymore! Left Hand Red Sticker PlacementIf your child needs to use the right hand stickers a few more practices, that is fine, but please remove them before next class! (Although the electrical tape stickers I gave you should come off clean, Goo Gone can get any leftover residue if there is any.) Now that we're learning to use our left hand, you may add your RED chord stickers for the LEFT HAND! We will hold off on the blue and yellow chords for now.

Tuition is due this week and is $280 for the Yellow Arrows semester. You can pay via Zelle using my phone number (preferred, so I don't have to pay Venmo transaction fees). Zelle is a way to transfer money from your bank account to my bank account without needing to wait or pay extra fees. It's easy to set up through your bank and even easier to use once it has been set up. You could pay via Venmo @musikandme if you really can't set up Zelle. If you need to make monthly payments, rather than paying for the semester, it will be $75/month. (You will save $20 by paying for the semester up front!) 

Celebrate Connection

A new semester and a fresh start! Focus on making practice time as fun and loving as possible – give your child warm, friendly eye contact, smile with your voice, be a little silly, show you are relaxed and happy to sit with your child, and look for the good in your child's effort. Notice the joy in your child's eyes. Verbalize the good you see and hug your child often. This is the beginning of the practice relationship that will be essential to your child's success in Let's Play Music. The more you invest your energy into positive interaction, the more solid and successful this habit will become.     
      
After doing your assignment for class, allow your child to fool around and experiment if he wants to, and play a song he knows -- no matter how simple. This can be done anytime or multiple times throughout the week. Model joy as YOU play the piano. If you make a mistake, smile and show that you are relaxed and enjoy trying again to fix the mistake. Celebrate your effort to give him the idea his efforts are something to enjoy and celebrate.

A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Pull out the bells from last year and notice how fun it is to play some of the Yellow Arrows songs on the bells.
• Any chance you get, have visitors listen to your child play his/her favorite song at the piano and applaud generously! As a family, sing along with the songs.
• Can you collaborate with your child at the piano, a parent duet, someone on the Let's Play Music bells from last year and someone else playing a shaker or simply singing along? THIS is joy for your child when it is done with emotional safety and celebration!

Left Hand Finger Power through Bubble Hands & Turtle Shells
This semester we will focus on strengthening our LEFT HAND finger muscles! Playing Bubble Hands in numerical order on the keyboard is a great way to strengthen and reinforce finger numbers. "Pinky's 5, Ring is 4, Middle's 3, Pointer's 2, and Thumb is 1." LH pinky is on C, the bottom red dot. After your child is confident with the finger numbers in order, mix it up to cement this concept with the Left Hand! Also, you can log in to your student portal and download the "Finger Numbers Matching Game" that I created for my daughter when she didn't want to do "Let's Play Music" homework. (The best part about it was that she didn't even realize she was learning...we were just playing a game!)     
      
Playing Turtle Shells with the CD will ALSO help strengthen those fingers. Look closely at the music on the page and it will help you know what finger numbers to play. Hold each interval down the entire time you are singing until the next interval. It will be tricky at first, but with a little practice, it will become easy!     
      
Do You Want To Build a Red Snowman?
The Left Hand Red Chord looks the very same on the staff: stacked up nice and neat with a 3rd on the bottom and a 3rd on the top in a snowman shape. We PLAY the red chord with our left hand finger numbers 5-3-1 (finger #5 on bass C, the bottom red dot). Invite your little musician to play Old Paint with the left hand this week! They’ll be thrilled to play a song they already know, PLUS they will be strengthening their fingers! Double bonus!     

The Caterpillar Song
The proper hand position for this technique song is Middle C Position where both thumbs SHARE Middle C like a BUTTERFLY! This week work on coordinating both hands at once by singing finger numbers SLOWLY until they get the hang of this 5 finger pattern. Then add the lyrics.

Since both red chords are shaped like a snowman, how do we know which hand to play it with? By looking at which CLEF is on the staff.

The TREBLE CLEF has a lot of curls, like "Girls Curly Hair," (say it in a high pitched voice because those are the high notes that we play with our right hand). Don't pull her hair or you'll get in "TREBLE!" 

The BASS CLEF looks like "Father's Strong Arm and some father's like to play bass-ball!" (say it in a deep voice because those are the low notes that we play with our left hand).

Also, I've added the Pirate Ship puppets for you to download. Log in at www.musikandme.com and you can download and print and let your child color the characters as you discuss their favorite part about the puppet show! (Don't forget to listen to the music while coloring!)

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 :)