Thursday, January 30, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons

Lesson #4

Parents attend next week and tuition is due for those of you who did not pay the semester up front. You can use Zelle (using my phone number) or Venmo (@musikandme).

Please add your yellow stickers to your keyboard so they look like this. We have now learned the yellow chord, which is played with fingers 5, 3, and 1 on the left hand. We "glue" our thumb down and slide fingers 3 and 5 down by one baby step. Please be sure your child practices using the correct fingers! (In left hand we use the same fingers as the red chord!) Your child needs to be confident with left hand chords alone before attempting to play both hands together. We would like success, rather than frustration!

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/1FAIpQLScoOpytQHGi9c2Ggj7sAH-XW7ipGDH-5b3p1R1UiSp-zhX2cg/viewform

Celebrate Connection

A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Have a contest between yourself and your child to see who can play the most transitions between the red and yellow chord with the left hand in 30 seconds! Have your child try to beat his/her own record!
• Practice chord transitions from red to yellow with your eyes shut! Use your ears to tell you if you are playing the right notes. Make sure you always use the correct fingers for each chord! (5, 3, and 1 for both chords.)
• Guess the chord. Have your child play a chord and you guess which color chord it is. Then switch roles and have your child guess what you are playing!

C Position & Middle C Position
We learned where the RH and LH rest on the keyboard for both of these positions. With C Position the RH Thumb (Finger 1) is on Middle C and LH Pinky (Finger 5) is on Bass C. With Middle C Position both Thumbs (Fingers 1) share Middle C. We liken this position to a butterfly. The two thumbs resting on middle c together are the butterfly body and their hands are the wings. Are their soft wings (fingers) resting gently on the keys? Don't forget your "BUBBLEFLIES!" (That's bubble hand butterflies...I made that up myself!)  

A fun review is to chant each position, simply moving the LEFT HAND back and forth. Practice in the air, at the kitchen table, in the car running errands, and of course on the piano! 

Caterpillar Song  
This week when we played Caterpillar Song in class, I was SO impressed with how well the kids "glued" their fingers to the keys! This song is only meant to be fast if fingers aren't flying off the keyboard. Remember, CATERPILLARS DON'T FLY! Please be sure the kids practice this way EVERY TIME they play this song. Having good "BUBBLEFLIES" (for this song especially) will help them develop the correct habits that will manifest themselves in all our other songs!

C Major Scale
We learned how to play UP the C Major Scale (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do) with our LEFT HAND. We don’t have enough fingers to play this scale, so we learned how to POP our bubble hands and then reset them to complete the scale. Practice this SLOWLY to ensure that your child plays this correctly. 1) Play Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol with 5-4-3-2-1 fingers with a rounded bubble hand. 2) To play La, POP finger number 3 over the thumb. 3) Reset the BUBBLE and proceed to play La, Ti, Do with finger numbers 3-2-1. Sing the scale with finger numbers: 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1. 

Don't have them try to play down yet, just UP.      

I am Robin Hood
Enjoy ‘drumming’ the slow slugs on the piano with the interval of a 5th using Left Hand Bass Clef fingers 5 and 1 when practicing this song. Sing the melody together while parents drum along on laps, the edge of the piano, clap along to keep a steady slug beat or drum with any can, canister, or container from around the home. Switch places so parents can play and kiddos can drum!      

Do You Want to Build a YELLOW Snowman?
This bottom heavy snowman built with a 3rd on the bottom and a 4th on the top is melting from the YELLOW sun! We play this chord with fingers 5-3-1. Place Left Hand in C Position. SLIDE Finger 5 (pinky) and Finger 3 (middle finger) down one baby step while Finger 1 (thumb) stays put. Now time your musician for 30 seconds and count how many bass clef Yellow Chords they can play!

C Major Scale Left Hand

Middle C vs C Position & Review Caterpillar Song

We call our new puppet show “The Pirate Ship” but the real title is Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms. The Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes. They are among Brahms' most popular works, and were certainly the most profitable for him. Each dance has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. Brahms originally wrote the version for piano four-hands and later arranged the first 10 dances for solo piano. The most famous is Hungarian Dance No. 5.

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 :)