Tuesday, September 17, 2024 | Purple Magic Lessons

Lesson #4

Next week is PARENT WEEK and tuition is due for those of you paying monthly! You can scan the QR code to the right in your banking app to pay via Zelle (or just use my phone number).

This week we practiced drawing our treble clef by making a long skinny "J" that starts above the staff and goes below the staff. Then we pick up our pencil and start at the same place again and draw a "D" that meets the straight line from the "J" at the 4th staff line. We continue the line from the "D" with a "schwoop" that circles around the 2nd staff line. If your child wants to practice drawing these, please be sure they are doing them correctly!

We'll be adding new note flashcards next week, so now's the time to make sure your student really has a handle on the treble clef space notes. It will be much easier for them to learn the new notes if they're already really good at identifying the old ones.  
   
Celebrate Connection

• Have the parent do the flashcards as fast as possible, then switch!
• Sing "Our Bugs Are So Fun" facing your child and touching fingers together for how many beats each note and rest gets.

Alouette
This song is jam packed with opportunities for musical development. We will further develop our sight reading skills (playing something we have never seen before), stretch our experience with playing intervals, encounter rhythmic reading and learn more about the classical ABA (ternary) form with our fingers instead of JUST our ears. And you thought it was just a fun song you remember singing as a kid, huh? 

We also learned about the repeat sign this week and how it makes us 'repeat' something in the music. Here's a fun dance you could do with your child to help them remember to 'dot dot do it again.'
 

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, September 17, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #4

Class was so fun this week. I love interacting with your students and teaching them through play. I have the best job in the whole world!

Just a reminder next week is parent week and tuition is due for those of you paying monthly! You can scan the QR code to the right in your banking app to pay via Zelle (or just use my phone number).

Also, are you having fun listening to the music? (Please let me know if you still haven't gotten the app working!) When you expose your student to the music, and sing a lot, the child experiences fun repetition at home so they learn faster and internalize the concepts and skills in class more rapidly!

Learning to sing harmony     
In class we listened and sang the song Hear How the Bells. The kiddos got to sing the melody while the ostinato played on the bells. We’re reinforcing hearing layers of sound as well as the importance of keeping a steady beat.   
     
Music staff training     
They are also learning how the music staff works. Notes are on the lines and spaces, and when they go up, our bodies and voices go up, when they go down, our bodies and voices go down! This exposure is prepping them to read music!    
     
Autoharp   
Playing the autoharp helps the children gain strength in their hands, helps them to "anticipate" the beat when they strum the strings, and primes their brain to do different right hand and left hand movement. It's the perfect prep work for playing the piano.

Hickety Pickety w/Mi, Re, Do on Tone Bells

Check this article about practicing the Autoharp at Home...even if you don’t have one! Our LPM app now has that feature! It works better on a tablet, rather than a phone because of the size. 

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, September 12, 2024 | Green Turtle Shells Lessons

Lesson #3 Your keyboard will now look like this! We can play a red chord now! Help your little piano players remember which fingers to use by using a red marker or nail polish to put a red dot on their right fingernails on the THUMB (finger #1), MIDDLE FINGER (finger #3), and PINKY (finger #5). These are the finger numbers that are used to play the RED chord. Put the RED stickers on your piano at home and match the dots on their fingers with the stickers. They’ll be ready to play Old Paint next week in class! Be sure they are using the correct fingers EVERY TIME they play the red chord!  Skill of the week: red chord with fingers 1-3-5, ROUNDED like a bubble, fingers flat are trouble! Build a good habit from the beginning and it will be so much easier! Can your child play a red chord on ALL the C's of the keyboard?   Celebrate Connection    Here are some ideas to bring playfulness to practice time! Sing Old Paint with a western accent. Kit Kat Keyboard: With the stopwatch on Mom or Dad's phone, time yourself (and Mom or Dad) to see how fast you can play ALL the C's! Now all the F's! Primary Chords: When you play the red chord this week, sing, "Red" each time your play it.   Kit Kat Keyboard Now that we know the black keys ‘sol’ well we are ready to master the white keys! Notice that the grouping of the black keys influences the grouping of the white keys. It is important for them to look closely and frequently at the keyboard in the beginning to reinforce keyboard geography. When they are hunting for those C's and F's refrain from giving too many verbal cues- or talking too much. Just keep chanting the key phrases "find a group of 2 down one is C" and "a group of 3 leads to F Yippee!" and saying, "look again" "does that look right?" C Position Chant We learned ‘C POSITION’ this week which means our right “Thumb’s on Middle C and a finger for each key!" When we are in ‘C Position’ each finger is assigned to play the note it is sitting on. We will sing this chant A LOT in class! This week we practiced floating our bubble hands over the keys and then letting them land on ‘C Position’. Continue this at home! Don’t feel frustrated if it’s tricky for your child at this point to press down ONLY the 1,3,5 fingers… we’ll keep strengthening those fingers and soon it will be easier. Learn more here on how muscle memory works when learning to play the piano and why is it soooo important to emphasize that correct fingers are used when learning chords from the very beginning! Practice makes PERMANENT, not perfect! Perfect practice makes perfect! Finger Numbers Matching Game I've added a fun matching game to the download area on my website! Go to  www.musikandme.com and click "student login". Once you are in the Student Portal you can go to Online Resources > Let's Play Music > 2nd Year, and download the "Finger Numbers Matching Game". It's very simple: print both pages, glue thicker paper to the back (if desired), cut out all 20 cards, and play "Memory" with them. Laminate them if you want, or simply print on business card paper and tear apart. This game is most effective if you have your child say out loud what each card is AND wiggle the proper finger, as EACH CARD is turned over, even when it is not their turn. If they seem overwhelmed, just remove all the left hand cards and start with just the right hand. Feel free to sing the appropriate parts of the 3rd verse of the Bubble Hand song as you play the game: "Where is one? That's your thumb!" My daughter LOVED this game when I made it for her a few years ago and it really helped her learn the finger numbers in a fun way! Another suggestion for a super quick game is to simply mix all the cards face up in a pile and have your child pair them all together! Then go through each pair saying what it is and wiggling the correct finger. The key is to JUST HAVE FUN!!! Please let me know if you have any questions about this or anything else! I'm here to help! 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, September 11, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #3

All "Home Fun Activities" are optional, but if you choose to do them, remember to keep the puppets and other props in your tote bag so that your child can use them class. We won't use them every week, but when we do, your child will be thrilled to participate with their own creations!    

Next week we'll sing these songs in class:

• Weather Bear
• Fall Is Here
• In My Class I Have Some Bells
• Little Boy Blue
• The Teddy Bears' Picnic
• Going to the Zoo
• Grizzly Bear
• Weather Dance
• Lavender's Blue

Learning to keep a steady beat is foundational to learning to perform rhythms. In class we use both our bodies and simple instruments to keep the beat and we imitate simple rhythm patterns with our voices. As the heartbeat is the child’s most familiar natural rhythm, we reference it in class to introduce the concept of a steady beat. 

The beat mat is a wonderful tool for teaching steady beat and emergent literacy skills (such as tracking left-to-right, identifying the number of syllables in a word, and developing fluency by emphasizing a steady flow). The red hearts represent strong beats, and the pink hearts represent the weaker beats.

Learning about the seasons helps children understand the passage of time and teaches them about change.

Optional home fun activity: Make the Zoo puppets on page 33 of your workbook - you will have the opportunity to use them during class next week!     
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Here is a video with our class story about the teddy bears having a picnic! Enjoy!

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, September 10, 2024 | Bridge Lessons