Tuesday, August 27, 2024 | Purple Magic Lessons

Lesson #1

Welcome back from summer! I'm so excited to begin our 3rd and final Year: Piano Skills! 

This is the practice process for this year: Here at the beginning, practice only needs to take as little as 5 to 10 minutes, 5 times a week! The goal is let your child get the idea that sitting at the keyboard is brief and pleasant. Be sure flashcards are done EVERY DAY. (Flashcards should take less than 30 seconds each day this first week.) The first time you go through them, use only the first section (Middle C, B, & D). Then add the F-A-C-E cards for the rest of the week.

Remember that listening to the class music often is part of the weekly practice assignment and will enhance your child's learning process: Listen, Listen, Listen to the music. The lyrics will teach the kids the musical skills we're working on. If you need help getting the Let's Play Music app to work, start here. Remember, you will use the same login information you used when you registered for class.

Check out page 14 of your homework booklet to see tips for practicing the fun 3rd Year repertoire!       
        
Your child has likely grown since last year! Please text or email me a picture of your child sitting at the piano with proper posture. This year it is more important than ever to be practicing proper technique, which starts with proper posture!

Scale Out and In

Tuition is due this week and is $280 for the Purple Magic 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
Think of ways you can focus on making practice time as fun 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.

Music Alphabet

This is the concept that will need the most review. The chords and scales will likely come back very quickly, but this concept needs a little daily attention. Have them sit with their child and do a quick (10 second) review each day this week. Ask the child to point to a D, then a B, etc. Daily short review will bring this all back.

Treble, Bass, Line and Space

Time to learn all the note names on the staff! This song also teaches countermelody ( a secondary melody played against a primary melody) and helps your student sing in 4 part harmony. Remember that flashcards should be practiced DAILY. Add the treble

space note cards to the flashcards you will practice this week. Keep all other notes banded with the rubber band. These are off limits!

Bounce and Roll

Complete musicianship is more than knowing WHICH notes to play. We are now ready to add another dimension of HOW to play the notes. This song allows us to 'physically' know and understand the articulations of staccato and legato. Articulation refers to the musical performance technique that affects the transition or continuity on a single note, or between multiple notes or sounds. 

As you start out this year, check out this practice tip from our Let's Play Music Blog. Here's a little 'practice humor' for you as well!

I've added the Royal Problem Coloring book for you to download. 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?)

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, August 27, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #1

What a great class this week! Thanks, parents, for coming and supporting your students. I can tell we are going to have a  great year, great students and great consistent parents that make it happen! Thank you for singing along and doing the hand actions during class, this helps the students stay focused and builds a musical bond between you and your child. When they see that you enjoy music, they do too! 
  
Just a reminder for next class…

1. Parents don’t come next week (because it's an even numbered lesson), which means totes & bells don’t either. Just send your kids in WITH THEIR HOMEWORK BOOK and they will be ready 45 minutes later.
2. Remember in 1st year the practice process is all about fun and ongoing practice through play. Forget about the typical rigid "we are now practicing" approach to teaching children music. Put out the bells and let your child play with them. Listen to the music everyday in a natural way (bedtime, while in the car, etc.). Once a week sit down and do the theory homework. That's it! It's a piece of FUN cake.
    
3. Listen to the class music! The kids get so much more out of class when they are fully participating (which includes singing)!
   
4. Tuition is due this week and is $280 for the Red Balloons 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!) 

Melodic Patterns             
Many activities in the first semester will concentrate on repetitions of certain melodic patterns. The first is MI-RE-DO. We will sing it, do solfeg hand signs, play it on the bells, see the notes on the staff, and feel it with our full body! The songs this week that have this pattern in it are: Let’s Play Music, Red Balloon, Do Re Mi, Three Blind Mice, and Frog in the Middle.
             
Steady Beat
A steady beat is an essential part of becoming a complete musician. We learn to hear, feel, identify and then reproduce a steady beat with every song in Let’s Play Music, but it is specifically addressed this week in Tambourine Train and Echo Ed. Establishing a steady beat is the precursor for hearing and playing different rhythms. You can’t read rhythms if you can’t keep a steady beat.
             
Minor 3rd Interval (helps to sing in tune)
Hickety Pickety and Echo Ed are key pieces in learning to match pitch. For a child to play and create music they must be able to hear and then reproduce what was heard. Using the minor 3rd SOL-MI and simple rhythmic variations we train the ear to identify what is being heard. 

Magical Lamp
Puppet shows use different characters to guide the child’s ear to identify motives, phrases, and themes. Students gain an educated appreciation of classical music, creating an intelligent listener.

Playing the Major Scale on the Bells

Click HERE to read why ear training is important and why it should be part of your child's music education.

Also, I've added the Magical Lamp Coloring book for you to download. Log in at www.musikandme.com and you can download and print these two pages out 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 :)