Tuesday, November 5, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #10

Parents come next week! Please remember that if ever you aren’t able to come to class please call or email to let me know so that everyone is accounted for. Thank you, thank you!
   
I just can’t tell you how great your kids are. I know I keep bragging about them, but they have been so much fun and truly such wonderful students. In the Red Balloon Student Manual it states, “Young children will assimilate the concepts I introduce in class ONLY if they experience repetition and consistency at home during the week.” I can tell you parents are really trying to create consistency. Because of this, you will produce great musicians and fine children. Kudos to you! 

Five Fat Turkeys
We introduced this song this week. It helps us feel that steady beat and soon we’ll find the SOL SOL DO hiding in it.
   
Baby Steps
The line to a space, or space to a line pattern tells us that we’re moving on the staff in baby steps. This week was exciting because we actually notated a baby step on the staff. The kids are “getting” it! It’s so fun to watch their minds take it all in!
   
Primary Chord Song
In class we played the autoharp independently - YUP! They played the autoharp all on the their own this week as we practiced the “Primary Chords Song”! So exciting!

This week we notated baby steps on the staff. So for fun, we'd like to encourage you to get some playdough and have your child make 5 lines, 4 spaces and then some notes. You can use different colors or the same colors. It's up to you. Then put the notes on the lines or spaces and see if you can make some baby steps!
   
Check out this video and see how this violin teacher helps her students with clay.
   

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 :)

Friday, November 1, 2024 | Green Turtle Shells Lessons

Lesson #9

Thank  you, parents for coming to class this week! It is so fun to watch you bonding with your children through music! 

Remember to place the yellow stickers on your keyboard. (See image for placement!) Now that your child can play the yellow chord, there are more songs they are able to learn! Practice time will increase up to 5-10 mins. Adding this chord can be tricky for most students. If you find your child struggling, continue doing the Bubble Hand Exercise to strengthen those little muscles. Our goal is to eventually be able to switch between red and yellow with our eyes closed! If you would like to write finger numbers on the stickers, feel free! Just be sure you have 1, 3, and 5 for the red chord and 1, 2, and 5 for the yellow chord! Also, be sure your child is only moving their thumb and leaving the rest of their fingers on the same keys. This will help them to switch between chords more quickly and easily.

Important: If you have ANY questions about ANY of the things we're working on, PLEASE ask! I know a few of you are experiencing learning these concepts for the first time, right along with your child! So if you don't understand something, PLEASE let me know! You can't help your child with something you are confused about yourself! I'm happy to help! (For real!)
   
Celebrate Connection  
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Sing along in a baby voice.
• Start at the bottom of your assigned song list and work your way back to the top.
• Put a small mirror on your piano music holder and sing to the person in the mirror.

Kit Kat Keyboard
Breaking the keyboard into 2 separate groups will aid the students in creating a mental image in their brains and prevent "counting up." Do not let your student get in the habit of counting up...it's a hard one to break! For now, we are experiencing these groups of 2 and 3 and we will solidify them in Yellow Arrows. Knowing by sight is the goal!

Echo Edna
Edna helps us with our sight reading! We're starting out slowly. Next week, we will introduce the 2nd line. We want the kids to "first LOOK, then THINK, then SING, then PLAY." Going in that order will ensure maximum success the first time they play something. 

Chords in Pieces
Chords in Pieces are simply each block red, yellow or blue chord BROKEN into 3 separate pieces or notes. The 3 notes of each chord can be in any order and they remain the same color chord, just rearranged in different patterns. For example the red chord can be rearranged in pieces of Do-Mi-Sol, Mi-Sol-Do, OR Sol-Do-Mi! All of these arrangements are still the red chord. This is the same for the blue and yellow. 

Though the 3 notes of a chord can be in any order, for simplicity’s sake, the position we are learning throughout 2nd Year is this very common position. Later, we’ll learn the other position of these chords. The great thing is that ALL the chords, whatever position they are in will be in either the snowman, top-heavy, or bottom-heavy position that the children are learning to play now. The shapes are important for knowing which fingers to use! 

Row, Row, Row  
As you’re ROWING along this week, keep a slow and steady beat to really SINK in the Yellow Chord! To prepare to play the Yellow Chord, remind your child aurally and visually that only the thumb (#1) slides over to the next key. All other fingers (2, 3, 4, 5) stay put, lightly resting on the keys. As long as those fingers stay put, the hand has an anchor and the child knows where he is on the keyboard, even without looking. Our goal is to keep all of the fingers in contact with the keys, so they will be ready for quick transitions.  

Bubble Hands  
Going through all the verses of this song make a great warm-up each time your student sits down at the keyboard. This one is best to do WITHOUT the soundtrack so you can double check all the posture elements with the first verse, without rushing through it. Be sure to land the right hand with the thumb on Middle C. Then go through all the finger numbers in order once, singing the note that's being played: "Here I Am. Here I Am." Then randomly call out finger numbers to help them memorize them. This is an invaluable exercise. It reviews finger numbers, and strengthens fingers as well as promotes independent finger movement. As the children play chords and single notes, they most likely will not be able to keep a bubble hand. This is the ideal – the goal to work toward. As long as the child can form bubble hand in C position, we are on the path toward the goal. Good Bubble Hands will help chords to be easier to play!

Hoedown  
Download and print out the fun coloring pages that you can find in your student download portal and turn on "Hoedown" while they color. You can do the mini puppets or the coloring book, or both! (Let me know if you have any trouble downloading these!) 

Practicing rhythms can be fun! I have made my "Rhythm Foods" game available on the student download portal! If you haven't downloaded and played it yet, it's lots of fun! I'd love to hear your experience with this game!

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, October 30, 2024 | Bridge Lessons

Wednesday, October 30, 2024 | Brown Teddy Bears Lessons

Lesson #9

Sound Beginnings believes all children are musical by nature, but need some guidance to refine their natural interest into skill and develop the musician already present within each child. By participating in class, listening to the CDs at home, and encouraging your children to explore music, you are growing a musician!

Next week we'll sing these in class:

• The Four Seasons
• In My Class I Have Some Bells
• Here is the Beehive
• Snowman
• Down By the Bay
• A Tisket, A Tasket
• Baby Bumblebee
• March
• Old Brass Wagon
• You Are My Sunshine

Sound Beginnings encourages children to express themselves, try new things, and enjoy the world of make believe! Dancing expressively to classical music, exploring with instruments, and dramatizing stories help develop children’s natural desire to be creative. Creativity builds confidence in children and helps develop problem-solving skills that carry into adulthood.

In our ABC Song, the "unvoiced" sounds do not have a vowel sound attached. Pronouncing these sounds correctly will help your children as they start to sound out words they are reading.

Dramatizing a story through a song improves language development and develops a child's understanding of themselves and the world around them.

Optional home fun activity: Color the Flight of the Bumblebee dance on page 16 in your workbook    
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Here's a video about Vivaldi, who wrote 4 violin concertos named "The Four Seasons".

Here's a videowith the music to "The Four Seasons" and a fun animation that you can watch or just put on in the background and appreciate! Better yet, go ahead and dance to it! It's 40 minutes long, and it's so beautiful! 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:
	Sound Beginnings channels the young voice into beautiful, in-tune singing by providing proper vocal modeling in the correct range. Solfege hand signs teach pitch relationships; the minor 3rd (SOL-MI) pattern is used to develop in-tune singing and pitch matching.

Have a musical day!  
-Ms. Bethany :)

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 :)