Thursday, February 20, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons

Lesson #7

I am so happy with the progress of class! One thing I would love them to focus on this week is doing the Alphabet Pieces Game consistently. I know it doesn’t seem like a very important activity BUT, the 3rd year students who do not do it consistently, struggle to know their keys. Here is a link to some fun ideas to make it more enjoyable! We will be doing races in class to help them get faster at naming the notes and I want everyone to feel successful. (More fun ideas at the end of this email...keep reading!)

Is your child starting to fight you on practice time? Here is a post about motivation and a focus on your child's learning style to make practice time more cooperative and enjoyable. Don't forget, we're trying to get ONE tally mark for each activity EACH DAY for FIVE DAYS. This will help your child to really understand and master the concepts taught that week. 

Registration for next fall begins IN JUST A COUPLE WEEKS! You’ll want to get your registration complete quickly because classes fill up fast! I want to make sure you have the class time that works best for you. If you have not filled out the survey for when you can do classes next year, PLEASE do that as soon as you can:
https://forms.gle/sTUmc4MuPGf9NBAo7

Celebrate Connection

A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Alphabet Race:
  Have your child take one alphabet piece from the bag and quickly set it on the correct white key. Continue until the bag is empty! Time yourself and see if you can beat yesterday's time. For students who struggle, have the student look at the picture (key-group diagram) in the back of the Yellow Songbook and form his own visual conclusion.
  
  
• Take a Second:
  Have your child choose two alphabet pieces and place them on the keyboard. Identify what interval they make, and play the interval. If it's anything other than a 2nd, play again! The game ends when you take a second to make a 2nd.
  
  
• Go Fish:
  Each player starts with 3 alphabet tiles hidden in his hand. Try to make matches by asking the other player: "Do you have a..." then PLAY the note on the piano to make your request. If you end up with an empty hand, draw 3 more tiles. Keep playing until the tiles are all gone, and see who got more matches.

Melodic Patterns
When learning to play melodic patterns: 

1. Play all 5 in Middle C Position. 
2. Play at separate times. The clef tells which hand will play. Treble Clef is RH and these patterns go DOWN. Bass Clef is LH and these patterns go UP. 
3. What are the notes telling you to play? Steps, skips, or leaps? They ALL end on Middle C.     
   

I am Robin Hood
This theme song is significant because it is the first song we play hands together with each hand playing independently. In class we learned to play the melody with the right hand. Place your RH thumb (1) on Middle C, 2nd finger on Middle D, and the 3rd finger on the black note above Middle D. And then play in the rhythm of BUG-BUG-BEETLE-BUG, BEETLE-BEETLE-SLUG. Practice hands separately this week. We will put it all together soon!     

Lullaby and Goodnight
Did you know that we can make a song sound different by changing a block chord to a broken chord? It’s time to break all of the chords in Lullaby and Goodnight. Stylizing the block chords to broken will change the mood of this song into a calm, peaceful lullaby. Played piano (find the p under the music) with broken chords this lullaby will be sure to put you to sleep! 

Are you ready for spring to come? Let It (Winter) Go is a cool piece to play now that our students are warmed up with all of the chords in right and left hand.  

If your child is really into learning things digitally, I found a very simple app (FREE with NO ADS!) that quizzes them on the piano keys. I believe it's only available for Apple devices though. (I haven't tried finding it on Android yet.) It's called Bees Keys. Time your child to see how fast they can get all 7 letters, then see if they can beat that time! Have them look at the letter diagram in the back of their book if they don't know it. Remember, we're not teaching them to count up from C, but teaching them to know the letters by just looking at the keyboard. It will be way faster in the long run!

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, February 19, 2025 | Pink Piggies Lessons

Lesson #7

Play is powerful! Research shows that play is the most effective pathway to learning. Playing feels natural and safe to children because:

• failure is not a deterrent to trying again
  
• there is ample time to problem solve through testing and evaluation
  
• repetition is encouraged and expected
  
• it engages the body and the brain
  
• playing is joyful!

Next week we'll sing these songs in class:

• Let's Count Our Money
• DO Pentatonic Scale
• Hey! Hey! Look At Me!
• How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
• Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
• To Market
• Polly Wolly Doodle
• Zoodeo
• Count Your Blessings

Registration for next fall begins IN JUST A COUPLE WEEKS! You’ll want to get your registration complete quickly because classes fill up fast! I want to make sure you have the class time that works best for you. If you have not filled out the survey for when you can do classes next year, PLEASE do that as soon as you can:
https://forms.gle/sTUmc4MuPGf9NBAo7

I'm planning to teach a 2 week summer session of Sound Beginnings May 12th-22nd, Monday-Thursday. Help me decide which class I should teach, whether you sign up for one or not: https://forms.gle/Z5zcFJVwSx88Gwdz9 

Pointing to the beat mat, using the body, and playing simple instruments give children numerous opportunities to experience the steady beat in a piece of music. Learning to feel and keep a steady beat is an important part of musicianship. It has also been shown to have a positive impact on foundational mathematics concepts, early literacy skills and fine- and gross-motor skills. So, keep on keeping the beat!

Optional home fun activity: Make the ‘To Market’ cutouts on page 27             
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Here's a different (fast) version of our Zoodeo song. I dare you to try the dance with this one! :) Check out this video!

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:
	Research has shown that singing improves reading. Our classes prepare children for kindergarten by exploring concepts and skills such as name recognition, alphabet and phonetic awareness, counting, identifying colors, rhyming, telling time, and sequencing.

Have a musical day!           
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, February 18, 2025 | Orange Roots Lessons

Lesson #7

We learned the real names of our chords today! While it seems like most of the kids understood this concept, I'm posting this video to show you parents how we discovered the names during class. Feel free to watch this video on your own or with your child. Since I'm no longer allowed to record my classes, this is another teacher demonstrating what we did in class.

We started playing the blue chord in its inversions today. We used smarties on the keyboards - putting them on middle C, F and A, (which is actually 2nd inversion) and then jumped the first blue counter up to the next octave C - for the root position version of this triad. Remember, the letter names stay the same, the order is just mixed up! Here's a quick demo video to help visualize how this works. Go ahead and try it with your child. Build a blue chord with 3 little erasers or small toys. Then jump the bottom note up to the next same note and keep going!

Showtime is back! While we haven't been playing this in class, your child has been practicing "Cockled and Mussels" at home. Please send me a Marco Polo video or a video text message of your child playing it so I can be sure they understand the concepts we're working on for this song.

Registration for next fall begins IN JUST A COUPLE WEEKS! You’ll want to get your registration complete quickly because classes fill up fast! I want to make sure you have the class time that works best for you. If you have not filled out the survey for when you can do classes next year, PLEASE do that as soon as you can:
https://forms.gle/sTUmc4MuPGf9NBAo7

Have your children continue to practice their recital pieces. Don't forget, it is THEIR composition and if they want to add to it or change anything, they are allowed to do that until lesson #11, when we have our next and final private lesson. You can send me revisions by text or email or send it with your child to class next week. They can use the lined pages in their composition section of their songbook to add extra music, such as a B part, if they so desire.

DO is Home
While finding a pitch (out of thin air) through audiation isn't a new thing for our Let's Play Music student, we are now switching it up. We started to find 'fa' and make F home instead of C and now we will make G home, instead of C and F. We are always doing this relative to Middle C to continually reinforce the sound of Middle C and to teach relative pitch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_pitch
   
Scale Degrees
Actually numbering the steps of the scale as 'scale degrees' is the first step in transitioning out of calling our primary chords by colors. The Red, Blue, and Yellow chords are respectively the I, IV and V chord (we call 'em 1, 4, and 5) and they get their chord names because their root is that numbered scale degree within the scale. 

C Major and F Major Scales

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, February 18, 2025 | Blue Bugs Lessons

Lesson #7

Thanks for coming to class today! You’re amazing parents! It’s a miracle what can happen when small and simple things occur on a daily basis. Keep up the good work!
      
Don’t forget that a child’s first instrument is the singing voice. Singing in tune while listening to the music is a fantastic way to internalize pitch, intervals, chords, and chord progression. Keep listening (and singing!) to the Blue Bugs music!
      

Registration for next fall begins IN JUST A COUPLE WEEKS! You’ll want to get your registration complete quickly because classes fill up fast! I want to make sure you have the class time that works best for you. If you have not filled out the survey for when you can do classes next year, PLEASE do that as soon as you can:
https://forms.gle/sTUmc4MuPGf9NBAo7

I've Been to Harlem
We took out the Do, Mi and Sol bells and played them all at the same time to create a "red" chord. We called this happy or "major"! I then changed the MIDDLE bell to make the sound sound sad or "minor". It's important for them to know that the MIDDLE note is the one that changes this sound. We are training the ears to recognize the difference between the two tonalities which helps us to recognize that music can help touch our emotions and influence those listening to music.      

Dinosaur Song
We learned this new song today where we identify notes going up or down by moving our bodies and singing. The more senses you use as you learn the more your brain cements and internalizes the concepts.      

Sleep, My Treasure
This lullaby increases the student's expressive awareness and reinforce major verses minor sounds.      

How To Skip
In this activity we learned how to play steps and skips from notes written on the staff. Yes, we were reading music by looking at the relationships of the notes. Looking for the patterns and relationships of the notes to each other is the optimal way to sight read music.

How to Play "How to Skip" on bells

For a fun twist as you listen to our new "Sleep My Treasure" song, you can invite your kiddo to rock a stuffed animal while they listen. This helps them with keeping a steady beat, internalizing the beat and expanding their musical expressive awareness. So many great things from one little activity!

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, February 13, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons

Lesson #6

Please watch this week how your students' mastery of Melodic Patterns and Chord Fingerings are going. I am seeing some fingering confusion and habits that will be hard to break the longer they practice them incorrectly. Focus and encourage lots of Red, Blue, and Yellow chord transitions this week, with both right and left hands separately.

Celebrate Connection

A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• When the notes go up the keyboard, lean to the right; when the notes go down, lean to the left.
• Sing along in pig-latin
• Play (and sing) a song as *Forte* as you can!

I am holding a free preview class next week. I'd love for you to invite your friends to come check out Let's Play Music! I'm also doing free preview classes for Sound Beginnings for those too young for Let's Play Music. (I know a lot of you have younger children!) I LOVE having experienced families attend my preview classes, so please sign up and invite a friend or two! I offer referral bonuses! 

Click here to sign up for a free preview class!

Melodic Patterns
We get to PLAY all of the melodic patterns this week! The value of this daily practice technique is to SEE, SING and PLAY each pattern all at once. Though their well-trained ears might tempt them to play each pattern by ear, insist they look at the book with their goggles, binoculars, laser beam eyes, telescopic vision, x-ray vision, heat vision, freeze vision, or night vision eyes while they play and sing!    
     
Here are the verbal cues we sing in class with our hand signs. Invite them to sing these cues, finger numbers, or be creative and make up different words on the pitches of each melodic pattern.

• MRD - Baby Steps Down 
• SFMRD - Baby Steps Go-Ing Down  
• SMD - Skip-Ping Down  
• SSD - Same Same Leap-up  
• SLTD - Baby Steps Going Up

I have added my Melodic Patterns Matching Game to the student portal. This has all 5 melodic patterns in it. You may use whichever cards you wish (as long as there is a match). Any card that has the same pattern is a match (see example). The simplest way to make this game is to print on thick paper and cut them out. You can laminate them if you wish. Better yet, they fit perfectly on business card paper so you can just print, fold, and tear apart! Be sure you and your child sing ♫ each pattern as you turn the cards over!

Can’t Bug Me
Drumroll please…..Introducing BEAT BUG! “The BEAT is the BUG and the others play a long!” The Beat Bug sets the tempo on the metronome! He might go fast or slow but the beat is a ‘bug’ (quarter note) and the other rhythms (beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, butterflies, slugs) follow and fit within that given tempo. 

Hickory Dickory Dock
This song introduces parallel motion by following a steady beat through a metronome (a tick-tock is what we'll call it in class).    

Lullaby and Goodnight & Go to Sleep
After we solidify the chord transitions in our lullabies, we will make them sound more serene and calming by stylizing them with broken chords. Feel free to invite your child to color the chords in their piano book to make this an easier transition.

Primary Chord Song/Primary Cadence
Time to put on a show for the family! Your child can play ALL chords with BOTH HANDS! Invite them to perform the chords while singing the chords out loud! Play them hands separate, then try hands together with the correct fingerings!

Why the importance of chords in piano playing? Kristi Ison, a Let’s Play Music teacher in Mesa, Arizona, shares the Top 10 Reasons for Learning Primary Chords!

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 :)