Lesson #4

Your kids are "A" adorable and I love each of them! One of the most important things I learned from Sound Beginnings was how to play with my own kids! Eye contact, physical touch (holding hands, hugs, patting, etc.), and telling your child you love playing with them shows them how much you love them! 

Attaching a physical action to the alphabet letters (like in our song A, You're Adorable) improves fine motor skills. It also forces the brain to multi-task, and processing this extra information increases its ability to recall letter names and sounds! 

I would like to know who is reading this newsletter. Please text to let me know what song your child has requested to be played again most often!

Next class we'll sing these songs:

• ABC Song
• Over the Deep Blue Sea
• Five Little Sandcastles
• Instrument Listening (Steel Drum, Ukulele, Sand Blocks, Fish Guiro)
• Major Scale
• Aquarium
• Three Little Fishies
• Lukey's Boat
• Charlie Over the Ocean
• Pearly Shells

Learning about different types of instruments is not only fun, but it helps the kids be aware of many different types of sounds. Their ears will be able to pick out and identify sounds and rhythms – even when they are all together! Your child may even have a favorite instrument sound! Or maybe they will enjoy playing a certain kind of instrument. We experiment with many types of simple percussion instruments in many different ways to not only practice coordination with our hands, but introduce many types of sounds that can be made with the same instrument!

The interval between the pitches of SOL and MI occurs naturally in singing and calling. This makes it a perfect place to start when learning to sing in tune! A terrific example of this is our song Bickle Bockle.

Optional home fun activity: Match up the numbers and animals on page 13 of your workbook and play simple counting games. (Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)

Here's a band playing steel drums, and here's a quick demonstration of a fish guiro.

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:
	Little hands need to be strong in order to perform life and learning skills such as dressing oneself and writing. In class, students gain finger dexterity and hand strength as they participate in finger plays to favorite nursery rhymes and manipulate tactile props and instruments.

Lesson #3

It is so fun playing with you and your child(ren) in class! It usually takes the kids (and sometimes you) a few lessons to get the feel for class and relax and fully participate. The more you listen to the music at home and familiarize your children with it, the more they will enjoy class and grow in their musical skills! 

If you have any problems accessing the music, please let me know! Use the lyrics printed in the front of the book if you’d like extra guidance on words.

Please reply and let me know one thing you and your child(ren) have done with your scarf that you've enjoyed at home! 

Next class we'll sing these songs:

• ABC Song
• A, You're Adorable
• Bickle Bockle
• Instrument Listening (Steel Drum, Ukulele, Sand Blocks, Fish Guiro)
• Waves on the Sand
• Over in the Meadow
• Three Little Fishies
• Baby Shark
• Charlie Over the Ocean
• Lukey's Boat

We are practicing more than just music in our Sand and Sea class! Preschool skills such as taking turns, name recognition, following instructions, and taking care of our supplies are all skills we used today! We also used a lot of vocal play and echoing today (listening skills), along with keeping the beat (did you feel the subdivision we are doing? This uses the math side of our brain and prepares it for future learning!), and imagining the waves with our blue scarves and ocean life (strengthens our creativity and problem solving skills)! 

Helping children identify their feelings (like in Over the Deep Blue Sea) promotes healthy emotional development. When they learn to label emotions in themselves and others, they are better able to respond to strong emotions in healthy ways.

Smart Moves dances (like our Sea Diver's Dance) allow children to use their whole body to interact with the musical elements in a classical piece of music.

Optional home fun activity: Color the "Sea Diver's Dance" on page 15 of your workbook. You can hold a paper on each side of the bell if you'd like to help them to color in the lines. (Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)

Watch this amazing family perform “Aquarium” by Camille Saint-Saens. Or watch this educational video with real sea creatures while you color!

Wasn’t it fun to try out some Hawaiian dancing with our hands and tell your child how much you love them this way? Watch this clip to play at home! (Our version is a bit simpler!)

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!

Lesson #1

What a great first day of Sand and Sea! I hope you and your child had as much fun in class as I did! Here are a few reminders that will help you get the most out of our time together in class:

• Bring your workbook and scarf to every class.
• If your child is disrupting the class please take them to the hallway for a little break. 
• Please turn off your cell phone during class and focus on your child.
• Please be sure to download and listen to your music often. The kids always have more fun in class if the music is familiar to them! You can do it on your Yoto Player if you have one!
• Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have throughout the semester. (Texting is best.)
  

Tuition is due today and is $90 if you have one child and $110 if you have more than one. You can pay via Zelle using my phone number (preferred because I don't have to pay fees), or pay via Venmo @musikandme.

I will be posting a blog-style newsletter for this class after each lesson. Just so I know you read this post, please reply and let me know what your child's favorite song is so far! Or you can let me know which of the following videos you found the most helpful for you. If you have a child under 2, please watch the baby videos (below) for ideas of how to participate with your child during class. 

Our 7 foundational elements are proven to aid in a child’s development. We will incorporate most, if not all, in each of our Sound Beginnings classes! I encourage you to read through the "Parent Page" in your book more thoroughly at home.

What songs should you listen to at home? I'll let you know here in case you want to be ready with the ones we'll use next class. The more familiar you and your child are with the songs, the more fun you will have in class! Next class we'll sing these songs:

• Name, Name, What's Your Name?
• ABC Song
• Over the Deep Blue Sea
• In My Class I Have Some Bells
• Bickle Bockle
• Charlie Over the Ocean
• Over In the Meadow
• Baby Shark
• Waves On the Sand
• Aquarium

Besides musical skills, Sound Beginnings also introduces children to kindergarten concepts such as name recognition, letters and numbers, and literacy skills. Among other concepts, the Sand and Sea semester will specifically focus on letters/sounds, sea animals, counting, and feelings.

We will use tone bells in class to introduce children to important musical concepts. Using them with solfege syllables and hand signs will help to build an understanding of pitch relationships.

Optional home fun activity: Do the Name Recognition activity on page 3 of your workbook. (Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)

Now that you know more about what to expect in class, here is a video that will help you to know what Sound Beginnings is all about and how it will benefit your child. This was created by another teacher and she was generous enough to share it! (Where it talks about Instrument Day on lesson #15, we will be doing it on lesson #8 for this shorter session!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=qgaNL1HOMOI

Here is a video that will give you ideas for how to participate during class. This was created by another teacher who was generous enough to share it! https://youtu.be/IxZrTdk0pVk

Here are some quick videos for specific ways you can participate with your BABY in class!

Baby - positions: https://youtu.be/8nyS_nQlpE0

Baby - tapping: https://youtu.be/BLTrFKg-qRs

Baby - moving: https://youtu.be/F0_ME4fGTrU

Baby - instruments: https://youtu.be/HjThTkKdmQo

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:
	A child learns when he or she feels loved. In class, purposeful touching, eye contact, partner activities, and generational nostalgia help develop the all-important parent/child relationship.

Lesson #15

Thank you so much for attending Station Day! I hope you realize just how much your child has learned this semester. I also hope you were able to see some things that can be worked on over Christmas break. I hope the kids enjoy and use the Christmas songbook they received!

As the name has implied, this semester has been a little slow (like a turtle) purposely to help the children be able to really build a good foundation that will be so important in the next semesters. Yellow Arrows will feel like we are flying through new material (pun intended!), but since we have built a strong foundation, it will be a lot of fun!

Let's Play Music requires all teachers to have their families complete surveys at the end of each semester. If you didn't fill it out on Station Day, please fill it out now! Here's the link: Green Turtle Shells Parent Evaluation 

A little bit of relaxed daily practice over the break will keep the skills taught over the semester fresh and honed. By Yellow Arrows they should be able to recognize and play all chords in RH with fairly quick and smooth transitions. 

The Christmas Break Challenge is completely optional, but I hope you will help your child keep their skills up over the break! (I put it on the download portal, in case you happen to misplace it!)

Classes begin the first full week of January, same day/time. Lesson #1 of Yellow Arrows is also a Parent Day! Please look carefully at your class calendar in the student portal. (If you still can't access that, please let me know!) I might have a few random weeks I'm taking off, so please be aware of that when importing your calendar to your phones!

Please begin listening to the Yellow Arrows soundtrack! We have a lot of fun songs coming up!

Celebrate Connection      
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Pull out the bells from last year and notice how fun it is to play some of the Green Turtle songs on the bells.
• Any chance you get, have visitors listen to your child play his/her favorite song at the piano and applaud generously! As a family, sing along with the holiday songs.
• Can you collaborate with your child at the piano, a parent duet, someone on the Let's Play Music bells from last year and someone else playing jingle bells or simply singing along? THIS is joy for your child when it is done with emotional safety and celebration!

Holiday Ensemble

Fun ways to incorporate the entire family with a Holiday Sing & Play-a-Long!      

• Student/parent plays chords while everyone sings along. 
• Play chords an octave higher or lower to change the timbre of the song.
• Play as a duet, trio, or quartet. Someone plays melody, others play chords on piano. All Sing!
• Play "Silent Night" p. 18-19 with broken chords. Play each note of the chord separately: Do-Mi-Sol, Do-Fa-La, Ti-Re-Sol. Invite someone else to play the melody an octave higher.
• Invite younger siblings to play rhythm instruments to add variety while piano is playing: jingle bells, tambourines, drums, etc.
• If anyone in your family or friend circle plays any other instruments like guitar, ukulele, violin, cello, etc., have them play along with your child! It is completely exhilarating to have these fun jam sessions!
• Wear a costume while you play.

Be sure to go through the Christmas Break Worksheet! (It's in the Student Download Portal if you lose your printed copy!) Try to do 1-2 activities each day. I've added a fun version of Deck the Halls piano music to your student's download portal to add variety to daily practice and spread Holiday Cheer! 

If you haven't bought the Student Magnet Board and 2nd year Student Magnet Set, consider surprising your musician with these as a gift. They are a great tactile learning tool for reviewing skills and concepts learned in music class.

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)

Lesson #14

Next week is STATION DAY WITH PARENTS! 

This is a wonderful opportunity for your children to show you just how much they have learned during our Green Turtle Shells semester! This is the highlight of the semester, so PLEASE be sure to come enjoy it with them! 

Here's how it will work:

I will have 10 different stations that you and your child rotate through. You can plan to spend about 3-5 minutes at each station and can go in any order. You will be given a checklist to help you go to all the stations. One of the stations is a personal chat with me, and your child will have the opportunity to play their favorite song on my nice piano! I will give out prizes, presents, and a Christmas Break Challenge worksheet (totally optional) that will help your child not get rusty over the break!

Moms, bring your phones and kids wear your LPM shirts! (One of our stations is a "photo booth"!)

Celebrate Connection    
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Play at lightning speed!
• Video record (or voice record) a song and send to your LPM teacher! Can you see how much you have accomplished this semester?!
• Sing along with a Russian accent.

Chord Transitions
Mom, did you know I can play my chords with my eyes shut? The goal is to have their eyes on the music while they are playing as much as possible, with only quick glances at their fingers. With their favorite song, invite them to memorize it and "see" the chords in their minds while they play with their eyes closed.
     
Holiday Songs
The holiday songs in the back of the songbook are great practice to reinforce chord transitions while being entertaining for your student and family. These songs will add cheer to the holidays and festivities and they will help solidify the transition between ALL of the chords in the right hand before we begin Yellow Arrows. Jingle away!

With the holidays approaching here is a Gift Buying Guide  for your budding musician! Consider a gift for your child that will help them in their musical learning. Work on sight reading on the tone bells with the 8 note songbook and 8 note songbook - Christmas edition. Make up your own music using the 8 note PlayPipes. Or reward your musician with a cute sticker from the 2nd Year Sticker Pack.

Lesson #13

Thank you, parents, for coming to class this week! You are an integral part of your child's music education!
        
If you are paying monthly, final tuition is due this week.

Just so you know, Station Day is coming up on Lesson 15. That is also a parent day! A circuit of musical stations will be set up for the kids to rotate through. Each station will review the skills and concepts taught in class. One of the stations will be an 'interview' with me to show you how much your student has accomplished this fall!
        
Just a sneak peak at some of the musical skills and concepts that have been taught during Green Turtle Shells:
        
Skills:

1. Keyboard posture, hand & finger placement
2. Clapping & counting 4 count rhythms using rhythm cards
3. Playing steps and skips from notation
4. Playing primary chords with RH without looking at hand
5. Playing intervals of a 2nd, 3rd, & 4th
6. Playing individual fingers (SFMRD)

Concepts:   

1. Identifying middle C
2. Identifying C & F by playing on keyboard
3. Demonstrates knowledge of finger numbers
4. Identifying bug rhythms
5. Distinguishing steps & skips on staff
6. Identifying primary chords by notation
7. Identifying intervals by notation
8. Identifying melodic patterns by notation

Celebrate Connection        
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Make up a song for 5 minutes at the beginning or end of practice time
• Have a digital piano or keyboard at home? Change the "voice" for every song you play.
• After you've finished all your songs, roll a die and have chocolate chips, raisins, tiny marshmallows, etc. according to the number rolled.

Blue Sky   
Every time the word BLUE is said in this song we play a Blue Chord. Can you make up your own song with the Red, Blue, and Yellow Chord? Every time you or your child sings the color, play the corresponding chord! Check for correct fingerings!    
        
Primary Chord Transitions   
Transitioning between the primary chords should now be somewhat mastered by the RH. Enjoy playing “The Fabulous 5”: a fun game to help your student reinforce chord transitions! Invite your student to play the red and blue chord 5 times back and forth, back and forth (or the red to yellow whatever they need the most to work on.) The only catch is it has to be perfect! No mistakes whatsoever. If they mess up they get to start over. Once they can do this 5 times in a row perfectly, they get a HIGH 5 from you with oodles of fabulous praise!

REMINDER: It is crucial that your child is using correct finger numbers on the chords. The numbers next to the chords in the book are the ones to use WITHOUT EXCEPTION!

Bubble Hands   
This is an invaluable exercise. It reviews finger numbers, and strengthens fingers as well as promotes independent finger movement. Remember that 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.

Bonus Songs   
The appendix of the student songbook contains Frosty the Snowman and Silent Night. We won't play these in class at all, but once the chord transitions are mastered, these songs are so fun and easy to play. They are a great review over the holidays.

Brown Jug   
The Brown Jug game is another fun activity to play at home with a parent or whole family. You just need a playground ball and a little bit of room to roll and catch. It is easier at first to chant "roll, catch" and then begin the song. This is a great way to emphasize how the hands and body must keep the beat while making music! The kids have to be able to predict how hard to roll the ball so that it reaches the person on the beat. This same skill is required when playing a chord on the beat because they have to predict when to lift their hand so that it comes back down right on time.   

Can't Bug Me: Rhythm Ensemble   
The games we play with our percussion instruments help us practice sight reading rhythms, but just as importantly, they help us practice ensemble skills. It takes practice to come in all together, to keep a steady beat internally to stay together, to keep up with the group even when we make mistakes, and to listen to each other to sound like one. WOW!

Harmony Happenings
Our journey to learn harmony started last year singing a repeating pattern alongside a melody (Ding dong in Hear How the Bells). Then we sang in a round (3 Blind Mice). This year we’ve worked on a counter melody or two melodies sung on top of each other (Horsey Horsey). Then we introduced a 4-part counter melody (Solfege Seafriends). This week we sang Solfege Seafriends in a true canon, which is like singing 4 different melodies in a round. It's pretty tricky, but such a good exercise! Enjoy these arrangements of the famous Pachelbel’s Canon on piano and with a string ensemble.


  

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)

Lesson #12

Next week parents attend and tuition is due for those making monthly payments! (Last one this semester!) 

We have been working hard on the transition between the red and blue chords. Please help your child practice if they are struggling with that at all! Our goal is to be able to play these chords without needing to think about it at all (eventually doing it with eyes closed). Don't forget, we use the same fingers for red and blue chords (1-3-5), and our thumb is the anchor so it doesn't move at all!

Celebrate Connection    
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Set a stopwatch on a parent's phone and time how long it takes to get through a song with perfect, even rhythm, and chords.
• Put on a concert for stuffed animals.
• Sing along with a Spanish accent.

Mystery Bug
We played a new rhythm game called Mystery Bug. 3 separate rhythm cards are laid out on the 1st, 2nd, and 4th beat. The 3rd beat is empty (turned over) and is the Mystery Bug. The entire 4 count measure is played and the students identified which rhythm (bug) was missing on the 3rd beat. Then we all counted and played the entire 4 count measure. You can play a variation of this at home by clapping different bugs and inviting your child to clap AND say what bug they heard. Ear training, rhythm training and internalizing the steady beat is happening all at once!

Brown Jug
The Brown Jug game is another fun activity to play at home with a parent or whole family. You just need a playground ball and a little bit of room to roll and catch. It is easier at first to chant "roll, catch" and then begin the song. This is a great way to emphasize how the hands and body must keep the beat while making music.
     
Echo Edna
This week Echo Edna placed various patterns of steps and skips on the board to sight read. She invited us to look at the board and think of two questions before we played the pattern. 1) Is it a step or skip? AND 2) Does it go up or down? Walking through both of these steps will help in all sight reading as well as the theory assignment this week.

 And if you have the Student Magnet Board and 2nd year Student Magnet Set, you can build the baby steps and skips from the homework on the board to make the homework more tactile.

With Thanksgiving just behind us, we can find and play the Red, Blue and Yellow chords in 5 Fat Turkeys from last year!

Lesson #11

Placement of all 9 stickers!

We learned the Blue Chord this week. Please place the Blue Chord Stickers on your keyboard or piano on the notes C-F-A.

It is VERY important that your child is using fingers 1-3-5 to play the Blue Chord! The thumb is an anchor (glued) on Middle C and the rest of the hand shifts up a baby step.

In class we colored the chords in Primary Chord Song and Blue Sky to help distinguish the notation of each chord. (Please help them finish coloring them at home if they didn't finish in class. The notes don't need to be filled in perfectly, just the right colors so they can be identified quickly.) Please be sure to have your child practice playing these songs to get confident in the chord changes. We want them to be able to do it with their eyes closed in a few weeks!

Celebrate Connection   
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Play a duet with your parent. Place your hands an octave higher or lower.
• Play your song as *piano* (quiet) as you can.
• Balance an object on your head while you play.

Turtle Shells  
We will continue to reinforce to your Green Turtle Shell that intervals can show up anywhere on the staff and be played anywhere on the keyboard! Have fun playing an interval game with any two objects by creating an interval and asking your child what it is and then inviting them to play it on the keyboard. Ideas of objects to use: coins, counters, erasers, cereal, candies, Legos, rocks, etc.

 You can reinforce building "turtle shell" intervals all over the staff by making intervals with black notes on the Student Magnet Board.
    
Echo Edna
Echo Edna gave each child their own 'secret code' (using steps and skips) to ‘decipher’ (sight read) on the magnet board. We used our laser beam eyes to solve the code while playing it on the keyboards at the same time!

Now that we are more comfortable with keyboard geography, hand position, how to build chords notated and on the piano, we are ready to keep our eyes on the book and not look down at our fingers while we play each of the songs in the songbook! We’ve already introduced Laser Beam Eyes. Here are some other fun ways to keep our eyes on the book while we practice! Don’t forget, parents, to follow the notes with your finger and sing along with your child!
    
Fill in any of the ideas below with the musical focus of choice, whatever needs a little more practice. Ideas include: red, blue or yellow chord, specific intervals, different melodic patterns, specific notes, Middle C’s, rat-tat-tats, steps or skips, different bugs (slug, beetle), etc.
    
1. Keep your eye on the (rat-tat-tats).
2. (Insert Child’s Name), time to turn on your Laser Beam Eyes while we play Blue Sky!
3. Freeze Ray the Middle C’s with your freeze vision!
4. I’ve got my eye on (the steps in Echo Edna)!
5. I’m watching you (Yellow Chords). Always watching!

Lesson #10

The students are mastering the fingering placement for the yellow chord and gaining confidence as they continue to have successful experiences in class as well as at home.
     
Blue Chord will be taught next week. This will be so much easier for the children if they are good at the red and yellow chords already! Please let me know if your child is struggling with this. I'd love to help!    
     
Celebrate Connection    
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Play with the practice tracks on your album.
• Play and sing dramatically and try not to laugh.
• Sing your song in a grandpa voice.

Red-Yellow Chord Transitions
Remember when playing songs with chord transitions, it's important that the whole hand NOT lift completely off the keyboard between chords. Students must then search to find out where it should land! Instead, remind your child for the red to yellow transition, ONLY the thumb should slide down one white key and they'll be using fingers 1-2-5.
     
Bunny’s Birdhouse
The rat tat tats in Bunny's Birdhouse helps with independent finger movement, in which one finger alone must press down to play melody. It is important that the other fingers NOT lift way, way up off the keys (fly-aways!). Try to play with each finger gently staying on its key, so that the hand is always in C position.
     
Also while practicing the rat tat tats, the top note is a G which is on the 2nd line. When practicing you can sing 2nd line, middle C, 2nd line again OR 5-5-5, 1-1-1, 5-5-5-5-5. Or Sol-Sol-Sol, Do-Do-Do, Sol-Sol-Sol-Sol-Sol OR Number 5, Number 1, Number 5 Again! Sol or G should be played with finger number 5 and the middle C with finger number 1 or the thumb. The ending is a Sol-Fa-Mi-Re-Do played with descending fingers 54321.
     
Turtle Shells
Did you know that intervals can be played ANYWHERE on the keyboard? Any two keys right next to each other are a 2nd, skipping one key creates a 3rd and skipping two keys creates a 4th. Ask them to play for you a 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th (skipping three white keys) anywhere on the keyboard. They are pros at this!

How to Play the Yellow Chord

BEEF, it’s what’s for dinner! Our new puppet show comes from a ballet named Rodeo written by Aaron Copland. Enjoy learning more about the composer and watching some excellent choreography while listening to the 4th movement of this ballet, Hoedown. Yee Haw!

And because we're playing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" now, here's a couple fun videos of just how fun it can be to CHANGE a few things about it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY9O4M8DS7c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsESxOwASuw