Tuesday, December 17, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #15

Wow, this semester flew by! I love teaching your kids and am so grateful to work with parents that are so involved in their child’s life. You are really giving your children a gift by allowing them to learn the skills and concepts that live in the art form of music. I am excited for Blue Bugs and cannot wait until January! Take a small breather if you need to, but right after the holiday start listening to the Blue Bugs music. 

You can also help your child do the Christmas Break Challenge worksheet! You can find it in the "Online Resources" section of your Student Portal. It is completely optional, but they will get some rewards if they do it! The escape room at the bottom will get them a special reward, so if you don't do anything else, please do that one.

I was supposed to have parents do an evaluation during the puppet show, but I thought you'd all like to enjoy the puppet show with your children instead! So if you didn't complete the evaluation yet, here's the link. PLEASE take the time to fill it out! I take all feedback into consideration and strive to come up with the best collective way to make things better. I, the teacher, as well as the Let's Play Music company, collectively appreciate your honesty and frankness in your responses. We take educating your children seriously and we appreciate your insight on things we can improve on. You may remain anonymous.  
 
If you know anyone interested in starting Let’s Play Music 1st year classes next fall, I do have a waiting list. I want to give your family and friends priority on this list, so let me know of anyone interested. Please have them fill out this form ASAP to get on my waitlist. https://www.musikandme.com/Let-s-Play-Music-Waitlist

I will also be starting a new Sound Beginnings class in January, so encourage any friends who may be interested to sign up NOW to reserve their spot. Sound Beginnings is a wonderful class for children age 0-4 with a grown-up. You can send them here for more information: https://musikandme.com/Sound-Beginnings--age-0-4-  

Our January class start date is January 7th or 8th, same time, same place! Lesson #1 is a Parent Day! Please begin listening to the Blue Bugs music to prepare for our Blue Bugs class that will start in January.

Primary Chord Song
This week we reviewed several different concepts and skills that we’ve learned throughout the semester. You should be very proud of your budding musician. They are doing so very well. We’ll jump into new information again when we return in January!      
     
Waltz of the Flowers
Wasn't it fun to use different instruments with the music? The children are getting very good at listening to our classical music!

Check out this amazing and fun video of Waltz of the Flowers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCTyFp0PpHE

And enjoy this piano rendition of The Waltz of the Flowers! https://youtu.be/52T49sVjfaA

Also, you can log in to your student portal to download some bell music to print and play! (1st_year_bell_music.pdf) Enjoy the amazing musicianship skills your young children are learning.    
     
If you like these songs, there is also a wonderful book available from Let's Play Music with 15 Red Balloons and Blue Bugs songs to play with your bells! There's also a brand new version with Christmas songs!

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, December 10, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #14

Next week is the final week of the semester!! Can you believe it? It went by so quickly. Parents will come next week. Please begin listening to the Blue Bugs music to prepare for our Blue Bugs class that will start in January.

Let’s Play Music
This week in our Let’s Play Music song, we learned what MI-RE-DO & SOL-SOL-DO look like when written on the staff. The word “notation” means to place the notes how they are written on the staff.
   
Waltz of the Flowers
We had fun with our classical music in class today. We listened to each puppet's theme out of order and we were able to tell which puppet it belonged to. Teaching the students to listen and identify different instruments and themes, increases their ear sensitivity and opens them up to hearing other individual sounds. Afterward, we got to dance to our puppet show with rainbow streamers! It was so fun!

 Here's a bit of JINGLE BELLS fun for all you basketball fans! Just imagine how well these players must anticipate the hang time of the basketballs to judge when to shoot in order to ring the hoop-bells in time with the song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYEHUOpwNvE

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, December 3, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #13

Wow, it's always so fun when parents come to class. Can you believe we only have 2 more weeks of Red Balloons?

If you are paying monthly, tuition is due this week.

When doing the soundtrack and bell practice you may at times, feel it is unessential 'busy work' and one more 'to do' for you to accomplish that day. Keep in mind each LPM activity does have a purpose and that the key to successful musicianship and smarter kids are parents willing to take the time to do small and simple things daily in a fun playful way. These activities may seem insignificant, but the final product will astound you. Stay focused on the end goal and the play practice time will seem more meaningful. 

In a Humble Manger
This is a fun song to help kids understand how to keep a steady beat. We also talked about the term lullaby.   
    
Pull Away
With this song we also participated in what a steady beat feels like and our ears heard the MI RE DO pattern! Each song helps us to internalize many facets of music.   
    
Let’s Play Music
Today our ears heard layers of sound as we sang the MI RE DO and SOL SOL DO ending to “Let’s Play Music” at the same time. Singing in harmony helps us to sing in tune and eventually sing in parts.   
    
Echo Ed
Ware teaching the children relative pitch, which is the ability to sing any pitch in relation to a given pitch. A major goal of Let’s Play Music is to develop and train the ear so the students will develop the ability to sing middle C without any musical reference and then find any other note based on its relationship to middle C.

Do, Re, Mi
YES! WE READ MUSIC THIS WEEK in our DO RE MI activity! So exciting! We are teaching our students to read by relationships, (steps, skips, leaps) not by note names. This is a more natural way to teach children to read music and it produces better sight readers because their brain isn’t bogged down with have to interpret the note names yet.
    
Great Big Red Balloon
Today we practiced visualizing the staff. In putting a note up on the staff and covering it, we let the children close their eyes and see it in their heads. Having the children close their eyes and imagine where the balloon was is accomplishing this. If they can see it in their heads, they learn to internalize the staff and where the notes sit on the staff. Staff visualization ultimately results in learning to quickly read music.

Waltz of the Flowers
Play contains repetition, which is essential to a child’s security. As musical concepts and skills are presented in a playful, joyful setting, children absorb knowledge and increase ability.

Did you know that our puppet show "Waltz of the Flowers" uses different instruments for the different themes? Here's a videothat shows some of the instruments playing the song!

Check out one of our amazing Let's Play Music graduates!

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, November 19, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #12

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

We are heading toward the end of the year, which means we will be finishing up Red Balloons and moving to our Blue Bugs Semester. I’m so excited to start Blue Bugs! The time has flown by and I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching your children! It is amazing to watch as they learn concepts and develop skills that seem simple and fun to them, but are quite complex in their musical meaning, we just haven’t labeled them yet. We call this subconscious learning.
   
I hope you have enjoyed your ‘musical time,’ (aka play practice & music exposure) working with your children and helping them on their journey to not only develop lifelong musical aptitude but cementing skills and concepts that will serve them the rest of their lives. 

Who Took the Cookie?
This may seem to be a simple child’s game, but there is wonderful rhythm component. When you talk during the chant the child is learning to keep a steady beat and verbally respond to and anticipate the rhythm.

Chords in Pieces
Our ears were in training during this activity. The students were learning to hear and identify a right or wrong chord. So essential to developing the musician inside.

Puppet Show
Today we did something a little different. We identified instrumentation by listening to the butterfly kissing the flower! When the students can hear different sounds and instruments within a piece it comes alive and they become sensitive listeners.

Enjoy the following thoughts on why music is such a gift to your children. They are an insightful review of why music education is so important.   
   
3 Big Ways to Boost Your Child's Brain Using Music

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, November 12, 2024 | Red Balloons Lessons

Lesson #11

Thank you for coming to class and being such great parents. I hope you are enjoying this musical journey. I surely am. Remember, when you come to class, the kids may act a little differently than when they come alone. Your child may sit and watch certain activities, instead of participating that day. Or they may act worked-up and fidgety. Just remember these types of behaviors are normal and expected. As the teacher, I will always strive for and encourage active involvement but realize, at times, kids simply want to watch and then will participate the next time.
  
Everyone is progressing quite nicely. Even though some aren’t quite matching pitch yet, don’t be fooled. With consistent practice in class and home exposure, it will come! 

Baby Steps
We're starting to read from the staff!! AMAZING! This week we played a ‘baby step’ on the bells. We’ve been playing with baby steps on the staff up to this point, but today we added what it sounds and looks like on the bells! What discoveries were happening! It was fun! By learning to read notes—starting with learning note relationships, instead of note names—we accelerate the reading process, giving the students quicker success and accuracy. We will learn note names in 3rd Year, but for now we look mainly at up, down, steps, skips, and leaps.

  
Echo Ed
Echo Ed gave everyone the chance to independently sing the solfege patterns. Man, these are some smart kiddos! It is so fun to see their ears developing and getting smarter.
  
Solfege Patterns
Today we sang a MI RE DO or SOL SOL DO on command! They were able to do it without any hints! They have these patterns down now which shows you are exposing them to the patterns at home with your music playtime. Nice job parents!
  
DO is Home
We practiced singing “Do is Home” with no sound cues. They’re really starting to get it! Pulling a middle C out of thin air is what we are training the ear to do! The experts say developing perfect pitch isn’t possible, but we’re going to prove them wrong with learning at least one note perfectly!

Do, Re, Mi
We counted the notes of our major scale in class, but there is more to it than JUST counting notes. THIS counting is actually the scale degrees and is the beginning of labeling the roots of the chords, which we start to identify in 3rd Year. (We're sneaking in the learning!)

Read this short blog article on Musical Superpower: Perfect Pitch

Also, learn how babies develop perfect pitch! How to help your Child develop Perfect Pitch

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 :)