Here you can find all the information for the classes each week!
|
Thursday, February 6, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons
Lesson #5
Thank you parents for coming this week! We can't have parent days without you!
Looking ahead to next year, as of right now, I'm planning to teach 3rd Year at the same time I'm currently teaching this class. So in August when we start Purple Magic, it will still be Thursdays at 3:50 or 5:00. Please let me know if that will or will not work for you.
Please cut out the letters as they are needed and play the alphabet keyboard game with your child. (If they're already cut apart, just pull out all of one letter at a time.) Play this game on the largest keyboard you have. (If you have a piano with 88 keys, this is preferable to playing it on a 66-key keyboard.) You can do this separately from regular practicing. Just keep each letter session very short to begin with. You can even have several sessions in a day. We want the kids to enjoy playing this game. Maybe time them and have them beat their best time! The instructions I wrote in the Ziploc bag are different than those in the book. I have learned from experience that learning one new letter at a time makes it easier for the kids to remember. You should be able to play the game as described in the book very soon, but isolating the letters to begin with helps alleviate confusion. The repetition will help them remember faster. They will visualize the white keys for what they are, rather than what they are in relation to each other. If you have any questions or concerns about any of this, please let me know. I have many suggestions, but don't want to overwhelm you with all of them at once!
Celebrate Connection
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Bass C and Treble C
The 3 C’s are in a family; they have different first names and the same last name! We’ve known Middle C since last semester. This week we introduced Bass C: 2nd Space in Bass Clef is Bass C! (♫ "Second space is C in the bass") AND Treble C: 3rd Space in Treble Clef is Treble C (♫ "Space 1-2-3 is treble C"). These anchor notes on the staff will help orient us as we expand our keyboard skills. Treble C is just one octave up from Middle C and Bass C is just one octave below Middle C. You can look at pg. 56 in the homework book for reference, if needed.
C Major Scale
Now that we know where Treble C is on the keyboard we can play the C Major Scale going DOWN. The technique is exactly like the Left Hand, though playing it with the Right! Practice this SLOWLY to ensure correct fingerings and bubble hand position. 1) Begin with RH finger number 5 on Treble C. (This is the C right above middle C.) 2) Play Do, Ti, La, Sol, Fa using fingers 5-4-3-2-1 with a rounded bubble hand. 3) To play Mi, POP finger number 3 over thumb. 4) Reset the BUBBLE and proceed to play Mi-Re-Do with finger numbers 3-2-1.
I am Robin Hood
Shoo-oot the Ar-row, Waa-atch it fly---, teaches us how to feel and play the dotted quarter eighth note pattern (our bulls-eye and arrow feather) right on target. To feel this rhythm more accurately dance with the CD, stomp out the rhythm with hands and feet, or even sit them on your lap and bounce your knees up and down to the rhythm while chanting the song together. Mix up practice with this song by playing the bass clef 5th an octave lower to really sound like a deep drum!
Mr. Rest
Could you believe all the musical symbols Old MacDonald had on his musical farm? A rest, though played with silence, is a very important aspect of music. Mozart said “The music is not in the notes but in the silence between.” Rests are powerful!
C Major Scale Right Hand Descending
Playing the Alphabet Pieces game every day will help us solidify keyboard geography by learning the names of ALL of the white keys. Once your child knows all the letters individually, you can enjoy playing this game with its theme and variations!
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, January 30, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons
Lesson #4
Parents attend next week and tuition is due for those of you who did not pay the semester up front. You can use Zelle (using my phone number) or Venmo (@musikandme).
Please add your yellow stickers to your keyboard so they look like this. We have now learned the yellow chord, which is played with fingers 5, 3, and 1 on the left hand. We "glue" our thumb down and slide fingers 3 and 5 down by one baby step. Please be sure your child practices using the correct fingers! (In left hand we use the same fingers as the red chord!) Your child needs to be confident with left hand chords alone before attempting to play both hands together. We would like success, rather than frustration!
Within the next month we will start enrolling for next year. If you have friends or family that you want on my waiting list to start 1st Year, please share the link ASAP so I can get their information before I begin open enrollment up to the general public.
Please respond to my survey so I know what days/times work for you for next fall! I want to be sure you have a class! Here's the link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScoOpytQHGi9c2Ggj7sAH-XW7ipGDH-5b3p1R1UiSp-zhX2cg/viewform
Celebrate Connection
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
C Position & Middle C Position
We learned where the RH and LH rest on the keyboard for both of these positions. With C Position the RH Thumb (Finger 1) is on Middle C and LH Pinky (Finger 5) is on Bass C. With Middle C Position both Thumbs (Fingers 1) share Middle C. We liken this position to a butterfly. The two thumbs resting on middle c together are the butterfly body and their hands are the wings. Are their soft wings (fingers) resting gently on the keys? Don't forget your "BUBBLEFLIES!" (That's bubble hand butterflies...I made that up myself!)
A fun review is to chant each position, simply moving the LEFT HAND back and forth. Practice in the air, at the kitchen table, in the car running errands, and of course on the piano!
Caterpillar Song
This week when we played Caterpillar Song in class, I was SO impressed with how well the kids "glued" their fingers to the keys! This song is only meant to be fast if fingers aren't flying off the keyboard. Remember, CATERPILLARS DON'T FLY! Please be sure the kids practice this way EVERY TIME they play this song. Having good "BUBBLEFLIES" (for this song especially) will help them develop the correct habits that will manifest themselves in all our other songs!
C Major Scale
We learned how to play UP the C Major Scale (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do) with our LEFT HAND. We don’t have enough fingers to play this scale, so we learned how to POP our bubble hands and then reset them to complete the scale. Practice this SLOWLY to ensure that your child plays this correctly. 1) Play Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol with 5-4-3-2-1 fingers with a rounded bubble hand. 2) To play La, POP finger number 3 over the thumb. 3) Reset the BUBBLE and proceed to play La, Ti, Do with finger numbers 3-2-1. Sing the scale with finger numbers: 5-4-3-2-1-3-2-1.
Don't have them try to play down yet, just UP.
I am Robin Hood
Enjoy ‘drumming’ the slow slugs on the piano with the interval of a 5th using Left Hand Bass Clef fingers 5 and 1 when practicing this song. Sing the melody together while parents drum along on laps, the edge of the piano, clap along to keep a steady slug beat or drum with any can, canister, or container from around the home. Switch places so parents can play and kiddos can drum!
Do You Want to Build a YELLOW Snowman?
This bottom heavy snowman built with a 3rd on the bottom and a 4th on the top is melting from the YELLOW sun! We play this chord with fingers 5-3-1. Place Left Hand in C Position. SLIDE Finger 5 (pinky) and Finger 3 (middle finger) down one baby step while Finger 1 (thumb) stays put. Now time your musician for 30 seconds and count how many bass clef Yellow Chords they can play!
Middle C vs C Position & Review Caterpillar Song
We call our new puppet show “The Pirate Ship” but the real title is Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms. The Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes. They are among Brahms' most popular works, and were certainly the most profitable for him. Each dance has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. Brahms originally wrote the version for piano four-hands and later arranged the first 10 dances for solo piano. The most famous is Hungarian Dance No. 5.
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, January 23, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons
Lesson #3
Use this week to get your left hand red-blue chord transition solidified before we add the yellow chord next week. We should be getting to the point where we can play this transition with our eyes closed and even hands together! (that's tricky because the fingering is different for the RH than the LH. Only try it hands together when the muscle memory is solid in each hand separately).
Here are some practice tips to change things up. The winter blues might be setting in! Try putting red and blue stickers or candies on the keys that should be played for each chord. After practicing them a few times, they get to keep the stickers or eat the candies. Have a parent play through the practice and kiddo watches to be sure mom or dad is getting it right!
Celebrate Connection
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Caterpillar Song
WOW! Our caterpillars are getting smoother and steadier with this 5 finger pattern! As your child progresses playing this song, watch for these 4 things:
Turtle Shells
This week we focused playing the “Turtle Shell” intervals with the left hand. Everyone agrees that it’s harder than the right hand! Using fingers 4 & 5 is tougher than using 1 & 2. Before playing, warm up with “Where is 4? Where is 5?” then have your child play the interval (a 2nd) with fingers 4 & 5. Repeat for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th. If he masters the intervals with the left hand, play hands together. Enjoy a little twist on the classic game Twister to reinforce and strengthen those finger numbers.
Love Somebody
We LOVE when our parents play along with us! Share more love with your child by playing and singing the melody an octave higher or accompanying together with the chords using the CD. Ask your child to teach your family the ‘LOVELY’ game that accompanies this song!
I am Robin Hood
"I am Robin Hood" is used to introduce quarter rests and the dotted quarter - eighth note pattern. The philosophy that feeling a "pulling" feeling will promote correct performance of that particular rhythm pattern, is brought to life in a playful way through the "pulling" of arrows. The open 5th in the left hand is a particularly satisfying sound to young children, resembles the sound of drums and is easy to play!
Teaching our students to read music using steps and skips leads to more fluent playing and better sight-readers. Echo Edna helps our students in class be able to recognize steps and skips on the staff, sing them, AND play them. Simon Says to Step or Skip is a fun game to practice this concept at home. You can print and cut out the cards in the student download portal, or make your own and shuffle them in two different piles (one with step/skip and the other with up/down). ‘Simon’ chooses any note to start on, then chooses one card from each pile and invites the other person to follow those directions. After a few rounds, switch roles. Did you do as Simon Said? A fun way to add tactile and visual reinforcement is to use small pencil top erasers or any small toy as a starting note and then step or skip with another one. It’s so fun!
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, January 16, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons
Lesson #2
This week we learned the fingering for the BLUE chord in the left hand! Now you can put your blue stickers on your piano for the left hand. They go on notes C-F-A. Stress correct fingering of 5-2-1. Feel free to write the finger numbers in permanent marker on the stickers. See "Making Musicians" below! Here's a picture of what your stickers should now look like on your keyboard:
Notice that there are no stickers for the right hand. We don't need those musical training wheels anymore, so if you still have them, please remove them!
Celebrate Connection
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Music Alphabet
“The first 3 notes just happen to be Do Re Mi!” Maria got it right teaching the von Trap children the solfege before note names. Now that our students can sing, play, and sight read notes through solfege, and keyboard geography is solid, we are getting ready to label all of the white keys on the piano. This begins with the music alphabet! The music alphabet includes the 1st seven notes of the English Alphabet except that it starts on the Letter C and after G comes letter A. The first 7 notes just happen to be C D E F G A B!
Block and Broken
Playing music is like reading a book. We start at the left side of the page and move our eyes to the right. When the note changes, so do our fingers. Help guide this song while sitting on the left of your child and pointing to the notes in each measure. Once your child is comfortable playing the song, practice making sure each measure gets 3 steady beats. Feel free to sing, “RED-2-3; DO (count 1) MI (count 2) SOL (count 3). BLUE-2-3; DO FA LA,” etc…This will help your student understand how to read the music and work towards playing this song with a steady beat.
Snowflakes are Falling
Brrr it’s cold outside! Warm up inside your home by playing this ostinato on the tone bells. Sing starting on Re, “Snowflakes are falling, falling very gently”. Then play La, Sol, Fa, Mi for “down, down, down, down”. Keep singing the lyrics then repeating this DOWN pattern until you’re feeling toasty inside and finish the song by playing a final DOWN on the Re bell. Try it in a round as a family around the fire with the music!
Who Am I? I’m the SPIDEY BLUE CHORD!
Spin a chord of fun playing the Left Hand Blue Chord with fingers 5-2-1. It also looks like ASL for "I LOVE YOU"! Just remember how much you love playing the blue chord with your left hand! Just don't forget to play the chord with bubble hands...this is ONLY to help you remember which fingers to use, not the shape you make while playing the blue chord!
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, January 9, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons
Lesson #1
What a great class this week! We learned so many new things and reviewed many others. Remember, tuition is due if you didn't pay for the whole year up front. Please be sure to look at the calendar in your student portal so you can be aware when scheduling for parent days. Remember, to access your student portal, go to www.musikandme.com and find the login section (either on the right if using a computer, or the bottom if you're on a phone). Once you're logged in with your username and password, click the calendar icon on the left (3rd icon down). You can sync it to your own digital personal calendar too!
If your child wants to still work on the Christmas Break Challenge this week, I'll still give out rewards next week, if they bring it back signed!
Don't forget that the keyboard stickers are like training wheels. Once the children know where your fingers should go, they don't need them anymore! Left Hand Red Sticker PlacementIf your child needs to use the right hand stickers a few more practices, that is fine, but please remove them before next class! (Although the electrical tape stickers I gave you should come off clean, Goo Gone can get any leftover residue if there is any.) Now that we're learning to use our left hand, you may add your RED chord stickers for the LEFT HAND! We will hold off on the blue and yellow chords for now.
Tuition is due this week and is $280 for the Yellow Arrows 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
A new semester and a fresh start! Focus on making practice time as fun and loving 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.
A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!
Left Hand Finger Power through Bubble Hands & Turtle Shells
This semester we will focus on strengthening our LEFT HAND finger muscles! Playing Bubble Hands in numerical order on the keyboard is a great way to strengthen and reinforce finger numbers. "Pinky's 5, Ring is 4, Middle's 3, Pointer's 2, and Thumb is 1." LH pinky is on C, the bottom red dot. After your child is confident with the finger numbers in order, mix it up to cement this concept with the Left Hand! Also, you can log in to your student portal and download the "Finger Numbers Matching Game" that I created for my daughter when she didn't want to do "Let's Play Music" homework. (The best part about it was that she didn't even realize she was learning...we were just playing a game!)
Playing Turtle Shells with the CD will ALSO help strengthen those fingers. Look closely at the music on the page and it will help you know what finger numbers to play. Hold each interval down the entire time you are singing until the next interval. It will be tricky at first, but with a little practice, it will become easy!
Do You Want To Build a Red Snowman?
The Left Hand Red Chord looks the very same on the staff: stacked up nice and neat with a 3rd on the bottom and a 3rd on the top in a snowman shape. We PLAY the red chord with our left hand finger numbers 5-3-1 (finger #5 on bass C, the bottom red dot). Invite your little musician to play Old Paint with the left hand this week! They’ll be thrilled to play a song they already know, PLUS they will be strengthening their fingers! Double bonus!
The Caterpillar Song
The proper hand position for this technique song is Middle C Position where both thumbs SHARE Middle C like a BUTTERFLY! This week work on coordinating both hands at once by singing finger numbers SLOWLY until they get the hang of this 5 finger pattern. Then add the lyrics.
Since both red chords are shaped like a snowman, how do we know which hand to play it with? By looking at which CLEF is on the staff.
The TREBLE CLEF has a lot of curls, like "Girls Curly Hair," (say it in a high pitched voice because those are the high notes that we play with our right hand). Don't pull her hair or you'll get in "TREBLE!"
The BASS CLEF looks like "Father's Strong Arm and some father's like to play bass-ball!" (say it in a deep voice because those are the low notes that we play with our left hand).
Also, I've added the Pirate Ship puppets for you to download. Log in at www.musikandme.com and you can download and print 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 :)
Student Section: |
STUDENT PORTAL: