Thursday, February 27, 2025 | Yellow Arrows Lessons

Lesson #8

Parents come next week, tuition is due, and it's SPIRIT MONTH! (See separate email with details.) 

1st Year Registration & Enrollment
If you have a child you want to go through 1st year and aren't on my waiting list, or you know someone who wants to do Let's Play Music, email back and let me know their name and email address so they can get registered ASAP. After next week I'll open registration up to the general public.

Enrollment for next fall begins this SATURDAY at NOON!

Please go to https://musikandme.com/Registration-LPM-return for instructions of how to enroll your student and purchase their 3rd year materials. There is a $20 registration fee, but you won't need to pay it if you register by March 28th! (You can earn 10 extra tickets by registering before March 15th!) My 3rd Year classes will be Thursdays at 4:00pm and 5:30pm. Please let me know if these times won't work for you and we'll discuss solutions. I can possibly adjust this if necessary, but please register as soon as you can.

Celebrate Connection

A few ideas to bring playfulness to practice time!

• Alpha-frogger:
  Pretend each alphabet foam piece is a tiny frog. Have your child choose an alphabet frog, then hop it across the keyboard helping froggie find all keys of that letter. These frogs don't croak- each time the "frog" lands on one of her special lily pads, sing the letter (on pitch!).
  
  
• Hiss:
  Place one letter on the keyboard as a starter snake. Each player takes turns drawing a letter and checking to see if they can add it to the head or the tail with baby steps to make the snake longer. If not, start a new snake somewhere else on the keyboard. Anytime someone makes a snake with 8 or more segments, they get to remove it from the keyboard and keep the points (1 per segment)! Play until the pieces run out. It's pretty cool if you are able to join 2 snakes by drawing the missing link between them, and win a really long snake! You might enjoy non-piano Hiss, too.
  
  
• Silly Songs:
  Have your child draw out 5-10 alphabet notes and line them up along the music stand. With her right hand in C position, play each note with the finger touching that key. If the note is a B, slide the thumb down to yellow position to reach it; if the note is an A, slide the hand into blue position to reach it. This might be a wacky song, or it might be something cool. If you like the tune, play it again!

Oh, When the Saints & Lullaby and Goodnight
D-O-W-N and that’s the DOWN-BEAT! The downbeat is the strong beat that tells us when to begin playing a song. Sometimes the downbeat is on the first word of a song, sometimes it is not. Ask your child what word the DOWNBEAT is on in both of these songs!

Tinga Layo:
Our toe-tapping donkey, dances a shaky, stylized rhythm called CALYPSO. See if you can hear this fun rhythm while singing along!  

I am Robin Hood
It’s duet time! While your child plays the melody, you or a sibling can clap or pat drumbeats on lap in a repeated slug pattern. Then switch! Once your child is confidant playing the melody by themselves, invite them to pat their own leg while playing. Impressive harmony!

When listening to Don't Put Your Trash encourage your child to do the actions to the part he hears during the harmony. It is also creative to change up the lyrics especially when encouraging chores: Don't put your SOCKS (insert any noun) in my BEDROOM (insert any place) my bedroom's full!

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 26, 2025 | Uncategorized

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 | Pink Piggies Lessons

Lesson #8

Sound Beginnings curriculum consists primarily of American folk songs and chants, nostalgic songs, nursery rhymes, and well-known classical pieces. You likely recognized a few of the songs or rhymes on our album!

Next week we'll sing these songs in class:

• Ten Little Pennies
• Hey! Hey! Look At Me!
• DO Pentatonic Scale
• My Little Rooster
• To Market
• Zoodeo
• Count Your Blessings

Tuition is due next week, and March is SPIRIT MONTH! We'll have lots of prizes you can win by showing your class spirit! (See the separate email with details.) 

1st Year Registration & Enrollment
If you have a child you want to go through 1st year and aren't on my waiting list, or you know someone who wants to do Let's Play Music, email back and let me know their name and email address so they can get registered ASAP. After next week I'll open registration up to the general public.

Enrollment for next fall begins this SATURDAY at NOON! There is a $20 registration fee, but you won't need to pay it if you register by March 28th! (You can earn 10 extra tickets for the Spirit Month drawing by registering before March 15th!)

Folk music is rich in history and became an informal way to pass on traditions, commemorate personal or communal events, and bond communities. Because it originated with common folk, untrained in the musical arts, it’s melodies are easy to learn and sing. By incorporating folk music into the curriculum, Sound Beginnings is keeping tradition alive and helping preserve the stories of those that came before us. It is believed that the tradition of reciting nursery rhymes began for similar reasons, an oral tradition meant to preserve and pass on stories. Our use of them in class promotes listening to speech patterns, understanding rhyming words, increased vocabulary, and preparation for further literacy skills.

Optional home fun activity: Color the ‘Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks’ on page 16            
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

While this isn't actually one of our semester instruments, I think this is a very fun video of playing rocks. Yes, I said rocks. The instrument is called a Lithophone and it is similar to the xylophone, but made from rocks, rather than wood! If you would like to see the difference between other barred percussion instruments, here's a link to some good info!

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.

Have a musical day!          
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, February 25, 2025 | Orange Roots Lessons

Lesson #8

Parents come next week, tuition is due, and it's SPIRIT MONTH! (See separate email with details.) 

1st Year Registration & Enrollment:

If you have a child you want to go through 1st year and aren't on my waiting list, or you know someone who wants to do Let's Play Music, email back and let me know their name and email address so they can get registered ASAP. After next week I'll open registration up to the general public.

Thank you for sending the Marco Polo videos this week. It really helps us get through more fun things in class when we don't need to take the time for each student to play their song during class. 

We started working on the A minor scale and cadences this week! The best part about A minor is that the scale feels just like playing a C Major scale, with no sharps or flats! We did have to change our solfege words though. A minor scale is DO, RE, ME (pronounced "may"), FA, SOL, LE (pronounced "lay"), TE (pronounced "tay"), DO. Our cadences are almost the same, but when we play the yellow chord, we do have to remember to play the G#!

Our dictation exercise was different today. We had all the same notes, but we had to listen to the rhythm and write the rhythm we heard. We also practiced drawing a bass clef, which is also called the "F clef" because the big dot is on the F line and the two dots are on both sides of the F line.

Next week we will do Showtime as a class with New World Symphony. Have your child practice the part they want to play in class and we'll all play our parts at the same time to make a beautiful ensemble!

Students should now have all orange rhythm flashcards unbanded so they can practice all 16 cards! They can also use Quizlet from my website to practice the same things!

Optional: if you'd like to have your student practice more rhythms in a super fun way, you can print off the orange counting cards. They are in the student portal (www.musikandme.com) in the online resources section. There are 3 sets with 2 pages each. You can print them front-to-back and you'll have the same rhythms with bugs to help on one side and no bugs on the other side!

Russian Sailor Dance
This song is ALWAYS a student favorite. Another great repertoire piece that reinforces ABA form, improvisations, and provides a study in legato and staccato themes. But it's the the accelerando at the end that will have your student BEGGING to practice it all the time! 

a-minor Scale

Russian Sailor Dance

Bridge is a really fun class for Let's Play Music graduates that is a great "bridge" between Let's Play Music classes and private lessons. I will be starting a new Bridge class next year, teaching it as a 2-year program. The kids will learn lots of new songs, scales, musical concepts, and so much more! It is more self-paced than LPM, so it's perfect for if you feel like your child has missed out on some musical concepts or skills in Orange Roots. If you are interested, let me know and I'll get you more information.

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 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 :)

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 :)

Wednesday, February 12, 2025 | Pink Piggies Lessons

Lesson #6

Sound Beginnings is built on the premise that everyone is capable of developing musical talent and that the early years are the perfect time to start building a musical skillset. The meaningful and purpose-filled class activities provide a foundation for further music study. Parents can foster a child’s musical development by participating in class, listening to the album at home, and encouraging children to explore other music experiences.

Next week we'll sing these in class:

• Ten Little Pennies
• Hey! Hey! Look At Me!
• DO Pentatonic Scale
• Little Turtle
• How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
• A Rum Sum Sum
• To Market
• Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
• Zoodeo

The syllables and hand signs we use in class are part of a pitch-learning method called solfege. It is widely taught at all levels of music education and has numerous benefits. Learning solfege:

• strengthens pitch relationships and develops relative pitch
• improves sight singing abilities
• aids in transcribing (writing down) music
• improves improvisational and composition skills

Optional home fun activity: Use your paper coins for the sorting activity on page 4          
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Here's a different song about the value of coins. 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:
	Peek into a Sound Beginnings class and you will see skipping, crawling, dancing, and jumping! Full body movement builds large muscle strength, hand-eye coordination, aids brain-hemisphere function, and develops balance in young children.

Have a musical day!        
-Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, February 11, 2025 | Orange Roots Lessons

Lesson #6

Wow! What a fun lesson #6. I was blown away with your children's compositions this week! Everyone came to their private lesson with an idea of what they wanted to do. Some even had it notated on their staff pages for me. (Thank you moms!) It was fun dreaming up ideas of what was to come next. Every student felt successful and happy with what they had accomplished.

Please have your child play their piece for you and prepare to be amazed. Our compositions are not finished yet so encourage your child to keep working. Now that we have something on paper, encourage your student to continue practicing their composition and complete whatever notes from me that you see. (i.e. finish filling in the chords or finish notating a melody line etc.) Many of the children have finished their "A section" and now need to focus on writing a contrasting "B section". We will have another private lesson on Lesson 11. Let me know if your child needs a little extra help between now and then. Persuade them to start working on the next part of their song.

Students should continue to add to their compositions. I'd love to see any changes or additions they make. They can write directly on the music I printed for them, or they can make additions in the line section of their songbooks. They can bring it to class or you can send me a picture and I'll get it updated on my computer. You’re on a roll, so don’t stop now!

I am holding free preview classes in a couple weeks. 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!

On From the New World, don't forget about the 'blue chord position' and special 'bass C' position that the LH will need to move to on pg. 15 of Part III. Here is a quick video to help with that.

Composition

The composition is the culminating event for your Let's Play Music student! We have been experiencing, internalizing, and now labeling many things over our three year development as a young musician. We will rely on our knowledge of: major and minor, time signatures, chord uses and sounds, ABA song form, staccato and legato, theme and variations, block, broken, and marching chords, and MANY other skills that will help your child as they compose and create their own original composition. We've got a starting point, now I'll encourage implementing more of these musical attributes to really make their composition musical!

Practicing Help (Homework)

Composition Help

Start with melody

Start with rhythm

Start with chords

Watch this video of a young prodigy composer who pulls four musical notes out of hat, improvising and composing a piano sonata in under a minute.     

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 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!

• Blink with each note/chord you play in the bass clef (LH).
• Close your eyes, and run your finger over your music then stop and open your eyes. Start from wherever your finger landed and play through to the end.
• Knock on the wood/plastic of your keyboard when you come to Mr. Rests.

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 :)

Wednesday, February 5, 2025 | Pink Piggies Lessons

Lesson #5

In today’s busy world, Sound Beginnings provides an opportunity for meaningful interaction and purposeful connection with your child. As you laugh, play, hug, sing, and dance with your children, you are bonding them to music and nurturing a stronger relationship with you!

Next week we'll sing these in class:

• Let's Count Our Money
• Hey! Hey! Look At Me!
• DO Pentatonic Scale
• Little Turtle
• How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
• Polly Wolly Doodle
• Palo Palo
• Uno, Dos Tres
• Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks
• Hush Little Baby

This semester we will focus on the pentatonic scale. This scale is comprised of only 5 notes, and contains no semi-tones (or half steps). The absence of half steps makes it easier to sing in tune and produces music that is easily layered over many chords and other scales. Some consider the pentatonic scale a “universally pleasant sound” and a “naturally occurring phenomenon” because music based on this scale is found in virtually all parts of the world. It is common in traditional folk music and widely used in jazz improvisations.

Optional home fun activity: Cut out the coins on page 25          
(Remember, these activities are optional but can be a great bonding experience to do with your child during the week.)  

Want to know just how cool the pentatonic scale is? Check out this video! (This one is more for the parents, but the kids might still find it entertaining.)

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:
	Our classes teach intelligent listening and understanding of classical form in a fun and interactive way. Each semester we study the timbre (tam'-ber) of various instruments and our 'smart moves' dances involve the whole body in an enjoyable, classical music experience.

Have a musical day!        
-Ms. Bethany :)

  Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | Uncategorized

If you are looking for a way to make it easier to play your class music, keep reading! I recently discovered this screen-free way to give your child control of their music listening experience. It's called a Yoto player. I opted for the Yoto Mini and I feel like it is more than adequate for the job. I made a couple web pages that go into more detail about how you can use it for Let's Play Music and Sound Beginnings. There's even a way to get a 10% discount on your first purchase! Read all about it here!

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | Bridge Lessons

Hello Bridge Families! Here is some of what we did in class this week: We reviewed 3 types of "Cadences" which are the way we say "the end" when a song is over.  AUTHENTIC CADENCE: V7, I yellow to red the most popular way to say "the end" and it sounds the most complete. strong pull to DO PLAGAL CADENCE: IV, I blue to red sounds like a hymn with "a-men" at the end HALF CADENCE: ends with V ends on a yellow chord sounds unfinished like "Kitty Kitty Casket" in LPM We reviewed counting notes and rests with our pyramid We reviewed the key of e minor and learned to do the triads. We use the notes of a HARMONIC scale because the TI leads back to DO better than te does. Here is the solfege we use for our chords (compare with the diagrams below) I Chord = DO-me-SOL IV Chord = DO-FA-le V Chord = TI-RE-SOL (instead of te RE SOL) ARPEGGIOS are just playing the I chord broken using both hands INVERSIONS are the same as they are in the key of C Major but starting two whole steps farther up.  There are no black keys for arpeggios or inversions but they still sound minor. This week your child will do the red and purple highlighted assignments at home! Parents need to initial completed assignments this week in order for the kids to get their reward in class! Be sure your child is practicing their recital piece (primary song) every time they practice. They don't need to play the entire song, but they need to try to make a small section of it perfect. Use those sticker charts I gave you! Don't forget to please help your child pass off their songs and scales to earn pins! You just need to send me a video of them playing. The scales can be played with or without the back track, but they need to be perfect at least one time with both hands. Please let me know if you have any questions! Have a musical day!                                      -Ms. Bethany :)

Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | Orange Roots Lessons

Lesson #5

Thank you parents for coming this week! Your participation plays such a big role in your child's success! Don't forget tuition is due for those of you that didn't pay for the semester up front. You can pay through Zelle (using my phone number) or Venmo me (@musikandme). 

Here's a little help with this week's theory assignment. In a major scale, we start numbering each note at 1 and because it begins to repeat after number 7, we go back to 1. This is the same way we go back to DO or C. 

 Even though the students cannot play all three parts of New World at the same time, you (the parent) should be able to play a part or two with them at home. Have fun playing as a family ensemble!
     
This next week I will be meeting with your child in their 1st private lesson to begin creating their composition. We have been working during class to brainstorm ideas we might like to use, and have been encouraging 'tinkering' at the keyboard at home. Please encourage your child to be thinking about a musical question (and maybe an answer) that we could work on together next week. This could be a simple melody or some chords that they have written down, can play, or even just hum. Or if they have specific characters they want in their song, they can write a short melody for each character. This is only the beginning of this process, so I'm not looking for you to send a 'finished' product. Feel free to watch the supplemental videos with your child (links down below). Please send your child with their Orange Roots Songbook so we can look over their Composer's Corner activities together. Thanks!

I'll text the schedule for next week's private lesson.

PLEASE be on time for drop off and pick up! This private lesson is only for the students, but if you need to come stay warm inside, you are welcome to!

Composition

The composition is the culminating event for your Let's Play Music student! We have been experiencing, internalizing, and now labeling many things over our three year development as a young musician. We will rely on our knowledge of : major and minor, time signatures, chord uses and sounds, ABA song form, staccato and legato, theme and variations, block, broken, and marching chords, and MANY other skills that will help your child as they compose and create their own original composition.

Magic Keys

This is our 2nd song to graduate up with us from our purple semester. As we continue to sing (and play this song) we will further expand our understanding of key signatures and note relationships--This is the KEY in transposing music. Our new verse allows us to understand and play in the key of G Major, with our new magic key, F#. 

G Major Cadence

Composition Help

Start with melody

Start with rhythm

Start with chords

Inspiration for composition can come in many ways. Here is a great story about a man who saw birds sitting on telephone wires and it inspired him to create his own composition. Can't wait to see where all of our students get their inspiration from! Excited to meet them all individually next week.
https://vimeo.com/6428069

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 :)