What an amazing group of students I have this year! They're all so eager to learn, and soaking all the concepts up so easily. Currently, my first years are learning about the staff, and making "steps" in music. My second years are playing their primary chords on the keyboards, and learning all about intervals. My third year students are now learning songs in the key of F.

As we approach Halloween, each year has a spooky song that teaches a musical concept. They are learning breathing techniques in their singing, learning to play major and minor chords (minor chords are WAY spookier), and playing a C minor song in 3/4 time.

This program is so much fun to teach, especially when I have awesome amazing kids and parents!

End of the Year Recital!

RECITAL VIDEOS and PICS HERE!

Thanks so much to my awesome students and parents for making the "End of the Year" Recital a big success. The kids really did SHINE. I am so proud of each and every one of them.

See below for some video footage (disclaimer: my video guy is a rookie, but was "free", so this is not a Hollywood production...) Also, click on "Student Pics" to see new recital photos. Your kids are SO SO SO cute. I can barely stand it!

I am so sad to announce that my third year students have graduated and left the LPM nest. They were amazing as they played their own compositions on recital night. There are a few videos of them below as well. I sure will miss them and hope they will immediately continue with private piano lessons.

Registration for first year students continues through the summer. There are only a few spots left, so if you want to sign up your child, contact me asap!! I'll see you all in August! Have a super wonderful summer break.

Love, Miss Jodi

Love, Miss Jodi

A Bit of the Third Year Recital...

We opened our recital by singing "Find the Root". Then 1/2 the students played "Cockles and Mussels" and half played "Russian Sailor Dance." The majority of the recital was each student playing the song they composed ALL BY THEMSELVES. It was so cool to see the fruits of their 3 years of music study pay off so well!

Year 2 Students Perform & DO RE MI (Years 1 & 2)

Year 1 Students Rock it at the Recital!!

2011/2012 Registration

Registration is OPEN for the 2011-2012 school year.

Email me at: jodiblackburn@cox.net for a copy of the registration form.

** I know your pre-K schedules may note be finalized yet, but go ahead and register with your best guess, and we will adjust as needed when you get your school schedule. **

Session Red I: Thursdays 9:00-9:45 AM. Seats Available: 5

Session Red II: Thursdays 4:00-4:45 AM. Seats Available:2

Session Red III: Thursdays 5:00-5:45 PM. Seats Available: 4

Session Red IV: Fridays 2:00-2:45 PM. *** may or may not be available. Let me know if interested.

Classes Held: Once a week throughout the school year, beginning in August, at my home studio located near Signal Butte & Warner in SouthEast Mesa, AZ.

Class Duration and Size: 45 minutes, 6-8 children per class. (Second year classes are 50 minutes, third year classes are 55 minutes long.)

Parent Participation: A parent attends every other class with the student. Siblings are not allowed in class. (During the second and third year, parents attend only every fourth class.)

Tuition: $360 for the first year. You may opt to make 8 monthly installments of $45. When you register, you buy a seat for the entire year.

Tuition Due: At the first class of each month, August-April.

Materials Fee: $83 for the entire year. This includes tone bells, home study notebook, homework assignments, 4 sets of stick puppets, tote bag and two home study CDs. For additional siblings, materials are only $23 and includes tote bag, puppets, and weekly homework assignments.

Registration Fee: $15 per family

Missed Classes: Although there are no refunds or guaranteed make-ups for missed classes, I may allow you to attend the missed lesson at a different class time. Weekly emails and the parent handbook will help you know what was missed and what to practice if you do miss.

Curriculum and Homework: Each year we cover 2 comprehensive semesters. Red Balloon and Blue Bugs are covered in year 1. Weekly homeworks are a fun and age-appropriate way to reinforce class concepts. They require parent participation for young children to complete.

Keyboards:Although this is a piano preparation course, you do not need a piano or keyboard at home for the first year. You will need a piano or keyboard for the second and third years. We also use an autoharp in class and some parents elect to purchase one for home use during the first year.

Eligible Ages:Students usually begin during their pre-K or K year (age 4 - 5). The full program is 3 years long. After graduation (around age 7) students go on to excel with private piano or other instrument instruction. I will allow a 6 or 7 year-old to register, but please consider if your 7 year-old will enjoy the playfulness and silliness that defines how I teach.

Orientation: A 45-minute parent-only orientation meeting will be held the first week of August.

Referrals: Tell your friends about classes, and you get $15 tuition credit for each one who signs up!

Contact Jodi Blackburn

jodiblackburn@cox.net

Phone: 480-988-2644

Orange #10

Hello Orange Roots!

Don’t forget….2 weeks of Spring Break, and then private lessons follow the next week!

This week in class we focused on included: taking dictation in the BASS CLEF, working on scales in C, F, G, and a minor, practicing inversions, note naming, triad spelling, and rhythm counting.

Practice at home:

1. Flashcards: We will be playing fun games in class from here on out, so please practice the flashcards every day. If your child can do it under one minute, then set the goal of 45 seconds. The faster they

are, the better they will sight read music.

2. Russian Sailor Dance: (pg. 14) & Bagatelle Bridges: (pg. 16)

The assignment log information outlines what needs to be accomplished by the end of the practice week. For example, on lesson #10 the song Russian Sailor Dance says, “Play the A section with the CD. Learn all of the B section and add the LH.” Keep in mind, your student needs to be doing this by the end of the week, not the first day of practice. Don’t expect to do the whole goal objective on the first day. Breaking practice goals up throughout the week will not only help them enjoy practice time more, but it will help them feel more successful.

Also, having your student listen to the repertoire songs on the CD will help them play them better. If they listen to the song a few times a day, it is another way to process the music that they will be practicing.

This week’s homework: Theory Assignment # 10

This week you will be working with sharps and flats. Remember, the center of either symbol lies directly on the note line. If you are confused about this assignment and/or your child has no idea what to do, call or email me. This is important stuff.

Parent Notes:

•This next time we have class is on Thursday, March 31st, or Sat April 2nd (private lessons).

• Make sure you continue to practice with your students. A few of them are really starting to lag behind and it’s all due to inconsistent or poor practice. When I asked them why they weren’t practicing they said, “My mom just can’t help me. We have too many other important things to do!” Make sure you aren’t holding your child back. (I’ve been guilty of this!) We only have a few weeks left and I know it can get hard, but YOU CAN DO IT! I feel a slight spring fever coming over everyone,

myself included, so let’s all make a concerted effort to do your best as a parent in being consistent. It’s so fun to see them progress and love music so much. I absolutely love seeing their musical growth!

Yellow Lesson #10

We played lots of songs on the keyboards this week. Can you believe how many songs we can play from that yellow songbook already? The next few lessons are going to focus on putting the two hands together. Sometimes it’s tricky – like in the Indian song – when both hands are playing different things. But with consistent and S-L-O-W and deliberate practice, you will be surprised at the results.

Have a wonderful spring BREAK. After your 5 practice days are done, just play for fun. HOMEWORK:

This is kind of like the bug scales – match each phrase of music (in the middle) to a cadence pattern on the right side and a bug on the left.

PRACTICING:

We get to play the caterpillar song again. We’ve done so much finger strengthening since you first played this song. The kids have improved so much on this song! Make sure to play your chords blocked, and broken into pieces. Also, please please please keep playing the "Alphabet Pieces" game (from the back of the songbook) if your child hasn't mastered which key is which yet. This is so important. Thanks for all of your hard work and support!

Blue Lesson #10

Are you practicing songs on your bells at home?

You have learned to play “How to Skip,” “The Dinosaur Song,” and “Are You Sleeping?” (the 'ding dong' part as well as the melody) on the bells now!

Maybe you can even figure out how to play: “V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E” and “Johnny Get Your Hair Cut “

Practice your bells over spring break! Remember to practice slowly and listen the song in your head. Sing along out loud. You can even play along with your CD player. On the autoharp, we are playing “El Gallo” and “On Top of Spaghetti.” We are also using DMajor and dminor to play “I’ve Been to Harlem” as the happy and sad travelers.

HOMEWORK:

Remember in red balloons when we used to place the notes on the right spot on the staff? This is a helpful review. Do your best with those tiny circles – you’re welcome to use little stickers or have mom help out

NEXT 2 WEEKS:

No classes! Enjoy your spring break! See you again the last week of March

Orange #9

Well moms (& dads)...

Your kids are totally AWESOME!! (in case you didn't know that)

Third year, and especially orange roots, can be pretty complex. I can tell your kids are practicing. They really are GETTING it.

Hopefully you’re all making plans to continue with piano lessons after our class is over. Your kids are all at the right age to succeed in private lessons – attention spans are longer, responsibility has increased, one-on-one attention is more effective, and now that they have their musical roots, they are ready to grow to great heights! I have 2 amazing private piano teachers to recommend that are close by. You may have someone else in mind. Just for your special new piano teacher, I have a letter of introdution and a page of helpful tips to make the transition easier. Each student will receive both at our final lesson. If you have questions about ANY of the piano teachers, which ones I might recommend for your child, etc., please don’t hesitate to call or email me. There will also be a LPM transition book available as a download at the end of the year. It will be free of charge – I will get you all the details as soon as I hear anything else. We worked on a couple new songs and our new puppet show. We refined our scales, inversions, and rhythm counting.

While I am sad that our time is almost over, I am SO PROUD of all our accomplishments together and so excited for the future! It has been a FABULOUS 3 years.

PRACTICING:

Play ALL your scales! Try hands together on all but F Major.

I will pass off the other two parts of New World next week – be ready to play each part with the group. Work on the whole “A” section of “Russian Sailor Dance” – get it ready to play with me in class! Also, learn the right hand of Bagatelle Bridges. (the book says to play C Major ) We’ll work on G Major in class next week.

What did you think of our new puppet show? “Coda” is a word that describes our special surprise ending! We also learned about introductions, and bridges. Hopefully your child will apply these ideas to their compositions. I'd like to encourage full rich pieces, that really showcase what they've learned. Don't hesitate to call me for ideas.

Lesson 11 is another private lesson. If you didn't sign up for a time in class, I'll be contacting you soon.

Yellow #9

Thanks for coming this week, Moms. Please know that I understand the COUNTLESS hours of quiet (and not so quiet) urging, patience, and reminding on your part to help your children get to where they are.

There were lots of new songs this week – a few of which we didn’t even have time to get to in class. Remember what we learned about the DOWNBEAT? See if you can hear the downbeat in songs around you. I was impressed to see you do the music alphabet backwards. Keep up the alphabet pieces game – do 2-3 letters at a time and see how quickly your kids can find those notes on the piano. I liked that Calypso beat, too.

PRACTICING

Have fun with those bug scales and remember to “pop” UNDER your long third finger on the way up. Play “How to Skip” using the hand positions and pattern we discussed in class. I can’t wait until next week to see what you have done with “Tinga Layo” and “When the Saints Go Marching.” I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with those chords. Keep working on “I’m an Indian” – and don’t overthink it – you’re doing two different things at the same time, but we’ve done so much in class to help you “feel it.” Be confident and SING while you play!

HOMEWORK

Name the notes on the staff: low C, middle C, high C (you can just mark “C”); middle D, and middle B. Want extra note-reading practice at home? Draw a simple staff with 5 lines and make 5-6 little dots around middle C – just like we did in class up at the piano. I love that sight-reading is such a fun game at this point!

See ya real soon!!

Blue Lesson #9

Today we played another ostinato on our bells to the song "Are you sleeping." We learned how to play a slug on the bells. The slugs are really half notes and are held for 2 beats, so we should exaggerate the way we wave that "extra" beat up in the air, before continuing on with our bug beats.

Wasn't it fun to see the BINGO song in action? This really seems to be a favorite with the kids. This song teaches great audiation, rhythmic balance and beat.

The homework this week is super short, but should be a springboard for you to try to “trick” your child with lots of questions like: How many monkey steps make one lion step? How many cicada steps make TWO elephant steps? This exercise shows the various beat relationships and is a great math lesson. The chart of different animal steps shows divisions of space. The CD rhythms divide time. As the children see the correlation between the 2 divisions, they are building "spatial awareness" which is a necessity for success in math. WOW!!

We started the new "Fox Hunt" puppet show today. Don't forget to have your kids color, cut and paste up their puppets.

See ya real soon!

Blue lesson #8

Today we worked a lot on playing steps, skips and leaps on our bells. We learned that anything MORE than 1 skip, is a leap. I asked the kids to practice the ostinato of "A Frog Went A Hoppin'" on their bells. To do this, they should go up and down their bells playing "Do-Sol-HighDo-Sol-Do-Sol-HighDo-" etc. If they can practice doing that WHILE singing, it works out their harmonization skills, as well as coordination, keeping a steady beat, and singing in tune. WOW!

We sang and rocked to "Sleep my Treasure". Echo Ed came out in a "minor" mood and we echoed his minor tones. We also compared a C major scale to a C minor scale. Everyone played "El Gallo" on the autoharp and did a wonderful job.

I am so proud of my adorable Blue Bugs!

Yellow Lesson #8

Greetings Yellow Indian Moms and Dads!

This week in class your kids played all of the patterns that we use at the end of our opening LPM song. These patterns are found on pg 14. Make sure they get into MIDDLE C position before starting to play the patterns. They are all also doing very well at playing their C major scale, and know right when to POP!

Echo Edna (who isn't grounded any more) "quizzed" each individual student this week on sightreading skips and steps. They did really really good!

'I'm an Indian' seems to be such a favorite song of theirs. This week we started the process of really playing 2 hands together. We started out playing our right hand (treble clef) while beating our laps with the left hand in the Indian Drum-slug beat. It takes some coordination and effort and PRACTICE, but soon they will all get it. What an accomplishment!

We learned that a downbeat is the first strong beat where we begin playing. In 'Lullaby and Goodnight' (pg 18), the downbeat is "by" in the word lullaby. They have been marching to the song 'When the Saints go marching in', and they start their march exactly on the word "saints" - because that's the downbeat!

Next week is lesson #9 and parents attend. Tuition is due next week as well. I hope everyone is healthy and avoiding all the "gom-boo" going around!

See you all soon.

Orange Lesson #8

I am excited to report that your kids have now played the piano in 5 DIFFERENT KEYS!! Yahoo!! Today we did an A Minor scale. It really isn't so hard, since there are no sharps or flats, and we use regular scale fingering. We've now played in C major, C minor, F major, G major and A minor. Holy Cow!! We're still just getting used to G major, and should always remember to play F# when playing in this key!

We reviewed and worked a lot on rhythms today and played "Musical Math". We also worked on finding the root of any chord, and tested their knowledge on which scale degree belongs to which chord. Did you know chords can be named in 3 different ways?? For instance, we can call our basic middle C chord: The Red Chord, C chord, or I chord.

We have a new addition to the Minute Club. Yippee Yahoo for Courtney!!

Every year, the ladies at corporate LPM hold a composition contest for 3rd year students. Prizes will be awarded! Here are the categories to give you a little motivation.

*Most original

*Best use of ABA form

*Best melody

*Best use of chords and chord variations

Keep working on your compositions. Don't hesitate to make changes. Also, call me if there are any questions, or if you need any guidance or ideas. Lesson #11 will be another private lesson where we finalize the songs.

Inversions: (pg. 6) Make sure your student is playing the inversions. There is no better teacher than experience. By playing these inversions, they are experiencing the theory behind it. This cannot be emphasized enough. Even if you are only playing the red chord with the RH, play it every practice session.

Next week is Lesson #9 and is PARENT ATTEND!! Tuition is due as well. Can you believe there are ONLY 5 MORE LPM lessons before your son or daughter is finished with the program? I am choosing to be in denial over this fact. I can't bear parting with your kids. I adore them too much!

See you all next week..

ORANGE LESSON # 6

Lesson #6 is a private lesson and boy are we having fun so far. (I've only seen half of the students at this point... More are coming tomorrow!) I have to say that I am THOROUGHLY impressed with what they have done. It is so gratifying as a teacher so see that what I've been teaching has sunk in! Every single student I've seen so far has put their knowledge to good use! I LOVE "MY" KIDS!!! SO STINKIN' MUCH!!

We have more "Minute Club" winners this week! Trey and Grace named all their flashcards in less than 60 seconds! Yeee-hah!

YELLOW LESSON # 6

This week in lesson #6, I did a lot of individual work with each student. I watched them throughout their chord transitions, and their scales up and down, and made a few corrections. Moms and dads, please watch your kids practice - at least the first couple of times after each class, to make sure they are playing correctly. The chord fingering is SO important. It's also important that they POP at the right time when playing scales. If you aren't sure yourself, please contact me.

I can honestly say that they ALL have the Indian rhythm down pat. Boy do they love that song! I have a mom last year who had 3 boys in the same 2nd year class of mine. They LOVED the song and played it nonstop. She told me she was going to shoo-ooot the arrow right at her own forehead if she had to hear that song again!! Funny!!

I asked the kids who was practicing their alphabet pieces game at home, and only about 1/2 of them raised their hands!! C'mon now!! They will get so much better if they know their keyboard geography and know exactly where those letter pieces go on the keys. Please be consistent in doing this for 2 more weeks. It will pay off I promise!

We played Lullaby and Goodnight in class. Many did a great job. If your child is struggling with this song, it might help to color in the chords on that page.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I'll see ya real soon!

BLUE LESSON # 6

Today we had fun singing about El Gallo (the old rooster…he’s dead and won’t be saying cock-a-doodle anymore). It’s interesting to hear how children speaking other languages interpret the sounds that animals make! To learn the words to this song, I recommend you look up the lyrics in your parent manual.

The class detectives discovered a sol-la-ti-do in the song Bill Grogan’s Goat and learned to match the term MAJOR to songs that sound happy and MINOR to those that are sad, tired, or mysterious. They learned that to make a chord MINOR from MAJOR, that you change the middle note. We played this both on the bells, and on the piano. They are little sponges, and totally understood!!

While singing the Jungle Rhythms, continue to encourage your child to use his voice along with his hand actions. (chant "BOOM BOOM" for the elephant while stomping. chant "PUM PUM" for the lion - etc) This adds another dimension and will help him to stay on his rhythm. Next week we will be doing musical math!!

Happy Valentines Day my adorable Blue Bugs!!

Blue Lesson #5

Now that we can skip on the staff (line-to-line or space-to-space) AND on the bells (you get to skip OVER one bell) our melody reading is gong to get to be really fun! Pull out your bells sometime and play a skip up or down, and have your child figure out which ONE bell you skipped over. Also, play a skip without her looking, and see if she can tell if it goes up or down!

Aren’t those bugs so musical? Now that we’ve matched the rhythms to the bug pictures, show the note rhythm cards to your child and see if they can guess which bug it is (this is also the homework this week). Clap out the rhythms (be sure she uses her HANDS and VOICE simultaneously.)

Isn’t it fun to audiate the puppet show? While listening, quickly turn the music down low, and just SING the part that you know should be playing. After a few moments, turn the sound back up. Being able to hear the melodies in the mind is one of the skills that a person with “musical talent” has mastered. Yes, we can teach our kids to have talent! We added a dragon to the puppet show this week to add even more flair to the show.

By the way, I want to tell the dads in the Thursday 6pm class how AMAZED I am with them. They made class so fun. Thanks to all you parents who are so supportive. It will really pay off in spades. See ya soon!

Yellow #5

Get out your scissors! YES, I really want you to ACTUALLY CUT your music book. On the last page, you'll need to cut out all the alphabet letters and keep them in a small container or ziploc. Each day, play the alphabet game (put letters on piano keys) by looking at the diagram in the book. Encourage your child to find “E” by thinking “find a group of two and go up” NOT by finding C and counting over to E. Brush the papers forward onto a flat music book to catch them and clean them up.

Everyone did a nice job bubble popping today! I was pleased to see how quickly the cross-over we worked on for the left hand transferred to the right hand. As your child gets better at this, look for rounded fingers, fingers touching keys (not flying away), one note being played at a time, and finally…eyes up! Of course, those are end goals…not immediate results.

By now your child knows how to identify treble clef, bass clef, rests, Low C, Middle C, and (today) High C. As you’re sitting with him, ask “what’s this called?” or “can you find the Middle C’s?”

Keep up the good work! I sure am amazed by your kids. They are AWESOME!!!

Orange Lesson #5

I just love it when parents come to class! We had so much fun at Lesson #5. We started out doing our cadences in F major, as well as the scale in F major. This is a tricky scale because of the fingering! On the Right hand, make sure you never use the "stinky pinky" and your fingering is 1-2-3-4, pop! 1-2-3-4. Going down is the opposite, 4-3-2-1 pop! 4-3-2-1. It's also important to remember the good ol' B flat. ("Oh the key of F is a lovely key.......") To confuse the whole scale thing even further, the Left Hand fingering remains the same as C major. You pop after the 3rd finger. Have your kids practice one hand at a time, and then oh-so-slowly do both hands (when feeling confident!)

Speaking of magic keys - we added a new magic key! We sang the entire magic key song and learned about G position! To get into G position, move all of your fingers UP ONE KEY from F position. When in G position, we must always remember to use F SHARP! So many fun little rules to remember, huh? Soon it will be easy peasy!

Inversions CAN be difficult to understand, so we played a few games to help the theory sink in. If we start with a C triad, in root position, we spell out C - E - G. To get to the first inversion, the C jumps up to the next octave C. We then have E - G - C. Now we're not in root position. There is a gap on the staff. " The note above the gaps the root, it just has rearranged, bam bam bam" Where are my glasses??? It is still a C triad! To get to the 2nd inversion, the E jumps up to the next octave E. Then the G jumps up and voila!! We are back in root position! For 2 years now, your kids have been used to seeing a chord in root position as a red chord. BUT!! Now that they are older and wiser, they can be introduced to the fact that it is the root of the chord, and the notes in that chord that matter, not the way the notes are arranged in the triad. They might not understand this right away, but as they play the inversion exercizes on page 6 of their songbook, it will become more clear.

We also learned 3 different ways to NAME or SING a scale. First we sang solfeg syllables. DO-RE-MI-FA-SOL-LA-TI-DO. Then we sang the names of the notes of the C scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Lastly, we sang the scale degrees. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. In the C scale, C or Do is degree #1. If you look on pg 41 of the orange student manual - you will see a full explanation of this. This weeks theory assignment. The students will name the scale degrees in C major and F major. Please consult the student manual, or call me if there are questions.

Everyone was time tested with flashcards this week. I wrote down everyones times, and we will see if they are getting faster each week. Please make sure flashcards come to class each week. Bigtime congratulations to Bella, Preston and Daniel M., who made it into the minute club this week. Yahoo!!!!!

Next week at lesson #6, each student will have a private lesson. There are no regular class times. Everyone has been given a private lesson time. Contact me if you're not sure what yours is, or if you need to change it. I will email you a reminder a couple of days before. Please be prompt when dropping off and picking up your child. Also, please have them bring their composition booklet, which hopefully has a few measures of the song they've started.

Phew!! That's it for now. 3rd year sure is full of fun isn't it??

Student Spotlight: MADISON!!! Year 3 student

Miss Madison has been in LPM since her 4th Bday. She has always been enthusiastic, diligent and happy to be in Music class. Her favorite food is rice. Her favorite things to do are: art, piano and gymnastics. Her favorite LPM song of all time was the “Away in a Manger” in F position. The funnest song to play is “Caterpillar Cousins” - played very fast!

Madison was surprised when she made it to the Minute Club. Her comment was “My mom and my dad are both going to faint!” She also said...”I didn’t think I could do it and then I did. Everyone jumped up & down for me. Miss Jodi will do the happy dance for you too!”

You’re awesome Madison!

Blue Lesson #4

This week we introduced some new songs. In Bill Grogan’s Goat, we decided that goats sure are naughty (eating everything in sight) but in this silly story the goat was smart, too, because he knew how to stop a train by waving a flag. We’ll be working on feeling the four beats after each line of lyrics.

In I’ve Been to Harlem, the traveler sounds happy and peppy the first time around the world, but tired and sad the second time around. The students listened to me play and were able to guess if I was playing happy-style or tired-style. Soon they’ll learn to label these as major and minor.

In Jungle Rhythms we listened to and mimicked the sounds of the animals walking and noticed that some are fast, some slower.

All of these songs will be developed into some excellent music theory lessons over the following weeks…I love how sneakily we can make complex concepts simple and playful!

You all have the most amazing children. They really do understand what is being taught. We had so much fun this week "performing" the puppet show with real props.

Next week is parent week, and tuition is due.

See you all soon!

Yellow Lesson #4

It’s time to put the YELLOW STICKERS on for the LEFT HAND! In class we practiced playing the chords with each hand, and really looked at the fingering. As your child plays at home, please watch to be sure that the proper fingers are used. Good habits developed now will stick forever! Remember to look in the back of the student manual at the reference section - pg 41 - if you're not sure yourself, about the correct chord fingering.

Finger numbers can sometimes be confusing…since the left hand is backwards from the right. Take a few minutes whenever you need to sing “Where is 3? Where is 2?” to help your child remember how the fingers of the left hand are numbered. Thumbs are 1, pinkies are 5.

We started playing our Indian song this week with our left hand (bass clef). They used fingers one and 5 and played Low C and G, as a 5th interval. They played these notes as slugs, and it sounds like the slow drum part of the song. See the highlighted notes on pg 12 of their books, and make sure they sing along while they practice!

We started playing the full C major scale with the left hand. This is tricky because after 5 notes, your child runs out of fingers! While still holding the thumb (1) down on G, he must reach the long 3 finger over to the next note, A. We call this “popping the bubble” since it definitely doesn’t look like a bubble hand! Once the 3 is on A, he fixes his hand into a new bubble, and continues to play the B with 2 and the C with 1.

If my description sounds confusing to you, you’ll get to see it live next week, since NEXT WEEK IS PARENT WEEK. See you then!

Orange Lesson #4

HELLO PARENTS~

NEXT WEEK - LESSON #5 is PARENT ATTEND, and tuition is due!

Last week I sent home "composition books" with everyone, to start writing their song ideas in. On the front of their booklet, their private lesson time for lesson #6 is written in. Some of you did not sign up, so I penciled in a time for you. If this time slot doesn't work for you, please let me know asap and we'll figure out something else. There will not be a regular group LPM class on Feb 10th - just individual private lessons where we will work on their composition piece. How is your student doing on their song? It would be helpful if each student comes to the private lesson with something they have been tinkering with. I can help them elaborate and complete certain things, but if they don’t even have an idea of what to do, it makes it a lot more time consuming and is more my idea than theirs.

Congratulations to Madison and Sophia for making it into the MINUTE CLUB!! I am so proud of these girls. I'll bet you there are more of you that are ready! Please come to class a few minutes early if your child is ready to be tested, or give me a call and we'll arrange a different time! Keep practicing those cards. Go through the deck 2 - 3 times a day!

Here is what we did during Lesson #4...

1. F Major Scale: (pg. 2)

The F major scale is a little more complex than the others, so it merits a little mom coaching. The left hand fingering is the same as usual, except the B is FLAT. The right hand is where the trickiness comes in! We went through this one individually in class. The rule to remember is they will never use their pinkie. (we called it the "stinky pinky") Start RH on F with finger #1 and progress up until you get to finger #4 (B flat). Then your student will pop the bubble with the thumb (finger #1) playing the C and finishing up with # 4 finger on F. As they come down the scale they will use this same pattern, only backwards. (4-3-2-1-POP OVER with finger #4 and play 4-3-2-1.)

2. Inversions: (pg. 6)

We have been talking and singing about TRIADS, CHORDS and ROOTS. Now we are ‘inverting’ them. This just means re-arranging them. The chord is still CEG, but C moves to the top, then the E moves to the top, then the G and you are in root position again. This is one of those concepts that has to be played and experienced before they get it. All of a sudden they will say, "Oh, I get it!"  This could be after a few weeks of playing them.

3. Repertoire Songs: (pg. 10, 11 & 12)

Play hands together this week on page 10 and 11. Once this becomes easier, try the two handed marching style,block or broken chord in LH, depending on song instructions. Remember to sing while playing any song. We only have a few more lessons before we start to pass off the repertoire pieces, so make sure you are spending enough time to master each song. Once you have them mastered, don’t forget to review them.

This week’s homework: Theory Assignment # 4

Rewriting our triads is the goal of this week. Remember to jump the bottom note of the chord up on top. Don’t forget to draw the correct note; you can’t just place it on top of the triad, it must be the exact same note from below, just an octave higher.

Blue Lesson #3

This week would be a great week to make a giant heart and write VALENTINE on it! It will inspire your child to sing (and notice the sol-la-ti-do on the words hap-PY-I-WILL-BE and again at the very end of the song on T-I-N-E !).

Be sure to skip and sing I Am Learning How to Skip whenever you find a nice open space (grocery store? Mall? School hallway?) so everyone will remember that a skip means from a line to the next line, or from a space to the next space. Maybe you’ll see ME skipping in the parking lot at Walmart!

As you play “Old Paint” on your bells, try playing along with the CD – you can hear the guitar play the Do-Mi-Sol.

Holy Cow your kids learned the "Triumphant March" puppet show quickly. Their brains are so spongelike. Isn't it nice to see them enjoying classical music? I think so!!
See you real soon!
Miss Jodi

Yellow Indians Lesson #3

This week we really worked on 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. Make sure your child remembers that thumbs are #1, and pinkies are #5 Before playing, warm up with “Where is 4? Where is 5?” then have your child play the interval (second) with fingers 4 & 5. If he masters the intervals, play with both hands (otherwise just do one at a time).

We all really loved playing the song “Love Somebody” on the piano. When your child plays at home, have the CD accompany him, or YOU can play the melody an octave higher. It’s fun to sing and play! In class we played a game (like button-button, who’s got the button), so ask your child to teach it to you, too!

Keep practicing the lovely caterpillar song in middle C position (both thumbs on middle C, then a finger for each key...) This is also called butterfly position. Your kids are getting VERY good at this song. It's so fun to see them excited because they can play it! Also, have them keep practicing the primary chord song with their right hand - treble clef - moms curly hair!!
I want those chord transitions to be smooth and effortless - and they can be, with practice!
I can't thank you enough for your support and encouragement at home!!
XOXOXOX

Orange Roots Lesson #3

What a great class we had this week! Here's what we did:

1. Flashcards:
We turned on the timer and did a practice run for minute club. Several of the kids are really close... Please do the flashcards at least 2-3 times each day and they will easily reach their goal! Please make sure the kids bring their flashcards to class. Have them come a few minutes early (5 min or so..) if they are ready to get tested.
2. Cockles and Mussels: (pg. 10)
Playing hands together can initially cause some practice stress. As a result, picking a small

"stop" goal each day can help eliminate the, “I will never get my fingers to do what my brain is telling them to do” frustration the student may experience. For example, on the first day of practice, play both hands together very slowly to measure 9 and do no more with that song for the day. If this is too big of a goal, play the first line only, but they have to play it 5 times with

both hands perfectly. If they make a mistake, you can't count it. Then the next day, play 4 more measures, adding on to the previous 3. Breaking down each activity in this manner can really help the students enjoy the learning process. This might help them avoid feeling overwhelmed and give them the impression that the task is achievable.
3. John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith: (pg. 11)
During class we colored in the roots of the treble clef chords and then wrote a capital letter in the measure to show the name of the chord. If this activity wasn‟t completed, please have them finish it at home. Remember to sing while playing this song.
4. From the New World: (pg. 12)
It would be easy to just simply „play‟ the first two lines of Part I of this song, but remember to sing the note names while playing it this week. (“e-g-g-e-d-c” etc.)
5. Echo Edison - We got our creative juices flowing and hopefully ready to compose away!! Every student made up 6-10 notes of a random melody - and I showed them how they could make it into a song. This was a fun activity! Everyone needs to get started on their own song or melody!! At their private lesson (lesson 6) we'll use what they've started, and make it into a real song!
This week‟s homework: Theory Assignment # 3
Let‟s find the root this week! This should be a really fun theory assignment. If anyone is confused, just sing the song “Let‟s Find the Root” and you should have it.
What amazing kids you all have! I just love being their teacher!

Orange Lesson #2

I really stressed to the students they could earn a big "minute club" prize if they can get through my whole deck of note name flashcards in 60 seconds or less! So practice whipping through those purple cards as fast as you can! Parents: Please let me know when you think your child is ready to be time tested. There are a few minutes allowed in the lesson plans to test the kids, but I want to make sure they are ready!! A recommendation from you would really help. I can't wait to see who will be first!!!

Today we built skipping snakes and used them to help us learn to spell the different triads (CEG, DFA, EGB, etc.). Listen to the song and then do your theory homework!

We met "Echo Edison" (Ed and Edna's grandpa) He isn't all about echoing. He will be teaching the kids composing tips. We learned about musical phrasing this week, by asking Musical questions, and giving musical answers. You can see this on Echo Edisons page in the song book. Important: Have you started composing your song yet? You have 4 more lessons before we have private lessons, where you will report on what you have so far.

Where to begin… A composition can grow from almost anything. I‟d like your child to start working on these questions, “Do
you like songs that are major or minor? Fast or slow? In 3/4 or 4/4 time? Do you like staccato or legato better? Do you
like the chords played in block style, broken, or marching? As the child comes up with something in his ear, voice, or plays
something for you, start there and build upon it. Decide the meter by asking the child if it feels more like 3/4 (pat-clap-clap)
or 4/4 (Pat-clap-out-clap). Then decide the key they are going to play it in. As we progress through the Orange Roots
semester we will continue to modify and improve the compositions as they learn added musical concepts and start to apply
their musical knowledge to their composition pieces.

Have your child think up some new melodies. Write them down in the book, or even tape record it to help him remember what he’s got! The song can be about anything!! If you haven't signed up for a private lesson (lesson #6) yet, I only have a few slots left on Thursday the 10th. Saturday the 12th is full of openings. Just let me know!

Yellow Lesson # 2

It’s time to put BLUE STICKERS in the bass clef for the left hand! I told you it would be quick! Continue to watch for correct finger use in both right and left hand as your child plays chords. Blue LH fingers are 5-2-1 (it’s like a mirror of the right hand yellow chord!). It made me happy to hear a few kids say.. "This is easy!!" (about playing the blue chord. Have them practice going back and forth from the red chord, to the blue. Also, make sure they keep practicing all 3 chords with the right hand. They should be able to play the Primary Chord Song with their right hand pretty well by now.

Keep working on that caterpillar song. Once your child starts to play it pretty well, use a paper to cover his hands so that he must look at the book only. Once they are familiar with any particular song, they should always try to keep in the habit of eyes on their book, not on their hands. This is a hard one, but keep reminding them!!

This week we also started hearing and reading sol-mi-do. It’s at the end of the song “How to skip” when we sing, “it’s so fun!”. It’s also in the game “girls and boys” on the CD!

This weeks homework is a little puzzle about the music alphabet. We practiced this in class making a music alphabet snake, and they know that after "G" comes letter "A"!!!!!!
See you real soon!

Blue Bugs Lesson 2

This week the students learned that there is something more fun than just cutting your hair! At the end of the song, they noticed that “Johnny gets his hair sol-la-ti-do!”. We also continued with our bug rhythms, learned a new VALENTINE song, practiced on the autoharp some more, and worked on some individual echo-ing with Ed.

I also showed the students how to play OLD PAINT using the red chord in pieces on the bells. If you try it at home, simply play Do-Mi-Sol steadily over and over. The first downbeat is on the word “BYE” so be sure to hit DO at that moment, and on the other downbeats. Sing the song and really emphasize the downbeats: goodBYE old PAINT, I’m LEAvin cheyANNE. It’s a great idea to play the song with only the DO bell, and only play the downbeats before attempting the whole chord in pieces.

When you do your theory homework this week, have your bells handy! After you identify each pattern, play it on the bells, using the lower-case (key of F) bells.

See ya real soon!

ORANGE #1

Hooray for Orange! What a great first lesson! Thanks for coming Moms and Dads! It's always a treat to have you here. Our last semester of Let’s Play Music is packed with amazing musical concepts that some kids will get in high school music classes, if they are lucky; unfortunately most don’t get it until college. This is going to be an amazing ride as we make skipping snakes, play with the roots of chords, build triads, compose a song, add to our musical repertoire, and much, much more.

Please listen and learn the songs on the CD during these first few weeks – the lyrics do a wonderful job explaining what might otherwise be tricky theory concepts. If you’d like an extra copy of the CD for your car, you can burn one on your computer, or buy an additional copy from LPM ($5.50).

Last semester we were introduced to all of the purple flashcards. This semester, we will continue to cement those flashcards and our goal is to say them within one minute. This may seem impossible to you at this point, but by running through the flashcards 2-3 times every day, you will see small daily improvements. If you want to know the secret to mastering this, here it is…. YOU MUST DO IT EVERYDAY! You can’t do it twice a week and expect them to master this memorization. We want instant recognition - not just counting up the lines! Who will join the MINUTE CLUB???

Practice time this semester should take 15 minutes. By the end of the year, your child should have worked up to 20-minute practices. If you find that practice is done in 5 minutes flat, encourage him to play through “tricky” parts of a song several times before playing the whole song, and play through each required song several times to improve them. A few minutes at each practice should be spent experimenting and thinking of new melodies. Because we are moving right along now, my hope is you will continue to put highest priority on your practice time. Each week we will be building on concepts and skills practiced the previous week. Of course, we have been doing this all along in the other LPM semesters. However, if the students get behind this semester, they will most likely feel lost rather quickly. They won’t feel happy going to class because they won’t know the material and won’t have practiced the songs. This will quickly lead to frustration and miserable students. We’d like to avoid this from the start. By putting highest priority on practice from the beginning, it will eliminate much of the distress that could come because of practice neglect. Remind your kids about "patience" with hard things, and to persevere. You might have to remind yourself of that if they are being turkeys!!

Next week have your kids bring theory assignment #1 to class with them, along with their books. Lesson #6 will be a private lesson, and I'll need everyone to sign up for a time on Thur Feb 10th or Sat Feb 12th. I'll email the sign up time slots to all of you. Please have your kids start creating their own songs at the keyboard. I will be giving there several "composing tips" over the next couple of weeks. At lesson #6 we will get their song on paper, so they'll need to get some ideas going long before then.

As usual, please don't hesitate to ask any questions. Thanks so much for your support!