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!

YELLOW LESSON # 1

Congratulations! The new semester has begun, and we’ll be playing the chords with the left hand in no time at all. You’ll also see some new rhythms, melodies, and finger skills.

Put red stickers on the keys for the red chord, left hand, this week. You should have NO stickers for the right hand anymore, however, do keep checking up to be sure that the right hand skills are a solid foundation for your child.

This week we learned a new finger position - Middle C position, or butterfly position. Both thumbs should be on middle C with a finger on each key in both directions. The children will use this position to play the caterpillar song. Have them practice one hand at a time, if needed, then slowly both hands together. We also learned bass and treble clefs, 5th intervals, the order of the music alphabet, a new rhythm (shoo-oot the ar-row), and several new songs!! Quite a bit for one lesson huh?

Your practice this week should take 8-10 minutes. By the end of the semester it should take 12-15 minutes. If you find that your child gets done in 3 minutes, encourage him to play through songs multiple times, or play through “tricky parts” several times before playing through the whole song. Remind your children to have "patience" with the hard parts, and to perservere! You might have to remind yourself of that if they are being turkeys about practicing! Please let me know of any problems. I'm here to help in any way!!

BLUE BUGS LESSON # 1

This first blue bugs lesson was so much fun. I love introducing new songs. I love how each song teaches concepts and theory that we don't even realize are there. In Clickity Clickity Clack, we are keeping a steady beat, internalizing (with ear and movement) how to perform a round, (which is a HARD thing), and learning more coordination by singing, marching and doing solfeg signs at the same time.

We are learning a new pattern, Sol-La-Ti-Do, which is babysteps going up. This pattern is all over the place!! We have learned that notes can move from one to another, in 3 different ways - babysteps, skips and leaps. We've learned up, down and repeat. In the next few weeks we will learn more about skips and then tie all these together to start playing some great music!

Isn't the song "Can't Bug Me" so so cool? Did you as a parent, figure out which bugs are which notes? If not, it will be crystal clear in a few weeks!

Your children seemed very interested in the "Old Paint" story! They have already played this on the autoharp, and will soon be playing a broken red chord on their bells to this song. Next year in year 2, they'll play this song on their keyboards. Pretty awesome, huh?

Next week, at lesson #2, the kids should bring Theory assignment #1, which is a review of the solfeg hand signs. Also, please keep listening to the CD! We need to know the WORDS to all the songs! Have a great week....