Today in MusIQ Club!

Lesson 11:

Today we met with another new teacher. His name was Mr. Scott Joplin, and he was alive about 100 years ago. Isn’t it great that even though his parents had no money, his mother was able to get jobs cleaning houses for the rich so her son could play on their pianos to practice? Someone even agreed to give him lessons for free!

Mr. Joplin taught us how to make a 5-finger ant tunnel with our right hand. He also taught us that each of our fingers has a number, with our thumb being finger #1 and each other finger is a number counting up from 1. Make sure you always have your thumb on Middle C and that each finger is playing a neighbor note!

After this lesson, we spent some time practicing with Miss Melody, and then we went to the Games Room where we had a few new games! Finally, we went to the Library to practice a Folk Tunes for your right hand, before ending the class with a great improvisation session! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Practice forming your 5-finger ant tunnel, and playing with all of your fingers ever day!

2- Print out some songs from this page so that you can practice playing with your 5-finger ant tunnels and remember your finger numbers!

3- Don’t forget to keep improvising every day! Remember, always be creative, and always HAVE FUN!

Lesson 21:

We met a new teacher today, his name was Mr. Villa Lobos. He was alive until about 50 years ago, and was a famous guitar player from Brazil! He also played cello and clarinet, and was very interested in the music of different jungle tribes.

Mr. Villa Lobos spent some time teaching us about “Ode To Joy”. This is a part of a symphony that Mr. Beethoven wrote! Do any of you remember what symphony number it was? (Answer is #9) Everyone did a great job with this lesson, and after a bit of practicing with Miss Melody, you all got to go spend the rest of the class relaxing in the games room, and the improvisation room! Fantastic work everyone! See you all next week for another great class!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep working on your note reading, and don’t forget to ALWAYS play with your hands in a Five Finger Ant Tunnel. Many of you are starting to use only your Finger #2 again…

2- Spend time improvising, and if you can, try writing out a few of the things you come up with!

3- Remember to keep having fun! We will have much more to learn next week!

Lesson 57:

Today, Mr. Chopin helped us learn about something called Time Signatures. Time signatures are what tells us how many beats are in each bar of music, and what kind of note counts for one beat. The time Signature we learnt about today was 3/4 time. In this time signature, we have 3 beats in every bar, and each quarter note is worth one beat. Great work everyone!

Heading over to the Practice Room, Miss Melody helped us play different things that had a 3/4 time signature. You all did a fantastic job, and to celebrate your hard work, we went to the Games Room for the rest of the class! Excellent work everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row to work on!

2- Practice Pop Goes The Weasel, pay close attention to the rests!

3- Improvise every day, making sure you play in rests. Be creative and have fun!!!

Filed under: Inglis Street Elementary