Today in MusIQ Club!

The Monday afternoon Blanchard class is very competitive!  And all are making great progress.  Due to the age range and illnesses in the class, progress is bound to vary as the students move through the lessons.  Having practice materials at home can help, but the most important thing is to have fun and not to worry!  Everyone is doing really, really well.

During floor time this week we continued to work on rhythms, this time using a drum pad and snare stick, challenging each other with longer and longer sets of beats.  We also tried out our new musical hopscotch game in which they had to hop the musical alphabet both forwards and backwards (A to G and G back to A) and everyone enjoyed the competition for speed.  In addition we have started to hone our singing skills, singing middle C and then going up to E to make an interval of a third.  We had a quick history review and learned a few more things about organs and harpsichords and how the sounds they make and what space they sound good in determined how Bach used them in his composing, and we spoke briefly about Vivaldi’s Four Seasons which all have been listening to with Miss Melody in recent lessons (ask them what they might have heard in the summer movement!).

Everyone in this class (with the exception of Royson who was out sick — get well soon!) has now had their first lessons with Mr. Bach.   Sophia worked very hard this week and finished lessons 6 and 7 where she learned and practiced rhythmic patterns using only number counts and played new songs using all the material introduced in the program so far.  Haley, Delaney, Ryan, Hwan, Roxnna, Caroline and Pratik have all worked their way through lesson 9, Aditya has finished lesson 8, and Yesha and Olivia have completed lesson 10.   New material included learning to play “double notes,” two hands each playing one note at the same time.  In addition, those in lessons 9 and 10 worked on directional note sequences ascending and descending from middle C.    For homework this week please:

1. Download and print this sheet, to practice recognizing double notes and see how notes are placed on the simple staff.  Then, write your own piece of music using circle notes, and make sure to include at least one set of double notes.  (Sophia, you can go ahead into lesson 8 with Mr. Bach to learn about double notes, or please write a piece with just single notes.)  Practice it so you can play it for us in class next week!  You can download and print a blank, simple staff here.
2. Go to the improvisation room, change the instrument to a violin (click on the picture of the violin) and improvise on channel nine.  Practice holding double notes for two beats.  Then on any channel try out playing smoothly (legato) and bouncy (staccato).
3. Practice any games available in the games room, and if you want to try some new songs click on the computer in the library.

Royson, get well soon!  If you are feeling well you can start your lessons with Mr. Bach (lesson 6), or just have fun in the games room with Bongo Boy and playing Rescue Mission.  You can also find some new songs in the library by clicking on the computer.  Everyone, remember to have fun and not to worry about what lesson you are on!  Happy Thanksgiving, and see you next week!

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