Today in MusIQ Club!

Wow! What a great first class, and what a great bunch of kids! Everyone was very enthusiastic, and I have to say that the response to MusIQ Club at Sunnybrea has been a bit overwhelming. Thanks so much for registering, and for recognizing the important role that music education plays in your child’s development.

It is a real pleasure for me to introduce your children to piano. I have been teaching both private and group piano lessons for about 15 years, and have a music degree in piano performance from the University of Western Ontario. I started with MusIQ Club shortly after my husband and I moved to Halifax, when it was just in the piloting stages, and really liked the approach so I accepted the position of curriculum developer there, as well as continuing as a teacher. When we decided to move to Barrie in 2008 it was an easy decision to become the Program Director for the Barrie area. I am looking to continue expanding this year, so if you know of another school that you think would be interested in the MusIQ Club program, or someone you think would make a great MusIQ Club teacher for me to hire, send me an email! Likewise if you have any questions about the software we use or the finer points of our approach to teaching piano, I love to talk about pedagogy and I’d be happy to tell you all about it.

Level 1A

These are the students in Kindergarten to Grade 1. We will be using a software program called Children’s Music Journey Volume 1. The CMJ approach to learning to read is to always work from the known toward the unknown. So instead of starting with abstract symbols for high notes and low notes, for the first couple of weeks we use birds that are high in the sky, and whales that are low in the ocean. Within minutes of learning a new concept, the students are applying it in their own compositions as well, which makes it that much more meaningful and memorable.

Today we were introduced to the piano keyboard by Mr. Beethoven. We learned that the high “bird” notes are located on the right hand side of the keyboard and the low “whale” notes are located on the left hand side of the keyboard. We learned to use our right index finger to play high notes and our left index finger to play low notes. We played a couple of games reinforcing these concepts. The Musical Alphabet is: ABCDEFG. These 7 letters are used to name the white keys on the piano. You did a great job with this so we moved ahead to lesson 2, where you learned to find all the Cs and especially Middle C. Great job today!

This Week @ Home

• Listen around you during the day for high sounds and low sounds.
• Which side of the piano are the high bird notes on? Which side are the low whale notes on? Remember, Low and Left both start with L, which can help us remember!
• Here is a worksheet for you to print and do at home. Please bring it with you next class!
• If you have a keyboard or piano, practice finding high notes and  low notes.  Can you find Middle C? Try playing all the Cs from the lowest to the highest. Remember: “Group of two black keys, down to C.”
• You can also have some fun making up you own music!
• If you have CMJ at home, review Lesson 2 with Mr. Beethoven, then head to the Practice Room with Miss Melody. You can also play the 2 games in the Games Room, and make up your own music in the Improvising Room.

Level 2A

This is the group of Grade 2s and 3s. This group uses Children’s Musical Journey volume 2. The approach is the same, it is just a faster pace, with lessons 1-25 being squished into 5 lessons (lessons 26-30). Today we did Lesson 26, where we learned where the high notes and low notes are, how to read notes that are getting higher and higher or lower and lower, the Musical Alphabet (ABCDEFG), how to use the groups of 2 black keys to help us find all the Cs,  and finger numbers (1-5, with 1 being the thumbs of both hands, and moving out to the pinkies which are 5s). There were games of course, and some time in the Improvising Room to explore making your own music. Excellent work today, everyone, you were very focused, listened well, and we all had fun!

This Week @ Home

• Review your finger numbers (thumbs are #1).
• Complete this worksheet about High Notes, Low Notes, and Middle Cs. Bring it in to show me next week!
• This week we want to get those fingers working. With your RH one day and then your LH the next, put fingers 1 2 3 4 5 on the white keys, with your thumb on Middle C, just little Mr. Dvorak showed you today. Practice keeping a nice “ant tunnel” with curved fingers, and your fingertips on the front half of the keys, not up in between the black keys. Play each finger 3 times nicely, trying to keep all the other fingers relaxed and resting on the keys. This is tricky, and won’t happen the first time you try, but it is our goal, and you should see an improvement in the independence of your fingers over the week. If you do not have a keyboard or you don’t have time to get to the keyboard each day, you can try this on a table or desk, too.
• With your hand still in this “C Position”, try the finger number tune I sent home with you today: Hot Cross Buns.

Filed under: Sunnybrae Elementary