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Next Monday is our last class for this session! Our Tuesday students will be joining us, and friends and family are invited to come hear some recital pieces and demonstrations of what the children have been learning. Don’t forget orange notes for the students, and everyone else is welcome to come at 3:40. Most of [...]
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We missed Royson this week and hope he is feeling well! Many of you have told me about switching classes for next week, all of which is fine. If you change your mind though please let me know, and if you are coming on Monday don’t forget to send in an orange note with your [...]
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We spent only a brief while as a group away from the keyboards this week, checking out our new hopscotch board which has black notes (well, cross-hatched notes in our case!) added so we can jump on sharps and flats as well as the white keys of the C major scale. Most everyone was able [...]
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Welcome back everyone! This week we had a review of rhythmic note values down to eighth notes and spent some time clapping rhythms in two parts (rhythmic counterpoint). We also reviewed steps and skips, including larger skips and intervals which we were able to see and measure on our hopscotch board as well as hear [...]
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Games and “floor” work this week included a brief discussion about Beethoven and his loss of hearing, and how he might have thought about sound when he was composing a piece of music. We then talked about our own improvisations, and spent some time “thinking, imagining and hearing inside our heads” a new piece. At [...]
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“Floor” games and exercises this week included the ladder game (steps and skips as well as lines and spaces), clapping rhythms with discussion re: 8th notes, playing our own version of Bongo Boy, Grand Staff flashcard game for those in CMJ2 and 3, and the finger strengthening exercise (one-one-one, one is thumb etc.). As well, [...]
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We had a very busy start to the spring session this week. It was nice to see everyone again, and we welcomed one new student, Michael. Activities away from the keyboards this week included our finger strengthening rhyme, teaching it to Alex and Michael (see below if you need a refresher). Our ear-training work was [...]
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This week we reviewed the Italian words forte and piano (loud and soft), and our ear training challenge was to hear steps and skips as well as which pitch direction the notes were going. Melissa and I took turns playing three or four note phrases while everyone else moved by step or skip on the [...]
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Both Haley and Ryan had a special challenge this week: sit up straight, and face straight toward the keyboard with the center of their stomachs lined up with the middle C on their keyboards. They did pretty well when they were reminded. Haley learned a new piece this week (Lightly Row) and did a fabulous [...]
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This week we played with slices of pizza and got very hungry (ask Tori and Alex!), as well as whole, half and quarter notes, making different rhythms for each other to clap. We also reviewed our Italian words for soft and loud, (piano and forte). Tori continued to zoom along with Mr. Handel, completing lesson [...]
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This week Quin, Olivia and Grisha navigated a music obstacle course, beginning with singing (Row, Row, Row….) continuing rhythm creating and performing challenges, and ending with identifying notes on a keyboard and writing some notes on a staff (Grand Staff for CMJ2 students, 5 line staff for CMJ1). At the keyboards Quin is working with [...]
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We began this week with a review of sharps and flats, how they are written in the music and what we need to know about them in order to play the correct note when we see one. Haley and Ryan also reviewed C major and G major scales. Remember to keep your elbows from moving [...]
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Alex, Melissa and Royson were in the Monday class this week. They moved through a music obstacle course which began with singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat, continued with some rhythm and other challenges, and ended with keyboard note naming and writing notes on a staff (Grand Staff for CMJ2 students, 5-line staff for CMJ1 [...]
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This week we worked on hearing pitches, whether they go up, or down, and how far. It was a little tricky to remember that as the pitches go UP the alphabet note names go FORWARD, and when they go down the alphabet note names go BACKWARDS. A little tricky, but not TOO tricky for this [...]
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This week we quizzed each other on notes on the Grand Staff, by moving a coin around on the lines and spaces and naming the notes. We also built a triad with three dimes, and when we moved the triad up the steps of the scale Ryan and Haley noticed that the notes in the [...]
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Olivia, Tori, Alex and Royson were in the Monday class this week. We had a quick review of rhythms, note values and rests, and then made different eight beat phrases for Tori to read, and for the rest of us to clap back to her. Alex, Royson and Olivia caught on to the concept of [...]
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Great rhythm work this week! We made our own little clapping orchestra and performed different rhythms including syncopations and rhythmic counterpoint in two parts. Each of the students also took turns arranging sequences of note values in 4/4 and ¾ time and the rest of us clapped the rhythms. Melissa also spent some time with [...]
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This week we worked on and played Row, Row, Row Your Boat as a round. We discovered that even though it is familiar and the notes are not difficult, it has to be practiced really thoroughly in order to not get nervous playing it without stopping! Ryan was introduced to the melody part of Heart [...]
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Quin, Tori, Alex and Royson were in the Monday class this week. We clapped rhythms for and with each other, including dividing into two groups and playing some rhythmic counterpoint (two different parts playing together on different beats). This was tricky, but also a lot of fun and it will get easier. We also spent [...]
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New concepts and techniques focused on this week were for Ryan half steps, flats and sharps, and for Haley rhythm and note values. Ryan was introduced to a new scale, F major, which has a different fingering from the other scales he has learned, and it is the first scale he has played that has [...]
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