Hello! This week was our last class before our recital. Next week the students should still arrive at the regular time as we will do a little dress rehearsal, and the last half hour of the class will be our recital. Very exciting!

So, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is the number one thing to be practicing for EVERYONE. We worked on this a LOT this week, since many of you were not here last week when we started it. We will also have some solos next week which you should go over: Twesh will play Daydream Believer, Katelin is going to rock Jingle Bells, Drew has selected Mary Had a Little Lamb. Hayzel and Tyler will be doing demonstrations for the parents during class (Hayzel a song with CMJ and Tyler with the soup game.)

Today in class the Beginner 2As worked on Lessons 35 and 36 for more work on reading Grand Staff notes. I gave you a worksheet for this to take home and finish! On the floor we played the Grand Staff Race game to learn more about note naming on the staff. Good stuff! Katelin wrote her test and did very well. I’m really pleased with how much you have learned! We also worked on intervals some more, and played the Grand Staff Race Game. Twesh worked hard on Daydream Believer (still just a few tricky spots. Focus your practice in small section son those spots we worked on together. Remember the rests, half notes get 2 beats, and when you have a dotted quarter note and an eighth note, it is the eighth note that is the short one!) I gave Twesh a Level 2 test to write at home and a history assignment about the Beatles. He has been doing some Level 2 and Level 3 work this term, but I want to be able to give him a certificate, so we are doing the finishing touches on Level 2 this week, and next term he’ll already have some Level 3 stuff covered.

Great job today everyone. Remember to practice Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, and have a great week!

Hello! This week was our last class before our recital. Next week the students should still arrive at the regular time as we will do a little dress rehearsal, and the last half hour of the class will be our recital. Very exciting!

So, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is the number one thing to be practicing for EVERYONE.

Today in class the Beginner 1A group did lesson 12 with Mr. Joplin, learning about the finger numbers for their left hand and how to hold their Left Hand in a nice hand position for playing. You can do your little “finger exercises” and playback challenges at home to keep strengthening your fingers and build up finger independence! Beginner 2A (ET and Jessica) worked on lessons 36 and 37, with more on Rhythms with Mrs. Beech, and also on reading Grand Staff notes. I gave you a worksheet for this to take home and finish! On the floor we did some rhythm building with the Rhythm Maker cards, and we played the Grand Staff Race game to learn more about note naming on the staff. Good stuff! The Level 1s wrote their test and everyone did very well. I’m really pleased with how much you 4 have learned! We also worked on intervals some more, and Pop Goes the Weasel and Get Up, as I need to mark one of these songs for you for your assessment to pass Level 1. Great job today everyone. Remember to practice Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, and have a great week!

Hi there Everyone!

This week we got straight to work at the computers!

Level 1A, Lesson 11 – Callum

               Lesson 13 – Amelia, Hayley, Scott and Weston

• This week, in lesson 11 Callum met a new teacher called Mr. Scott Joplin. Mr Joplin showed you how to make a five finger ant tunnel with your right hand. This is where you place your thumb on Middle C, and then each finger sits on a neighbouring white note, leaving room for an ant to crawl underneath! You found this tricky at first, but after practising some more with Miss Melody you began to get the hang of it! 
• In lesson 13, the rest of you worked with Mr Joplin on some tunes for both hands together. This helped you to practice your right and left hand ant tunnels some more! I must say that they’re coming along brilliantly! Well done!
• You also did very well reading some very tricky circle note tunes. Great job!
• After spending some more time practising with Miss Melody, we visited the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off the class!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Callum, have a go at this activity sheet all about finger numbers!
• Print out this activity sheet which is all about ‘groups of 3′ in music.
• Remember, try to use your ant tunnel hand position now whenever you make up songs at your piano keyboards at home!

Level 1B, Lesson 20 and 21 – Samia and Luc

• Today at the computers you began with Miss Fanny Mendelssohn who helped you to practice even more songs where the notes were written on lines and spaces.
• Then she helped remind you of the Musical Alphabet.
• Then, in lesson 21 you met a new teacher called Mr Villa Lobos!
• He lived in Brazil in South America and only died in 1959, which isn’t too long ago!
• He took long trips into the Amazon jungle and heard the tribal music there. He decided to try and use some of this great music in his own compositions so that the world could hear the music of his country.
• He also helped design a music education program for all school children in Brazil. He loved his country very much!
• Mr Villa Lobos helped you to play more stepping songs for the right and left hands. Then he helped you to play ‘Ode To Joy’ which is a tune that Mr Beethoven used in one of his symphonies, years earlier!
• You spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room to relax after all that playing! Good job!

Home Assignments For The Week 

• Try and use your five finger ant tunnels now whenever you play for fun on the piano!
• Print out and complete this weekly activity sheet!

Level 2B, Lesson 47 – Aidan, Jake and Madison

• This week, you met up with Mr. Satie again who helped you to play even more songs written on the Grand Staff.
• These songs help you to read the notes on the lines and spaces of the Grand Staff, and to decide if they’re moving in a stepping motion, or a skipping motion.
• You are also reading the note values much more confidently too. This week, most of you managed to keep in time with the woodpecker when you played through the different 4 beat rhythms. Keep up the good work!
• To finish off the lesson, you decided to visit the Games Room in Children’s Music Journey Volume 1 for a change. You enjoyed playing the Treasure Hunt game, and the Musical Alphabet game too. Well done! 

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t had chance to do this yet, have a go at this wordsearch all about your new teacher Mr Satie.
• Print out this activity sheet and see if you can name all the Grand Staff notes!

Bye for now!

Adele

Hi Ella!

So, it was a very quiet class today with just you and me, but we still had lots of fun!

Level 1A, Lesson 12 – Ella

• We began by talking about the difference between ‘rhythm’ and ‘beat.’
• Remember that the beat is like the pulse, or the ‘heartbeat’ of a piece of music. It keeps beating, like a ticking clock, all the way through the music.
• The rhythm is the pattern of short and long sounds that happen in time with the beat.
• Together we took turns either playing rhythms, or the beat. Well done, you made up some great rhythms today!
• At the computers, you met up with Mr Scott Joplin again and today he taught you all about left hand ant tunnels.
• This is where you place your thumbs on Middle C, and then each finger sits on a neighbouring white note, leaving room for an ant to crawl underneath! You did a great job with both your left and right hand position today. Way to go, Ella!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room. 
• For our Improvisation today, we logged into the ‘Concert Master’ software, loaded up some great backing tracks and made up some tunes using the white notes. We tried to make our tunes begin and end on the note C.
• You did a great job at Improvising with me. Well done!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet and have a go at tracing over the Musical Alphabet letters.
• Remember to practice your right and left hand ant tunnels at home on your piano keyboard! Try playing your finger numbers in different orders. Your 4th and 5th fingers will probably take a little while to become as strong as the other three, so don’t forget to keep using them!

Bye for now! See you next week!

Adele

I would like to start off to say- GREAT WORK everyone! I’m very proud of the progress each individual student is making in this class so far!

In today’s class:

Griffin was absent – We missed you. Hopefully you’ll be here in class next week!

Ashia, Ahmed and Ainsley practiced their pieces for our recital for the parents. As well, if/when you guys are practicing at home, please look over the piece you are playing first before attempting it. Look for sharps, flats, naturals, any accidentals, etc. This will help to improve in your playing because you know what to expect. Also, to help.. you can always look ahead while you’re playing your piece so you can know what to expect ahead!

Once again, great progress everyone. You are doing great! I’m very impressed with how fast Ashia and Ahmed has caught on to learning how to use Piano Suite and playing Level 1 pieces! Great work again!

**Just a reminder to parents, the last week of MusIQ is on December, 16th, 2009 and we will be having a mini recital from our students to you!

Looking forward to class next Wednesday! Please don’t forget!
Have a great week!

Hello Everybody!

I was so pleased to see everyone trying so hard today. Great job!

Whole Group

Well, we began this week’s lesson by enjoying a great rhythm circle. Today we discussed the difference between the beat (a regular pulse, like a heart beat) and rhythm (the short and longs sounds which make interesting patterns). We took turns on ‘Guiro’ playing ‘funky’ rhythm pattern over a steady beat. Most of you did really well and were able to come up with great rhythms whilst keeping in time with the beat. Awesome! Afterwards, we had a quick improvisation session playing that well known musical instrument – the table! We all kept in time with a repeating rhythm pattern, and then made up our own improvised sections! Great fun!

Level 1A, Lessons 11 and 12 – Brett and Keenan

                    Lesson 12 – Simon, Nyah and Sara

• This week we began by talking a little bit more about our new composer, Mr Scott Joplin. You remembered a lot of information about his life and times, and his special Ragtime music which he was famous for composing and playing! 
• This week, Mr Joplin first reminded you how to make a five finger ant tunnel with your right hand.
• Then, in lesson 12 he showed you how to use all five fingers in your left hand too. 
• Remember to place your thumbs on Middle C, and then each finger sits on a neighbouring white note, leaving room for an ant to crawl underneath!
• I was pleased to see that everyone had relaxed shoulders, and no elbows sticking up in unusual angles as you played through some tunes using all five fingers! Well done!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t already done it, have a go at this activity sheet all about finger numbers!
• Print out this activity sheet all about the Musical Alphabet. Can you trace the capital letters?

Level 1B, Lesson 23 – Jack and Jasmine

• In lesson 23, Mr Villa Lobos first reminded you about the new notes you learnt last week, half notes and quarter notes. You remembered well that a half note was worth 2 counts and a quarter note was worth 1 count.
• Today, Mr Villa Lobos introduced you to whole notes.
• A whole note looks like a white circle, with no stem attached to it. When you see a whole note you need to hold it for 4 counts.
• Then you played through even more tunes with Miss Melody to help you feel happy about whole, half and quarter notes. It was a lot of concentrating, but you are making great progress. Keep it up!
• To finish off, you played some Games and visited the Improvisation Room for some fun!

Home Assignments For The Week 

• If you haven’t yet had a go at this, here is a wordsearch all about Mr Villa Lobos for you to try!
• Print out this activity sheet and try matching whole, half and quarter notes.

Level 2A, Lesson 37 & 38 – Jacob

• This week in lesson 37, and part of lesson 38, you began reading and playing Grand Staff songs for both hands with Mrs Beach. 
• This helped you to practice reading and playing the treble clef notes C D E and F, and the bass clef notes C B and A.
• You also had a go at rhythm tapping with the woodpecker. He helped to keep you in time with the beat, but it was a bit tricky and I know you felt a little frustrated! With practice, you’ll master this in no time!
• I was very impressed Jacob, with your hand position when you used your ant tunnel. Well done!
• To finish off, you both had time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet and see if you can add the missing barlines! 
• If you haven’t already done this, then print out this blank staff and practice writing your treble clef, bass clef and the new notes that you know! For an extra challenge, see if you can write some notes in a stepping or skipping motion! Good luck!

Bye for now,

See you next week!

Adele

Hi Everybody!

Well, today was the last class before Christmas! You have all made such great progress this term that I was able to award everyone their first certificate from MusIQ Club. Congratulations to everyone!

Whole Group

What a good rhythm circle we had. Everyone managed to make some wonderful rhythms on my frog ‘Guiro’ by tapping and scraping the beater on his back, and you were great at clapping back my rhythms too! After a quick reminder about all that we have covered this term, we moved to the computers.

Lesson 5 – Cale, Hayden, William N

• Lesson 5 was your last lesson with Mr Beethoven. He helped you to review all that you have learnt so far in MusIQ Club! You played through songs with high bird, low whale and Middle C notes, then you practiced some rhythm phrases, and finally you practiced some songs with circle notes! Wow!
• You went to the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some fun to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments

• Keep on making your own music at the piano over the holidays! Try to use high notes, low notes and middle C’s in your music.
• Ask a friend to clap some rhythms to you and see if you can clap them back correctly.
• Print out this maze and see if you can find your way out by going lower and lower!

Lesson 8 – William B-P, Joshua, Dalice, Tim and Drea

• We began with Mr Bach reminding us all about holding notes. 
• Then in lesson 8 you learnt all about double notes!
• This is where you have to play a high note with your right hand, and a low note with your left hand at exactly the same time – 2 notes together! This was a little tricky at first because most of you are used to using one pointer finger at a time. After playing through a few songs with Mr Bach you were definitely getting the hang of things! Well done!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments

• Print out and have a go at this activity sheet  all about double notes!
• Keep having fun on your piano keyboards at home over the holidays!

Lesson 10 – Parker, Carter, Christopher, Bella and Sydney 

• To begin with, Mr Bach reminded you all about circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Then he helped you to play some songs where the circle notes were moving back towards middle C.
• In these songs, the circle notes began far away from Middle C, then got closer and closer to the Middle C line.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• After some practice with Mr Bach you were getting much better at reading these circle note tunes. Good Job!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments

• Print out and try this activity sheet all about finger numbers! You will need to know this for after Christmas!
• Keep exploring new things on your piano keyboards at home over the holidays. Remember to have fun!

See you after Christmas!

Bye for now!

Adele

On Monday’s class:

CMJ1A: In today’s class we met our last teacher and learned how to place our hand in Middle C position. This means placing your right hand on the keyboard. First, you put your thumb on Middle C and then all the following fingers on the next corresponding keys, this posture helps to play the piano more easily and better. After our lesson, we continued on to the Practice Room with Miss Melody, once again, refreshing the students memory of placing their right hand in Middle C Position.

CMJ1B: In today’s class, we finished the lesson to CMJ1B level, congratulations Satya! In our final lesson, we reviewed songs we have learned this term, songs with finger numbers and ones that are stepping one step up or down from each other.

CMJ2A: In today’s class, Riley, Lucas, and Sam finished their lessons and practice room sessions then Riley and Lucas played Jingle Bells as we were trying to practice it for our mini recital next week for the parents. Sam was trying to catch up on the lessons to the other students since he had missed two classes.

Great work everyone! In the next class, for the first half-hour we will be practicing and planning what we will play for the parents that come for the recital.

Just a reminder to parents that next Monday, December 7th, 2009 will be the last class for MusIQ until after the holiday break. We do invite parents to come join us in the last half hour of class (3:30pm) to see your child’s progress and what they have learned so far this term. Please come join us!

Have a great week!

Level 1A

Today in Class

Today we completed lesson 11, where we learned more about your finger numbers for your RH, and playing with a nice ant tunnel (rounded fingers) with fingers 1 2 3 4 5 on C D E F G. This is wear your fingers go for Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, too! If you have a keyboard at home, practice playing this one line at a time, singing the finger numbers out loud as you go! Watch for holding notes! Notes above the line are for RH, below the line are for LH. Your fingers are numbered from your thumb to your pinky, 1 to 5 on both hands. We also spent some time in the game room and improvisation room, and on the floor working on finger numbers and learning a bit about your new teacher, Mr. Scott Joplin. Great work today everyone! And don’t get frustrated with your recital song, you aren’t supposed to be really good at it yet, new songs never sound good the first day, it takes practice! Work in small sections so that you can have more success!

This Week @ Home

• In CMJ volume 1 (if you have it) review lesson 11 and have fun in the practice room. In the Games Room there are 3 games for you to play.
• Practice Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, the whole thing this week, as explained above. This is our recital song!
• Put your right hand on your right knee, like we did in class, and practice wiggling each finger independently. Next, have an adult at home give you a playback challenge to try (eg. 1 2 3, 111, etc, start easy!) and you see if you can play those fingers on your knee. Then challenge your adult! This will build up the finger independence we will need to play our recital piece!

Level 2A

Today in Class

Today Nicholas was absent, so Kyla and Lauren worked to complete lessons 34 and 35. They reviewed notes C D E for the right hand in the Treble Clef, and learned about notes C B A for the left hand in the Bass Clef. Nice work! We played a few fun games in the games room too, to practice note reading, note values, and white note names, and worked on Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. On the floor we practiced drawing Treble Clefs and Bass Clefs, and played the Grand Staff Race Game with special guest Shelby, Lauren’s sister. Nice to see you!

This Week @ Home

• If you have CMJ volume 2 at home, you should review lesson 34 and 35 with Mr. Mozart, and head to the games room.
• Keep working on Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Remember to put both thumbs on Middle C and LEAVE YOUR HANDS THERE! Please don’t peck out each note with your pointer finger, we want ALL your fingers to get strong and used to playing! Nice curved fingers please!
• Complete the two worksheets I gave you at the end of class, and bring them for me to see next week!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Today was the last class for this term of MusIQ Club. Classes are scheduled to start up again on January 12th, 2010. Please register now by going to http://www.musiqclub.com or give me a call at 405-4071!

Lesson 12:

What an exciting class we had today! We met Mr. Joplin again in the Lesson Room and he taught us how to form a 5 finger ant tunnel with our Left Hand! He also showed us the finger numbers on this hand! Afterwards, we spent some time in the practice room with Miss Melody, working on our left hand even more!

After all this hard work, we spent some time playing some games, and then many of you went to the Library and used the computer to learn your very first songs on the piano! Some of you played Row Row Row your Boat, and others played A Tisket A Tasket! WOW! Isn’t it neat that we are finally playing songs that everyone can recognize!

To finish the class, we listened to some music that was composed by Mozart, and many of you danced around the room while listening! Isn’t music great?!? We also had some time for the Improvisation Room! Fantastic job today everyone!

Things To Work On:

1- Keep working on your 5 finger ant tunnels in both hands! You are all doing a great job with this!

2- Keep finding different notes on the piano, don’t forget to use all 5 of your fingers to play them!

3- Print out and complete your weekly activity sheet!

Lesson 22:

Today, we learnt about a few more grownup notes. These new notes are called the half note, and the quarter note. The half note is worth 2 beats, and the quarter note is worth 1 beat. Mr. Villa Lobos did a great job at explaining these too us, and Miss Melody helped us practice them to make sure we remember them!

After all this hard work, we went to the Games Room, and noticed that the Train Game is now using grown up notes, including the half note and quarter note that we just learnt about! Amazing job everyone!

To finish off the class, you all went to the improvisation room and practiced playing your quarter notes and your half notes using different sounds and background music! Great work everyone!

Home Assignments & Reminders:

1- Print out and work on this activity sheet!

2- Try writing out different quarter notes, and half notes at home. Then play them on the piano or clap the rhythm to yourself! Don’t forget to bring an example of your work in next week!

3- Remember to keep improvising every day and always have fun!

Lesson 39:

Today, we met with Mrs. Beach to learn about Bar Lines and playing while counting in 4/4 time. You all did an excellent job with this! After our lesson, we went to see Miss Melody in the practice room.

After an excellent practice session, you all headed over to the Games Room to spend some time relaxing and having fun with the different games. We then finished off the class with a little time in the Improvisation Room. Great work everyone!

Things to work on:

1- Keep working on the songs I have offered over the last few weeks.

2- Try writing out different 4/4 melodies and then play them back to you. Make sure to place middle C 4 times before starting!

Lesson 12:

What an exciting class we had today! We met Mr. Joplin again in the Lesson Room and he taught us how to form a 5 finger ant tunnel with our Left Hand! He also showed us the finger numbers on this hand! Afterwards, we spent some time in the practice room with Miss Melody, working on our left hand even more!

After all this hard work, we spent some time playing some games, and then many of you went to the Library and used the computer to learn your very first songs on the piano! Some of you played Row Row Row your Boat, and others played A Tisket A Tasket! WOW! Isn’t it neat that we are finally playing songs that everyone can recognize!

To finish the class, we listened to some music that was composed by Mozart, and many of you danced around the room while listening! Isn’t music great?!? We also had some time for the Improvisation Room! Fantastic job today everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep working on your 5 finger ant tunnels in both hands! You are all doing a great job with this!

2- Keep finding different notes on the piano, don’t forget to use all 5 of your fingers to play them!

3- Print out and complete your weekly activity sheet!

Lesson 39:

Today, we met with Mrs. Beach to learn about Bar Lines and playing while counting in 4/4 time. You all did an excellent job with this! After our lesson, we went to see Miss Melody in the practice room.

After an excellent practice session, you all headed over to the Games Room to spend some time relaxing and having fun with the different games. We then finished off the class with a little time in the Improvisation Room. Great work everyone!

Things to work on:

1- Keep working on the songs I have offered over the last few weeks.

2- Try writing out different 4/4 melodies and then play them back to you. Make sure to place middle C 4 times before starting!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Today was the last class for this term of MusIQ Club. Classes are scheduled to start up again on January 12th, 2010. Please register now by going to http://www.musiqclub.com or give me a call at 405-4071!

Lesson 26:

Today’s lesson was a huge review of everything you have learnt so much in MusIQ Club. This was a good idea for us because you have been learning so quickly, that you have actually finished 2 levels in one term! Great work!

After our review, you played some games, improvised and we were already out of time! Fantastic work! See you next term!

Lesson 39:

Today, we met with Mrs. Beach to learn about Bar Lines and playing while counting in 4/4 time. You all did an excellent job with this! After our lesson, we went to see Miss Melody in the practice room.

After an excellent practice session, you all headed over to the Games Room to spend some time relaxing and having fun with the different games. We then finished off the class with a little time in the Improvisation Room. Great work everyone!

Things to work on over the holidays:

1- Try printing out a Grand Staff from here
and write down some of the melodies you come up with while improvising.

2- Keep working on the songs I have offered over the last few weeks.

3- Try writing out different 4/4 melodies and then play them back to you. Make sure to place middle C 4 times before starting!

Lesson 49:

In our lesson with Mr. Satie today, we got to play Old MacDonald and a few other songs. Playing the songs through, took up a good portion of the class, and we then went to practice with Miss Melody in the Practice Room.

Before playing games, we took some time to quickly review our note reading skills as well as our finger numbers.

To finish off the class, we went to the Games Room, and then we headed over to the Improvisation Room to try playing different songs using various instruments. Good work everyone!

Things to work on over the holidays:

1- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, if you didn’t last week, and spend some time practicing it.

2- Keep working on Old Grey Goose.

3- Improvise every day and always have FUN!

Level 1:

You started off the class by warming up with Pop Goes The Weasel, and then you took some time to review your note values and note names. After this review, you were given a sheet with the notes for O’Christmas Tree on it.

You spent some time working on this piece on your own, and then we all tried playing it together. Good job. Please spent lots of time practising this piece at home this week so that we can play it a bit faster next time!

Heading back into Theory Thinker, you spent some time reviewing eighth notes. These notes are worth half a beat each, so you can play two in the same time that you would play one quarter note. Good job.

To finish off the class, you worked on a piece of your choice. See you next Monday!

Things To Work On:

1- Practice O’Christmas Tree (you have a copy at home)

2- Complete this eighth note worksheet.

3- Practice your note naming.

Levels 3 & 4:

You each started by working on your individual pieces. 3 worked on Shoo Fly and 4 worked on Computer Cat. Good job boys. Remember to keep concentrating!

You then reviewed your major and minor scales in the theory thinker. This is something we need to remember to practice at home a little more often! Scales are a very important part of piano playing!

Following this, the whole class spent some time playing O’Christmas Tree as a group. Good job everyone!

We then talked about scales together, and you learnt that a relative minor is when we find the minor scale that matches the key signature of a certain major key. An example is that A minor is the relative minor scale to C Major because they both have zero sharps and flats. Good job!

To find a relative minor, you can just find the 6th scale degree of the Major Scale, and you will have your answer!

Finally, you spent some time playing different songs on your own. Great work! See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Finish your relative minor worksheet.

2- Practice O’Christmas Tree.

3- Try improvising in different keys. We will discuss this next week.

Lesson 32:

Today Mr. Mozart started teaching us a new way to read notes. We are now reading grown up notes on something we call the Grand Staff! Instead of having 5 lines for our notes, we now have two groups of five lines. The top part is for the right hand, the bottom part is for the left hand, and in the middle, we have Middle C!

This is the way you will be reading notes while playing piano from now on. That’s right! You are now reading notes the same way that professional piano players do! Great work everyone!

After a bit of time practicing with Miss Melody, we went to the Games Room to spend the rest of the class relaxing. Good work everyone! See you all next Monday!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Spend time improvising every day!

2- Print out this page for a few songs to work on at home!

3- Don’t forget to keep counting and working on your rhythm!

4- Always remember to HAVE FUN!

Several milestones were passed in the morning Blanchard class this week, and many of the students will have new teachers next week.  All of the children are looking very comfortable finding their way along the keyboards, listening carefully and playing rhythm patterns.  We started the day with rhythm challenges, both word rhythms and 4-beat rhythmic patterns without the words.  Some of the children, after hearing the pattern on the drum, enjoyed making up their own words to match the rhythms.  Everyone is getting very good at this!  We also read the story Up, Up Down, by Robert Munsch, illustrating the story with our voices climbing up, up, up, up and falling dooooowwwwwwwnnnnnnn, as well as raising our right hands up higher and higher, and then left hands lower and lower.  Our highlight at the end of the class was the performances by Sydney and Alexa of their own pieces!  Anyone who forgot to bring theirs can bring it next week, and feel free to write a new piece if you are inspired!  Simple, blank staffs can be printed from here.

Adam, Andrew and Arianna worked hard this week reviewing everything in  lesson 5 and meeting  their new teacher in lesson 6, Mr. Bach.  Congratulations!  You are all getting very good at rhythms, as well as following music and playing circle notes on your keyboards, and you will feel more secure as you continue to practice these skills, even just a little.  Remember to listen very carefully to rhythms before you play them back, and don’t be in a hurry, especially while counting out the holding notes!  This can be tricky when you are first learning how long to hold everything, but don’t forget to count and I’m sure you will get better at it very soon.

For homework this week:

1. Practice clapping some rhythms with holding notes (clap and hold your hands together with a little dip where the next beat is) and please make up a word rhythm that is four counts long, and bring it to class next week.  You can ask someone to write it down for you (the words) so you don’t forget on Monday morning!
2. Please spend a little time with Miss Melody in the lessons 5 and 6 practice room, as well as playing some new songs in the library which you will find by clicking on the computer.
3. Try to save time your fun time in the improvisation room until you’ve played at least one new song!  Remember practicing just a little bit each day is better than a lot all at once.

Sydney performed her own piece for us, and played her holding notes perfectly.  Good job!  She has completed lesson 7 and is just starting to learn about double notes in lesson 8 with Mr. Bach.

For homework this week:

1. Print out this activity sheet and have fun finding all the double notes played at the same time.
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.

Alexa ,  Alex and Philip finished lesson 10 where they practiced both ascending and descending sequences.  Remember to center yourselves in front of the keyboard with middle C right in front of you, and don’t forget to use your right hand for notes going up from middle C and back, and your left hand for notes going down from middle C and back.  Using both hands was a little tricky, but don’t be in a hurry and you will get better at it and be ready for your new teacher next week, Mr. Scott Joplin!  Jacqui was absent this week, but should also be ready for Mr. Joplin next Monday.  We missed you!

For homework this week please:

1. Print out this activity sheet to find out how all of your fingers will get numbered in your next lesson with Mr. Joplin.
2. Print out this sheet and trace the letters of the musical alphabet, as well as practice saying it forwards and backwards.  Remember we will always be using CAPITAL letters when we name the notes!
3. Have fun playing new songs in the library (click on the computer) which use all the skills you have learned up through lesson 10, as well as all of the games in the games room.

See you next week!

Chrichton Park Elementary, November 30th, 2009, 12:20-1:20 pm,  P-2

Today the children had Mr. Bach for a teacher.  The children practiced “Double Notes” where they play with hands together and “Holding Notes” where they hold the notes for 2, 3, or 4 counts.  The “Princess Game” was again a favourite where the Princess tells a story.  She periodically stops to give her dog the opportunity to “Woof, woof”.  The child then echos the dog by playing the rhythm on Middle C.  There are 12 chapters in the stories of the princess in her castle.  Another game which the children enjoyed is “Bongo Boy”.  If the child doesn’t echo the rhythm correctly a crab will come and bite Bongo Boy’s toes!  Today we connected speakers to a keyboard and listened to some Bach’s beautiful music through the speakers.

Children will understand the lessons even better if they can practice with the program at home.  There are two ways to do this.  One is to check into your account and click on subscribe to the practice.  For only $9.95 a month you will be able to access the same lessons that we do in class.  You will have access to Children’s Music Journey Levels 1, or 2 or 3.  You will need a computer and a MIDI- compatible keyboard.  Or you could purchase the software by going to http://www.musiqclub.com/software.php

for more information.

Chrichton Park Elementary, November 16th, 2009, 12:20-1:20 pm,  P-2

Today our teacher was Mr. Bach, who told us about his very large family of 20 children.  We learned about holding notes which have to be held down while the computer counts to 1-2, or 1-2-3, or 1-2-3-4.  Waiting that long can be a bit of a challenge for some of the little ones.  We also did a game called the “Train Game” where the train pulls into the station and either 2, 3, or 4 passengers get off.  The student holds down the key for the appropriate number of seconds — 2, 3, or 4.  Some of the students worked oin “Double Notes” where they have to play a note in each hand exactly together.  Some of the students worked in pairs and played the notes exactly together.  Another popular game is “The Princess Game”.  The Princess reads a story and pauses while her dog “talks”.  The student must them play a key in the rhythm of the “dog talk”.  This game is great for beginning readers, since the words flash up on the screen.  This one game teaches (1) following words on the page as they flash by (2) vocabulary development (3) decision making as the student must make choices to determine which path the plot will follow (4) listening skills (5) rhythm development (6) imitation of the rhythm.  All these wonderful skills in a game which holds children’s interest!  We will be off on November 23, but will be back on November 30, 2009.

Lessons 9 & 10:

Today’s class was all about getting to know the entire piano keyboard! We already knew low notes, Middle C and high notes, but in our first lesson with Mr. Bach, we learnt how to play a high note while leaving room for an even higher note. We also played a low note, while leaving room for an even lower note! Fantastic work everyone!

After a bit of practising, and a few rounds of our new game, Cliffhanger, we went to see Mr. Bach again and learnt how to start at the outsides of the keyboard and play different amounts of notes going towards Middle C! Wow, this is tricky stuff!

To finish off the class, we practised a little more with Miss Melody and then relaxed in the Games Room and the Improvisation room. See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep finding high notes, low notes and Middle C!

2- Try starting on Middle C, and playing different amounts of notes going up and going down. Can you play 2, 3 or even 4 or 5 low or high notes without getting to the end of the piano?

3- Start at the outsides of the piano and try playing 2, 3, 4 or 5 notes while going towards Middle C. Make sure to leave enough room!

4- Print out and complete your activity sheet!

Lessons 15 & 16:

What a busy lesson we had today! We met with Mr. Joplin again, to learn more about the musical alphabet as well as musical steps. Everyone did such a great job with this lesson that we skipped the practice room and went right on to meet our new teacher, Miss Mendelssohn.

Miss Mendelssohn grew up in a time where girls didn’t usually become popular composers or piano players. But her parents encouraged her and her brother Felix to both become very talented musicians, who were able to play several different instruments!

Miss Mendelssohn taught us about stepping songs… Stepping songs are pieces of music where the notes usually move in a step motion. Everyone did a great job, and after a short practice session with Miss Melody, everyone was playing songs very well! We even got to go to the library and practice a few more of these songs before the class was over!

I am very proud of you all! Have a great week and see you next time!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet.

2- Practice playing notes in a step-motion, and then try skipping notes here and there.

3- Keep practicing playing towards Middle C. First tell yourself how many notes you want to play and then make sure to leave enough room to play them all!

4- Use different rhythms while playing. Long, Short, Short or Short, Long, Short. Try coming up with your own!

Lesson 37:

Today Mrs. Beach taught us some songs on the Grand Staff that require us to use both of our hands at the same time! This means that you had to read notes in both the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef. You all did a fantastic job at overcoming this tricky task!

After spending some time practicing with Miss Melody, (you are all doing an excellent job with the woodpecker by the way) you all headed to the Games Room for some much deserved relaxation!

To finish the class off, you spent some time in the Improvisation Room, making sure to always keep both your thumbs on Middle C. Fantastic job everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row. There are a few notes here that you may not know yet, but just keep counting one white key on the piano for every line and every space going outward from Middle C.

2- Spend time improvising with your hands in the Middle C Position. Make sure you always start out by playing Middle C several times as if you were the “woodpecker”.

3- Print out your weekly activity sheet!

Level 1:

You missed most of the class because of an appointment. Thankfully you got here on time for us to go over all of your cub scout badge requirements. Fantastic work! You have earned yourself a badge!

Keep up the good work and the practice at home. See you next week!

Level 2:

You started off the class by reviewing flats, sharps and natural signs. We then talked about how they apply only until there is a barline in the music. This cancels them out until they are written in again!

If we want an accidental to apply for the entire length of a piece, we write it in using key signatures. These are found at the beginning of a piece, and apply for the whole song unless there is an accidental written in to cancel it!

Following this, you worked on 10 Little Indians and Ode To Joy with me listening in. We worked at the pieces together, first hands separately and then hands together.

To finish off the class you worked on a few pieces of your own. Great work. See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Print out and complete this Flats worksheet.

2- Print out and complete this Sharps worksheet.

3- Practice every day!

Hello Everybody!

What a hard working bunch you are! We covered such a lot today. Well done! 

Whole Group

Today in our rhythm circle, we used my tambourine and ‘Guiro’ so that one person could create some rhythms whilst listening to another person keeping the beat! The person keeping the beat chose whether to tap 3 beats in a bar, or 4. They had to make sure that they didn’t speed up or slow down, otherwise it made it hard for the ‘rhythm’ person to play in time! After this, we headed to the computers.

Level 1B, Lessons 13 & 14 – Andrew

Hope you feel better soon Rachael, we missed you today!

• This week, in lesson 13 Mr Joplin helped you to play with two hands together, using your ant tunnels for both right and left hands.
• Then, in lesson 14 you revised the Musical Alphabet with Mr Joplin. Remember, that the musical alphabet has 7 letters, A B C D E F and G, and this repeats over and over again going higher and higher all the way up the piano.
• The tricky bit is when you come back down the piano, going lower and lower. This way the Musical alphabet goes backwards, G F E D C B and A over and over again!
• After practising with Miss Melody you seemed quite confident at both finger numbers, and the Musical Alphabet. Good job!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out and have a go at this wordsearch all about Mr Scott Joplin
• Keep practising your Musical Alphabet. Try saying it really, really fast, backwards and forwards.

Level 2C, Lessons 55 and 56 – Nickelo

Great work today, Nickelo! You really focussed and completed two lessons today!

• In lesson 55 you worked with Mr Handel again and played some more tunes with eighth notes in them. 
• Remember that an eighth note is only worth half a beat, so two eighth notes joined together make 1 beat!
• Then in lesson 56 you met a new teacher, Mr Chopin. He was born near Warsaw, Poland in 1810 and like Mr Mozart, was another child prodigy! When he was 20 he moved to Paris, France where he became a great composer and piano teacher. He loved to write pieces which allowed the performer to express lots of different emotions, and this made his works very popular. He was only 39 when he died. His body was buried in France, but can you remember what happened to his heart?
• In lesson 56, Mr Chopin taught you all about quarter rests. You played through some pieces which showed you understood well that when you see the rest sign you have to wait for 1 beat of silence!
• You had time to visit the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out and complete this activity sheet on rests!
• Print out and have a go at this wordsearch all about Mr Chopin.

Level 3, - Jessica, Jansyn and Allison

• This week you began by completing your lesson at the computer. (Jessica – lesson 74, Allison – lessons 82 & 83 and Jansyn – lesson 83)
• Jessica, this week you were playing songs written for both hands at the same time. This can be very difficult at first, but try to take it slowly and think carefully about the lines and spaces and whether the notes are moving in a stepping motion, or skipping motion.
• Jansyn and Allison, you were learning to play pieces with your hands in the Big C position today. Your left hand pinkie finger was down on the low C which seemed strange at first! Remember to keep your hands in a lovely ant tunnel, and follow the finger directions which are there to help you.
• You visited the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off the lesson!
• Well done girls, you are working hard on these longer, more complicated lessons!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Jansyn and Allison, here is a worksheet for you to try all about the Big C position!
• Jessica, print out this review sheet. It covers all the things that you have learnt in MusIQ Club so far. See how much you can remember at home, and then we’ll go through it together in class next week.

See you next week!

Bye for now!

Adele

Hi Everyone!

Well today, as soon as we had finished our lunch, we decided to get straight to work at the computers!

Level 1A, Lesson 10 - Ava and Jenna

• Today you met up with Mr Bach again and he reminded you how to read circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Then he went on to show you how to read the circle notes when they are moving towards Middle C.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You then played through even more songs with Miss Melody to practice this new skill. Well done!
• Mr Bach also helped you to tap back some rhythms using numbers and dots. You are getting better and better at this each week.
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet all about finger numbers! You’ll be learning about those next week!
• Have a go at tracing the Musical Alphabet on this sheet. Remember, that when we write about musical notes, we always write the letters as capitals, not lower case!

Level 2A, Lesson  35 & 36 - Anik

                  Lesson 37 – Devin

Well done for catching up 2 lessons today, Anik! Great work!

• This week we spent some more time working on reading notes written on the Grand Staff.
• Anik, you practiced reading and playing the treble clef notes C D E and F, and the bass clef notes C B and A.
• You then worked with Mrs Beach and had a go at rhythm tapping with the woodpecker. He helped to keep you in time with the beat, but it was a bit tricky!
• Devin, you also played through some pieces for both hands today too! I was very impressed with your hand position and how you used your correct fingers today. Well done!
• To finish off, you both had time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet and see if you can add the missing barlines! 
• If you haven’t already done this, then print out this blank staff and practice writing your treble clef, bass clef and the new notes that you know! For an extra challenge, see if you can write some notes in a stepping or skipping motion! Good luck!

Level 2C, Lesson 56 & 57  - Erin

• Today you met a new teacher, Mr Chopin. He was born near Warsaw, Poland in 1810 and like Mr Mozart, was another child prodigy! When he was 20 he moved to Paris, France where he became a great composer and piano teacher. He loved to write pieces which allowed the performer to express lots of different emotions, and this made his works very popular. He was only 39 when he died. His body was buried in France, but can you remember what happened to his heart?
• In lesson 56, Mr Chopin taught you all about quarter rests. You played through some pieces which showed you understood well that when you see the rest sign you have to wait for 1 count of silence!
• Then in lesson 57, you practiced playing tunes written in 3/4 time. This means that each measure has 3 quarter beats. Well done!
• You had time to visit the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out and try to complete this worksheet all about the 3/4 time signature.
• For an extra challenge, have a go at this review worksheet. It covers all the things you have ever been taught so far in MusIQ Club! I wonder how much you can remember! Don’t worry if it takes a couple of weeks to finish it! It’s quite a long sheet! 

Bye for now!

Adele

Lessons 9 & 10:

Today’s class was all about getting to know the entire piano keyboard! We already knew low notes, Middle C and high notes, but in our first lesson with Mr. Bach, we learnt how to play a high note while leaving room for an even higher note. We also played a low note, while leaving room for an even lower note! Fantastic work everyone!

After a bit of practising, and a few rounds of our new game, Cliffhanger, we went to see Mr. Bach again and learnt how to start at the outsides of the keyboard and play different amounts of notes going towards Middle C! Wow, this is tricky stuff!

To finish off the class, we practised a little more with Miss Melody and then relaxed in the Games Room and the Improvisation room. See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep finding high notes, low notes and Middle C!

2- Try starting on Middle C, and playing different amounts of notes going up and going down. Can you play 2, 3 or even 4 or 5 low or high notes without getting to the end of the piano?

3- Start at the outsides of the piano and try playing 2, 3, 4 or 5 notes while going towards Middle C. Make sure to leave enough room!

4- Print out and complete your activity sheet!

Lesson 48:

In today’s lesson, Mr. Satie spent some time helping us play some new songs that were written out on the Grand Staff. While playing through these songs, we took the time to make sure we were using all of our fingers, instead of playing with just our two pointer fingers.

After spending some time with Miss Melody in the practice room, we all went to the Games Room to relax, and we also spent some time working on Ode To Joy in the improvisation room. Great work everyone!

1- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, if you didn’t last week, and spend some time practicing it.

2- Keep working on Old Grey Goose.

3- Improvise every single day! If you want a copy of Ode to Joy please just email me and ask!

4- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet!

5- Bring a friend to class next week!

All Together:

We spent the first part of class working on O’Christmas Tree. You each took the time to work on your own part, and then we each listened to everyone’s parts! Great job.

Following this, we all tried playing the piece together, using the metronome to make sure we all counted properly. Don’t forget that if you make a mistake you have to try your best to just keep going. Don’t go back and try a second time!

Level 2:

You then took some time to review your note naming, and fill out a sheet for me. Good work! Don’t forget to correct the mistakes by next class!

You then worked on Pop Goes The Weasel and a piece of your choice! See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Print out and complete this Flats worksheet.

2- Print out and complete this Sharps worksheet.

3- Practice every day!

Level 4:

After Ode To Joy, we reviewed scale degrees and triads, and then learnt how we can add an extra note on top of the 5th chord (called the dominant) to give us a dominant seventh. A dominant 7th in C would have the notes G-B-D-F. We then looked at how the dominant 7ths can be played in inversion, such as B-D-F-G, and that we can leave the second note (D) out which leaves us with B-F-G. Great work!

To finish off the class, you worked a little on Merry Farmer, and then on a piece of your choice. Keep up the good work and see you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Work on this counting and clapping sheet.

2- Work on this technique sheet!

3- Improvise and have fun every day!

Hi Everyone!

Well, this week we were in the Family Studies Room! I wonder where we’ll be next week! Try to listen out for any announcements on Thursday afternoon so that you know where to find me!

Level 1

It was great to see Malcolm back with us this week!

• This week, Ryan and Talan sat their written assessment for level 1 and did brilliantly! It covered some of the theory that we have learnt about this term. For e.g. note naming on the Grand Staff, writing notes and rests to complete music written in 4/4 time, identifying harmonic and melodic intervals and finding definitions to musical terms and signs. Well done for passing both of you! (Malcolm, now that we have discussed intervals, you can take yours next week!)
• In Piano Player, you spent some time working on C Major scale and C Contrary motion. Then we worked on ‘Row Your Boat,’ ‘Get Up’, and your individual choice piece for Level 1. I’m so looking forward to hearing Talan and Malcolm next week! Ryan, I enjoyed listening to you, and congratulations on passing Piano Suite Level 1. I will leave your certificate at the school office for you to collect because I know you are not able to attend next week’s lesson. 
• You finished off by playing some games in Children’s Music Journey program for fun!

Home Assignments for the Week;

• Continue to practise  ‘Row Your Boat.’,  and your new piece ‘Get Up!”
• Keep up the good work on your C Major Scale and C Contrary motion. 

Level 3

• This week, you began by spending some time working on your practical pieces and technique.
• Keep working on the natural minor scales each day. Remember that they have the same finger pattern as C Major, 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5, but just check the key signature to find out what sharps and flats they may have!
• In Piano Player, you played ‘Largo – New World Symphony’ by Dvorak.
• You also chose your individual choice piece ready for me to listen to next week.
• Then, we worked together on your written assessment for Level 3. This covered some of the theory that we have learnt this term. It included concepts such as writing natural minor scales in the treble and bass clefs, competing measures by filling in missing rests and notes, drawing primary triads of a specific scale, naming notes written on ledger lines, and defining musical signs and terms. Congratulations on passing this part of Piano Suite Level 3!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Continue to practice ‘Largo’ with hands together.
• Continue to practice your Level 3 scales each day, and your slur exercise!
• Don’t forget to research your History Assignment on Strauss to be handed in next week!

See you next week!

Adele

Hi Everyone!

This week we were in the Family Studies Room! I wonder where we’ll be next week! 

Whole Group

Again we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle. Everyone took turns tapping out a rhythm on Guiro, and also clapping back other people’s rhyuthms! Well done!

Level 1A, Lesson 11 & 12 – Liam, Racheal & Dylan

• This week you met a new teacher at the computer, Mr Scott Joplin. We spent some time talking about his life and times. Can you remember the type of piano music he used to play? (Answer – Ragtime)
• Mr Joplin showed you how to make five finger ant tunnels with both your right and left hands. First you place your thumb on middle C, and then your four fingers rest above the neighbouring white notes.
• Remember that your thumb is finger number 1, your pointer finger is number 2, your middle finger is number 3, your ring finger is number 4, and your little pinkie finger is number 5! It’s the same for both hands too!
• You played through even more tunes with Miss Melody which helped you to practice using your ant tunnels in both hands.
• Try to play with the side of your thumb, and the tips of your fingers. Remember that your shoulders should be relaxed, and you wrists should be fairly straight and in line with your arm.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Keep practising moving all five fingers in your ant tunnel position. You don’t even need to be at a piano! You could practice on a table, or even on your lap.
• Print off these finger number tunes and try them in your right hand and left hands.

Level 2A, Lesson 39 – Olivia and Samantha

             Lesson 40 – Ethan and Callie

• Well done all of you! Olivia and Samantha learnt all about Bar lines and 4/4 time signatures this week, and Ethan and Callie worked with Mrs Beach and learnt how to read repeat signs!
• You all seem to be gaining confidence reading notes on the Grand Staff. You are noticing skips and steps and beginning to anticipate the fingers you need to use before you are told! Well done!
• I watched most of you rhythm tapping, and you are reading whole, half, quarter and dotted half notes excellently, and keeping in time with the woodpecker!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet and see if you can name the notes on the Grand Staff. Good Luck!
• Keep on having fun at home on your own piano keyboards improvising your own tunes!

See you next week for our last MusIQ Club session this term!

Bye for now!

Adele

Hi Everyone!

We had another wonderful lesson last Thursday! Great job everyone!

Level 1, Lessons 1, 2 & 3 – David and Christian

Wow boys! You did an awesome job this week completing 3 lessons!

• In lessons 1 and 2 you met Mr Beethoven and learnt a little about his life and times!
• You then found out where the high ‘bird’ notes and low ‘whale’ notes are on the keyboard, and where to find a special note called ‘Middle C.’
• Then in Lesson 3, Mr Beethoven taught you how to make rhythms by combining short and long sounds.
• He said some funny word phrases, and you had to tap the rhythm back to him using  Middle C!
• You played lots of songs following the pictures on the screen. If  you saw a bird you played a high note, a whale meant you should play a low note, and a man in a boat was the picture that told you to play Middle C. Brilliant work!
• To finish off the lesson you went to the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet which is all about high and low notes on the keyboard!
• You might also like to try this wordsearch all about Mr Beethoven.
• Keep making up your own tunes on your piano keyboards at home. Try to play high notes, low notes and Middle C’s!

Level 1, Lessons 5 & 6 – Ryan, Ronin, Taylor, Madison, Caley, Emily, Jasmine and Vincent

• Lesson 5 was your last lesson with Mr Beethoven. He helped you to review all that you have learnt so far in MusIQ Club! You played through songs with high bird, low whale and Middle C notes, then you practiced some rhythm phrases, and finally you practiced some songs with circle notes! Wow!
• Then, in Lesson 6 you met a new teacher, called Mr Bach. He was a great composer who lived in Germany even before Mr Beethoven was alive! Can you remember how many children he had?
• You worked with Mr Bach to learn all about holding notes. Remember to hold the note down and count the numbers on the screen!
• You tried to copy some of Mr. Bach’s rhythms following the beats and the dots, but it was quite tricky! We’ll try some more of those next time!
• You went to the Games Room where you played two new games today, the Train Game, and the Princess Story!
• You spent some time in the Improvisation Room making up your own music.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this wordsearch all about Mr Bach!
• On your keyboard at home, try making up some of your own songs which include holding notes!
• Print out this 5 line staff, and have a go at composing your own songs using circle notes!

Level 1, Lessons 7, 8 and 9 - Emme and Maggie

Both of you have had some piano lessons before, so we are moving through the lessons much quicker than normal! Well done girls!

• We began by learning about holding notes in Lesson 7. You did very well with this, holding 2 count, 3 count and  4 count notes!
• Then in lesson 8 you learnt all about double notes!
• This is where you have to play a high note with your right hand, and a low note with your left hand at exactly the same time – 2 notes together! Again, this proved no problem to you both!
• Then, in Lesson 9, you learnt about notes getting higher and higher, and lower and lower. Now when you read the circle notes, you have to decide how far up above the middle C line they are, or how low down below the line they are before you play. It took some time, but after practicing with Miss Melody too, you were much better at this new skill.
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t already done this, then print out this activity sheet  all about double notes!
• Print out this sheet all about finger numbers!

Bye for now,

Adele

Hi Everyone!

Today was the last lesson of our first 10 week session! (Our new term continues straight on next week!) I must say that all of you have made great progress, even the very youngest amongst you! I was thrilled to be able to give you all your first MusIQ Club certificate as a mark of your achievements yesterday! Well done everyone!  

Lesson 8 – Ethan, Bailey, Carter, Brenna, Brianna, Kalea, Austin and Bryce

• This week, we began by exploring some more tapping and scraping sounds on my frog ‘Guiro.’ We each had a go and some of you made up some great rhythm patterns!
• At the computers, we met up with Mr Bach who told you all about double notes!
• This is where you have to play a high note with your right hand, and a low note with your left hand at exactly the same time – 2 notes together!
• Mr Bach helped you to play through some songs where you followed the circle notes to play high notes, low notes, Middle C’s, holding notes and double notes! Wow, look at how much you’ve learnt over the past few weeks!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet  all about double notes!
• Print out this 5 line staff, and have a go at composing your own songs using circle notes! Bring one of your compositions into class next week and I’ll try to play it for you!

Lesson 7 – Riley (We missed you Xander! Hopefully we’ll see you back next week!)

• You began by joining in well with the rhythm circle. You tapped and scraped some excellent rhythms on ‘Guiro!’
• Today, in Lesson 7 you met up again with your new teacher, Mr Bach. He showed to even more holging notes. Some you had to hold and count to 2, some you had to count to 3, and some even to 4!
• You followed the circle notes well this week and played lots of songs to make sure that you were really happy about everything you’ve learnt so far in MusIQ Club.
• Mr Bach also helped you to clap some rhythms, but you found it a bit tricky. I drew numbers and dots  to read and clap back. Whenever you saw a dot, you said the word ‘and’. They looked like this;

                          1    2    3 .  4      “One, Two, Three and Four”

                          1  . 2    3    4  .   “One and Two, Three, Four and”

• To finish off, you went to the Games Room where you enjoyed playing our new games, the Train Game, and the Princess Story!
• Great job, Riley!

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t done it yet, print out this wordsearch all about Mr Bach!
• Have a go at rhythm clapping at home. Ask a friend to write the numbers 1 2 3 4 on a blank piece of paper, and then add dots between the numbers like we do in class. Can you clap the rhythms?

Lesson 5 – Jaxon, Aiden, Regan, Jacob, Cody, Katie and Mya

• We began with a good rhythm circle on the carpet, where everyone joined in and either tapped or scraped a rhythm on my frog ‘Guiro.’ Well done!
• Then at the computers we worked through Lesson 5 today. This was our last lesson with Mr Beethoven, and he helped you to practice all the new skills that you have learnt over the past few weeks.
• He reminded you all about high bird notes, low whale notes and Middle C, circle notes, holding notes and rhythms made up of long and short sounds! 
• You also had a go at copying the rhythms you could hear in some more of Mr Beethoven’s funny word phrases!
• Afterwards, you went to the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some relaxing fun!

Home Assignments for the week

• On a piece of blank paper, draw a line across the middle of the page, and have a go at composing your own music using circle notes! 
• Keep playing for fun on your pianos and keyboards at home!

Looking forward to teaching you all for the next 10 week term!

Bye for now,

Adele

Hi Everybody!

This week we began with a quick rhythm circle, and then got straight to work on our computers!

Level 1A, Lessons 11 and 12 – Hayley, Scott and Weston

• This week, in lesson 11 you met a new teacher called Mr. Scott Joplin. Mr Joplin was born about 100 years ago in the United Sates. His family was poor, so while his mother cleaned houses, he practiced on the rich people’s pianos!  Mr Joplin grew up and became famous for playing and composing Ragtime music. This was fun music that ordinary people liked to dance to!
• Mr Joplin showed you how to make a five finger ant tunnel. This is where you place your thumbs on Middle C, and then each finger sits on a neighbouring white note, leaving room for an ant to crawl underneath! You did this brilliantly!
• From now on, all your piano playing will use this hand position, and your fingers will get stronger and stronger as you practice!
• In lesson 12 you learnt how to play with a five finger ant tunnel in your left hand too! Awesome!
• After spending some more time practising with Miss Melody, visited the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off the class!

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t already done it, have a go at this activity sheet all about finger numbers!
• Try asking a friend to call out a set of 3 numbers from 1-5. Can you play those notes using the correct fingers?

Level 1B, Lesson 20 – Samia

• Today at the computers you met up with Miss Fanny Mendelssohn again. She helped you to practice even more songs where the notes were written on lines and spaces.
• Then she helped remind you of the Musical Alphabet. Now you are getting better at playing the piano, it is important to try and remember which letter name notes you’re playing, not just the finger numbers you need to play the note with!
• In the Practice Room, you began working with Miss Melody, but we didn’t get to finish this part of the lesson. Perhaps you can start at this point next week with Luc!  
• To finish off the lesson, you played some Games and visited the Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this 5 line staff, and see if you can write a composition of your own. Can you use line notes and space notes?
• Print out this activity sheet and see if you can use your musical alphabet to name all the white notes on the keyboard.

Level 2B, Lesson 46 – Aidan, Jake and Madison

• This week, you met a new teacher called Mr. Satie. He lived from 1866-1925 and lived most of his life in Paris, France. He even spoke a little French to you!
• Mr Satie was a little eccentric, or strange! He gave his pieces bizarre titles, and wrote strange instructions for his performers all over his music! He also liked to collect strange things, like hankerchiefs and umbrellas! However, he was an amazing musician who was very creative and he greatly influenced many other composers!
• Today, Mr Satie helped you to learn the Bass Clef note G, which you can play with your 4th finger in the left hand.
• You played through some songs which had this new note in the left hand, and then you practiced keeping time with the woodpecker too!
• To finish off the lesson, you went to the Games Room and Improvisation Room!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Have a go at this wordsearch all about your new teacher Mr Satie.
• Print out this activity sheet and see if you can find all the Bass Clef G’s in the music!

Bye for now!

Adele

Hi Everybody!

Well, we really are down to a small class now! However, we had fun and you both worked very hard completing two lessons today, so Great Job!

Level 1A, Lessons 10 and 11 – Ella and Dang

• Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!”
• This week, in lesson 10 you reviewed higher and higher, and lower and lower notes. Then, you played some tunes where the notes were moving towards Middle C. 
• Remember, the higher up above the Middle C line the circle note is, the higher you play. The lower down below the Middle C line the circle note is, the lower you play!
• Then, in lesson 11 you met a new teacher called Mr. Scott Joplin. He was born about 100 years ago in the United Sates. His family was poor, so while his mother cleaned houses, he practiced on the rich people’s pianos!  Mr Joplin grew up and became famous for playing and composing Ragtime music. This was fun music that ordinary people liked to dance to!
• Mr Joplin showed you both how to make a five finger ant tunnel. This is where you place your thumbs on Middle C, and then each finger sits on a neighbouring white note, leaving room for an ant to crawl underneath! You did this brilliantly!
• From now on, all your piano playing will use this hand position, and your fingers will get stronger and stronger as you practice!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t already done it, have a go at this activity sheet all about finger numbers!
• Try asking a friend to call out a set of 3 numbers from 1-5. Can you play those notes using the correct fingers?

Bye for now! See you next week!

Adele

Hi Everyone!

I really enjoyed our class this week. Well done for working so hard everyone!

Whole Group

Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!”

Level 1A, Lessons 9 and 10 – Brett and Keenan

Well done for catching up these lessons today boys!

• This week at the computer, Mr Bach helped you to review circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Then he taught you all about circle notes moving towards Middle C.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You played even more songs with Miss Melody and you had to make sure to leave enough room on the keyboard to fit all the notes in before you got back to Middle C! Great job!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet all about finger numbers!
• Keep making up your own music at home for fun!

Leel 1A, Lesson 11 – Simon, Nyah and Sara

• This week we learnt all about our new composer, Mr Scott Joplin. He was born about 100 years ago in the United Sates. His family was poor, so while his mother cleaned houses, he practiced on the rich people’s pianos!  Mr Joplin grew up and became famous for playing and composing Ragtime music. This was fun music that ordinary people liked to dance to!
• Mr Joplin showed you both how to make a five finger ant tunnel. This is where you place your thumbs on Middle C, and then each finger sits on a neighbouring white note, leaving room for an ant to crawl underneath! You all did this very well.
• From now on, all your piano playing will use this hand position, and your fingers will get stronger and stronger as you practice!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t already done it, have a go at this activity sheet all about finger numbers!
• Try asking a friend to call out a set of 3 numbers from 1-5. Can you play those notes using the correct fingers?

Level 1B, Lesson 22 – Jack and Jasmine

• This week you met up with Mr Villa Lobos again and he taught you all about half notes and quarter notes.
• Remember, a white note with a stem is a half note, and is worth 2 counts.
• A black note with a stem is a quarter note and is worth 1 count.
• You played through some tunes to help you learn these note values. Then Miss Melody helped you to practice them too.
• You read the notes stepping up and down the lines and spaces really well, too!  
• You spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room to relax after all that playing! Good job!

Home Assignments For The Week 

• Here is a wordsearch all about Mr Villa Lobos for you to try!
• Have a go at naming these notes and see if you can spell a word?

Bye for now,

See you next week!

Adele

So, today was week 8 of 10. That means that next week is our last lesson before our recital. Which means that today was the day that we worked hard on learning to play Jolly Old Saint Nicholas together, except that only 2 people were there. So the rest of you need to practice hard to learn Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, so we can put it together next week!

Our recital is the last half of the last class, which means it will be at 7:30 on December 9th. This will be your first piano recital, so it is of course very exciting, and you are free to invite anyone you want to come watch you. We will do a little demo of the software we use in class and show you a bit of what we have been learning in the three different levels, and play Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. That means everyone with a keyboard or piano at home should be practicing Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, with EXTRA practice on the hard parts (ie lines 2 and 4.) I’m excited to hear it!

Level 2A

Today in Class

Today Drew worked alone to complete lessons 34 and 35. He reviewed notes C D E for the right hand in the Treble Clef, and learned about notes C B A for the left hand in the Bass Clef. Nice work! We played a few fun games in the games room too, to practice note reading, note values, and white note names, and worked on Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. On the floor Drew and Katelin played a good round of Grand Staff Race, which he won by the way. We will do our best to get Hayzel and Tyler caught up on note reading and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas next week.

This Week @ Home

• If you have CMJ volume 2 at home, you should review lesson 34 and35 with Mr. Mozart, and head to the games room.
• Keep working on Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Remember to put both thumbs on Middle C and LEAVE YOUR HANDS THERE! Please don’t peck out each note with your pointer finger, we want ALL your fingers to get strong and used to playing! Nice curved fingers please!

So, today was week 8 of 10. That means that next week is our last lesson before our recital. Our recital is the last half of the last class, which means it will be at 6:30 on December 9th. This will be your first piano recital, so it is of course very exciting, and you are free to invite anyone you want to come watch you. We will do a little demo of the software we use in class and show you a bit of what we have been learning in the three different levels, and play Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. That means everyone with a keyboard or piano at home should be practicing Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, with EXTRA practice on the hard parts (ie lines 2 and 4.) I’m excited to hear it!

Oh, and Happy Birthday Colby! We forgot to sing to you in class, but I hope you had a great day!

Level 1A

Today in Class

Today we completed lesson 11, where we learned more about your finger numbers for your RH, and playing with a nice ant tunnel (rounded fingers) with fingers 1 2 3 4 5 on C D E F G. This is wear your fingers go for Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, too! If you have a keyboard at home, practice playing this one line at a time, singing the finger numbers out loud as you go! Watch for holding notes! Notes above the line are for RH, below the line are for LH. Your fingers are numbered from your thumb to your pinky, 1 to 5 on both hands. We also spent some time in the game room and improvisation room, and on the floor working on finger numbers and notes that get higher and higher and lower and lower. Great work today everyone! And don’t get frustrated with your recital song, you aren’t supposed to be really good at it yet, new songs never sound good the first day, it takes practice! Work in small sections so that you can have more success!

This Week @ Home

• In CMJ volume 1 (if you have it) review lesson 11 and have fun in the practice room. In the Games Room there are 3 games for you to play.
• Practice Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, the whole thing this week, as explained above. This is our recital song!
• Put your right hand on your right knee, like we did in class, and practice wiggling each finger independently. Next, have an adult at home give you a playback challenge to try (eg. 1 2 3, 111, etc, start easy!) and you see if you can play those fingers on your knee. Then challenge your adult! This will build up the finger independence we will need to play our recital piece!

Level 2A

Today in Class

Today Ethan was sick, so Jessica worked alone to complete lessons 34 to 36. Wow! She reviewed notes C D E for the right hand in the Treble Clef, and learned about notes C B A for the left hand in the Bass Clef. Nice work! We played a few fun games in the games room too, to practice note reading, note values, and white note names, and worked on Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. We will do some review and some games to go over this stuff some more next week, and get Ethan caught up!

This Week @ Home

• If you have CMJ volume 2 at home, you should review lesson 34, 35, and 36 with Mr. Mozart and Mrs. Beech, and head to the games room.
• Keep working on Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Remember to put both thumbs on Middle C and LEAVE YOUR HANDS THERE! Please don’t peck out each note with your pointer finger, we want ALL your fingers to get strong and used to playing! Nice curved fingers please!

Level 1:

You started the class off by reviewing your note reading and by working on On Top Of Old Smokey. Good work. Please remember to print and complete your note naming homework this week!

We then got together at the white board and wrote out/clapped some different rhythms. Some of them were in 4/4 time, and some of them were in 3/4 time. Don’t forget to always check the time signature before you start, and count 1 & 2 &… so that you know the speed of your eighth notes!

To finish off the class, you spent some time practising O’Christmas Tree. This piece is printed on paper, so you have to make sure to take plenty of time to read the notes. Good work. See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Print out and complete this note naming sheet.

2- Print out and complete this eighth note worksheet.

3- Practice On Top Of Old Smokey.

Levels 3 & 4:

You started off the class by working on The Merry Farmer, hands separately. Please take the time to read the notes instead of guessing. You are all very capable of playing this piece. It will just take a little effort!

We then got together at the white board and wrote out/clapped some different rhythms. Some of them were in 4/4 time, and some of them were in 3/4 time. Don’t forget to always check the time signature before you start, and count 1 & 2 &… so that you know the speed of your eighth notes!

Following this, we discussed the triads of the C Major scale, and we reviewed that we could call the first triad the Tonic, and the 5th the Dominant. Following this, I showed you that we could ad on note on top of the dominant, to create a dominant 7th. (7th because the top note, F, is a 7th from G) Good work everyone!

To finish off the class we worked on O’Christmas Tree. Great job everyone! See you all next week!

Things To Work On:

1- GO HERE and identify the notes in this electronic drill.

2- Complete this Dominant 7ths worksheet.

3- Practice pieces you have at home!

Lesson 8:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

Today, Mr. Bach helped us learn about Double Notes! This means, we are now playing up to 2 notes at the SAME TIME! You are all doing a fantastic job, and after some practice with Miss Melody, you were ready to go and see what different double notes sound like in the improvisation room with the different sound effects!

We also talked about how we can tell if notes are going higher, or lower. This distance between the two notes is called an interval, and you got to listen to a few different ones today! You had a little trouble with this today, but I am sure as the weeks go on, you will get much better!

To finish off the class, we went to the Games Room for some relaxing fun! Great job!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print, and complete a fun Word Search which is all about Mr. Bach!

2- Practice playing single notes, and then double notes. What kind of combinations can you come up with when you are playing double notes? What do triple notes sound like?

3- Sit down with a rhythm buddy or parent every day and clap different rhythms with each other. Make sure you always clap back the exact same thing!

4- Remember to improvise every day, using different high bird notes, low whale notes and don’t forget about Middle C!

Lesson 46:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

We decided to jump over lesson 45, and go straight away to meet our new teacher, who is named Mr. Satie. Mr. Satie was born in 1866 and was a French composer who lived most of his life in Paris.

Mr. Satie spent today’s lesson teaching us how to find a new note on the bass clef. This new note, is below the A that we already know, and is called G. We play this new note with our fourth (4th) finger. Great work finding it everyone!

After some practicing with Miss Melody, we went to the Games Room to play the different games, some of which now make use of our new bass note! To finish off the class, we went to the Improvisation Room to try and come up with some melodies that use our new note, Bass Clef G. Fantastic work everyone, see you all in two weeks!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out this fun little worksheet, to color in and play!

2- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, which uses our new bass clef note, G.

3- Keep working on Old Grey Goose from last week!

4- Don’t forget to improvise every day, and use our new Bass note!

Lesson 70:

You have both been learning very well lately. Sharps, flats, we are now playing all the different types of notes on the piano! Great work!

Because of all this new information, today’s lesson was a review lesson. We spent the class with Mr. Scarlatti playing different songs that had B flats in them! Don’t forget, when you know there is a flat, it is easiest to just place your finger on it right away, so you don’ forget when the note comes up!

After this review, we spent some time with Miss Melody, and then we went to the Games Room for some fun, and finished off with the Improvisation Room! Great work! See you both next Week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete your weekly activity sheet!

2- Complete your flats sheet from last week!

3- Improvise every day! Don’t forget to play with sharps and flats!

Lessons 9 & 10:

Today’s class was all about getting to know the entire piano keyboard! We already knew low notes, Middle C and high notes, but in our first lesson with Mr. Bach, we learnt how to play a high note while leaving room for an even higher note. We also played a low note, while leaving room for an even lower note! Fantastic work everyone!

After a bit of practising, and a few rounds of our new game, Cliffhanger, we went to see Mr. Bach again and learnt how to start at the outsides of the keyboard and play different amounts of notes going towards Middle C! Wow, this is tricky stuff!

To finish off the class, we practised a little more with Miss Melody and then relaxed in the Games Room and the Improvisation room. See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep finding high notes, low notes and Middle C!

2- Try starting on Middle C, and playing different amounts of notes going up and going down. Can you play 2, 3 or even 4 or 5 low or high notes without getting to the end of the piano?

3- Start at the outsides of the piano and try playing 2, 3, 4 or 5 notes while going towards Middle C. Make sure to leave enough room!

4- Print out and complete your activity sheet!

Lesson 37:

Today Mrs. Beach taught us some songs on the Grand Staff that require us to use both of our hands at the same time! This means that you had to read notes in both the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef. You all did a fantastic job at overcoming this tricky task!

After spending some time practicing with Miss Melody, (you are all doing an excellent job with the woodpecker by the way) you all headed to the Games Room for some much deserved relaxation!

To finish the class off, you spent some time in the Improvisation Room, making sure to always keep both your thumbs on Middle C. Fantastic job everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row. There are a few notes here that you may not know yet, but just keep counting one white key on the piano for every line and every space going outward from Middle C.

2- Spend time improvising with your hands in the Middle C Position. Make sure you always start out by playing Middle C several times as if you were the “woodpecker”.

3- Print out your weekly activity sheet!

Lesson 47:

Today’s class was filled with different songs! Mr. Satie helped you both play through several new songs that were written out on the Grand Staff. Mr. Satie helped you with wrong notes, and made sure that you always held the notes for the correct length. Great work everyone!

After this song filled lesson, you all went to see Miss Melody in the Practice Room, before relaxing a bit in the Games Room.

To finish off the class, you went to the Improvisation Room to experiment with holding notes and different types of instruments. Isn’t it neat how the piano’s sound fades as you hold a note, but some instruments such as a violin, can keep the intensity of their sounds? Great job everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet.

2- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, if you didn’t last week, and spend some time practicing it.

3- Keep working on Old Grey Goose.

4- Try and hunt down different music recordings, and listen to the different instruments. How many different ones can hold their sound level!?

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!!!

Lesson 11:

Today we met with our 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! Nice to meet you! See you next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete this worksheet!

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!

Lesson 21:

Today Miss Mendelssohn helped refresh our memories on the musical alphabet, and showed us how to read letter name notes when we have our five finger ant tunnels formed.

After finishing the lesson and visiting Miss Melody in the practice room, we played a new game, called Falling leaves. In this game, you had to find the letter that was written one each leaf and play the corresponding note before the gardener could catch it!

Because we went to the games right away, we finished off the class with everyone going to the Library, to work on some two handed folk songs, and of course, we didn’t forget to go be creative in the Improvisation Room!

Fantastic work everyone! Remember to keep practicing every day.

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out this fantastic page that will let you color in a keyboard to practice your letter name finding!

2- Print out this page to work on different songs that you will now be able to play!

3- Spend some time doing letter name play backs. Just ask a parent to call out different letters from the musical alphabet and with your thumbs both on Middle C, play back the letters. (Which letters can you play with both hands???)

4- Make sure to never “bash” your hands down while improvising. Always have your five finger ant tunnels formed! Try and come up with some melodies…

Lesson 38:

In today’s class with Mrs. Beach, we learnt a few more songs on the Grand Staff that require us to use both of our hands at the same time. You all did a great job with this, and we spent even more time getting used to playing with both hands during our practice session with Miss Melody.

After such hard work, we took some time to relax in the games room, and then you all went to the improvisation room. Then the bell rang! Look at how time flies by when you are having fun! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep practicing Row, Row, Row from last week.

2- Spend some time improvising every day!

3- Try printing out a Grand Staff from here and write down some of the melodies you come up with while improvising. Feel free to bring them to class next week! See you there!

4- Print out and complete your weekly activity sheet!

In today’s class:

PS1: In today’s class, we finished our theory topics on the most basic concepts of the piano, different keys, postures, and things such as: the grand staff, treble clefs, etc.  As well, we started choosing our pieces that we will start to practice from now on for the rest of the lessons that are left this term for the mini recital at the end of the year. It will be a surprise for the parents!

PS5: Ainsley continued practicing one of his songs that he was performing. We went over using proper rhythm and counting each bar accurately. Ainsley still has some difficulty in reading the notes correctly. Most of the time he doesn’t look ahead and so he plays the wrong note. In class, we talked about locating all the ‘F’ keys so we know there’s a sharp that we have to play and when to stretch our hand (a note less than a octave) wide.

All the students will be working on their pieces as the end of the term is coming close! Everyone is also doing very well thus far. Keep it up!

Have a great week!

Hi Everybody!

We had a wonderful class yesterday, with everyone doing so well!

Whole Group

Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!” Well done!

Lesson 4 (Review) – Cale, Hayden, William N

• This week we visited Miss Melody who helped us to remember our new lesson about circle notes!
• You played even more songs following the circles on the screen. Remember, if the circle is high up on the screen, you play a high note! If it is low down on the screen, you play a low note! If you see a circle sitting on a line in the middle of the screen, you play Middle C!
• You also did much better this week at copying Miss Melody’s rhythms. It really does help to say the words out loud as you tap Middle C!  
• You went to the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some fun to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet and see if you can find your way out of the maze by going lower and lower this week!
• Keep making your own music at the piano. Try to use high notes, low notes and middle C’s in your music.

Lesson 7 (Review)– William B-P, Joshua, Dalice, Tim and Drea

• This week’s lesson was all about more holding note practice with Miss Melody.
• You played even more songs with Miss Melody, who made sure that you went back to the beginning every time you made a mistake, until you were really good at those holding notes! Great work everyone!
• You even had time to visit the Games Room where you are all enjoying playing the Train Game, and the Princess Story!
• To finish off, you spent some time in the Improvisation Room making up your own music.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this wordsearch all about Mr Bach!
• Take a blank piece of paper and draw the Middle C line across the page. Now try drawing your own circle notes to make up a tune of your own. Don’t forget to include some holding notes! You could bring it to class next week for us to play!

Lesson 9 (Review) – Parker, Carter, Christopher, Bella and Sydney 

• This week you joined Miss Melody in the Practice Room and she helped to remind you about circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You played through even more songs with Miss Melody and everyone was really confident at reading notes moving higher and higher, and notes moving lower and lower by the end of the lesson!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet to help you write the Musical Alphabet. Remember, in music, all the letters are written as capitals! Keep practising your Musical Alphabet. Try saying it really, really fast, backwards and forwards.
• Keep playing your keyboards and pianos at home. You can now make up songs with high notes, low notes, Middle C’s, holding notes, double notes and notes that go higher and higher, then lower and lower! Wow!

See you next week, for our last lesson before Christmas!

Bye for now!

Adele

Hello Everybody!

We had yet another fantastic lesson on Monday. Well done!

Whole Group

Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!” Well done!

Level 1A, Lessons 11 & 12 – Rachael and Andrew

• This week we learnt all about our new composer, Mr Scott Joplin. He was born about 100 years ago in the United Sates. His family was poor, so while his mother cleaned houses, he practiced on the rich people’s pianos!  Mr Joplin grew up and became famous for playing and composing Ragtime music. This was fun music that ordinary people liked to dance to!
• Mr Joplin showed you both how to make a five finger ant tunnel. This is where you place your thumbs on Middle C, and then each finger sits on a neighbouring white note, leaving room for an ant to crawl underneath! You both did this very well.
• From now on, all your piano playing will use this hand position, and your fingers will get stronger and stronger as you practice!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Have a go at this activity sheet all about finger numbers!
• Try asking a friend to call out a set of 3 numbers from 1-5. Can you play those notes using the correct fingers?
• Keep practising your Musical Alphabet. Try saying it really, really fast, backwards and forwards.

Level 2C, Lesson 54 – Nickelo

• You worked with Mr Handel and learnt all about eighth notes today.
• We worked together to remind ourselves about different note values. We looked at whole, half, dotted half, quarter and eighth notes. You worked on a worksheet with me in class too!
• You played through some new songs written on the Grand Staff which included eighth notes. You did well with the timing of these, and you also noticed most of the steps and skips as you were playing. Awesome!
• You played some more rhythms in time with the woodpecker!
• You had time to visit the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out and complete this activity sheet on eighth notes!
• Print out this tune ‘Old Grey Goose’ and continue to practise it at home this week. Can you please bring it with you to class next Monday?.

Level 3, - Jessica, Jansyn and Allison

• This week you began by completing your lesson at the computer. (Jessica – lesson 73, Allison – lesson 81 and Jansyn – lesson 82)
• Then Jessica worked with me on note values. You are really getting confident at recognising the different notes now. Next week we’ll work some more on identifying the rests too! Good job!
• Then Allison and Jansyn worked on their C Major composition. Next week we’ll work on it some more, putting in the left hand part too! Well done girls!
• You visited the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Jessica, here is a wordsearch all about your teacher, Ms Chaminade.
• Print out this worksheet. It’s all about the C Major scale and it may help Allison and Jansyn with their composition. 
• Print out this blank composition page. Continue to explore some melodies on your keyboards at home and jotting down some ideas this week.

See you next week!

Bye for now!

Adele

Hi Everyone!

I enjoyed seeing you all again this week, and we had a lovely lesson together.

Whole Group

Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!” Well done!

Level 1A, Lesson 9 - Ava and Jenna

• Today in Lesson 9, Mr Bach taught you how to read circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You played through lots of songs with Miss Melody to make sure that you were really happy with this idea, and could begin to tell the difference between very high and low circle notes, and circle notes which were nearer to Middle C.  
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Keep practising your Musical Alphabet. Try saying it really, really fast, backwards and forwards.
• Try listening to some music on the radio, and decide if the beats are in groups of 3, or groups of 4. Can you feel the first stronger beat?

Level 2A, Lesson  35 - Devin

Devin, you had a great lesson this week, although we missed Anik, and we look forward to seeing her again next week! 

• This week we spent some more time working on the Grand Staff.
• You practiced reading and playing the treble clef notes C D E and F, and the bass clef notes C B and A.
• We played whole notes and half notes on the spaces and lines, and then created some music of your own moving in a stepping motion.
• After practising with Miss Melody, you were reading the notes with much more confidence. Well done!
• You had time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room to relax!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this wordsearch all about Mr Mozart!
• Print out this blank staff and practice writing your treble clef, bass clef and the new notes that you know! For an extra challenge, see if you can write some notes in a stepping or skipping motion! Good luck!

Level 2C, Lesson 55 - Erin

• You worked with Mr Handel again this week and revised eighth notes today.
• You played even more songs written on the Grand Staff which included eighth notes. You are really getting the feel of these quicker notes, and I noticed how well you played them with the woodpecker too! Great job!
• You had time to visit the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off.

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you didn’t have chance to do this yet, then print out and complete this activity sheet on eighth notes!
• Continue to work on ‘Old Grey Goose’  at home this week. Can you please bring it with you to class next Monday?.

Bye for now!

Adele

On Monday’s class:

CMJ1A: Lori, Keely, Ava and Allyson completed Lessons 10-11 and continued practicing going higher and higher and lower and lower. After each lesson, the students visited the Practice Room to practice what we learned in the lesson. Then, we played games in the Games Room and made our own jams in the Improvisation Room!

CMJ1B: Satya finished CMJ1 today, he completed Lesson 25 and we will be starting to work on our recital piece for the parents starting next Monday. Great work, Satya!

CMJ2A: Lucas and Riley completed Lesson 44 today. Sam completed Lesson 42. The boys are continuing to play pieces that involve the fourth finger on the right hand, ‘F” key. After each lesson, they go to the practice room to practiced what they’ve learned in the lesson. Then they go to the Games Room or Improvisation Room.

As a group in today’s class, we played a few games together to reiterate what we have learned since the first class. We went over the musical alphabet, the right way and backwards. Then, we went over clapping rhythms. We also played a game where we had a keyboard drawn out and certain keys numbered for students to indicate if the keys were getting higher and higher or lower and lower. As well, we went how to find what key on the keyboard is which note.

Great work everyone today! See you next Monday!

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!

We all spent time listening to different pieces of music today to hear what kind of pictures they paint for our ears. We heard a piece about Wasps, one about a Garden in the Rain and one about Clouds. Great listening everyone!

Lesson 11:

Today we met with our 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! Nice to meet you! See you next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete this worksheet!

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!

Lesson 38:

In today’s class with Mrs. Beach, we learnt a few more songs on the Grand Staff that require us to use both of our hands at the same time. You all did a great job with this, and we spent even more time getting used to playing with both hands during our practice session with Miss Melody.

After such hard work, we took some time to relax in the games room, and then you all went to the improvisation room. Then the bell rang! Look at how time flies by when you are having fun! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep practicing Row, Row, Row from last week.

2- Spend some time improvising every day!

3- Try printing out a Grand Staff from here and write down some of the melodies you come up with while improvising. Feel free to bring them to class next week! See you there!

4- Print out and complete your weekly activity sheet!

Lesson 38:

In today’s class with Mrs. Beach, we learnt a few more songs on the Grand Staff that require us to use both of our hands at the same time. You all did a great job with this, and we spent even more time getting used to playing with both hands during our practice session with Miss Melody.

After such hard work, we took some time to relax in the games room, and then you all went to the improvisation room. Then the bell rang! Look at how time flies by when you are having fun! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep practicing Row, Row, Row from last week.

2- Spend some time improvising every day!

3- Try printing out a Grand Staff from here and write down some of the melodies you come up with while improvising. Feel free to bring them to class next week! See you there!

4- Print out and complete your weekly activity sheet!

5- Bring a friend to class next week!

Lesson 48:

In today’s lesson, Mr. Satie spent some time helping us play some new songs that were written out on the Grand Staff. While playing through these songs, we took the time to make sure we were using all of our fingers, instead of playing with just our two pointer fingers.

After spending some time with Miss Melody in the practice room, we all went to the Games Room to relax, and we also spent some time working on Ode To Joy in the improvisation room. Great work everyone!

1- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, if you didn’t last week, and spend some time practicing it.

2- Keep working on Old Grey Goose.

3- Improvise every single day! If you want a copy of Ode to Joy please just email me and ask!

4- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet!

5- Bring a friend to class next week!

Piano Suite Level 1:

You started off the class by spending some time doing rhythm training in Ear Training Coach. You had to listen to a rhythm (twice) and then play it back using Middle C on your piano. It was tricky at first, but after only a few tries, you started getting the hang of it. Great work!

Heading into Piano Player, you spent some time playing Merry Farmer and then I sat with you for about 15 minutes or so going over each hand separately, paying attention to the fingering and the rhythm and all the other important little details that one sometimes misses when practising on their own.

To finish off the class, you worked on a piece of your choice, which was Shoo Fly, Don’t Bother Me! Great work today! See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Complete this triad sheet.

2- Practice any pieces you have at home.

3- Work on this technique sheet.

4- Bring a friend to class next week!

The Monday morning Blanchard class is making great progress, something I don’t always get to tell the students because once the bell rings at 8:40 they immediately focus on getting to class.  We had some thrilling breakthroughs this week, and Bongo Boy should get ready to bandage his toes!

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.  The kindergarteners also continued saying and clapping word rhythms, as well as trying out a 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).  We also 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 some of the older children have been listening to with Miss Melody (ask them what they might have heard in the summer movement!).

Arianna, Adam, Andrew have all completed lessons 1-5 with Mr. Beethoven.  Congratulations!  You all played some new songs this week using circle notes instead of birds and whales, and you practiced word rhythms and counting with Mr. Beethoven and Miss Melody.  For homework this week please:

1. Write your own piece of music using circle notes!  Make the piece 5, 6, or 7 notes long and include at least one middle C (the thick line in the middle!).  Practice it so you can play it for us in class next Monday!  You can download and print a blank, simple staff here.
2. Spend some time in the games room, especially with Bongo Boy.
3. Get your older siblings to make up some rhythm challenges for you, and you make some up for them!
4. Go to the library, click on the computer, play new songs associated with lessons 1-5.

Sydney has now had her first lesson with Mr. Bach (lesson 6) has learned to hold out notes for different lengths of time (counts).  She also worked on rhythmic patterns based on number counts.  For homework this week please:

1. Write your own piece of music using circle notes, and include at least one middle C.  Don’t make the piece too long, and plan to play it for us in class next week!  You can download and print a blank, simple staff here.
2. Spend some time in the games room.  Spend some time in the improvisation room and change your instrument to a violin (click on the picture of the violin) and use some holding notes when you play.
3. Challenge someone in your family to beat a rhythmic pattern back to you, and then have them challenge you.

Philip worked very hard this week and finished lessons 7 and 8.  Alex, Jacqui, and Alexa have finished lesson 9, and all four played pieces using “double notes,” two hands each playing one note at the same time.  In addition, they 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.  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.

And everyone, remember to have fun!  Happy Thanksgiving, and see you next week!

Lesson 8:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

Today, Mr. Bach helped us learn about Double Notes! This means, we are now playing up to 2 notes at the SAME TIME! You are all doing a fantastic job, and after some practice with Miss Melody, you were ready to go and see what different double notes sound like in the improvisation room with the different sound effects!

We also talked about how we can tell if notes are going higher, or lower. This distance between the two notes is called an interval, and you got to listen to a few different ones today! You had a little trouble with this today, but I am sure as the weeks go on, you will get much better!

To finish off the class, we went to the Games Room for some relaxing fun! Great job!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print, and complete a fun Word Search which is all about Mr. Bach!

2- Practice playing single notes, and then double notes. What kind of combinations can you come up with when you are playing double notes? What do triple notes sound like?

3- Sit down with a rhythm buddy or parent every day and clap different rhythms with each other. Make sure you always clap back the exact same thing!

4- Remember to improvise every day, using different high bird notes, low whale notes and don’t forget about Middle C!

Lesson 14:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

Today’s class was all about letters. What kind of letters? Why the musical alphabet of course! Mr. Joplin did a great job at teaching us all about it and how we use it to play music!

The musical alphabet has 7 letters. It goes from A to G and then repeats, over and over. You all discovered this and used this information in a new game. Fantastic work everyone!

Following our Games Room time, we gathered around in a circle and took some time to review our finger numbers, and then we had different rhythm drills, where I clapped out a rhythm and you each had to take turns trying to repeat it. Good job everyone!

To finish things off, we went to the Improvisation Room and had some fun! See you next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out this pages and circle all the groups of 3!

2- When you improvise, make sure you play with your hands forming a five finger ant tunnel. Try and play single notes instead of always playing large groups of notes!

3- Try and find every letter of the musical alphabet on the keyboard! You all know where Middle C is, so you can go up or down from there! Can you say the musical alphabet backwards?

4- Print out a few song from this page, place your thumbs on Middle C, and just follow the finger numbers!

5- Remember to keep having fun!!!

Lesson 36:

We met a new teacher today! Her name is Mrs Amy Beach. She was the first American woman to become a famous composer and lived about 150 years ago.

Mrs. Beach spent the lesson with us today learning about different rhythms and tapping them correctly. In order to do this, she had a little helper, that was a wood pecker. He kept a constant beat, while she got you to play different types of notes. We also took a few moments to identify all the parts of the Grand Staff. Great work everyone!

To finish things off, we went to the Games Room, and also spent some time in the Improvisation Room! Great work today everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out Old Grey Goose! You should be able to play this song now.

2- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet!

3- Try some tapping rhythms at home. Write out different combinations of notes and have someone pretend to be the woodpecker while you tap them out!

4- Keep improvising, and don’t forget to keep having fun!

Hi Everyone! 

Well done for another great lesson today. Everyone worked hard and you all made good progress!

Whole Group

We began in Concert Master, and practiced our scales as a group. Remember not to play finger 5 (your pinkie finger) twice when going up and down your scale.

• After our technique work, we logged into Piano Player and spent some time working on our pieces. 
• I worked with the Level 1 group today (Alec, Ali, Carson and Aaliyah) and we almost completed the written Assessment Test for this term. Excellent work by all of you! Next week we’ll remind ourselves about intervals, so that we can finish it off!
• Mehran, Arman, Payman and Craig continued working on their new piece, ‘Largo’ from Dvorak’s ‘New World Symphony.’ You made great progress with this today, and for most of you it is just the last line that you are finding tricky. Remember to spend about 10 minutes a day working on it at home, and follow the finger suggestions on the sheet. They’re there to help you!
• Farshad and Jake, well done for focussing and really working hard on your pieces today. You got some excellent percentages in Piano Player for ‘Lightly Row’ and ‘Daydream Believer.’
• Most of you chose your own choice pieces to work on too. I look forward to hearing these over the next few classes.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Everyone, continue to practice the Level 1 and 2 scales every day.
• Craig, have a look at the Level 3 technique sheet. Have a go, and next week we’ll look at them together in class.
• Level 4+ group – if you haven’t already done this, then print out and complete this worksheet on the C Pentatonic scale which we looked at in class together.
• Continue to practice your piano pieces at home on your keyboards.

A reminder that there will be no class next Friday, 27th November because of the school Assessment and Evaluation Day.

Bye for now! Adele

Hi Everyone!

It was great to see you back this week, Brendan. We missed Isaac though, and we hope he feels better soon!

Whole Group

Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!” Well done!

Level 1A, Lesson 7, 8 (and a bit of lesson 9!) – Brooke

• You did so well today, Brooke! Great job!
• You began by reviewing holding notes with Mr Bach. You really understand this idea well now.
• Then, in lesson 8 you learnt all about ‘double notes’.
• This is where you have to play a high note with your right hand, and a low note with your left hand at exactly the same time – 2 notes together! Well done!
• Then, in Lesson 9, you began to learn about notes getting higher and higher, and lower and lower. Now when you read the circle notes, you have to decide how far up above the middle C line they are, or how low down below the line they are before you play. Next week we’ll practise with Miss Melody to make sure that you’re really happy with this idea. 
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet  all about double notes!
• Print out this 5 line staff, and have a go at composing your own songs using circle notes!

Level 1B, Lessons 16 - Brendan

• This week in Lesson 16 you met a new teacher called Miss Fanny Mendelssohn. 
• Miss Fanny Mendelssohn helped you to play even more songs using both hands and you are now beginning to use circle notes on lines and spaces which move in a stepping motion!
• We spent some time working on your hand position. Remember to always use your 5 finger ant tunnels now when you play. (Try not to go back to playing with just one finger!)
• You practised the Musical Alphabet a little more this week, forwards, and backwards again!
• To finish off you had some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Try having a go at this wordsearch all about Miss Fanny Mendelssohn.
• Print out this worksheet and see if you can spot all the line notes!
• Keep making up your own music, and having fun on your piano or keyboard at home!

Level 1B, Lesson 19 – Keegan

• At the computers you met up with Miss Fanny Mendelssohn again. This week was a very important lesson because you began to use grown up notes on lines and spaces! Wow! Now you’re using the same musical notation as other musicians!  
• Miss Mendelssohn helped you to play even more songs using both hands.
• In the Practice Room, you worked hard with Miss Melody and ran through many more songs to make sure you were happy with grown up notes. Great job!
• To finish off the lesson, you played some Games and visited the Improvisation Room for some relaxing fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Try having a go at this wordsearch all about Miss Fanny Mendelssohn.
• Print out this activity sheet and see if you can use your musical alphabet to name all the white notes on the keyboard.

Well done everyone! Remember, there is no school next Friday, so I’ll see you in 2 week’s time!

Adele

Level 1:

You started off the class by working on Pop Goes The Weasel, and Row, Row Row. After a bit of time, I listened to you play each one for your music badge! Great work! You have passed this step. Just don’t forget to always keep counting!

You then filled out a sheet on rhythm. You had to draw in bar lines to complete each measure of music. Once again great job!

To finish off the class,you spent some time practising Clementine and then you went to play games for a few minutes. Great work. See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Practice the rhythm sheet you have at home and BRING IT TO CLASS next week.

2- Work on any printed music you have at home, making sure to count properly.

3- Review the terms in your scout badge book for next week.

Level 2:

You spent a good portion of today’s class working on your pentatonic composition. Good work! We will be adding in the left hand next week! Don’t forget that when playing in C pentatonic, you can not use Fs or Bs.

After this, you went into the piano player and worked on 10 Little Indians and a piece of your choice in the piano player. Great work. Just remember to keep paying attention to the fingering and counting.

To finish off the class, you went to play a few games. Good work, see you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Keep practising any songs you have printed at home.

2- Try composing a few other melodies at home. They do not have to be pentatonic. You can print out and use this sheet to write them on.

Level 3:

You started today’s class by working on Satie’s Princess. Good job with this song. Just don’t forget to pay close attention to the details in the music such as fingering and the rhythm. Take it slowly, and take it hands separately if you want, and you will see that it starts to get easier much quicker.

Following our warm up, you spent some time filling out a review page on eighth notes and rhythm. Good work! Just don’t forget how we count and play eighth notes…

To finish the class, you worked on a piece of your choice, and spent a few minutes playing games. Good work. See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Work on Satie’s Princess.

2- Pick out a few other pieces to practice at home.

3- Review note values in Theory Thinker.

Lesson 8:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

Today, Mr. Bach helped us learn about Double Notes! This means, we are now playing up to 2 notes at the SAME TIME! You are all doing a fantastic job, and after some practice with Miss Melody, you were ready to go and see what different double notes sound like in the improvisation room with the different sound effects!

We also talked about how we can tell if notes are going higher, or lower. This distance between the two notes is called an interval, and you got to listen to a few different ones today! You had a little trouble with this today, but I am sure as the weeks go on, you will get much better!

To finish off the class, we went to the Games Room for some relaxing fun! Great job!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print, and complete a fun Word Search which is all about Mr. Bach!

2- Practice playing single notes, and then double notes. What kind of combinations can you come up with when you are playing double notes? What do triple notes sound like?

3- Sit down with a rhythm buddy or parent every day and clap different rhythms with each other. Make sure you always clap back the exact same thing!

4- Remember to improvise every day, using different high bird notes, low whale notes and don’t forget about Middle C!

Lesson 47:

Today’s class was filled with different songs! Mr. Satie helped you both play through several new songs that were written out on the Grand Staff. Mr. Satie helped you with wrong notes, and made sure that you always held the notes for the correct length. Great work everyone!

After this song filled lesson, you all went to see Miss Melody in the Practice Room, before relaxing a bit in the Games Room.

To finish off the class, you went to the Improvisation Room to experiment with holding notes and different types of instruments. Isn’t it neat how the piano’s sound fades as you hold a note, but some instruments such as a violin, can keep the intensity of their sounds? Great job everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet.

2- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, if you didn’t last week, and spend some time practicing it.

3- Keep working on Old Grey Goose.

4- Try and hunt down different music recordings, and listen to the different instruments. How many different ones can hold their sound level!?

Level 2:

You started off the class by working on your parts for Ode To Joy, which we will play together as of next week!

You then took time to learn about sharps and flats. A sharp means you have to play the black note to the immediate right of the note that has the sharp. This means that an F sharp means to play the lowest of the group of 3 black notes. A flat, means to the immediate left. So with this, a B flat, would be the top  of the three black notes!

Great work everyone! To finish off the class, you had a little free time! See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Print out and complete this Flats worksheet.

2- Print out and complete this Sharps worksheet.

3- Practice every day!

Level 4:

You started off the class working on your part for Ode To Joy. Fantastic work on this one!

At the white board, we discussed triads, and how to figure out what triad it is when they are in an inversion. For 1st inversion, you want to use the name of the note all alone at the top. 2nd inversion, you want to use the middle note. Great job!

You then took time to work on The Merry Farmer, paying close attention to the triads in the left hand!

To finish off the class, you had some free time! Fantastic work! See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Work on this counting and clapping sheet.

2- Work on this technique sheet!

3- Improvise and have fun every day!

Today we started off by listening to some music by the man that is going to be our teacher next week. You don’t know his name yet, but we do know that the music we listened to was played at parties, for people to dance to!

Miss Melody helped us do a little more review today, playing high bird notes, low whale notes and Middle Cs. Great job everyone!

You also got some extra time to play games and improvise. Fantastic work. See you all next week, when we get to meet our new teacher!

Things To Do At Home This Week:

1- Print out this maze activity sheet!

2- Play plenty of high notes, low notes and middle Cs at home this week!

3- Try and come up with a few word rhythms!

Hi Everyone

We had a GREAT class this week! We welcomed Duncan to class and Madi did a fantastic job of helping him catch up.  I was so proud of them and how fast he picked up what we’ve learned so far!  Jaelle and Sierra continued to work on Piano Suite where they learned the lines and spaces on the grand staff as well as how to use skips and steps.  This week they were assigned the song “Row Row Row Your Boat” to practice for our next lesson.  At the end of class we reviewed some of the things we’ve learned about our first composer, Mr Beethoven.  Our next teacher will be Mr Bach!

There will be no class next week due to Thanksgiving.

I wish everyone the happiest Thanksgiving!

Level 1:

We started off the class today by reviewing what we have learnt so far. We reviewed note reading, and note values.

Following our review, we learnt about time signatures, and how 4/4 time tells us that there is the value of 4 quarter notes per bar. Afterwards, we looked at some music that only had 3 quarter notes per bar. This is 3/4 time. It has more of a dance feel to it. Many waltzes are written in 3/4 time.

After this, we took some time to play two different pieces, Pop Goes The Weasel and Row, Row, Row. Great job! Just remember to always count properly so that the piece sounds like it should!

To finish off the class, you had some free time to Improvise and be creative! Great work. See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Practice Pop Goes The Weasel.

2- Practice Row, Row, Row.

3- Name the notes on this sheet!

Levels 3 & 4:

You began the class by working on The Blue Danube, which is a piece by Strauss Jr. You took time to look at the left hand, which had a lot of triads in it, then you learnt the right hand, and finally tried both hands together.

At the white board, we discussed triads, and how to figure out what triad it is when they are in an inversion. For 1st inversion, you want to use the name of the note all alone at the top. 2nd inversion, you want to use the middle note. Great job!

We also discussed primary triads. These are triads I, IV and V out of the scale. These three triads have special properties, and are found most frequently in most pieces of music!

Heading back to the pianos, you all spent some time working on O’Christmas tree, and then you all took some time to relax and play Senior Semi Tone. Good work everyone! See you all next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Fill out this Triad Sheet.

2- Go over these terms.

3- Play piano and improvise every day!

Hi Everyone! We were in the library for a change today and we had a great lesson, although we missed Malcolm and hope he feels better soon!

Level 1

• We began by once again quickly reviewing some of the things we have covered in MusIQ Club so far. You seem to be happy with most of the theory on the Level 1 syllabus now, so great job boys!
• We discussed intervals once again. This was a new concept last week, and today I also explained the difference between harmonic intervals and melodic intervals. We looked at a few examples, and then you each had a go at drawing a couple on the Grand staff.
• Remember that to find an interval between 2 notes, count the bottom and top notes, and then every line and space inbetween. Intervals can be harmonic or melodic 2nds, 3rd, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths or octaves (8 notes)
• In Piano Player, we spent some time working on C Major scale and C Contrary motion. Both of you are fairly confident with this now. Then we worked on your group piece ‘Row Your Boat,’ a new piece called ‘Get Up’, and your individual choice piece for Level 1. Lots of practical work today, and you did very well.
• You finished off by playing some games in Children’s Music Journey program for fun!

Home Assignments for the Week;

• Continue to practise  ‘Row Your Boat.’,  and your new piece ‘Get Up!”
• Keep up the good work on your C Major Scale and C Contrary motion. 
• Have a go at this sheet and see if you can identify all the intervals by saying how many notes apart they are.

Level 3

• Today, we began by spending some time working on your technique for Level 3. You showed me how well you could play the slur exercise, then we looked at your scales.
• Remember to practice the natural minor scales each day. They have the same finger pattern as C Major, but just check the key signature to find out what sharps and flats they may have!
• Your chromatic scale is fantastic, just remember to stop after one octave, C to high C!
• In Piano Player, we worked on ‘Largo – New World Symphony’ by Dvorak. You began by working on hands separately, then you were able to put them together. You found that, even though the right hand moves position a few times, you found it OK to play until the last line. These last few measures have both hands moving about a fair bit. I suggest you practice this last line with hands separate until you are really confident with the movement, and then put them together. Some days, just practice these few measures only! The rest of the piece will be fine, so practice the tricky bits most!
• You finished off by playing some games in Children’s Music Journey program for fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Begin practising ‘Largo’ with hands apart only! (I gave you another copy this week)
• Continue to practice your Level 3 scales each day!
• Begin to research your History Assignment on Strauss to be handed in in a couple of weeks.

See you next week!

Adele

Hi Everyone!

We were in the library for a change yesterday, and we had a lovely lesson! Well done everyone!

Whole Group

Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!” Well done!

Level 1A, Lesson 10 – Liam & Racheal 

• This week, Mr Beethoven taught you all about circle notes moving towards Middle C.
• You also reviewed circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You played even more songs with Miss Melody and you had to make sure to leave enough room on the keyboard to fit all the notes in before you got back to Middle C! Great job!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet all about finger numbers! You’ll need these next week.
• Keep making up your own music at home for fun!

Level 1A, Lesson 11  – Dylan

• Today you met a new teacher at the computer, Mr Scott Joplin. We spoke a little about his life and times, and we’ll speak even more about this next week!
• Mr Joplin showed you how to make a five finger ant tunnel with your right hand. First you place your thumb on middle C, and then your four fingers rest above the neighbouring white notes. In this way you have notes C D E F and G covered ready to play! 
• You learnt that your thumb is called finger number 1, then your pointer finger is number 2, your middle finger is number 3, your ring finger is number 4, and your little pinkie finger is number 5! It’s the same in both hands too!
• You played through some tunes which helped you to practice using your ant tunnel. You did very well with this! Remember to keep your knuckles high, with your fingers pushing the keys down on their tips, and your wrist held straight, not held up at an angle. It’s tricky at first, but after some practice this position will seem more natural!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Keep practising moving all five fingers in your ant tunnel position. You don’t even need to be at a piano! You could practice on a table, or even on your lap.
• Print off these finger number tunes and try them in your right hand.

Level 2A, Lesson 38 – Olivia and Samantha

             Lessons 38 and 39 Ethan and Callie

• Today, you all worked very well. These lessons contain a lot of playing now, and you have to concentrate hard.
• In both lessons you continued to practice playing songs on the Grand Staff written for both hands. You are noticing whether the notes are in the Bass staff or Treble staff and are swapping your hands over in time. Great job!
• You also practiced even more rhythm tapping with the woodpecker, and you are learning the note values and playing in time with the beat better and better each week!
• You all chose the cooking game in the Games Room and made some interesting flavours of soup! You also went to the Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this blank staff and have a go at drawing a treble and bass clef. Then draw me some of the line and space notes that you now know in the right and left hand. You can chose the note values!

Bye for now! See you next week!

Adele

Hi Everyone!

This group is great! You all listen well and are making good progress even in just two weeks! Great work everyone! We missed Emme and Ryan and hope they feel better soon!

Level 1, Lessons 3 and 4

• Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!” Well done!
• Then in Lesson 3, Mr Beethoven taught you how to make rhythms by combining short and long sounds.
• He said some funny word phrases, and you had to tap the rhythm back to him using our special note, Middle C!
• You played lots of songs following the circles on the screen. If the circle was high up on the screen, you played a high note! If it was low down on the screen, you played a low note! If you saw a circle sitting on a line in the middle of the screen, you played Middle C! Great job!
• You went to the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some fun to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet and see if you can find your way out of the maze by going higher and higher!
• Keep making your own music at the piano. Try to use high notes, low notes and middle C’s in your music.
• If you have the CMJ Vol 1 software at home, then have another go at lessons 3 and 4. Then in the Games Room, have a go at beating ‘Bongo Boy.’ Remember to listen carefully to his rhythms, and tap them back on Middle C. Good luck!

Bye for now,

Adele

Hi Everyone!

It was a lovely, sunny day outside today, and a sunny, smiley class inside!

All Groups

Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!” Well done!

Lesson 7 – Ethan, Bailey, Carter, Brenna, Brianna, Kalea, Austin and Bryce

• This week’s lesson was all about more holding note practice with Mr Bach.
• You played through lots of songs with Mr Bach and Miss Melody which helped you to get really good at reading  circle notes and playing the holding notes for the right length of time!
• You went to the Games Room where you played the Train Game, and the Princess Story!
• You spent some time in the Improvisation Room making up your own music.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Practice saying the musical alphabet everyday. How fast can you say it backwards? G F E D C B A!
• Print out this 5 line staff, and have a go at composing your own songs using high and low circle notes, middle C’s and holding notes!

Lesson 6 – Riley (Get better soon Xander! We’ll see you next time!)

• Today, in Lesson 6 you met a new teacher, called Mr Bach. He was a great composer who lived in Germany even before Mr Beethoven was alive! Do you know, he had 20 children! We’ll learn more about him next week!
• You worked with Mr Bach to learn all about holding notes today. Remember to hold the note down and count the numbers on the screen!
• You followed the circle notes to play lots of songs which had high notes, low notes, Middle C’s and holding notes! Wow!
• You tried to copy some of Mr. Bach’s rhythms following the beats, but it was quite tricky! We’ll work on those some more next time!
• You went to the Games Room where you played two new games today, the Train Game, and the Princess Story!
• You spent some time in the Improvisation Room making up your own music.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this wordsearch all about Mr Bach!
• On your keyboard at home, try making up some of your own songs which include holding notes!
• Print out this 5 line staff, and have a go at composing your own songs using circle notes and holding notes!

Lesson 4 (Review) – Jaxon, Aiden, Regan, Jacob, Cody, Katie and Mya

• We began by spending some time on the carpet remembering how to play circle notes.
• Remember, if the circle is high up on the screen, play a high note! If it is low down on the screen, play a low note! If you see a circle sitting on a line in the middle of the screen, play Middle C!
• Miss Melody helped you to play through some circle notes songs, and you all did much better than last week, so well done everyone!
• Finally, you had time in the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some fun to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet and see if you can find your way out of the maze by going higher and higher!
• Here’s another maze, this time going lower and lower!
• Keep making your own music at the piano. Try to use high notes, low notes and middle C’s in your music.

Bye for now!

Adele

Hi there everyone! It was so nice to see you all again!

Well, we began this week’s lesson by having a group rhythm circle to warm us up! I introduced you to a new musical instrument, my frog ‘Guiro.’ Using the beater, you found many ways to make a sound. Sometimes we tapped out a rhythm, and sometimes we scraped a rhythm. Sometimes, Guiro just said, “Ribbit!”

Level 1A, Lessons 9 and 10 – Amelia, Callum, Hayley, Scott and Weston

• In Lessons 9 and 10 Mr Bach reminded you first how to read double notes (notes played in the right and left hand at the same time)  then taught you all about circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower, and then circle notes moving back towards middle C.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You all played through several songs with Mr Bach and also Miss Melody to make sure that you could tell the difference between very high and low circle notes, and circle notes which were nearer to Middle C.  
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet all about finger numbers! You will need to know this for next week!
• Keep practising your Musical Alphabet. Try saying it really, really fast, backwards and forwards. Remember when we played ‘Hot Potato’ some of us weren’t sure saying it backwards!

Level 1B, Lesson 19 – Samia and Luc

• Well done Luc for forging ahead with your software at home! It was really nice for Samia to have some company today!
• At the computers you met up with Miss Fanny Mendelssohn again. This week was a very important lesson because you began to use grown up notes on lines and spaces! Wow! Now you’re using the same musical notation as other musicians!  
• Miss Mendelssohn helped you to play even more songs using both hands.
• In the Practice Room, you worked hard with Miss Melody and ran through many more songs to make sure you were happy with grown up notes. Great job!
• To finish off the lesson, you played some Games and visited the Improvisation Room for some relaxing fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Try having a go at this wordsearch all about Miss Fanny Mendelssohn.
• Print out this activity sheet and see if you can use your musical alphabet to name all the white notes on the keyboard.
• If you have Children’s Music Journey at home, review lesson 19, and then visit the Library to listen to some songs by Fanny Mendelssohn.

Level 2B, Lesson 45 – Aidan, Jake and Madison

• This week, you began by practising some of your best songs with Miss Melody.
• Then you gave a recital to Mr Tchaikovsky and he heard how well you can now play songs written on the Grand Staff.
• You are getting very good at recognising the notes C D E and F in the Treble Clef, and C B and A in the Bass Clef!
• You played through some more rhythms which used whole, half, quarter and dotted half notes and the woodpecker helped you to keep a steady beat. Great job!
• Even after all that hard work, you still had time to visit the Games Room and Improvisation Room!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Keep practising  ‘Old Grey Goose’ at home. The finger numbers are written above the notes to help you. Just start with your thumb on Middle C. Good luck!
• On a blank piece of paper, draw out all the notes you now know, write their name, and how many beats you have to hold them down for. (For eg; a Whole note is held down for 4 beats.)

Bye for now!

Adele

Hi Everybody!

Well, it was a cosy lesson with just two people today! But Nhi and Ella worked very hard and had lots of fun! We missed Dang, and we hope he feels better soon!

Level 1A, Lesson 8 and 9 – Ella

• This week, in lesson 8 you learnt all about double notes!
• This is where you have to play a high note with your right hand, and a low note with your left hand at exactly the same time – 2 notes together! Well done!
• Then, in Lesson 9, you learnt about notes getting higher and higher, and lower and lower. Now when you read the circle notes, you have to decide how far up above the middle C line they are, or how low down below the line they are before you play. After practicing with Miss Melody too, you were much better at this new skill.
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this activity sheet  all about double notes!
• Have a look at this sheet which is all about finger numbers! You’ll be learning about them very soon!

Level 2B, Lesson 45 – Nhi

• This week, you began by practising some of your best songs with Miss Melody.
• Then you gave a recital to Mr Tchaikovsky and he heard how well you can now play songs written on the Grand Staff.
• You are getting very good at recognising the notes C D E and F in the Treble Clef, and C B and A in the Bass Clef!
• You played through some more rhythms which used whole, half, quarter and dotted half notes and the woodpecker helped you to keep a steady beat. Great job!
• Even after all that hard work, you still had time to visit the Games Room where you used your new skills in note reading to ‘jigsaw’ together some phrases of music! Brilliant work, Nhi!

Have a wonderful time in Vietnam! Hopefully we’ll see you again in the New Year!

Bye for now!

Adele

Sorry for the late update! Here’s what we did on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009:

In today’s class:

Ashia, Ahmed, and Griffin all started on Piano Suite. Today, we just completed the theory topic (1.1) and had to end class a little short due to an incident that came up ten minutes before the class was over. In the theory topic, we reviewed how to place our hands correctly in Middle C position, and where each key is on the keyboard. Students were asked to find where all the A- G keys were on the keyboard. As well, the lesson talked about how to sit properly when playing the piano. Please make sure you are sitting with your back straight and if you can, your feet should be on the ground.

Ainsley had continue working on the pieces we were working on together in class. We are also practicing on pieces that Ainsley will be performing at the recital at the end of MusIQ this semester. Remember Ainsley, when you’re playing a new piece or anything piece, be sure to briefly look over everything before you start playing. This will help in knowing a bit more what to expect than not reading. Make sure to look for any sharps and flats. As well, always look ahead, this will help so you won’t be caught trying to find where/how to play the next note. Ainsley started playing with the finger number tips in the pieces, this is very helpful because it avoids less mistakes to be made, so bravo!

Good Work everyone! Sorry for cutting the class 10 minutes short. We will be continuing our lesson next week. Have a great week!

Lesson 7:

Mr, Bach spent today’s lesson, helping us learn more about holding notes, and made sure we feel comfortable playing all the different notes on the keyboard, while holding them for different amounts of time.

After this lesson, we went to the Practice Room, where we all worked with Miss Melody to refine our holding note skills even more. Great job everyone!

Heading over to the library to work on a few extra holding note songs, we finished off the class by relaxing in the Games Room. You all did fantastic work today! See you all next time!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet!

2- Practice playing different notes for different amounts of time, just like Mr. Bach taught us today! Don’t forget to count out loud while playing!

3- Spend time improvising.

4- Find all the groups of two and three black notes on the keyboard, and then find all the Cs (down from the group of two) and Fs. (down from the group of three)

Lesson 35:

Last week, we learnt about the notes C, D and E on the Treble Clef. This week, we learnt about the notes C, B and A on the Bass Clef! Yes, that’s right! the C we have learnt on the Treble Clef and on the Bass Clef is the same note, which we have been calling Middle C! Good work everyone!

Because we never have much time in this class, as soon as we finished our lesson, we went to see Miss Melody in the Practice Room and then headed over to the Games Room to relax and have some fun! Great work everyone! See you all next time!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep improvising every day!

2- Print out this page and see how you do! There is one note that you don’t know yet, which is the note in the space above the E in on the Treble Clef. This notes is the next white key up from E… It’s an F!

3- Write out different rhythms using quarter notes, half notes and whole notes, and then clap them out! You can even try playing them on your keyboard!

Lesson 44:

Today’s lesson with Mr. Tchaikovsky was titled Recital Practice. Even though we are not having a recital next week, I thought it would be a good idea to go over all the things we have learnt up to date.

You spent your time going over different pieces that you have learnt over the past few weeks, as well as some revision with rhythm and the woodpecker metronome.

After spending some time practicing our musical alphabet going forwards and backwards, we went to see Miss Melody and finished off the class by playing some games and spending a bit of time in the Improvisation Room! Great work today everyone! See you all next class!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet!

2- Print out a copy of Old Grey Goose to work on at home!

3- Practice writing different notes on the Grand Staff and then play them on the piano!

4- Keep practicing and don’t forget to improvise every day!

Lesson 69:

The past few weeks, we have been learning about sharps. Sharps are the black notes, to the right of the note that has the sharp. This means, that an F Sharp would be the bottom black note in the group of three.

In today’s class, we learnt about flats. Flats are also the black keys, but they are on the left of the notes! So that means, that a B flat would be the top note of the group of three. Great work everyone!

Miss Melody helped us play a few more songs with Flats before we headed off to the Game Room, and the Improvisation Room to try and play a few songs with flats! See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Print out and complete this activity sheet on flats!

2- Improvise every day!

3- Work on other songs you have printed at home!

Lesson 8:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

Today, Mr. Bach helped us learn about Double Notes! This means, we are now playing up to 2 notes at the SAME TIME! You are all doing a fantastic job, and after some practice with Miss Melody, you were ready to go and see what different double notes sound like in the improvisation room with the different sound effects!

We also talked about how we can tell if notes are going higher, or lower. This distance between the two notes is called an interval, and you got to listen to a few different ones today! You had a little trouble with this today, but I am sure as the weeks go on, you will get much better!

To finish off the class, we went to the Games Room for some relaxing fun! Great job!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print, and complete a fun Word Search which is all about Mr. Bach!

2- Practice playing single notes, and then double notes. What kind of combinations can you come up with when you are playing double notes? What do triple notes sound like?

3- Sit down with a rhythm buddy or parent every day and clap different rhythms with each other. Make sure you always clap back the exact same thing!

4- Remember to improvise every day, using different high bird notes, low whale notes and don’t forget about Middle C!

Lesson 36:

We met a new teacher today! Her name is Mrs Amy Beach. She was the first American woman to become a famous composer and lived about 150 years ago.

Mrs. Beach spent the lesson with us today learning about different rhythms and tapping them correctly. In order to do this, she had a little helper, that was a wood pecker. He kept a constant beat, while she got you to play different types of notes. We also took a few moments to identify all the parts of the Grand Staff. Great work everyone!

To finish things off, we went to the Games Room, and also spent some time in the Improvisation Room! Great work today everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out Old Grey Goose! You should be able to play this song now.

2- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet!

3- Try some tapping rhythms at home. Write out different combinations of notes and have someone pretend to be the woodpecker while you tap them out!

4- Keep improvising, and don’t forget to keep having fun!

Lesson 46:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

We decided to jump over lesson 45, and go straight away to meet our new teacher, who is named Mr. Satie. Mr. Satie was born in 1866 and was a French composer who lived most of his life in Paris.

Mr. Satie spent today’s lesson teaching us how to find a new note on the bass clef. This new note, is below the A that we already know, and is called G. We play this new note with our fourth (4th) finger. Great work finding it everyone!

After some practicing with Miss Melody, we went to the Games Room to play the different games, some of which now make use of our new bass note! To finish off the class, we went to the Improvisation Room to try and come up with some melodies that use our new note, Bass Clef G. Fantastic work everyone, see you all in two weeks!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out this fun little worksheet, to color in and play!

2- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, which uses our new bass clef note, G.

3- Keep working on Old Grey Goose from last week!

4- Don’t forget to improvise every day, and use our new Bass note!

Lesson 56:

Today we spent the class practicing the rests we learnt last week with Mr. Chopin. Miss Melody did a great job at helping us go over everything in great detail to ensure that we have the knowledge fixed in our brains.

You also spent a good portion of the class in the Improvisation Room working on different pieces, making sure to have rest in the pieces that you were playing. Good job everyone!

To finish off the class, we went to the Games Room and spent a little bit of time relaxing. See you all next Wednesday!

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!!!

Level 2A

Today in Class

Today Drew was the only 2A student! We did Lesson 33, where your new teacher, Mr. Mozart, taught you about the Treble Clef and the notes C, D, and E! You also reviewed whole, dotted half, half, and quarter notes. We will be doing lots of practice to get better at reading notes on the staff, don’t you worry! We played a few fun games in the games room too, to practice note reading, note values, and white note names. Jolly Old Saint Nicholas is sounding great Drew! Back on the floor at the end of class we were reviewing the Grand Staff, and playing a game to learn more about how notes move on the lines and spaces of the Grand Staff, and how every line and space shares the letter name of one of the white keys on your piano. We played the Grand Staff Race Game, too.

This Week @ Home

• If you have CMJ volume 2 at home, you should review lesson 33 with Mr. Mozart and Miss Melody, and head to the games room.
• Keep working on Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Remember to put both thumbs on Middle C and LEAVE YOUR HANDS THERE! Please don’t peck out each note with your pointer finger, we want ALL your fingers to get strong and used to playing! Nice curved fingers please!
• Complete the worksheet I handed out in class.

Today in class Twesh really impressed Drew with Daydream Believer. Just remember to prepare the F#s by resting your fingers on the F#s instead of the Fs…sounds to simple to work I know, but try it and you’ll see! Keep working also on the technique exercise and March Militaire. March Militaire needs a bit more small section practice, and maybe a bit of metronome practice as right now sometimes you are stopping at the bar lines – you need to always keep your music moving ahead. If you want Jingle Bell Rock, try Alfred Level 1B Christmas book (it’s green) at Music Pro near the Staples and Montana’s just around the corner. It’s $9.95 and has I think 8-10 Christmas pieces that you could learn pretty easily. We worked some more on tones and semitones this class, and Twesh did a great job with the tone and semitone fish game. I’ll email your mom a worksheet about this.

Have  a great week, everyone! Three weeks left of this term, with the last half of the December 9th class being our recital!

Everyone Together:

I decided that today would be a class filled of playing! This will give you all a chance to get your hands moving and get some extra practice time in.

Level 2 worked on Clementine as well as March Militaire. This second piece was a little trickier, so you took the time to play the left hand on it’s own, and then the right hand before putting the two together. Don’t forget to keep counting!

Level 4 worked on their technique sheet to get warmed up, and then you worked on Three Blind Mice to help you remember the information about 6/8 time signatures that we learnt last week. We also took some time to work on The Merry Farmer!

To finish off the class, you each got a different part of Ode To Joy, which you all practised and then took turns playing out your parts for the rest of the class. Great work everyone! See you next week!

Things To Work On Level 2:

1- Work on this flats activity sheet.

2- Work on this sharps activity sheet!

3- Practice Old MacDonald that you brought home with you!

Things To Work On Level 4:

1- Print out and admit this 6/8 time signature activity sheet!

2- Work on this technique sheet!

3- Improvise and have fun every day!

Level 1A

Today in Class

Today we completed lessons 9 AND 10, where we learned about notes that go higher and higher, and lower and lower, towards and away from Middle C. We are getting even more used to the spatial relationship of notes on the screen/page to keys on our keyboards, getting ready for reading on the Grand Staff! We reviewed these notes on the floor and I introduced Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, our recital song. You can practice playing this on your lap or table at home, “reading along” to play the finger numbers that are written. Watch for holding notes! Notes above the line are for RH, below the line are for LH. Your fingers are numbered from your thumb to your pinky, 1 to 5 on both hands. We also spent some time in the game room and improvisation room.

This Week @ Home

• In CMJ volume 1 (if you have it) review lesson 10 and have fun in the practice room. In the Games Room there are 3 games for you to play.
• Practice Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, lines 1 and 2 this week, as explained above. This is our recital song!
• Put your right hand on your right knee, like we did in class, and practice wiggling each finger independently. Next, have an adult at home give you a playback challenge to try (eg. 1 2 3, 111, etc, start easy!) and you see if you can play those fingers on your knee. Then challenge your adult! This will build up the finger independence we will need to play our recital piece!

Level 2A

Today in Class

Today we started out all together on the floor reviewing the Grand Staff, and playing a game to learn more about how notes move on the lines and spaces of the Grand Staff, and how every lie and space shares the letter name of one of the white keys on your piano. Then we did Lesson 33, where your new teacher, Mr. Mozart, taught you about the Treble Clef and the notes C, D, and E! You also reviewed whole, dotted half, half, and quarter notes. We will be doing lots of practice to get better at reading notes on the staff, don’t you worry! We played a few fun games in the games room too, to practice note reading, note values, and white note names. Back on the floor I introduced Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and your new worksheet, and we used the rhythm cards to make our own rhythms to clap.

This Week @ Home

• If you have CMJ volume 2 at home, you should review lesson 33 with Mr. Mozart and Miss Melody, and head to the games room.
• Start working on Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Remember to put both thumbs on Middle C and LEAVE YOUR HANDS THERE! Please don’t peck out each note with your pointer finger, we want ALL your fingers to get strong and used to playing! Nice curved fingers please!
• Complete the worksheet I handed out in class.

Have a great week!

I am pleased to announce the winners of this year’s draw for a free software internet subscription ($400.00 worth of Adventus/MusIQ Club software)  for the whole year.

Since all students are strongly encouraged to practice at home (15-20 min, 4-5x per week) to master concepts, learn new pieces and prepare for in-class ensemble performances and the end-of-year recital, this tool will prove to be very useful and enjoyable for the whole family to take advantage of at home.

It is a great opportunity to become more familiar with all of the wonderful Adventus software titles in existence developed to teach music in a fun way using a computer and any digital piano keyboard with USB or MIDI connectivity.

The winners of this year’s HRM MusIQ Club, Home Practice Software prize are:

Cameron Jenkins from a P to 2 class at Kingswood Elementary

Jake Dodge from a P to 1 class at John W. MacLeod-Fleming Tower Elementary

Sarah Smith from a P to 2 class at Grosvenor-Wentworth Park Elementary

Craig Black from a Grades 3 to 6 class at Portland Estates Elementary

Caley Hiscock from a P to 2 class at Astral Drive Elementary

Lessons 9 & 10:

Today’s class was all about getting to know the entire piano keyboard! We already knew low notes, Middle C and high notes, but in our first lesson with Mr. Bach, we learnt how to play a high note while leaving room for an even higher note. We also played a low note, while leaving room for an even lower note! Fantastic work everyone!

After a bit of practising, and a few rounds of our new game, Cliffhanger, we went to see Mr. Bach again and learnt how to start at the outsides of the keyboard and play different amounts of notes going towards Middle C! Wow, this is tricky stuff!

To finish off the class, we practised a little more with Miss Melody and then relaxed in the Games Room and the Improvisation room. See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep finding high notes, low notes and Middle C!

2- Try starting on Middle C, and playing different amounts of notes going up and going down. Can you play 2, 3 or even 4 or 5 low or high notes without getting to the end of the piano?

3- Start at the outsides of the piano and try playing 2, 3, 4 or 5 notes while going towards Middle C. Make sure to leave enough room!

4- Print out and complete your activity sheet!

Lesson 20:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

Today Miss Mendelssohn helped refresh our memories on the musical alphabet, and showed us how to read letter name notes when we have our five finger ant tunnels formed.

After finishing the lesson and visiting Miss Melody in the practice room, we played a new game, called Falling leaves. In this game, you had to find the letter that was written one each leaf and play the corresponding note before the gardener could catch it!

Because we went to the games right away, we finished off the class with everyone going to the Library, to work on some two handed folk songs, and of course, we didn’t forget to go be creative in the Improvisation Room!

Fantastic work everyone! Remember to keep practicing every day. See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and fill in this great Word Search, all about Fanny Mendelssohn!

2- Print out this page to work on different songs that you will now be able to play!

3- Spend some time doing letter name play backs. Just ask a parent to call out different letters from the musical alphabet and with your thumbs both on Middle C, play back the letters. (Which letters can you play with both hands?

Lesson 37:

Today Mrs. Beach taught us some songs on the Grand Staff that require us to use both of our hands at the same time! This means that you had to read notes in both the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef. You all did a fantastic job at overcoming this tricky task!

After spending some time practicing with Miss Melody, (you are all doing an excellent job with the woodpecker by the way) you all headed to the Games Room for some much deserved relaxation!

To finish the class off, you spent some time in the Improvisation Room, making sure to always keep both your thumbs on Middle C. Fantastic job everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row. There are a few notes here that you may not know yet, but just keep counting one white key on the piano for every line and every space going outward from Middle C.

2- Spend time improvising with your hands in the Middle C Position. Make sure you always start out by playing Middle C several times as if you were the “woodpecker”.

3- Print out your weekly activity sheet!

Hi Everyone!

We had a fab class today! Well done!

Level 1A, Lesson 10 – Sara, Simon, Lauren and Nyah

• We began by tapping out some great rhythms on my drum. You each took turns playing fast and slow sounds, and then loud and soft sounds too!
• Then we tried to remember as much as we could about the life and times of Mr Bach. We also reminded ourselves about the two keyboard instruments that Mr Bach would’ve played; the harpsichord and the pipe organ. Can you remember which one made a large, loud sound, and which one made a soft, tinkly sound?
• This week at the computer, Mr Bach helped you to review circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Then he taught you all about circle notes moving towards Middle C.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You played even more songs with Miss Melody and you had to make sure to leave enough room on the keyboard to fit all the notes in before you got back to Middle C! Great job!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet all about finger numbers!
• Keep making up your own music at home for fun!

Level 1B, Lessons 21 – Jack and Jasmine

• Today you met a new teacher called Mr Villa Lobos!
• He lived in Brazil in South America and only died in 1959, which isn’t too long ago!
• He took long trips into the Amazon jungle and heard the tribal music there. He decided to try and use some of this great music in his own compositions so that the world could hear the music of his country.
• He also helped design a music education program for all school children in Brazil. He loved his country very much!
• Mr Villa Lobos helped you to play more stepping songs for the right and left hands. Then he helped you to play ‘Ode To Joy’ which is a tune that Mr Beethoven used in one of his symphonies, years earlier!
• You spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room to relax after all that playing! Good job!

Home Assignments For The Week 

• Try and use your five finger ant tunnels now whenever you play for fun on the piano!
• Print out and complete this weekly activity sheet!

Level 2A, Lesson 36 – Jacob

• Today in lesson 36, you met a new teacher called Mrs Beach. She began to work with you on your note values and keeping time.
• The woodpecker made you play rhythms in time with the beat as it tapped away on the tree. This was very tricky, but each week you’ll get better and better! Don’t worry!
• Together we had a break from the computer and learnt all about eighth notes. Each eighth note is only worth half a beat, and for that reason they are often drawn in pairs, ‘beamed’ together! (2 eighth notes together equal 1 quarter note)  
• You showed me how well you could draw an eighth note, with the little flag on the side of the stem. Then we worked together to complete a worksheet where you filled in some empty measures with your own rhythms, including eighth notes and rests! Amazing work!
• Finally, you spent time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this wordsearch all about your new teacher, Mrs Beach!
• If you haven’t already done this, then print out this blank staff and practice writing your treble clef, bass clef and the new notes that you know! For an extra challenge, see if you can write some notes in a stepping or skipping motion! Good luck!

Bye for now,

See you next week!

Adele

It was great to meet you all today! I will be your MusIQ Club teacher from now on! Do not forget to let me know if you have any questions!

Lessons 9 & 10:

Today’s class was all about getting to know the entire piano keyboard! We already knew low notes, Middle C and high notes, but in our first lesson with Mr. Bach, we learnt how to play a high note while leaving room for an even higher note. We also played a low note, while leaving room for an even lower note! Fantastic work everyone!

After a bit of practising, and a few rounds of our new game, Cliffhanger, we went to see Mr. Bach again and learnt how to start at the outsides of the keyboard and play different amounts of notes going towards Middle C! Wow, this is tricky stuff!

To finish off the class, we practised a little more with Miss Melody and then relaxed in the Games Room and the Improvisation room. See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Keep finding high notes, low notes and Middle C!

2- Try starting on Middle C, and playing different amounts of notes going up and going down. Can you play 2, 3 or even 4 or 5 low or high notes without getting to the end of the piano?

3- Start at the outsides of the piano and try playing 2, 3, 4 or 5 notes while going towards Middle C. Make sure to leave enough room!

4- Print out and complete your activity sheet!

Lesson 37:

Today Mrs. Beach taught us some songs on the Grand Staff that require us to use both of our hands at the same time! This means that you had to read notes in both the Treble Clef and the Bass Clef. You all did a fantastic job at overcoming this tricky task!

After spending some time practicing with Miss Melody, (you are all doing an excellent job with the woodpecker by the way) you all headed to the Games Room for some much deserved relaxation!

To finish the class off, you spent some time in the Improvisation Room, making sure to always keep both your thumbs on Middle C. Fantastic job everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row. There are a few notes here that you may not know yet, but just keep counting one white key on the piano for every line and every space going outward from Middle C.

2- Spend time improvising with your hands in the Middle C Position. Make sure you always start out by playing Middle C several times as if you were the “woodpecker”.

3- Print out your weekly activity sheet!

Lesson 19:

In today’s class, Miss Mendelssohn taught us how to read grown up notes. This means, that from now on, we won’t be reading just circle notes. The notes now have a stem that goes up if you have to play it with the right hand, and down if you are going to play it with the left hand.

Notes that are solid black with a stem are worth one count. Notes with a stem and an empty center are worth 2 counts and finally, we have empty notes that have no stem, which are worth 4 counts. There are also five lines on the screen now. The middle line is Middle C and then you build upwards or downwards from there. Each space and each line is worth one white note on the piano keyboard.

Miss Melody helped us practice reading this new kind of notes before we went to the Games Room before finishing off the class with some rhythm clapping and Improvisation! Great work everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Go to this page and print out some songs to practice!

2- Keep saying your musical alphabet, both forwards and backwards! How fast can you go?!?

3- Print out and complete your weekly activity sheet!

4- Don’t forget to keep improvising every day! And keep working on your rhythm clapping!

Lesson 47:

Today’s class was filled with different songs! Mr. Satie helped you both play through several new songs that were written out on the Grand Staff. Mr. Satie helped you with wrong notes, and made sure that you always held the notes for the correct length. Great work everyone!

After this song filled lesson, you all went to see Miss Melody in the Practice Room, before relaxing a bit in the Games Room.

To finish off the class, you went to the Improvisation Room to experiment with holding notes and different types of instruments. Isn’t it neat how the piano’s sound fades as you hold a note, but some instruments such as a violin, can keep the intensity of their sounds? Great job everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet.

2- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, if you didn’t last week, and spend some time practicing it.

3- Keep working on Old Grey Goose.

4- Try and hunt down different music recordings, and listen to the different instruments. How many different ones can hold their sound level!?

For the first time, everyone was here today, in both classes!  We did a lot of rhythm work today, clapping 4-beat word rhythms, making up new ones as well as making up some without words.   We also had a quick review to see what everyone remembered about Mr. Beethoven, and then we talked about Mr. Bach and looked at some pictures of organs and harpsichords.  We talked about what kind of music Bach wrote for those instruments, and how he needed a big sound to fill a big church (organ music) and that smaller sounds (plucked harpsichords) were OK for living rooms.  Both sounds were, and still are today, “triggered” from keyboards not unlike their own.   In fact, ask your children about the harpsichord made out of legos!

Caroline, Pratik, Royson, Sophia, Aditya, Haley and Delaney have completed or nearly completed all of their work with Mr. Bach (through level 5) where they are already comfortable with reading noteheads on a simple staff rather than using the pictorial notation.   Some in this group have started their lessons with Mr. Bach already, including a lot of work learning about holding notes and using number counts (rather than words).   For this group this week, homework should include reviewing lesson 5 with Mr. Beethoven and Miss Melody, lesson 6 with Mr. Bach (Royson, ask your sister to help you if you feel you need it), and in the games room.  Also, ask a parent or older sibling to make up some rhythms to pass back and forth, both with words, and without words using number counts instead.  There are also more “songs” associated with each lesson to play in the library room, which you can access by clicking on the computeron the left.   If you are confident with your skills learned in level 6, you are welcome to go ahead to level 7 which includes a lot of material based on all the skills learned to this point.  Royson, you are doing an impressive job keeping up with the older children who are doing an equally impressive job not waiting for anyone else, and plunging forward!

Yesha, Olivia, Hwan, Ryan and Roxnna have now had their first two lessons with Mr. Bach (lessons 6 and 7).  They are now comfortable with the notation, and word rhythms are now replaced by counts (one, two, three, four, or one and two and three and four and) and include holding notes (e.g. clap and hold your hands together with a little dip for a half note).  Extra practice and more “songs” to play from lessons 1-7 can be found by clicking on the computer in the games room.  It will be good to be able to find your way around the keyboard quickly, because things are about to get a bit more complicated!  In addition, find a relative and see if you can clap some rhythms back and forth, this time without the words and including some holding notes.  If they get good at it, have them make something up for you!

Everyone, spend time in the improvisation room using different rhythms and note lengths, and always have fun!  See you next week, and don’t hesitate to let me know here or by e-mail if you are having any problems with home practice materials or anything else.

Hi Everybody!

What a great class today! I thought you all did a fantastic job!

Lesson 4 – Cale, Hayden, William N

Today was such an important lesson and all three of you did great! Today, Mr Beethoven showed you how to play circle notes!

• You played lots of songs following the circles on the screen. If the circle was high up on the screen, you played a high note! If it was low down on the screen, you played a low note! If you saw a circle sitting on a line in the middle of the screen, you played Middle C! Great job!
• You tried to copy Mr Beethoven’s rhythms by playing Middle C along with the beats! We’ll do a few more of these next week because they’re quite tricky!
• You went to the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some fun to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet and see if you can find your way out of the maze by going higher and higher!
• Keep making your own music at the piano. Try to use high notes, low notes and middle C’s in your music.

Lesson 7 – William B-P, Joshua, Dalice and Drea

• We began by spending some time looking at some pictures of the two keyboard  instruments that Mr Bach would have played; the harpsichord and the pipe organ. We discussed things that we could see were different, and things that were similar to a modern day piano.
• This week’s lesson was all about more holding note practice with Mr Bach.
• You played through lots of songs with Mr Bach which helped you to get really good at reading  circle notes and playing the holding notes for the right length of time!
• You went to the Games Room where you played the Train Game, and the Princess Story!
• You spent some time in the Improvisation Room making up your own music.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Practice saying the musical alphabet everyday. How fast can you say it backwards? G F E D C B A!
• Print out this 5 line staff, and have a go at composing your own songs using high and low circle notes, middle C’s and holding notes!

Lesson 9 – Parker, Carter, Christopher, Bella and Sydney 

• We began by looking at some pictures of a harpsichord and a pipe organ, the two keyboard instruments that Mr Bach would’ve played. Can you remember which instrument made a loud sound, and which one made a soft, tinkly sound? You were great at noticing the things that were different from a modern day piano. Well done!
• Today in Lesson 9, Mr Bach taught you how to read circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You played through lots of songs with Mr Bach to make sure that you were really happy with this idea, and could begin to tell the difference between very high and low circle notes, and circle notes which were nearer to Middle C.  
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Keep practising your Musical Alphabet. Try saying it really, really fast, backwards and forwards.
• Try making up some songs on your keyboards at home where the notes go higher and higher, then lower and lower.

See you next week, everybody!

Bye for now!

Adele

Today for the first time, everyone was healthy and here, in both classes!  We did a lot of rhythm work this morning, clapping 4-beat word rhythms.  Thank you, Alexa, for “I – love– eat-ing can-dy.”  We also had a quick review to see what everyone remembered about Mr. Beethoven, and then we talked about Mr. Bach and looked at some pictures of organs and harpsichords.  We talked about what kind of music Bach wrote for those instruments, and how he needed a big sound to fill a big church (organ music) and that smaller sounds (plucked harpsichords) were OK for living rooms.  Both sounds were, and still are today, “triggered” from keyboards not unlike their own.   In fact, ask your children about the harpsichord made out of legos!

Arianna, Sydney, Andrew and Adam completed or nearly completed level 4 where they have started to replace the pictorial notation with noteheads on a simple staff.   Sydney promises to stay healthy the rest of the semester, and she and Arianna did a great job sharing their keyboard station today.  For this group this week, homework should include reviewing lessons 3 and 4, spending time with Miss Melody and in the games room.  If your child does not like playing with Bongo Boy, perhaps a parent or older sibling might enjoy making up some rhythms to pass back and forth, both with and without words.  Arianna is very proud of her big sister for how good she is at playing Bongo Boy’s rhythms!  There are also more “songs” to play in the library room, which you can access by clicking on the computer.  This group is now very confident about high notes and low notes, and everyone is getting very quick to find middle C!  Bravo.

Jacqui, Alex, Alexa and Philip have now had their first one or two lessons with Mr. Bach (lessons 6 and 7).  They are now comfortable with the notation, and word rhythms are now being replaced by counts (one, two, three, four, or one and two and three and four and) including holding notes (e.g. clap and hold your hands together with a little dip for a half note).  Extra practice and more “songs” to play from lessons 1-7 can be found by clicking on the computer in the games room.  In addition, find a relative and see if you can clap some rhythms back and forth, this time without the words and including some holding notes.  If they get good at it, have them make something up for you!

Everyone, spend time in the improvisation room using different rhythms and note lengths, and always have fun!  See you next week, and don’t hesitate to let me know here or by e-mail if you are having any problems with home practice materials or anything else.

Hello Everybody!

I really enjoyed today’s lesson. You all did such a great job, I was very proud of the work you did today!

Level 1A, Lessons 8, 9 and 10 – Rachael 

               Lessons 10 and 11 – Andrew

• Rachael, you did such an amazing job catching up the lessons that you have missed over the last couple of weeks! Three lessons in one day shows just how hard you were working. Well done!
• In Lesson 8, 9 and 10 Mr Bach taught you first how to read double notes (notes played in the right and left hand at the same time)  circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower, and circle notes moving back towards middle C.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You both played through several songs with Mr Bach and also Miss Melody to make sure that you could tell the difference between very high and low circle notes, and circle notes which were nearer to Middle C.  
• Then, in Lesson 11, Andrew met a new teacher called Mr Scott Joplin. We’ll look at his life and times a bit more next week with Rachael. He taught you a very important lesson about your five finger ant tunnels. This is where you place your thumbs on Middle C, and then each finger sits on a neighbouring white note. You did this very nicely Andrew.
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Rachael, have a go at this sheet all about double notes!
• Andrew, try this activity sheet all about finger numbers!
• Keep practising your Musical Alphabet. Try saying it really, really fast, backwards and forwards.

Level 2C, Lesson 53 – Nickelo

• Today, Mr Handel helped you to play some new songs on the Grand Staff.
• Now you can read notes on the Grand staff with both your hands in the Middle C position. In the right hand you know the notes C, D, E, F and G, and in the left hand you know the notes C, B, A, G, and F.
• After you practised with Miss Melody, we got together to work through an activity sheet where you were great at naming these notes written on the Grand Staff. You also had a go at drawing some notes too.
• You also showed me today just how good you are at reading note values correctly. We made up some rhythms and you clapped them back perfectly each time. Awesome job, Nickelo!
• To finish off the lesson, you went to the Games Room for a while!

Home Assignments For The Week

• Print out these finger number tunes for some fun at home.
• Print out and complete this activity sheet to help you steps and skips on the Grand staff. 

Level 3, - Jessica, Jansyn and Allison

• This week you began by completing your lesson at the computer. (Jessica – lesson 72, Allison – lesson 80 and Jansyn – lesson 81)
• Then we worked together in a small group and spent some time looking at intervals.
• An interval is the distance between two notes.
• To find an interval, count the bottom and top notes, and then each line and space inbetween.
• We looked today at 2nds (2 notes apart) and 3rds (3 notes apart). We noticed how an interval of a 2nd looks like a step on the Grand staff, and an interval of a 3rd looks like a skip.
• We also clapped some rhythms written in proper music notation. Remember to ‘dip’ to show the beat when clapping a holding note like a half, dotted half or whole note.
• You visited the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this worksheet. It’s all about intervals. This time you need to look out for 2nds, 3rds and 4ths! Good luck!
• Print out this blank composition page. Over the next few weeks I am going to give you time to create your own tune. You can begin by exploring some melodies on your keyboards at home and jotting down some ideas this week.

See you next week!

Bye for now!

Adele

First, I would like to mention how well everyone worked today! Good job!

In today’s class:

CMJ1A: Ava, Lori, Keely and Allyson, all worked on Lessons 8 and 9 and completed their practice session with Miss Melody.  Then, the students played a few games, there was a new game today! It is the game that you have to listen to the notes being played to you and decide whether the notes are getting higher and higher or lower and lower. As well, today, we learned about going higher and higher or lower and lower. As a group specifically just of these four students, we had drawn a keyboard on the board and I had explained the higher and higher/lower and lower concept once again to them. After, we reviewed, “Group of two, down to C” if parents can review this at home with your child, and get them to say it or tell you what it means, that would be great! Finally, we reviewed the musical alphabet at the very end of class, going up and the backwards alphabet.

CMJ1B: Satya worked on his lesson today and worked very well independently. He is currently working on finger number songs and has very good posture for placing his hand in Middle C position. After his lesson, Satya completed his practice session with Miss Melody and played the corresponding games.

CMJ2A: Lucas, and Riley worked on Lesson 43 today and Sam worked on Lesson 41 for he was absent from class for the past two weeks. In Sam’s lesson, he was introduced to the note ‘F’ today on the keyboard (which is the 4th finger on your right hand when your hand is in Middle C position). The boys worked on songs and short pieces that included the note ‘F’. As well, we’re continuing to learn note values where at the end of each lesson, they are to practice with Mr.Woodpecker rhythm tappings with different note values, ex. whole notes (4 counts each), half notes (2 counts each), quarter notes (1 count each) and the dotted notes which are half notes with a dot (3 counts each). Each section/bar is composed of 4 counts each, and they are to use middle C to play these rhythms. After their lesson and practice session with Miss Melody, they played the corresponding games, ex. with Guitar Girl- which is a game that they are given the Grand Staff and notes that they have to read from the staff and play correspondingly back on the keyboard.

Great work today class! I’m very impressed with how everyone performed today! Keep it up!

Have a great week. See you next Monday!

Level 1:

You started off the class by filling out the missing barline exercise that I had assigned last week. Great job on this one!

We then headed to the piano and spent some time practising Row, Row, Row. You tried working on the piece hands together, and then we took some time go over the rhythm as well to make sure we were properly counting all the notes!

We then reviewed our C Major scale.

To finish the class, you spent some time working on Clementine as well as O’Christmas Tree before heading to the improvisation room for some fun before the end of class! Great work! See you next week!

Home Assignments:

1- Practice the different pieces you have at home.

2- Work on your C Major scale.

3- Improvise and play every day!

Level 4 & 6:

We started off the class by revising and finishing our dominant 7th worksheets from last week! Great work. Don’t forget to watch out with those tricky inversions!

You then took some time to work on your pieces. Level 4 you worked on Shoo Fly and Level 6 you worked on Computer Cat. Remember to always take time to count the notes and read them properly. Don’t let the computer do that work for you!

We then took some time to practice O’Christmas Tree, with level 6 working on the accompaniment part that doesn’t have a melody. This means you have to pay very close attention to the rhythm and notes!

Great work. Keep up the practising and see you both in two weeks!

Things To Work On This Week:

1- Practice your technique from last week. Take time to learn the letter name notes for each scale.

2- Work on pieces you have at home.

3- Improvise every day. Try using different keys!

Lesson 31:

In today’s class, Mr. Mozart had us play songs that use grown up notes. Mr. Mozart was born in Salzburg, which is in the country Austria. His father was also a musician, and a music teacher as well. Mozart was child prodigy, which means he was very good at playing and composing music even though he was a very young child!

After this lesson, we went to see Miss Melody for a nice practice session, before going to try out some brand new games in the Games Room! You all did a great job today and I look forward to seeing you all in two weeks!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out this page for some songs to work on at home! If you already know all of these ones, you can print out this page for even more songs to work on!

2- Practice writing out different rhythm challenges using the grown up notes we know so far! Then practice clapping them with a friend and playing them on the piano!

3- Don’t forget to improvise every day and keep having fun!

4- Print out your weekly activity sheet!

Hello Parents of Oxford School,

Sorry for the late update on your child’s progress. My name is Melisa Szeto and I’m the new teacher for the Friday afternoon class at Oxford. Here’s an update on what we did this week:

Tyrelle and Conrad: We worked on Lesson 6 today and met our new teacher, Mr. Bach. We also learned about holding down notes with our high, low and middle C notes. After the boys completed the lesson, they moved on to Miss Melody in the Practice Room and finished the day in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Bridgid and Eric: In today’s class, Bridgid and Eric worked on Lesson 33 and completed Miss Melody. They both worked so diligently that they also moved on to Lesson 34, and finished it. Eric had finished Miss Melody for Lesson 34 but Bridgid will finish her practice session next Friday. Afterwards, they both went to the Improvisation and created their own jams!

Joel: We worked on Lesson 53 today. We finished it and worked on Miss Melody. Though, we had not complete it entirely but we used the rest of the class to work on a song from a music textbook that Joel wanted to learn to play. We went over some key concepts on the Grand Staff and how to read and locate some notes. As well as what the treble clef and bass clef is used for. Joel was given a sheet on what we were talking about during class, if you can review it with him or ask him to review it and then bring it to class on Friday that would be great! We’ll continue to use the last 15-20 minutes of class to work one-on-one on more piano concepts to reading music notes.

Petra wasn’t in class today, the students said she was sick and absent from school. Hope you feel better Petra! and I hope you feel better next week to come to class!

Have a great week! See you guys on Friday!

PS. If there are ever any questions that you have, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at mcy.szeto@gmail.com, I will gladly answer them for you!

Hi Everyone! 

I really enjoyed this week’s lesson. It was fun to do so much playing together as a group, and most of you really worked hard on your practical pieces.

Whole Group

We began in Concert Master, which is the software that allows everyone to hear each other and for us to play as an ensemble.

• First we concentrated on technique. We all practiced our scales, and played both together and individually  C, G and F major, and C Contrary motion.
• Whilst playing through these scales, we also discussed tempo, note values and dynamics (louds and softs)
• Then, we talked as a group about tones and semitones, sharps and flats. You were all able to find notes such as G sharp, or D flat, on the keyboard that I called out, some more quickly than others! Well done!
• We then spent some time working on our pieces in Piano Player.
• I worked with the Level 2 group and today we discussed note values and dotted notes. We also looked at some new terms, crescendo and diminuendo.
• The boys who have been with the program the longest also began a new piece today, called ‘Largo’ from Dvorak’s ‘New World Symphony.’ I gave you each a copy of the music, and then played it through for you to hear. I suggested that you only practice the right hand this week, and only up to the last line. (We’ll look at the last line together next week.) Remember, that you will need to move your hand position away from C position at a certain point. Can you remember where your thumb must move to in order for the finger suggestions to work?
• The Level 4 and above group also spent some time with me today looking at ledger lines. Remember, these are like extra ‘ladder’ lines which we need to draw when the notes get too high, or too low to sit on the normal treble or bass staff.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Everyone, continue to practice the Level 1 and 2 scales every day.
• Craig, have a look at the Level 3 technique sheet. Have a go, and next week we’ll look at them together in class.
• Level 4+ group – print out and complete this worksheet on the C Pentatonic scale which we looked at in class together.
• Continue to practice your piano pieces at home on your keyboards.

There is a MusIQ Club class next week on Friday 20th November, but the following week, on Friday 27th November, there will be no class because of the school Assessment and Evaluation Day.

Bye for now! Adele

Hi Everyone! Great work today everyone!

We missed you this week Brendan! Hope to see you next Friday. (The following Friday 27th November there will be no class because of the school Assessment and Evaluation Day)

Level 1A, Lesson 6 – Brooke

• In Lesson 6 you met a new teacher, called Mr Bach. He was a great composer who lived in Germany even before Mr Beethoven was alive! Can you remember how many children he had?
• You worked with Mr Bach to learn all about holding notes today. Remember to hold the note down and count the numbers on the screen!
• You followed the circle notes to play lots of songs which had high notes, low notes, Middle C’s and holding notes! Wow!
• You tried to copy some of Mr. Bach’s rhythms following the beats, but it was quite tricky! We’ll try some more of those next time!
• You went to the Games Room where you played two new games today, the Train Game, and the Princess Story!
• You spent some time in the Improvisation Room making up your own music.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this wordsearch all about Mr Bach!
• On your keyboard at home, try making up some of your own songs which include holding notes!
• Print out this 5 line staff, and have a go at composing your own songs using circle notes!

Level 1B, Lessons 16 & 17 Isaac and Keegan

• This week in Lesson 16 Isaac met a new teacher called Miss Fanny Mendelssohn. As a group we also learnt a little bit about her life, and found out about her brother Felix too!
• Miss Fanny Mendelssohn helped you to play even more songs using both hands and you are now beginning to use circle notes on lines and spaces which move in a stepping motion!
• You practised the Musical Alphabet a little more this week, forwards, and backwards again!
• There was a lot of playing today, and you stuck with it and worked very hard. Brilliant job boys!
• To finish off you had some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Try having a go at this wordsearch all about Miss Fanny Mendelssohn.
• Print out this worksheet and see if you can spot all the line notes!
• Keep making up your own music, and having fun on your piano or keyboard at home!

Well done everyone! Adele

Level 1:

You started off the class with an eighth note work sheet. Eighth notes are worth half the value of a quarter note, which means that they get half a beat each. To count them, we can go 1 & 2 & 3 &… etc. You put in great effort with the work sheet. Please print it out at home and try it again!

We headed over to the pianos, and then you spent some time working on Clementine, before trying out your hand at Let It Be. Pay close attention to the rhythm everyone! It is tricky to count while playing but with practice you will get it!

To finish off the class, you spent time in the Improvisation Room. Great work! See you all in a few weeks!

Things To Work On:

1- Your C Major Scale.

2- Complete this eighth note activity sheet.

3- Practice and play every day!

Level 2:

You started off the class by working on Daydream Believer. Don’t forget that this piece has a key signature telling us that all the Fs are sharp!

Following this, you spent some time practising your C Pentatonic Scale. This is the scale that has the IV and the VII removed from the C Major Scale, which leaves us with the notes C-D-E-G-A-C. Good work! You then took a few minutes to figure out that the notes of the G Pentatonic Scale are G-A-B-D-E-G. Fantastic work!

Back in the Piano Player, you spent some time exploring and trying out different songs of your choice, such as Here We Go in A Row! Good work. See you both next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Practice this technique sheet.

2- Keep working on your legato staccato exercise!

3- Play piano every day!

Lesson 8:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

Today, Mr. Bach helped us learn about Double Notes! This means, we are now playing up to 2 notes at the SAME TIME! You are all doing a fantastic job, and after some practice with Miss Melody, you were ready to go and see what different double notes sound like in the improvisation room with the different sound effects!

We also talked about how we can tell if notes are going higher, or lower. This distance between the two notes is called an interval, and you got to listen to a few different ones today! You had a little trouble with this today, but I am sure as the weeks go on, you will get much better!

To finish off the class, we went to the Games Room for some relaxing fun! Great job!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print, and complete a fun Word Search which is all about Mr. Bach!

2- Practice playing single notes, and then double notes. What kind of combinations can you come up with when you are playing double notes? What do triple notes sound like?

3- Sit down with a rhythm buddy or parent every day and clap different rhythms with each other. Make sure you always clap back the exact same thing!

4- Remember to improvise every day, using different high bird notes, low whale notes and don’t forget about Middle C!

Lesson 46:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

We decided to jump over lesson 45, and go straight away to meet our new teacher, who is named Mr. Satie. Mr. Satie was born in 1866 and was a French composer who lived most of his life in Paris.

Mr. Satie spent today’s lesson teaching us how to find a new note on the bass clef. This new note, is below the A that we already know, and is called G. We play this new note with our fourth (4th) finger. Great work finding it everyone!

After some practicing with Miss Melody, we went to the Games Room to play the different games, some of which now make use of our new bass note! To finish off the class, we went to the Improvisation Room to try and come up with some melodies that use our new note, Bass Clef G. Fantastic work everyone, see you all in two weeks!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out this fun little worksheet, to color in and play!

2- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, which uses our new bass clef note, G.

3- Keep working on Old Grey Goose from last week!

4- Don’t forget to improvise every day, and use our new Bass note!

Eek! It was just the one of you in class today. Because of that, we spent most of the class with you playing and me listening to you.

We tried to work on March Militaire for a while, and we also took a look at Satie’s Princess, which you have been working on for the last while. Good work! Just remember to keep working on the piece both hands together, and hands separately and always pay close attention to the fingering!

You then took some time to explore and try a few different songs of your choice. You are doing a fantastic job. Keep up the great work!

See you next week!

Things To Do This Week:

1- Play piano… LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS!

Lesson 7:

Mr, Bach spent today’s lesson, helping us learn more about holding notes, and made sure we feel comfortable playing all the different notes on the keyboard, while holding them for different amounts of time.

After this lesson, we went to the Practice Room, where we all worked with Miss Melody to refine our holding note skills even more. Great job everyone!

Heading over to the library to work on a few extra holding note songs, we finished off the class by relaxing in the Games Room. You all did fantastic work today! See you all next time!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out and complete your weekly worksheet!

2- Practice playing different notes for different amounts of time, just like Mr. Bach taught us today! Don’t forget to count out loud while playing!

3- Spend time improvising.

4- Find all the groups of two and three black notes on the keyboard, and then find all the Cs (down from the group of two) and Fs. (down from the group of three)

Lesson 46:

We started off the class with a fantastic rhythm circle, where you each had to clap back a rhythm by hearing it, and by seeing it! Some of them were a little tricky, but you all did a fantastic job! After this, we went to the computers to start our lesson.

We decided to jump over lesson 45, and go straight away to meet our new teacher, who is named Mr. Satie. Mr. Satie was born in 1866 and was a French composer who lived most of his life in Paris.

Mr. Satie spent today’s lesson teaching us how to find a new note on the bass clef. This new note, is below the A that we already know, and is called G. We play this new note with our fourth (4th) finger. Great work finding it everyone!

After some practicing with Miss Melody, we went to the Games Room to play the different games, some of which now make use of our new bass note! To finish off the class, we went to the Improvisation Room to try and come up with some melodies that use our new note, Bass Clef G. Fantastic work everyone, see you all in two weeks!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Print out this fun little worksheet, to color in and play!

2- Print out a copy of Row, Row, Row, which uses our new bass clef note, G.

3- Keep working on Old Grey Goose from last week!

4- Don’t forget to improvise every day, and use our new Bass note!

We have been learning so much about the piano and music lately, that we spent today’s lesson with Mr. Beethoven reviewing all the things we have learnt.  We reviewed high bird notes, low whale notes and Middle C.

We also sat around and practised a few word rhythms together. Fantastic job everyone! Keep up the good work and the practising. See you all next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Print out this maze activity sheet!

2- Play plenty of high notes, low notes and middle Cs at home this week!

3- Try and come up with a few word rhythms!

This week completed our 3rd lesson of MusIQ Club!  So far Mr Beethoven has taught us that the piano goes from low notes all the way up to high notes.  Middle C is the middle key and is very important to finding all the other keys on the piano keyboard.  We’ve also learned that just like we have letters and sentences to make language, music also has letters and sentences.  The Grand Staff is where these “musical sentences” are written.  Mr Beethoven and Miss Melody have also been teaching us about rhythms.  This is a little trickier.  In the game room Bongo Boy plays a rhythm on his bongo drums.  Then we have to play it back.  Many students find this very difficult and sometimes frustrating at first.  Ways to practice at home are to make up silly sentences that have rhythms.  Clap the rhythms and have your child repeat the rhythm back to you.  This helps students to identify longer and shorter beats, which are very important for when we begin to learn about holding notes in another week.  In our class time we have been learning about our finger numbers, the musical alphabet and the Grand Staff.

Here are a couple fun worksheets that you can use to practice what we have learned in class:  worksheet 1, worksheet 2

I look forward to seeing everyone again next week!

Hi Everyone! It was so good to see everyone back in class today!

Level 1

• We began by quickly reviewing some of the things we have covered in MusIQ Club so far.
• We discussed whole notes (4 beats), half notes (2 beats), quarter notes (1 beat), and dotted half notes (3 beats).
• We listened to some beats and tried to see if the music was in 3/4 time or 4/4 time. Like last week, you did a great job at hearing the stronger first beat in each group. Well done!
• We looked at the Grand Staff and you could name all the parts, and also identify where all the notes should go on the lines and spaces. Brilliant job!
• We also quickly drew some rhythms with missing barlines which you found with no problems! 
• Then, I taught you all about intervals. An interval is the distance between two notes. To find the interval, count the bottom and top notes, and then every line and space inbetween. Intervals can be 2nds, 3rd, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths or octaves (8 notes)
• In Concert Master, we played ‘Row Your Boat,’ with the accompaniment. This meant that we had to keep in time with each other, and listen for when to start and stop, but also today we tried to play it in a round, with some of us starting at different points. We’ll work on this some more next time!
• You also looked through the selection of Level 1 pieces in Piano Player and chose your individual choice piece which you will play to me during Assessment Week towards the end of term.
• You finished off by playing some games in Children’s Music Journey program for fun!

Home Assignments for the Week;

• Continue to practise  ‘Row Your Boat.’,  ‘Pop Goes The Weasel’ and ‘On Top of Old Smokey’
• Here is a sheet to help you practice C Major Scale. Now also try to play C Contrary motion with both hands begining on Middle C.
• Have a go at this sheet and see if you can identify all the intervals by saying how many notes apart they are. We’ll discuss harmonic and melodic next week in class, so don’t worry about that bit!

Level 3

Great work today Olivia! You really are making great progress!

• Today you worked some more on triads. Remember, that to build a triad you play the root note, and then a third above that, and then a fifth above that.
• You wrote out the G and F major scales (including sharps and flats where needed) and then you added the scale degrees in Roman Numerals for me. Great job!
• We discussed your History Assignment for this Level of Piano Suite, which is all about Johann Strauss Jr. I have given you a sheet which you can complete over the next few weeks.
• In Piano Player, you had a go at playing the right hand for ‘This Old Man.’ This was fairly easy for you to play, so I then asked you to add in a left hand by building up triads in the keys noted. You began this well in class, and with a little practice at home I’m sure it will sound great next week.
• You also began a new tune today called ‘Largo – New World Symphony’ by Dvorak. This week, only practice with hands apart. We’ll put them together next week if you’re ready.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Practice the left hand part to ‘This Old Man’
• Begin practising ‘Largo’ with hands apart only!
• Continue to practice your Level 3 scales each day!
• Begin to research your History Assignment on Strauss to be handed in in a couple of weeks.

See you next week!

Adele

Hi Everyone!

We had a fun lesson yesterday with most people back with us, but we still missed Ethan! Hope you feel better next week.

Level 1A, Lesson 8 & 9 – Liam & Racheal 

• This week, in lesson 8 you learnt all about double notes!
• This is where you have to play a high note with your right hand, and a low note with your left hand at exactly the same time – 2 notes together! Well done for catching up this lesson so quickly, Racheal!
• Then, in Lesson 9, Liam and Racheal learnt about notes getting higher and higher, and lower and lower. Now when you read the circle notes, you have to decide how far up above the middle C line they are, or how low down below the line they are before you play. It took some time, but after practicing with Miss Melody too, you were much better at this new skill.
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t already done this, then print out this activity sheet  all about double notes!
• Print out this sheet all about finger numbers!

Level 1A, Lesson 10 – Dylan

• This week, Mr Beethoven taught you all about circle notes moving towards Middle C.
• You also reviewed circle notes going higher and higher, and lower and lower.
• Remember, the further up above the Middle C line on the screen, the higher the note, and the further down below the Middle C line the lower the note.
• You played even more songs with Miss Melody and you had to make sure to leave enough room on the keyboard to fit all the notes in before you got back to Middle C! Great job!
• To finish off the lesson, you spent some time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet all about finger numbers!
• Keep making up your own music at home for fun. Why not play some notes going higher and higher, or lower and lower on your guitar too!

Level 2A, Lesson 35, 36 and 37 – Olivia, Samantha and Callie

Wow Samantha! You completed lessons 35 and 36 today, and even began lesson 37 too. Awesome job catching up with the others!

• To begin the lesson we reviewed note values and built up some great rhythms together. We looked at whole (4), half (2), quarter (1)  and dotted half notes (3).
• In lesson 36, Samantha met up with a new teacher called Mrs Beach. She began to work with you on your note values and keeping time.
• In lesson 37 you practiced even more rhythm tapping with the woodpecker. He taps the wood to help you play rhythms in time with the beat.  We are still finding this tricky, but Olivia and Callie were getting better this week!  
• You all spent time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room for some creative fun at the end of a very focussed lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Have a go at this wordsearch all about your new teacher Mrs Beach.
• Print out this sheet. It has 3 keyboards on it. Just on one keyboard, can you write the musical alphabet on the correct white notes? We’ll use the other 2 keyboard pictures for something else in class!

Bye for now! See you next week!

Adele

Hi Everyone! It was so lovely to meet you all today!

I know we’re going to have a lot of fun together over the next few weeks.

Level 1, Lessons 1 & 2

• We began by getting to know each other, and finding out about the instruments that some of you play at home.
• Then we looked at all the equipment that we’re going to use in MusIQ Club, especially the computers and electric keyboards.
• Then, in Lesson 1, Mr Beethoven helped us to find out where the high notes and low notes are on the keyboard. Remember, the high bird notes are up to the right of the keyboard, and the low whale notes are down to the left.
• You all did such a great job with the high and low notes, that I moved you straight onto your second lesson with Mr Beethoven.
• This time he taught you all about a special note called Middle C. This is the white note to the left of a group of two black notes. (In class there is a sticker to help you find Middle C) Can you remember what picture was shown when you needed to play Middle C?
• After working in the Practice Room with Miss Melody, you visited the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some relaxing, creative fun!

Home Assignments for the Week;

• Print out and have a go at colouring in this sheet! It’s about high and low notes!
• See if you can find all the C’s on your piano or keyboard at home. How quickly can you find all the C’s from highest to lowest?
• Keep making up fun music of your own on your keyboards and pianos at home.

Well done for a brilliant first leeson! I can’t wait to show you more next week!

Bye for now,

Adele

So, today was a first for me, the network crashed out about 15 minutes and we did the last 45 minutes of class with no software or keyboards…the network would reconnect and then disconnect again almost immediately. We still did piano though! Lots of rhythm exercises on the floor, and other floor activities outlined below, and I introduced our group piece for the recital, which is Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Everyone should have brought a copy of this home today to START.

Beginner Level 1A

Today in Class

Today we started out on the floor doing some drumming, learning to use our ears to hear music in groups of 4 beats or 3 beats, by listening for the strong beat 1. Jarrett and Tyson got through most of Lesson 8 before the system crashed, and they were learning about double notes. When two or more notes line up one over the other on the screen or page in music, these notes are played at the same time. On the floor we practiced drawing some of these double notes on the whiteboard, and we made up our own music using double notes. We reviewed finger numbers and started Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. The boys may not be ready yet to play this on the piano, as they have not built up the finger independence needed, but they can start to play it on a table or on their knee, one line at a time, so their fingers can grow stronger! They also partnered up with the 2A boys to play a bingo game about naming the white notes. Behaviour was a little wild today, but with no keyboards it did require a bit more patience and focus than usual, so hopefully that was all it was.

This Week @ Home

• In CMJ volume 1 (if you have it) review lesson 8 and have fun in the practice room. In the Games Room there are 3 games for you to play.
• This week’s worksheet is about double notes.
• Put your right hand on your right knee, like we did in class, and practice wiggling each finger independently. Next, have an adult at home give you a playback challenge to try (eg. 1 2 3, 1 1 1, etc, start easy!) and you see if you can play those fingers on your knee. Then challenge your adult! This will build up the finger independence we will need to play our recital piece!
• Start playing the finger numbers for Jolly Old Saint Nicholas as well, one line at a time. “Notes” above the line are right hand, notes below the line are for your left hand.

Beginner Level 2A

Today in Class

Today we started out all together on the floor learning about groups of 3s and 4s in rhythm, with the drum. Then I introduced you to the Grand Staff and two ways to write Middle C. We also reviewed/learned about whole, dotted half, half, and quarter notes. You played a game together at the keyboards to work on the names of the white notes, and we played another game, a bingo game, on the floor to work on them some more. Learning the names of the white notes is very important so that as you learn the notes on the grand staff, you can find them on your keyboard! I introduced Jolly Old Saint Nicholas with the letter names. This piece is played with both of your hands in Middle C Position, which is where your thumbs share Middle C. Give it a try at home!

This Week @ Home

• If you have CMJ volume 2 at home, you should head to the games room to play the games to help with the names of the white notes, and also the soup game, to work on note values (how long whole, dotted half, half, and quarter notes are held for).
• Each day, practice finding all the Cs (Group of 2, down to C) and Fs (Group of 3, down to F) on your keyboards. You can go from highest to lowest or lowest to highest, as fast as you can or hold them as quarter notes (1 beat), half notes (2 beats), or whole notes (4 beats). Then find all the Ds, all the Es, all the Gs, As, and Bs, counting up or down from the white notes you know (C and F). It is important that you become quite comfortable naming the white keys!
• Complete this worksheet about the Staff. I also handed it out today.
• Start Jolly Old Saint Nicholas this week, one line at a time, with your thumbs on Middle C. This means those first Es will be played with your RH finger 3.

Hi Everyone!

It was a fun lesson today, and everyone did a great job!

Lesson 6 (Review) – Ethan, Bailey, Carter, Brenna, Brianna, Kalea, Austin and Bryce

This week, we began by talking a little about Mr Bach and the instruments that he played. He played the harpsichord and the pipe organ. I showed you a couple of pictures, and you noticed some interesting details about both of the instruments. Well done! Can you remember which instrument made a loud sound, and which one made a quiet sound?

Then we met Miss Melody in the Practice Room and she made sure that you were all really happy with holding 2 count, 3 count and even 4 count notes! You played through lots of circle note songs with her and I was really pleased with how well you all did!

We also tried to tap back some more 4 beat rhythms. You were better this week because we had practiced it on the carpet. Well done!

To finish off, you went to the Games Room where you played two new games today, the Train Game, and the Princess Story! You also spent some time in the Improvisation Room making up your own music.

Home Assignments for the Week

• Keep improvising and making up your own music on your keyboards at home! 
• Practice saying your musical alphabet as fast as you can. (A B C D E F G) Can you say it backwards?

Lesson 5 – Xander and Riley

We began by working together on rhythm in a group. I clapped out a rhythm, and you had to clap the rhythms back. We also reviewed how to play circle notes! You remembered really well today! At the computer, we had our last lesson with Mr Beethoven today. He helped us to remember everything that we’ve learnt in MusIQ Club so far! Next week you get to meet a new teacher on the computer! You practised high notes, low notes, finding Middle C, circle notes, holding notes and long and short sounds! Wow!

Finally, you had time in the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some fun to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• On a piece of blank paper, have a go at drawing your own music. Remember to use some high circle notes, some low circle notes, and have some on the line for Middle C. Don’t forget, you could have some holding notes in  your music too!
• Keep making your own music at the piano. Try to use high notes, low notes and middle C’s in your music.

Lesson 4 – Jaxon, Aiden, Regan, Jacob, Cody, Katie and Mya

Today was such an important lesson! Today, Mr Beethoven showed you how to play circle notes! You played lots of songs following the circles on the screen. If the circle was high up on the screen, you played a high note! If it was low down on the screen, you played a low note! If you saw a circle sitting on a line in the middle of the screen, you played Middle C! Great job! You tried to copy Mr Beethoven’s rhythms by playing Middle C along with the beats! We’ll do a few more of these next week!

You went to the Games Room and the Improvisation Room for some fun to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• Print out this sheet and see if you can find your way out of the maze by going higher and higher!
• Keep making your own music at the piano. Try to use high notes, low notes and middle C’s in your music.

Bye for now!

Adele

Hello all, good class today at Westmount. Cameron was working on his sight-reading skills by working with me on the treble clef, playing a note-naming game and playing Old Grey Goose. Good work Cameron. Click here for something you can work on at home.

Madison worked really hard at more grand staff songs with Mr. Tchaikovsky and then she got to play a few games. Click here for a worksheet to do at home.

Iris also worked hard at her lesson. Then it was her turn to play some games. Click here for something to work on this week at home.

Steven played lots of songs today, including the theme from the Sting. Then he worked with me doing some rhythm clapbacks. Good job Steven. Click here for something to work on at home.

We had a great class tody at Grovesnor Wentworth. Parker, Anthony and Elona were working hard on learning double notes with Mr. Bach. After that they practiced with Miss Melody – then they got to to play some games. Click here for a worksheet to do this week.

Jayden, Ryan and Luke reviewed the Grand Staff and then learned how to draw a treble clef from Mr. Mozart. After that they were able to play a few games as well. Click here for a worksheet to do this week.

Sarah and Laird worked really hard on Grand Staff songs with Mr. Tchaikovsky and then practiced with Miss Melody before they played some games.Click here for a worksheet to do this week.

Lucas was really focussed on his work today and was able to finish his whole lesson before he had a chance to play a few games as well. Good work everyone. Click here for a worksheet to do this week.

Teachers could effectively use Children’s Music Journey in elementary school music classrooms, private piano studios, or homes. -ISTE

MusIQ Club’s Children’s Music Journey is featured in the August 2009 issue of Leading & Learning with Technology (L&L), the membership magazine of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

MusIQ Club’s interactive early music learning software series, Children’s Music Journey (CMJ) has been acclaimed by ISTE, the largest education technology organization worldwide.

Following a comprehensive evaluation, L&L curriculum specialist Professor Savilla Banister praised the depth and quality of the software. “Teachers could effectively use CMJ in elementary school music classrooms, private piano studios, or homes.” said Banister, an associate professor of classroom technology at Bowling Green State University who helps K–12 teachers integrate multimedia technologies. Banister has also taught elementary school music and piano for more than 30 years.

The L&L review praises CMJ’s teach-practice-apply methodology and notes the 5-year-olds experiencing CMJ were “very interested and responsive to the activities. In fact, their mother had a difficult time convincing them to go home that day!” Also, the “selection of [animated composer teachers] is refreshingly diverse and includes women and minorities as well as composers from many different musical styles.”

ISTE is the premier membership association for educators engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. L&L magazine offers content that encapsulates ISTE’s philosophy that technology is essential to school transformation and future opportunities for the 21st-century learners around the globe.

“We’re pleased by ISTE’s acknowledgement” said Jim Mullen, president and CEO, MusIQ Club & Adventus Inc. “As the leader in interactive music learning, we’re proud to offer a uniquely effective and engaging program that helps students learn to read music, play piano with both hands, compose and improvise. We believe our dedication to quality helps to ensure educators can deliver an early music and piano solution that far exceeds their expectations.”

Read the article on ISTE.org

It was great to have everyone back today. Lots of good work was done this week, I’m really pleased with how everyone is doing.

Beginner Level 2A

Today in Class

Today we started out all together on the floor learning about groups of 3s and 4s in rhythm, with the drum. Then we did Lesson 32, where your new teacher, Mr. Mozart, introduced you to the Grand Staff! You learned about two ways to write Middle C, one for your RH and one for your LH, and reviewed whole, dotted half, half, and quarter notes. Mr. Mozart was being pretty picky about holding the notes for exactly the right amount of beats, but you were definitely getting it. We will be doing lots of practice to get better at reading notes on the staff, don’t you worry! We played two fun new games in the games room too, to practice note values. I also gave Drew a Christmas song to start. Hayzel and Tyler, I’ll give you this piece next week, I didn’t want to overload you this week as you were already catching up on last week’s work as well.

This Week @ Home

• If you have CMJ volume 2 at home, you should review lesson 32 with Mr. Mozart and Miss Melody, and head to the games room.
• Each day, practice finding all the Cs (Group of 2, down to C) and Fs (Group of 3, down to F) on your keyboards. You can go from highest to lowest or lowest to highest, as fast as you can or hold them as quarter notes, half notes, or whole notes. Then find all the Ds, all the Es, all the Gs, As, and Bs, counting up or down from the white notes you know (C and F). It is important that you become quite comfortable naming the white keys!
• Complete this worksheet about the Staff.