Level 1:

We began our class today by discussing rests. Whole rests look like a whole in the ground and are worth 4 beats. Half rests look like a top hat, and is worth 2 beats. A quarter note looks like a Z with a belly, and is worth 1 beat. After learning our rests (which are used to indicate silence in the music) we clapped out different rhythms using rests!

You then headed to the pianos and worked on On Top Of Old Smokey, and then you each worked on Clementine as well. While practising the pieces, you took special care to properly count 1 & 2 & 3 &… etc. to make sure that all of our notes and rests were well observed.

Great work everyone! Please try and come straight to class next week so we can start on time!

Things To Work On:

1- Fill out this worksheet on rests.

2- Practice On Top Of Old Smokey.

Level 2:

Today you started by practising your Pentatonic Scale, and filling out an activity sheet on this scale as well.

You then headed into Piano Player to work on Daydream Believer.

We then got together and discussed key signatures. Key signatures let us tell a musician that a certain note will be sharp or flat for the duration of a piece.

We also talked about a few different terms such as piano, which means soft, forte with means loud and crescendo and diminuendo (getting louder, getting softer).

To finish off the class, you headed into the Piano Player to try out different pieces of your choice!

See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Keep working on C Pentatonic Scale.

2- Keep working on your Legato Staccato Exercise.

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 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!

Hi Everyone! 

We moved rooms this week because of the Book Fair in the Library. With a couple of people away too, that meant we had a cosy class with just three of you!

Level 1A, Lessons 7 & 8 – Andrew

• Lesson 7 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!
• Then, in Lesson 8 you learnt about playing 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!
• Miss Melody then helped you to play even more songs where you followed the circle notes to play high notes, low notes, Middle C’s, holding notes and double notes!
• To finish off you went to the Games Room and 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 activity sheet  all about double notes!

Level 3A, Lesson 70 – Jessica

• This week you worked with Mr Scarlatti to review flats.
• You remembered that when a note has a flat sign in front of it, you lower it half a step, and if a note has a flat at the beginning of a bar, any note in the same line or space stays flattened until the next bar line!
• You worked with Jansyn and I to become a note naming detective! You had to name the notes on the Grand Staff in order to find out where the cat was hiding! You did really well with this. Well done!
• You visited the Games Room and Improvisation Room to finish off the lesson!

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t already done it, then print out this worksheet. It’s all about flats this time!
• Keep improvising and having fun on the piano!

Level 3B, Lesson 79 – Jansyn

• You played through more songs today for hands together written on the Grand Staff. Your hand position is really good, and you are recognising steps and skips on the Grand Staff much better now. Well done!
• You played through more rhythms with the woodpecker too. You seem quite confident at the different note values you have learnt so far in MusIQ Club. Great job!
• You worked with Jessica and I to become a note naming detective! You had to name the notes on the Grand Staff in order to find out where the cat was hiding! You did really well with this. Well done!
• You visited the Games Room and the Improvisation Room to finish off the lesson.

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t done this yet, then please finish off the note naming section of the review worksheet which we worked on in class. Bring it with you to class next Monday, please.
• Keep practising the C Major scale in your right and left hand. Remember to put your thumb on Middle C like we did in class together, and then your fingers follow the pattern 1 2 3, 1 2 3 4 5.

See you next week!

Bye for now!

Adele

Hello Everybody!

We had a great lesson on Monday, although we missed Jenna. Hope she feels better soon!

Level 1A, Lesson 7 - Ava

Great work today, Ava!

• 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!

Level 2A, Lesson 33 and 34 - Anik and Devin

Well done, both of you. You are following the notes on the Grand Staff better each week!

• Mr Mozart reminded you how to write Middle C, D and E on the treble staff.
• You played through some songs using these new treble clef notes.
• You saw that the notes were moving in a stepping motion on the treble staff; a line note, followed by the very next space note.
• You practiced with Miss Melody until you were really happy with using your ant tunnels to play these stepping notes in the right hand. Well done!
• You had time in the Games Room and Improvisation Room to relax!

Home Assignments for the Week

• If you haven’t yet done this, print out this worksheet and try to match up all the parts on the Grand Staff!
• Print out this wordsearch, all about Mr Mozart!
• Keep improvising and having fun on the piano at home!

Level 2C, Lesson 53 - Erin

Well done Erin! Another excellent lesson today!

• You worked with Mr Handel and played through some new songs written on the Grand Staff.
• You practised finding Bass Clef F with your left hand, and then you learnt all about Treble clef G! You play this note with the pinkie finger of your right hand!
• You were really good at recognising steps and skips when reading the notes for your new songs today. Great concentration.
• 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

• If you haven’t managed to do this yet, have a go at this activity sheet and try to name the Grand Staff 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.

Bye for now!

Adele

Level 1:

Still working towards your cub scout badge, you identified notes on a sheet for me, and you got every single one right!

You then headed into Piano Player to practice Pop Goes The Weasel. You spent some time working on this, and you also worked on On Top of Old Smokey. Great work! Keep practising these pieces for you cub badge!

We then talked about different musical terms that you need to know. We talked about piano, and how it means soft, and forte which means loud. We then talked about pianissimo and fortissimo, which mean very soft and very loud. Great work! Remember these terms and we will go over a few more next week.

To finish the class, you went to play a few games. Great work! See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Practice Pop Goes The Weasel.

2- Practice On Top Of Old Smokey.

3- Work on the rhythms I sent home with you.

Levels 2 & 3:

You girls spent part of the class today working on your first composition! You spent some time working on a composition using the 5 notes of the C Pentatonic scale. Good work girls!

You then each worked on a piece of your choice. Level 2, you chose 10 Little Indians, and Level3, you chose Satie – Princess. Great choices girls. We will be working on these for the next few weeks!

To finish off the class, you spent some time playing a few games. Great work. See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Practice your piece at home!

2- Work on this technique sheet.

3- Improvise and have fun every day!

Lessons 5 & 6:

Today we met with Mr. Beethoven for one last time. He helped us review everything we have learned so far in MusIQ Club. He reviewed high bird notes and low whale notes, then he made sure we still remember everything about Middle C and circle notes as well! Let’s not forget that Miss Melody helped us with all this review as well!

After this review session, we met our new teacher, Mr. Bach. Mr Bach lived even before Mr. Beethoven and he was a fantastic musician! He wrote a lot of music for the church, and this definitely helped him support his 20 kids!

Mr. Bach taught us about holding notes. These are notes that we hold for different amounts of time, and we can figure this out by looking for the little numbers right after the notes. We used this new knowledge to play our 2 new games, called Princess Story and the Train Game. Great work everyone! See you all next week!

Home Assignments For The Week & Reminders:

1- Try using different holding notes while you are improvising!

2- Keep finding your low notes, high notes and Middle C!

3- Remember to always experiment and always have fun!

4- Print out and complete your activity sheet!

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!

Level 2:

Today, we learnt about sharps, and flats. Those are the little black keys up top of the white keys we have been playing on for so long now! A sharp means that you go to the black key to the right, and a flat goes to the left. This means that F sharp and G flat are actually the same key! Can you find B sharp and F flat?

Afterwards, we headed into Piano Player and worked on Here We Go In A Row. You took the song with your right hand first, and then your left hand. Finally, we tried it hands together!

We then discussed the pieces we are going to be playing as an ensemble this year. We worked on Old MacDonald for a little bit, which most of you played last year and we picked Ode To Joy and Mexican Clapping Song for next week!

To finish off the class, you spent some time improvising. Great work! See you next week!

Things To Work On:

1- Work on this flats activity sheet.

2- Work on this sharps activity sheet!

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

Level 4:

You began the class by learning the difference between simple and compound time signatures. An example of a simple time signature is 3/4 time, and an example of a compound time signature is 6/8. You took the time to look at a piece of music which was first written in 3/4 and then in 6/8. We discovered that 6/8 time flows a lot more smoothly than 3/4 time.

We then learnt Three Blind Mice in 6/8 time. Good job! Don’t forget to keep counting 1-2-3-4-5-6!

After some time on this piece, we worked on Old MacDonald, adding in the left hand I wrote in for you. We also took a moment to discuss the homework (Lead sheet) you brought home to learn for next week.

To finish off the class you spent some time in the Composer’s Corner! Great work. See you next week!

Things To Work On:

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!

We started off today’s class by warming up our ears with some ear training! First, I played notes on the piano and you all had to tell me if they were high, or low. Following this, we listened to groups of notes and you all told me if they sounded happy or sad. Excellent work everyone!

Heading over to the computers, we met Miss Melody, who helped us play some new songs using our new circle notes. Don’t forget that the circles near the top of the screen are high notes, the ones near the bottom are low notes, and those circles right on the line are Middle C!

To finish up, we spent some time playing games, and improvising. Great work everyone! See you all next Thursday!

Things To Work On:

1- Play and improvise every day! Make sure to have fun!

2- Try writing out some songs using circle notes!

Dear parents:

I’m extremely sorry for the delayed update on your child’s progress this year so far. Here is an update of what we have been doing in class so far:

Ashia & Ahmed: Ashia and Ahmed have started on the same level on Children’s Music Journey 2. Both students have been working on pieces where they first play by reading the notes (mostly right hand) and in quarter-note values then Mr. Woodpecker would count them in after they  have practiced the song a few times or an old song from previous lessons. Ashia and Ahmed both have difficulty when it comes to playing with Mr. Woodpecker, so if they come home frustrated, please encourage them because most students find this part of the lesson difficult since Mr. Woodpecker is somewhat fast and requires the student to react quickly to play the next note.

Griffin: Griffin has been working on Children’s Music Journey 3. He was recently introduced to half rests, which is like the (tip-top hat- which can also be upside down). Just a reminder, when the half rest is the hat shaped, it means that it applies to the right hand and when it is upside down, the rest applies to the left hand. Also, Griffin has been introduced to new sharps and songs that he is playing that the new sharps apply to. After each lesson, he goes the practice session with Miss Melody and then either visits the ‘Game Room’ or ‘Improvisation Room’. Griffin does a good job in playing most of his pieces in Middle C position but sometimes he forgets to keep his hand there. Please practice with your hands in Middle C position at home. Also, a little reminder, remember when the stick on the notes are pointing up, it means the notes are to be played with your right hand and when it’s pointing downwards, it means to play the note with your left hand. I know Griffin knows this, but in class, sometimes he uses only his right hand to play (especially when he doesn’t have his hand in middle C position).

Ainsley: Ainsley has improved his piano and reading skills immensely! Keep up the practicing at home. In the past classes we had so far, Ainsley and I have worked on some theory topics and gone through different musical terms on how music can be played differently (which he has written some terms down).  As well, we have started working on our final pieces that he will perform at the recital at the end of the year. Remember to always look over the music before you play and look ahead while you’re playing the piece, because this will help with knowing what to expect next instead of being stuck to guess what the next note to play is. Also, remember to locate ALL your sharps and flats before playing a piece- because then you’ll have a sense to where they are.

As a class, we have had two classes where we spent the last 15 minutes reviewing the Grand Staff, different note values, and things we would find on any grand staff, ex. treble clef, bass clef, sharps/flats, etc. Also, we reviewed how to read music, as I found most of the students sometimes guessed where the notes were instead of knowing what the actual note is. We have done this both on a staff and on the keyboard, so the students should be much more familiar with how to locate notes on the keyboard or read music easier.

Keep up the great work everyone! Great effort!

Once again, I apologize for the delayed update! If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at mcy.szeto@gmail.com

Have a great week! =)