Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Lesson 10

In class we have fun with some variations on the classical music puppets, and you can try them at home, too:

-Quickly turn down the volume, and have your child sing (or bum or doot) the missing part.

-Play a bit of music (or sing it) and have him guess which puppet it was. Even harder: hold up a puppet and have him sing the part!

-Do the show with costumes, or dolls and toys as characters. Dance them around when their part comes. Get physical and silly! Move your bodies to match the music.

When doing the homework assignment this week, if your child always draws baby steps going up on the theory assignment, guide him to notice that steps could optionally go down.

Tomorrow's class is going to be fun! Look forward to seeing you all there!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Lesson 8

Your theory assignment 8 that you’ll be working on this week is not too tricky, but is tricky for me to READ. If it isn't too late, please have your child use a crayon to draw circles, and a different color to make squares (that way, it won’t matter too much if the square looks a bit circle-ish.) It’s great that the students are working hard on homework, and doing their own writing! I love to see them grow and improve.

Some kids are getting to be pros at finding the hidden sol-sol-do's, or mi-re-do's in songs. You can reinforce this by listening for these patterns in everyday songs, and seeing if they can hear them too.

I saw some really great harp playing this week, too - reading and interpreting the map, translating it to an action for one hand, and simultaneously using the other hand to strum with rhythm.... that's a LOT to process all at once! We're training the students to think like musicians and get all those mental and physical skills going at the same time.

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!