News and Lesson 9 (Blue Bugs)

First of all, I wanted to let you know about a cool new feature on the Let's Play Music Website!

If you write a testimonial about the program, and it is published on the site, you can get $10 off the current month's tuition. Go here for details.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Spring Break. I gave you tons of new stuff to work on during our last class, so I hope no one is too bored! :-)

I wanted to review some of the parent notes I gave you during class, since I only have a minute to explain things to you then.

B-I-N-G-O: It's an old favorite you've probably sung a million times, but it teaches so many good things: Audiation, Rhythmic Balance, and Beat! It is a great one to do during a road trip or driving around town. Kids think it is just for fun, but it is helping them to develop great skills!

Jungle Rhythm: This is our theory assignment this weeks. Page 47 in the Reference section of your manual should be helpful. You can help your students see the "math" in this chart. What we are doing is called "subdividing." The chart does a nice job of showing that visually and helping your students develop "spatial awareness" which is necessary for their success in math. Play the CD as you look at the chart so they can see and hear the subdivision at the same time.

El Gallo: We ran out of time to do this together in class, but if you can at home, listen/sing "El Gallo" with your students as you point to to the color chord triangles. What we are trying to instill is the repeated pattern "red, red, yellow, red" in this song, which is call its "harmonic rhythm." When they learn the patterns, they will be able to predict which chord will come next.

Drunken Sailor: I wonder if this song has prompted any discussions about what a drunken sailor is, in your homes. :-) It is a well known folk song, and was chosen for its clear form. By doing the dance to the song, we are teaching them the form of the song. For example, the gallop one direction, and then the other, shows the repeated phrase. Turning around on "Early in the...", emphasizes the cadence that takes us to "...morning." Also, joining hands on the beat for "morning" emphasizes the red chord and that we are back, "home." They probably just think we are doing a silly dance. Isn't that great?

One more note this week about your children's progress. I am often blown away by the knowledge they are demonstrating each week and the new things they can do. I know some of you have expressed concern about the level of mastery of your child, and if they will be ready for the 2nd year. Not having taught the program before, I have had some questions, too. But having communicated with the creator of the program, Shelle, and other experienced teachers, the word I am getting is not to be too concerned about mastery of every concept/skill we have presented this year. Some of these things are best learned over time and will sink in. For example, some kids match pitch with Echo Ed, easily. Others really have to concentrate. Just because we are starting on keyboards next year, doesn't mean that we won't continue to work on developing these skills. These things are foundational and will be reviewed through out the program. Greater concerns would be if your child just can't sit still or be part of the group, but at this age a lot of growing-up occurs over the summer. And as they enter school, they tend to gain a lot of maturity. If you'd like to talk about your individual student and where they are at, feel free to email me, or call me.

But for now, back to Spring Break! I will see the kids on Thursday!

Let's Play Music on TV

Shelle (the creator of the program), and Jenny (my trainer) were on TV today. You can get some fun glimpses into what is coming up in future semesters.

Lesson 8-- Blue Bugs

During class we looked at the notation for The Dinosaur Song and saw that it was all skips and babysteps. Your child should be ready to color the skips and steps for the homework assignment, and have fun singing as the notes go up.

We also did B-I-N-G-O, for the first time. It is a fun one to help them practice clapping their rhythms. And speaking of rhythms, as you work with your students on their bug flashcards, see if you can get them to clap the appropriate rhythm with out saying the word. Sometimes, the kids say "but-ter-fly," the right way, but clap a steady eighth note rhythm at the same time. While keeping rhythm is a great skill (and one we will practice more with our jungle animals), we want them to feel each rhythm, and not just hear it. You can make it a game: "Can you clap a caterpillar for me with out saying a word?", "How about a grasshopper?", etc.

Lessons 6 & 7

First some news: There is a giveaway going on at the Let's Play Music blog. It is the first giveaway ever! Go check it out!

Here are a few notes from our last couple of classes:

In lesson 6, we had fun singing about El Gallo (the old rooster…he’s dead and won’t be saying cock-a-doodle anymore). It’s interesting to hear how children speaking other languages interpret the sounds that animals make! To learn the words to this song, I recommend you look up the lyrics in your parent manual. Each song is back there. When you come to class, it may be helpful to follow along if you don't know the songs as well as your students do.

We also learned to match the term MAJOR to songs that sound happy and MINOR to those that are sad, tired, or mysterious. Help them remember these terms, and see if they can identify which songs are major and minor as you listen to music.

While singing the Jungle Rhythms, encourage your child to use his voice along with his hand actions. This adds another dimension and will help him to stay on his rhythm. We tried keeping the elephant rhythm while I did the lion. See if you can help your child stay on elephant while listening to all the other animals on the CD. This may take some practice.

LESSON 7

When we put each bell on a line (or space) on the giant staff, it helps introduce the idea that each bell (note) has a representative line or space that corresponds with it. Next year each key on the keyboard will have a line or space that corresponds with it...it’s an easy mental transition to make.

Take this idea a few levels forward and you have...the song How to Skip! The music is printed in the parent’s manual for you. Not all students will master this song, but if your child enjoys playing the short melodies, she’ll probably like to work through this one, and she’ll feel so accomplished when she learns to play a REAL song! Most of the melody can be figured out note-by-note (is it a step up or down? A skip up or down?). On those occasions where there is a leap, the solfeg is written below the music to help your child find the right bell.

The Dinosaur Song is one that everyone probably WILL master – and a great example of skips and babysteps. We’ll see it many times in the next few weeks.

If your child finds writing small notes to be challenging in this week’s homework, feel free to help as needed. You can also copy the page or draw 5 quick lines of your own so you can repeat activities like this as many times as you like for practice!

I suggested you use your bug flashcards for a memory/matching game. This is a fun way to reinforce what we are doing in class. btw, I found a set of flashcards at the LDS church around the corner, on Sunday. If you are missing yours, let me know.

Lesson 5 - Blue Bugs

Now that we can skip on the staff (line-to-line or space-to-space) AND on the bells (you get to skip OVER one bell) our melody reading is gong to get to be really fun! Pull out your bells sometime and play a skip up or down, and have your child figure out which ONE bell you skipped over. Also, play a skip without her looking, and see if she can tell if it goes up or down!

Aren’t those bugs so musical? Now that we’ve matched the rhythms to the bug pictures, show the note rhythm cards to your child and see if they can guess which bug it is (this is also the homework this week). Clap out the rhythms (be sure she uses her HANDS and VOICE simultaneously.)

It is fun to audiate the puppet show? While listening, quickly turn the music down low, and just SING the part that you know should be playing. After a few moments, turn the sound back up. Being able to hear the melodies in the mind is one of the skills that a person with “musical talent” has mastered. Yes, we can teach our kids to have talent!

In other news, I've put a link to Mikayla's website (where she is selling tote bags), on the top of the sidebar. I'm sure she'd appreciate your support, and her bags are super cute!

Also, some of you had trouble printing the puppets at home, so I will hand them out to the kids this week.

See them on Thursday!

Blue Bugs--What you can do at home

It's exciting to see how far the kids have come in one semester. This semester we are really working on rhythm, and you can really help reinforce this at home. Just simple clapping along to the radio, or dancing to music in the home, can help them feel the beat.

This week we started singing "Bill Grogan's Goat." Help your students feel the four beats (guitar strums on the CD), after each line. Help them practice clapping them as you listen to the CD. They should be able to tell you all about the silly goat and what he did.

We also sang "I've Been to Harlem" this week, both in a major key (happy), and in a minor key (sad). (Listen to the song on the CD, or ask me, if you don't know what I am talking about). As you are listening to the radio or other music, see if they can tell you whether other songs are "happy" or "sad", by the music, not the words. Some minor songs sound "spooky" rather than sad, like our "Halloween" song last semester, so that would be an acceptable response, too.

Ask them to tell you about the jungle animals we talked about, too. This is a really fun way we will teach them to subdivide beats!

One calendar item: I am looking at Tuesday evening, April 27th for the mini-recital. That is about as late as I dare push it, baby wise. Please look at your calendars, and let me know asap, if there are any major conflicts with that date!

I look forward to seeing you all on Thursday!

Baby Steps Song

Is everyone ready to start again on Thursday? I hope you all had a great break and are ready to get back into the swing of things. Listen to your Blue Bugs CD, so you know the new songs we will be working with.

I wanted to share another song with you that will help with the babystep concept. Go to the Let's Play Music blog, and listen to it.

See you Thursday!