Hello Everyone!
Great lessons this week! Some really exciting progress and some great first lessons with new students. See your homework and practice recommendations below!
Noreet:
For warm up with week, please have Noreet play all her scales hands together. Practice a two octave G Major scale at 85BPM on the metronome, two octaves of D Major slowly, and one octave of A Major very slowly. All scales can be played 85BPM when Noreet feels confident in the scale. We reviewed Ice Cream and More Ice Cream on page 18 of her book. Please continue to practice both of these. These two pieces have Noreet play different rhythms in her two hands at the same time. Please help her by counting out loud slowly with her when practicing (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and). Have Noreet point to the notes while she counts. Practice the right hand melody and left hand chords twice through separately before trying to play them at the same time. When confident, play hands together slowly.
Vida:
Help Vida to sight read the next song in her book. Continue to practice the difference in staccato and legato playing as indicated in the song. We will discuss and review any unfamiliar concepts in this song next week. Remember, this song has a B flat in it! Please practice Life is Better Loud hands separately. Remind Vida that the letters I’ve written in are chords not notes. Practice these chords in sequence with the left hand, these can all be found on the chords and triads page of her binder.
Eva:
Hello Eva! It was so nice to meet you and your mom on Thursday! For this week, please practice “Dancing with Frankenstein”. I’ve uploaded this to Eva’s folder in the google drive, you can find that here. Please help Eva to read this piece at home, The left hand starts on A and the right hand starts on a C. If she doesn’t recognize the next note, ask if its higher or lower than the one she just played, and by how many steps, the count up alphabetically to find the next note (moves up 2 steps from C = E). When Eva is confident with the notes, practice “performing” this smoothly (its okay if we don’t get here this week).
Christian:
Hey Christin! I’ve attached a link to the google drive and uploaded Sailor’s Tale in case you don’t have it. Please find that here. Continue to practice this over the next two weeks. When practicing, warm up with the C Major and G Major scales hands separately, focusing on the proper fingerings (123,12345). When practicing Sailor’s Tale, practice your right hand and left hand separately, focusing on accurate pitches and rhythms. I’ve uploaded more sight reading resources if you get stuck. Start your practice by sight reading the whole thing start to finish, ignoring the rhythms if you have to. This will allow you to practice reading. Then practice small chunks of the song (e.x the fist 3 bars) focusing on accurate pitches and rhythms until you can play the phrase confidently and smoothly. You can feel free to practice a few small sections throughout the piece (e.x the first 3 bars and the last 3 bars). Use the free metronome if you find this helpful, this is a free resource on google. Should you feel confident you can then play both hands together slowly.
Happy practicing everyone! I look forward to more lessons next week!