Oscar – Work on playing those pentascales in F, C, G, and D major. Hands separate for now. Try legato, detached, and staccato articulations. Also practice Auld Lang Syne. Finally, work on the blues improvisation concepts we talked about for soloing over the I chord. We discussed: playing chord tones; sliding up from the note below the chord tone, using the neighbouring note above the chord tone (within the scale), and using the blues scale. Play with these ideas until you’re comfortable improvising with them without thinking too much about what it is you’re doing. See if you can discover any other blues improvisation tools.
Avril – Incredible work this week learning the first few pages of the Czerny book. At this point, I’d like you to focus on interpretation. Exhibit dynamics, articulation, and phrasing in your playing. In addition, you can look at and complete the functional chord symbol chart I sent home with you for the keys of C and G major.
Julie – Fill in the functional chord symbol sheet I gave you for the keys of C and G major. Continue practicing the Bach at that EXTREMELY slow tempo we discussed, at 30BPM. Sixteenth note equals 120BPM. ALSO, start working on the Bach cello prelude using your left hand only. Focus on legato articulation and efficient fingering!
http://ks4.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/8/87/IMSLP36903-PMLP04291-Bach-BWV1007klengel.pdf
Kristen – Next lesson is going to be all about blues, so I’d like you to listen to some blues. That could mean blues proper, old school R&B and rock and roll, or jazz in a 12 bar blues form. Some jazz standards that follow a blues form include: Sonnymoon for Two; Bags Groove; All Blues; C-Jam Blues; Vierd Blues; Blues on the Corner; Blue Monk. C-Jam Blues is a good place to start because the head (main melody) is extremely simple.