I had a wonderful first day working and meeting all of my students! Everyone is very quick and happy to learn – thank you for making my job fun!
Anastasiya
I enjoyed working with you today! You were quick with the five-finger pattern. Keep doing your chords and five-finger pattern starting on C each day to warm up, with both your right and left hands. We are also going to keep working on your two pieces for next week – “Little River” and “Firefly”. I would recommend clapping the rhythms to practice (in addition to practicing with the notes). Today we learned the difference between a half note (which has two beats) and a quarter note (one beat). We will keep focusing on this next week.
Madison
I really like the way you play “Concert Time”. For this week, practice your C Major scale (both one octave and two octaves) hands separately and focus on remembering the correct fingering. For “Music Box” rock, keep learning notes for the right hand. You can also practice just by clapping the rhythm. Next week, I’m going to check your right hand and hopefully we’ll be able to start working on the left hand then too. You can also keep practicing “Concert Time”.
Leonardo
You are very quick with rhythms and the clapping exercises! Keep working on “The C Song”, “Mozart’s First Minuet”, and “Nap Time” (Pages 29-31). First clap the rhythms and really pay attention to the rests. We also learned the difference between quarter notes (which has one beat) and half notes (two beats) today. Pay attention to those when clapping the rhythms. You should also practice the notes for next week so we can keep playing more student/teacher duets!
Eduardo
Thanks for being a good sport and letting me assign you a new piece on your first day with me. Keep learning the right hand to “Aeolian Lullaby”. In addition to the notes, really pay attention to the fingerings. While you learn the notes, it’s also important to keep looking at the score – you have a good ear, so I know it’s easier for you to learn by ear and listening, but if you keep looking at the score and making sure that all the notes are right, it will be much easier for you in the end. Also make sure to keep your wrists, shoulders and back relaxed while you’re playing.
Thanks again to everyone and looking forward to next week!